Sports Books

Even though the title of the review is what it is, the book does has some interesting tidbits about high altitude mountaineering. For non climbers and arm-chair adventurers it would satisfy you, as the author writes well. You'll learn some intrinsic details, enough to keep the "how and what" types occupied. For this the book gets it's two stars -- good writing and technical details (like the effects of high altitude sickness).

But what makes this book really hard to stomach though, and how a reader can learn to despise the author, is how critical the author is about those in the expedition. Usually I like to know the "real story" in adventure disasters, to know the interpersonal reactions (like the character chemistry in the Scott South Pole Expedition), yet I draw the line at common decency. The Japanese woman climber, he complained about what she carried, claiming it helped to contribute in her death. That cold. Then in the end of the book the author tells of how he tries to cope with the tragedy, and the death of the very people he was critical over. It comes off self-serving, and after the meat puppetry, even put on. Guess the author tries to cope with some anger and denial, which means he didn't recover enough after the tragedy to write the book without it, and would explain how upsetting a read this book can be.

Get the book if you like mountaining stories. Get it for some history (some tidbits about the IMAX expedition in the book). But don't get it if you have a heart, you'll be wanting to tear pages out of the book as he pokes the dead in the eyes.

Of all the books that I have read, this is the best. Absolutely fascinating. And, in my opinion, it's an adventure story that can be enjoyed by folks who aren't necessarily into mountain climbing. My dad gave this book to me as a gift, and he being a writer himself had told me that he thought it was one of the best books he had ever read. I've since given it as a gift to a few of my friends. Also, another fun book by Krakauer is Eiger Dreams, which is a collection of short climbing/survival stories. I'd highly recommend Into Thin Air!

This book should leave any reader stunned and saddened. Great writing, although I think calling it an adventure story may be a little bit of a misnomer. It is truly a tragedy. Krakauer understands the audience he is writing for, but also tries to be sensitive to those who lost their lives on Everest and those who have been left behind in the aftermath of the disastrous May 10th expedition to the summit. Compelling and a page turner.

I remember the spring of 1996 and the Everest disasters very well. I was stuck in traffic when a writer named Jon Krakauer was briefly interviewed on NPR when he first returned as one of the survivors of a deadly climb. I had never given mountaineering or Everest much thought but the drama, and especially Krakauer's traumatized voice, inspired a curiosity I've only now actually pursued by reading this book.

If you have ever been at a popular tourist spot when several buses pulled up and disgorged different tours, you have the picture of what mountaineering on Everest had become by 1996. The golden era of exploration and mountaineering on Everest was over. Commercial expeditions charging $65,000 a head would take up clients who could pay, not necessarily those who were vetted mountaineers. Base Camp was a cross between a vanity fair and a scout jubilee. Krakauer, a practiced climber who was commissioned by Outside Magazine to write about the experience, had signed on with an ethical and highly skilled outfit. There was, to the climbers, little warning that anything could go wrong. Across the next several weeks, the climbers moved slowly up the mountain, becoming acclimated. Perhaps the first clue of the reality of Everest was encountering dead bodies from previous years that had simply been left behind. The 1996 groups kept going. The ravages of altitude sickness, the increasing consumption of oxygen canisters, and the physical punishment should have been more flags. The day scheduled for achieving the summit became a train wreck of bad choices, rejection of basic guidelines such as turn around times, altitude sickness, and the surprise of a subzero storm that suddenly grabbed the top of the world with hurricane force. The scramble for survival meant, in some cases, abandoning people for dead on the mountain, people who had become comrades on the ropes. Krakauer documents incredible stories of heroism and survival, as well as the death toll and permanent physical injuries incurred by some.

Krakauer is an astonishing writer who does a good job of sorting out a confusing series of events. Realizing the limitations of one person's memory in the midst of a traumatic experience that has bequeathed a sense of guilt, he went back and interviewed other survivors to get at the truth. Although he never imposes overarching themes on the narrative, his story illustrates classic conflicts as humans are seen tempting mortality on the grandest scale on earth. The more they push their human capacities, the more the mountain seems determined to push the climbers down into their very flawed human place. In the end, this is not so much a tour of a mountain as it is an exploration of humanity. There are a lot of Monday morning quarterbacks pointing fingers at those who survived, and some are pointed weakly at Krakauer, but I found this to be very evenly handled.

