A selection of his columns about the magic of sports is compiled in the book, "The Good Stuff". His book "The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America" was published by William Morrow & Company and won the CASEY Award as best baseball book of 2007. Another book, about the Big Red Machine, titled "The Machine: A Hot Team, a Legendary Season, and a Heart-stopping World Series: The Story of the 1975 Cincinnati Reds", was published in 2009 and reached Number 17 on the "New York Times" Bestseller List. Posnanski wrote a biography of longtime Penn State football coach Joe Paterno for Simon & Schuster, which was released on August 21, 2012 and debuted at Number 1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. Posnanski's fourth book, The Secret of Golf, details the longstanding rivalry and friendship of golfers Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus. His newest book, "The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini," was released on October 22, 2019.