Valentino Rossi: Life of a Legend

By Michael Scott 192 pages hard cover ISBN: 9 780760 357385 RRP $45.00 Review copy from Pitstop Books 08 9322 5444 or www.pitstop.net.au Order code: 49992

The text accompanying this book says, “Valentino Rossi: Life of a Legend explores both the personal and professional lives of this most charismatic of athletes”. I would say that this is in the ratio of about 10:90, as the vast majority of this book focuses on Rossi’s racing career. There is the inevitable section on his equally charismatic father Graziano, and considerable space devoted to the man who still heads him at the top of the GP statistic tree, Giacomo Agostini, but the balance follows Valentino’s career path from go karts and mini-moto bikes to the 2017 season, where he added one more victory to bring his tally to 115. The man from Tavullia has always kept his private life to himself, and you won’t find any home secrets here, but the book is certainly a colourful account of a truly remarkable career – one that appears destined to last until at least beyond his 40th birthday.