Krakauer said entirely untrue things about Anatoli Boukreev, one of the greatest mountaineers who ever lived, and the hero of the expedition. Boukreev wrote a book, THE CLIMB, about the same trek, explaining why he did what he did, but it wasn't as popular because his writing wasn't as polished as Krakauer's. There is no doubt that Boukreev single handedly rescued three of the climbers during a raging blizzard, climbers who would have died otherwise. I was reading THE CLIMB while on the Annapurna trek in 1999. I reached Annapurna base camp, and there was a memorial to Anatoli Boukreev, who had been killed in an avalanche while climbing Annapurna only 1 year 9 months before. I had no idea this memorial was there, and was awed and humbled by the combination of reading Boukreev's book, seeing his memorial and being in the same area where he had recently been killed. Boukreev should never have been ridiculed by Krakaur. Boukreev was one of the greatest climbers who ever lived, and he knew what he was doing.

I believe Boukreev's words should be taken into account. They are quoted below:

"I am writing because I think Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air," which appeared in [the September, 1996 issue of Outside Magazine], was unjustly critical of my decisions and actions on Mount Everest on May 10, 1996. While I have respect for Mr. Krakauer, share some of his opinions about high altitude guiding and believe he did everything within his power to assist fellow climbers on that tragic day on Everest, I believe his lack of proximity to certain events and his limited experience at high altitude may have gotten in the way of his ability to objectively evaluate the events of summit day.

My decisions and actions were based upon more than twenty years of high altitude climbing experience. In my career I have summitted Everest three times. I have twelve times summitted mountains over 8,000 meters. I have summitted seven of the world's fourteen mountains over 8,000 meters in elevation, all of those without the use of supplementary oxygen. This experience, I can appreciate, is not response enough to the questions raised by Mr. Krakauer, so I offer the following details.

After fixing the ropes and breaking the trail to the summit, I stayed at the top of Everest from 1:07 PM. until approximately 2:30 PM., waiting for other climbers to summit. During that time only two client climbers made the top. They were Klev Schoening, seen in the summit photograph (pages 46-47) taken by me, and Martin Adams, both of them from Scott Fischer's expedition. Concerned that others were not coming onto the summit and because I had no radio link to those below me, I began to wonder if there were difficulties down the mountain. I made the decision to descend.

Just below the summit I encountered Rob Hall, the expedition leader from New Zealand, who appeared to be in good shape. Then I passed four of Scott Fischer's client climbers and four of his expedition's Sherpas, all of whom were ascending. They all appeared to be alright. Above the Hillary Step I saw and talked with Scott Fischer, who was tired and laboring, but he said he was just a little sick. There was no apparent sign of difficulty, although I had begun to suspect that his oxygen supply was, then, already depleted. I said to Scott that the ascent seemed to be going slowly and that I was concerned descending climbers could possibly run out of oxygen before their return to camp IV. I explained I wanted to descend as quickly as possible to camp IV in order to warm myself and gather a supply of hot drink and oxygen in the event I might need to go back up the mountain to assist descending climbers. Scott, as had Rob Hall immediately before him, said "OK" to this plan.

I felt comfortable with the decision, knowing that four Sherpas, Neal Beidleman (like me, a guide), Rob Hall and Scott Fischer would be bringing up the rear to sweep the clients to camp IV. Understand, at this time there were no clear indications that the weather was going to change and deteriorate as rapidly as it did.

Given my decision: (1) I was able to return to camp IV by shortly after 5:00 PM. (Slowed by the advancing storm), gather supplies and oxygen and, by 6:00 PM., begin my solo effort in the onset of a blizzard to locate straggling climbers; and (2) I was able, Finally, to locate lost and huddled climbers, re-supply them with oxygen, offer them warming tea and provide them the physical support and strength necessary to get them to the safety of camp IV.

