A down-to-earth exploration of the extraordinary

Round-the-world sailor Ellen MacArthur: ‘It just happened that I wanted to go sailing’ REX/Shutterstock

Non-Fiction: Superhuman: Life at the Extremes of Mental and Physical Ability, By Rowan Hooper, Little, Brown, €23

What made Ellen MacArthur sail around the world singlehanded in a flimsy trimaran in 2004? Why was chess player John Nunn admitted to Oxford to read maths at the age of 15? How did Hilary Mantel win the Man Booker Prize twice (once in 2009 and once in 2012)? What drove Dean Karnazes to run 50 ...