Rob Sneddon​ is a contributing editor at Down East magazine and author of the books Artificial Evolution, Boston’s 100 Greatest Games - Fifth Edition, Boston’s 100 Greatest Gamers, and The Phantom Punch. His work has appeared in a variety of publications, including the Boston Globe, and has been cited in the Best American Sports Writing anthology. Before settling with his wife and son in New Hampshire, he rode across America on a bicycle and flew around the world on the Concorde. He opposes most replay reviews in sports and thinks personal devices are often smarter than the people using them.

Artificial Evolution
How technology makes us think we’re better than we are (and why that’s dangerous)

New Release: November, 2019 - Candlepin Press
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For a species as complex as ours, evolution should take about a million years. But in just the past 200 years we’ve hacked the process so that even the slowest and stupidest among us can move faster than a cheetah, fly higher than an eagle, and perform miracles of science that would have dazzled Einstein. But instead of elevating humanity to unparalleled enlightenment, technology has given us a sense of unparalleled entitlement. We act as though each new gain in comfort, convenience, and security not only makes our lives better—but also makes us better. It is a dangerous delusion. Based on a combination of research and personal experience—including resuscitating a vintage rotary phone, flying around the world on the Concorde, and fishing in a stream of industrial waste called Stink Run—author Rob Sneddon builds a case that “progress” is a runaway train and the engineer is too busy texting to notice.

Boston’s 100 Greatest Gamers
Ranking the most clutch athletes in Boston sports history

November, 2018 - Candlepin Press
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“He’s a gamer.” Even if they can’t define the term, Boston sports fans know a gamer when they see one. And they’ve seen plenty through the years, from Larry Bird to Tom Brady, Bill Russell to Troy Brown, Carl Yastrzemski to Rob Gronkowski, Bobby Orr to David Ortiz, and Pedro Martinez to Patrice Bergeron. This companion volume to Boston’s 100 Greatest Games provides a definitive ranking.

Boston’s 100 Greatest Gamers on:
 
Tom Brady: “Brady has won five Super Bowls, the most of any quarterback in NFL history. And in every one the Patriots were either tied or trailing in the fourth quarter. What other yardstick do you need to measure clutch?”
 
Pedro Martinez: “1999 was peak Pedro. Just look at the stat line: 23–4 with a 2.07 ERA, 313 strikeouts, and a WAR of 9.7—during the height of the steroids era. This from a Jheri-curled wisp who weighed less than an average high school pitcher.”
 
Bobby Orr: “For all the talent those Big Bad Bruins teams had, they were able to win it all only during the narrow window when Orr was at his absolute best.”
 
Paul Pierce: “He stuck with Boston and Boston stuck with him. And in the span of one remarkable year, he went from slogging through an injury-shortened season on a last-place team to celebrating as MVP 
of the 2008 NBA Finals.”
 
Doug Flutie: “His entire career was a repudiation. Time and again Doug Flutie had to convince people to disregard what he wasn’t and focus instead on what he was: a winner.”

Boston’s 100 Greatest Games​
Fifth Edition - Includes 2018 World Series and Super Bowl 53

New Release: March, 2019 - Candlepin Press
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“No one should need further proof that Boston is the best sports town in the country, but if you do, here is Boston’s 100 Greatest Games, Rob Sneddon’s excellent and encyclopedic countdown of the Hub’s greatest moments, from the Beaneaters’ heroic vanquishing of the Orioles (1896) to the nail-biter that was Super Bowl XLIX (2015). A great gift for any fan of the Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots, or Celtics, this book should start more arguments — and settle more bar bets — than anything else published this year.”
--Paul Doiron, author of The Poacher’s Son

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The Phantom Punch
The Story Behind Boxing’s Most Controversial Bout

October 2016 Rowman & Littlefield, Down East Imprint 

“If you think something that only lasted 90 seconds couldn't fill a book, grab a copy of Rob Sneddon’s The Phantom Punch: The Story Behind Boxing's Most Controversial Bout. Sneddon, a sports historian and contributing editor of Down East magazine, has done a great job of detective work on a subject that sportswriters have stumbled over and around for decades. If you’re willing to listen to reason, Sneddon will turn your head around. ‘No one,’ he writes, ‘could have planned a mess like that.’”
—Allen Barra, Chicago Tribune

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