Also, Mr. Krakauer raised a question about my climbing without oxygen and suggested that perhaps my effectiveness was compromised by that decision. In the history of my career, as I have detailed it above, it has been my practice to climb without supplementary oxygen. In my experience it is safer for me, once acclimatized, to climb without oxygen in order to avoid the sudden loss of acclimatization that occurs when supplementary oxygen supplies are depleted.

My particular physiology, my years of high altitude climbing, my discipline, the commitment I make to proper acclimatization and the knowledge I have of my own capacities have always made me comfortable with this choice. And, Scott Fischer was comfortable with this choice as well. He authorized me to climb without supplementary oxygen.

To this I would add: As a precautionary measure, in the event that some extraordinary demand was placed upon me on summit day, I was carrying one (1) bottle of supplementary oxygen, a mask and a reductor. As I was ascending, I was for a while climbing with Neal Beidleman. At 8,500 meters, after monitoring my condition and feeling that it was good, I elected to give my bottle of oxygen to Neal, about whose personal supply I was concerned. Given the power that Neal was able to sustain in his later efforts to bring clients down the mountain, I feel it was the right decision to have made.

Lastly, Mr. Krakauer raised a question about how I was dressed on summit day, suggesting I was not adequately protected from the elements. A review of summit day photographs will show that I was clothed in the latest, highest quality, high altitude gear, comparable, if not better, than that worn by the other members of our expedition.

In closing, I would like to say that since May 10, 1996, Mr. Krakauer and I have had many opportunities to reflect upon our respective experiences and memories. I have considered what might have happened had I not made a rapid descent. My opinion: Given the weather conditions and the lack of visibility that developed, I think it likely I would have died with the client climbers that in the early hours of May 11, I was able to find and bring to camp IV, or I would have had to have left them on the mountain to go for help in camp IV where, as was in the reality of events that unfolded, there was nobody able or willing to conduct rescue efforts.

I know Mr. Krakauer, like me, grieves and feels profoundly the loss of our fellow climbers. We both wish that events would have unfolded in a very different way. What we can do now is contribute to a clearer understanding of what happened that day on Everest in the hope that the lessons to be learned will reduce the risk for others who, like us, take on the challenge of the mountains. I extend my hand to him and encourage that effort."

My personal regards,
Anatoli Boukreev
Almaty, Kazakhstan

Anatoli Boukreev was killed in an avalanche December of 1997 on a winter ascent of Annapurna.

As a "golfer" (and the quotes are necessary in the interest of truth), this is one of the funniest books ever written about this most confounding and frustrating sport. If you ever or never played the game, you'll enjoy it. If you've played a round and are ready to give up, but then remember the one or two respectable shots you hit, you'll relate to his story of returning to the game after a decades long lay-off. A great gift for anyone with an interest in the game.

For anyone who plays or wants to learn to play golf, this book is real life experience of the games frustrations. Written in Hiaason's humorous style, you empathize with his struggle. Easy read and fun book.

I enjoyed reading this book more than I have enjoyed any book in the past several years.

An easy reading, enjoyable book. I'm not in any way a golfer and I still liked it.

Excellent book! Love the author's sense of humor. My husband's a long-tme golfer but I have no interest. Actually, the subject of golf is extremely boring to me. However, I purchased this audio-book for a car trip and both of us REALLY enjoyed it.

Probably one of the best sports related books I have ever read. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to build strength.

Hi

I teach Crossfit [...] and this book is quite simply Brilliant. It is also a great companion for crossfitters to help with technique. If you want to really learn the lifts, if you want to get stronger this is the place to go. Be warned this is not a hone and tone body building book but a great work dedicated to compound lifts and the development of strength.

Just buy it !

This is the best book on weight training I've read, and I've read a lot of them.

I wish I had had it 15 years ago. If you know a young person getting into strength training, buy them this book.

Also get Practical Programming for Strength Training, by the same authors. Consider getting Science and Practice of Strength Training by Zatsiorsky and Kraemer if you want the footnotes. Though frankly, all these books could use better footnotes.

