Six notable books on people who have beaten the odds

Keith O’Brien is a former reporter for the Boston Globe.

His new book is Outside Shot: Big Dreams, Hard Times, and One County's Quest for Basketball Greatness.

For The Week magazine, O'Brien named his six favorite books about people who have beaten the odds, including:

October 1964 by David Halberstam

I'm not a fan of the New York Yankees or the St. Louis Cardinals. But you don't need to be to love Halberstam's book about the 1964 World Series, which pitted the regal Yanks against a rising Cardinals team that seemed to represent baseball's future. The book changed my life. I read it and wanted to be not Bob Gibson, not Mickey Mantle — but David Halberstam.

Read about another book O'Brien tagged.

View the video trailer for Outside Shot, and visit Keith O'Brien's website and Facebook page.

The Page 99 Test: Outside Shot.

--Marshal Zeringue