From rock climbing to rodeo, sumo wrestling to slow-pitch softball, boomerangs to bowling, this collection of articles by one of America’s leading journalists probes the recreational lives of people of all ages. From arctic Alaska to an island in the Bahamas, these pieces crawl into the more remote nooks and crannies of our culture, showing what our sporting passions and obsessions say about us as individuals and as a society. Funky, fascinating, heroic, and compassionate, Pumping Granite is a one-of-a-kind book about men, women, and children and the unusual games they play.