One tiny quibble is that the book is strongly focused on strength training, as it says in the title. This isn't the same thing as fitness or aesthetics, which are probably more common motivators for weight training. As far as I know there are no really good books on weight training for non-strength goals. Yes, I've read Stuart McRobert.

Coach Rip applies a perfect amount of dry whit to his rock solid understanding of weight training and delivers a tutorial that is as readable as it is helpful. Starting Strength gives an insight to both form and function of barbell training that your everyday coach/trainer does not have and cannot provide.

Highly recommended for anyone that wants to improve their strength, and especially recommended for anyone that is in the position to be instructing others in weight training.

Mark Rippetoe's "Starting Strength" is, without question, one of the finest books of its kind. I have been going to gyms all my life, listening to people and reading many books on all aspects of weight training. Mr. Rippetoe, via his book, is the best teacher I have encountered. Whether you're a novice or an experienced lifter, "Starting Strength" will improve your performance and your outlook in the gym. It is a complete reference for the technique, and the purpose, of all the important barbell movements. It is well written, clear, and thorough. Highly recommended.

Would recommend this book to anyone that wants to give a gift to a girl.

I bought this for my granddaughter who is almost sixteen. She loves it and has found many ideas for fun activities this summer.

I bought these books for my granddaughters. I saw this book at a baby shower and could not put it down. My only regret is that these books do not come with a jacket cover and one book was torn on the front edge of the book.

My nine year old twin girls have this and the dangerous book for boys as well. Both are well-loved, but the hit fraction is perhaps a bit higher on topics in the boys' book. I say ignore the gender and let the kids have fun.

I LOVE THIS BOOK!! It reminds me so much of my childhood. I bought it for myself, but had a wonderful time sharing it with my Nanny (my grandmother.) Although I'm pretty yound and my Nanny is pretty old, we both had fun reading through this book and remembering the things we did when we were little! This is a great book for a mother and daughter or a grandmother and granddaughter to share, and will be charrished for years and years!

This is a regurgitation of Pete Sampras' career as he saw it. This is not an in depth analysis. For example, no mention of his first two girlfriends that traveled with him extensively. Nor, is it substantially in depth on match play, a point her or there but generally an overview of the match with many matches in important tournaments skipped completely.

But what this book does perfectly is a general perspective of Pete's influences, how he developed and also how hurt he was by some of what the press said. How would you like to turn the TV on and listen to an announcer call your wife the Yoko Ono of tennis?

What comes through loud and clear is this is a class, quiet guy with a passion and ability for tennis. And that was enough for him. Unfortunately, it was not enough for Connors and McEnroe who at different times felt they needed to take shots at him.

Now, I must admit I am a big Pete Sampras fan so maybe the bar is lower for me. But reading the flow of his development and career, his great parental influence, and the setting of his career makes this a worthwhile book if you have any interest in tennis at all. I strongly recommend this book for tennis fans.

This was a great book, I bought it for my husband who is a big Sampras fan, but I read it, and it was great! He did a great joy talking about his life and his family.

This book is everything most sports autobiographies are not. It's well written, interesting, revealing and honest. The title says it all - the reader is taken on a journey into the mind of a champion. It might be debatable whether Sampras was the most talented player of his generation but it is undisputed that he made the most of what he had, and this book shows you how he did it.

Sampras doesn't engage in any false modesty, cheap shots, boring self-promotion or irrelevant ramblings. He takes to the task of writing about his life in tennnis with the focus, skill and execution that befits a man who was the world's #1 ranked tennis player for 6 straight years.

I haven't read a better sports autobiography.

This book was by far the greatest tennis book i have read yet. It sends not only a message to tennis players about the physical aspect of the game, but the tremendous mentality you must posess in order to make it to where Pete did. He did a great job of laying that on the table and i believe this book can help out even our top notch players today by taking a look at the game through Petes great career. He doesnt try to beat around the bush or be modest, he tells it how it is and i think many will benefit from that. This is a great book not for just Sampras fans, but anybody looking to taking their game to the next and most important step; getting the mentality down. It helps you look at things differently on and off the court to better yourself. Would recommend to anyone!

