The fundamentals of Stewart's career have been covered to the point of exhaustion, so there's no need to go back over them here in any great detail. Suffice to say that with three world championships, a pioneering role in helping shape both the commercial and safety elements of F1, the creation of a new team, a knighthood, and an ongoing role as a major ambassador for both the sport and who-knows-how-many businesses, Messers Collings and Sykes were not exactly struggling for things to write about.

From a purely entertainment perspective, it's hard to pick fault with the fruits of their efforts. The pair have done some homework, and strung together a fluid and open account of Stewart's progress from the family garage business in Dumbuck, Scotland, to the top of the motor racing tree ­ and beyond.

The authors mention in the acknowledgements that Jackie had placed no obstacles in their path during the book's preparation, although this does not necessarily mean that Stewart gave his full co-operation. Indeed, one thing that stood out while reading this book was that Jackie did not seem to have been interviewed to any great extent specifically for 'A Restless Life' ­ a clue, perhaps, that he has plans for his own book somewhere down the road? Luckily, the world is not short of Jackie Stewart interviews and quotes, so Collings and Sykes had plenty of existing material to work with, and they have supplemented it by speaking with other significant figures in the story.

Some biographies re-trace a career, others attempt to paint a 'real' picture of the subject, and the really memorable ones manage to do both. 'A Restless Life' has a good crack at the latter, although it's tough to gauge how successfully Sykes and Collings have pulled it off.

In terms of Stewart's racing career, everything seems to be pretty much in order. As is often the case with a number of drivers of Stewart's generation, the material relating to his pre-Grand Prix career is as intriguing as his achievements in F1. The Scot's actual Formula One career is not covered in exhaustive, race-by-race depth ­ thank heavens ­ but there is enough to give recent arrivals to Planet Stewart an idea of what happened and why. And with a bibliography tucked up at the back, there's no shortage of clues on where to start looking for more information.

But how accurately does the book portray Stewart as a person? As always, that's just about impossible to answer, particularly for someone who does not know Stewart intimately on a first-hand basis. It should be noted that the authors have been, on balance, fairly generous in their portrayal. While they stop short of the demarcation between 'biography' and 'hagiography', having Collings's generally mild tone on one hand and the fact that Sykes was Stewart GP's media officer on the other meant that their slightly rosy treatment of Stewart comes as no great surprise.

This only lets them down on a few occasions, though. As an example, it is all well and good to refer to a "Stewart-led safety campaign for which the multi-millionaires who grace today's Grand Prix circuits should give nightly thanks", but this sidesteps claims made by bike racers that many of these measures have actually caused injuries and deaths in two-wheeler accidents.

Some of Stewart's colleagues make gentle digs at him, but the worst that most can say is that he works too hard ­ which can be interpreted as a compliment in fancy dress!

All of this should not be interpreted as a call for more 'dirt', but rather, for more balance. There are two sides to every story, and usually even more than that where motor racing is concerned. Fleshing some of these out may not necessarily please the subject, but they do help create a more complete portrait of who that person really is.

But on the whole it is an interesting read, and one that offers a few interesting peeps into how things really work in F1. Former BAR team principal Craig Pollock offered one such insight through his account of a team owners meeting:

"I was dumbfounded and shocked. The way I saw the first team principal's meeting was ­ well, it was like when I was a prefect at school, and we held prefect's meetings, and we had agendas and there was a time restraint put on them and each agenda item had a given amount of time and you would then go through it. But then I became a teacher, and I went to a teacher's meeting and I thought it was the most disgusting meeting I have ever had because they were totally disorganised. Then I went into a team principals' meeting and I thought, 'Well, the teacher's meeting was good.' It was the biggest mess I've ever seen." (p. 228)