Pete Sampras' "A Champion's Mind" is indeed a 15th grand slam.

It never ceases to amaze me how generally people that move quiet, are soft spoken and calm are, turn to be the best writers, authors and talkers. Sampras' may have got a bit of help from his editor, but still it is impressive how relaxing and smooth this book can be... pretty much as his tennis was.

It is an interesting read that I recommend not only to tennis fans but also to people that are into knowing what is it that spins around the brain of successful people: from their first steps, through their growth, their falls, their peaks and finally their retirement. Pete basically gets naked on subjetcs as his family, coaches, trainers, friends, competitors, basically everything he never talked about during his days on the tour.

Another fun point worth every penny is Sampras' sarcastic sense of humour. Sometimes I felt I was reading something written by Conan O'Brien or David Letterman. Probably it is because as I said earlier you have this serious, non-emotional guy telling you this unexpected line at a very uptight situation. One example is what Sampras thought when he met Bridgette Wilson (whoever read the book will know what I'm taking about).

Objetive and no auto-flattering behavior, Sampras shows respect for himself, his peers and his predecesors as well as the new school of tennis players. One thing I would really like to ask Pete is why he placed Ivan Lendl as one of the GOAT, instead of perhaps the one player people relate him most -Pancho Gonzales-; the others named I agree. From my read, it seemed like Sampras had a bit more of respect for Lendl because of Ivan being so friendly and helpful to him during his first days on the tours. Who knows. After all, a few chapters into the book you realize that Pete is human, has a heart, has feelings and emotions, and may be a little subjective at times. Yet I wouldn't argue with him as I'm not even a Pro Tennis Player.

A Champion's Mind deserves 5 stars and no less, because it delivers what it says and it delivers what people would always expect from Pete Sampras: nothing else but 100% high quality.

This concept is reminiscent of George Plimpton's "Paper Lion," but Fatsis takes the idea to a whole different level. He's not just an observer but a real participant, going through the stress and strain of trying to make an NFL team. He gives you a greater appreciation for how hard these guys work, and how despite all that effort, the difference between success and failure is so slim. It's a great story told by a talented writer.

From James Thurber to George Plimpton, literature has often focused upon the dreamer, the man who contemplates an imaginary moment in the spotlight. Plimpton, the late journalist and editor, made a cottage industry of living the dream of sports in baseball, golf, football, boxing and hockey. PAPER LION, his account of training camp with the Detroit Lions, is considered by many to be one of the classic sports books of all time.

A FEW SECONDS OF PANIC by Stefan Fatsis brings readers once again to the training camp world of professional football. It is a world far different from 1963, when Plimpton spent his weeks with the Lions. Perhaps it is that difference that makes Fatsis's account so remarkable. Any sports fan who recalls professional football in the 1960s, when there were 12 teams and the NFL played second fiddle to major league baseball, can only be struck by how far the sport has come in the past four decades. The differences are remarkable and superbly enumerated by the author.

To be precise, it was not George Plimpton who pioneered the writer as athlete. Paul Gallico of the New York Daily News entered the boxing ring against Jack Dempsey and golfed against Bobby Jones. Regardless of who established the tradition, through his writing Fatsis is clearly the heir to the throne once occupied by Gallico and Plimpton.

Plimpton was able to masquerade as an NFL quarterback because he was over six feet tall. In the present-day NFL only one position, kicker, is available to a man 5-feet-8-inches tall. It makes for interesting reading because looking at professional football from the viewpoint of the kicking game tells readers a great deal about the modern game.

At one time, NFL kickers were simply regular players who also could kick with a modicum of skill. Two of the all-time greatest kickers, George Blanda and Lou Groza, played regular positions as did Hall of Famer Paul Hornung. Even today, only one full-time kicker, Jan Stenerud, is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Fatsis shows readers how the kicking game is one specialized aspect of the various components of a professional football team. Working with the Denver Broncos and their outstanding kicker, Jason Elam, Fatsis learns how fleeting the life of a kicker can be. One bad kick at a crucial moment in a game can send a kicker to the ranks of the unemployed. Todd Sauerbrun, the Broncos punter, serves as an interesting foil to the Renaissance Man lifestyle of Jason Elam. Elam is an author, big-game hunter and pilot, while Sauerbrun cares for nothing other than punting the football. In his zeal to gain any physical advantage he can, the punter tests positive for a banned substance and is suspended for four games resulting in $325,000 in lost salary.

A FEW SECONDS OF PANIC is far more than a story about the players in the NFL. The league is its own society where teams must be created within a salary cap that sounds as complicated as any explanation of the Federal budget. Fatsis does an extraordinary job in explaining the machinations of the cap and how it affects the composition of a team. In Plimpton's era, players worked real jobs during the off-season and came to training camp to get in shape for the regular season. Now, players earning well into six figures and beyond work out, train and practice all year long. Training camp is for refinement, not for getting into shape for the season.

Fatsis has given football fans at all levels a wonderful look behind the curtain that is maintained by the National Football League to protect the image of its game. The NFL is a multi-billion dollar industry with its own television network. A FEW SECONDS OF PANIC is an even-handed and balanced look at what is today the greatest sports industry in the world. As teams report to training camp in preparation for the 2008 season, fans will want to read this book for the insight it offers into the world of professional football.

--- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman

This book ranks up there with the great books about pro football, like Instant Replay by Jerry Kramer. There are a lot surprises: NFL head coaches are even more cold-blooded than you thought; many of the players are surprisingly ambivalent about their profession; a lot of them don't make all that much money. The Broncos who talk to Fatsis are refreshingly thoughtful and articulate; Jake Plummer stands out as a man who's playing the game on his own terms, and leaves the game that way too. The only reason it doesn't rate five stars is that there is too much time spent on the nuances of kicking the football.

Fatsis is an amazing writer -- he is a master of detail and storytelling. When I opened this book I didn't think much about the kicking game in the NFL but I am now fascinated and will pay much more attention to FGs and XPs while watching games.

So why am I giving this only 4 stars? Fatsis genuinely lived the life of a kicker. Consequently, what resonates most in this book are his stories about kicking and the kicking game. Too often, "A Few Seconds of Panic" drifts into sections about the lives of all NFL players (and of athletes in general). The storytelling isn't as strong or insightful in these areas. It's good reporting but it doesn't put a smile on my face the way the kicking sections did. If Fatsis had narrowed the focus of his book to the kicking game (with more stories about and interviews with all of the oddball kickers the NFL has had through the years) he might have a classic on his hands.

I enjoyed it from beginning to end; I'm not a big NFL fan, but this made me look much more favorably on the NFL and at least some of the men who play in it. I will say this, though -- this book really shows how magnificent George Plimpton's Paper Lion is. Because if this is a 5-star book, and I believe it is, then Paper Lion is more like an 8.

My husband and I are planning a trip through the southwest this summer and found this to be very helpful in planning our trip. Also, learned of a few places we did not know about, that are close to home. Anyone who likes to travel should buy this book.

I was pretty harsh on Schultz's previous international edition of this book. So I am going to be a little nicer here and admit that the book is fun to read through and does let readers know about some great places to visit that they might otherwise have never heard of.

But the fact remains that Patricia Schultz is who she is, a snobby writer for Conde Nast Traveler magazine who has an intense obsession with fancy hotels, restaurants, spas and resorts that are out of the price range of most travellers. I also agree with the previous reviewer that the more you enclose yourself within the gated confines of luxury the less of an authentic travel experience you are likely to have.

I was especially upset by Schultz's international edition because it reinforced the notion, that too many Americans already have, that global travel is only possible for wealthy jetsetters. Instead the truth is that travel on a budget is available to everyone. And, in fact, many backpackers manage to spend a year or more travelling around places like Latin American and Southeast Asia for less then the costs of paying rent and bills at home. Of course, the declining U.S. dollar is making this harder to do now, but that's a whole other story.

I see Schultz's fascination with the lifestyles of the wealthy and fabulous to be slighty less problematic in this book because Americans and Canadians are generally more aware of domestic buget travel options as compared to travelling abroad. Still I think if Schultz focused a little less attention on the Hamptons and Palm Beach, on $700 hotels and $300 restaurants, then she might have been able to write a book that is more useful to the ordinary traveller.

I have an 'undying' love for some of the places listed in this tome... and have a greater appreciation of the diversity and complexity of America to the South. I was hoping to see more similar places and people listed for Canada... but perhaps that is too much to expect from an American Publication. With todays Gasoline prices, reading about those American destinations and searching for them on the Internet is perhaps the only travel my family and I are likely to launch into.

This book is great, but it is missing some key places to visit or see before you die. There are others places that do not validate why I should visit them. This book is a great guide, but do not use it as a "be all" bible type book.

1,000 places to go before I die? More like 1,000 spas and resorts and resturants. Big deal - the more money you spend, the bigger the wall you create between yourself and the local culture. Who wants to know about exotic resorts and five star restaurants? Don't tell me about the big ticket items! Tell me about quirky offbeat places with personality and charm, things I cant get anywhere else. Tell me about Hole in the Rock, UT. Tell me about The Last Stoplight on I-90. Tell me about a PLACE, not about how to spend money at generic locations.

Worthless.

I love sports. I love business, finance, and statistics. I've never been a baseball fan. This book was very well written to appeal to a very broad audience with a wide variety of backgrounds on the topic. The principle observations are delivered through expert story telling around very compelling central figures.

Without flowery language or paragraph after paragraph of adjectives - Lewis recounts experiences and conversations with such clarity that you can almost see, smell, and hear the scenes unfolding.

I won't look at baseball or the exploitation of market inefficiencies the same after having read this book. I'd recommend this book to anyone with intellectual curiosity.

So I'm a big fan of fantasy baseball. And for those that are as well, you know that playing the fantasy game changes the way you look at everything. Moneyball has the same effect. It just revolutionizes your outlook on the game of baseball. The "important" stats like RBIs and runs are replaced with really important ones, like OBP and pitches per at bat. No name guys like Scott Hatteberg become cogs that make teams great.

Michael Lewis crafts a book that is engaging on several levels -- to the baseball fan, the economist, and the statistician.

Ever wonder why we give more credit statistically to a guy that bloops a single just out of a poor fielder's reach vs. the guy that smashes a homerun, but is robbed by an amazing leaping catch? This book answers those sorts of questions. And it does so through the amazingly in depth looks at the mind of Billy Beane, the genius that built the A's, renowned for their ability to find talent that other teams miss.

I would highly recommend this book to any fan of baseball on any level. It's a truly great book, and one that will leave you feeling a bit like you stumbled upon a little known secret. You'll suddenly rush and start analyzing the latest pickups of your favorite team. You'll feel compelled to run out and follow the career of guys you'd never heard of before reading the book (and hint...they don't get on SportsCenter that often...). No regrets after reading this, and I promise it will be staying on my shelf for a long time.

Baseball is a game that nerds can really enjoy, largely because of the availability of abundant and meaningful statistics. Back in the 1970s the basic numbers could be obtained through books that were published every year, but a small group of super-geeks began looking more deeply into the mathematics of the game and developing their own metrics for rating players. These guys were mostly self-taught statisticians and motivated entirely by an obsessive passion for the game. I'm talking about people like Bill James, who a few decades ago was a security guard who began publishing really interesting and well-written analyses of baseball statistics in his famous Bill James Baseball Abstracts.

Of course baseball is also fun to watch, even for those who don't enjoy crunching numbers in their spare time. That's why it's a multibillion dollar business, and that's where the influence of the Jamesians gets really interesting. The thing is that for the sport's first 100 or so years the process of locating and recruiting talented players was based entirely on the gut instinct of the scouts employed by each team. These guys were mostly ex-players who made decisions based on notions that had nothing to do with (and often conflicted completely with) the available evidence. (The fact that the world is run almost entirely by people who think this way makes this book all the more insightful.)

Moneyball highlights the success of General Manager Billy Beane, who was able to run a very successful team for many years on a low budget by adapting the statistical approach. Interestingly, Beane was a player who was highly touted by the old-school scouts who employed the conventional criteria (which apparently amounted to something like imagining how the player would look on a baseball card). Beane's struggled throughout the 1990s to bring baseball into the 20th century, and he has had a substantial impact on the game, although any fan who watches the sport in 2008 will tell you that old habits die hard.

My 15 yr. old son is currently reading it. He can't put it down and he is not an avid reader. He is a baseball nut who not only follows the sport but plays it in high school and hopefully college in a few years. Everyone who catches a glimpse of him reading Moneyball raves about the book themselves. It's an A+ in this mom's book.

The first time I read this book I couldn't put it down from start to finish -- it was the book on the business of baseball that I had been waiting for but it was written in a narrative that draws you in, first to Billy Beane, then to the Oakland A's, then to the plight of baseball today.

In the years since I read this, many have cited Moneyball while building their franchises but have come to realize Beane is some sort of baseball divining rod.

Brilliant book if you are at all interested in a unique way of looking at baseball -- and management -- you won't see either the same way ever again.

Good book. Illustrates lots of techniques and tips. Still, it's always better to take lessons with a pro. Enjoyed the DVD extra.

Great book,the instructions are easy to follow and don't try to revamp your whole swing. I feel like I have cut at least a couple of strokes per round. I have a 9 handicap,but I am always looking for improvements.

It contains anything you need to improve your game if you are beginner to intermidate.

I am a beginner golfer. The book is very helpful. I checked out many different golf books, but this is the far better golf book with a lof of pictures. The pictures explain far better than expainning with a lof of words for beginners.

I have been playing golf for 2 months (took lessons,pored over videos on internet,read many books including Hogan's,Hank Haney's,Leadbetter's, read golf magazines such as Golf Digest and Golf Tips) and I would say this book is one I take to the practice range. At the end of each practice session,I write down a list of what went right and what went wrong. I then flip through the section that covers my problem (the book is well organized for that),learn the drill,fixes and comments on that. Next session,I implement it. It almost always helps.
2 points:Since still pictures and wording can leave a few things unclear, you might have to look up additional sources such as another book/video/professional once in a while. Secondly, as another reviewer noted, in one or two places in the book (of nearly 150 pages),there is what seems to be contradictory advice (one instructor says start high, another says low). In a few other places where you think the same thing's happening,upon careful reading,the shots are slightly different.
Overall, an excellent bargain. You can buy the book alone without DVD for less than 12 bucks. Even better deal as the DVD is limited.

Growing up in New Jersey during the '60s and '70s, the Yankees were my team and Bobby Murcer was my idol. I treasure my Murcer bat I got at the Stadium on Bat Day and remember crying my eyes out when he was traded to the Giants. For any Bobby Murcer fan (and any Yankee fan) this is a wonderful book. It's a quick read written without pretension by from a man who by all accounts was a very classy guy. It's clear from his book how much Murcer loved his wife, kids, baseball and the Yankees (not necessarily in that order.) Bobby may be gone and they gave Billy Martin his old uniform number, but Bobby Murcer will always be #1 in this fan's book. Read this book and you'll not only relive a lot of Yankee memories, but you'll be inspired! Rest in peace, Bobby.

I read the book shortly before Bobby Murcer's death and was impressed by his good nature, dignity and what has come to be known as "class". His love of family, baseball and the Yankees shines through every page. Diagnosed with a brain tumor on Christmas Eve, he never wallowed in self pity or bitterness. He was positive throughtout and, while he knew his life would be shortened by the disease, he never gave up and was an inspiration to others who were suffering from the same illness. If you are a baseball fan, or just a fan of nice people, you'll enjoy this book.

was a Chicago Cub for two seasons, during that part of his life he referred to as his "exile" from Yankee pinstripes. Near the end of his playing career, he was traded back to the Yankees for a short time before leaving the playing field for the broadcasting booth.

I was brought up to be a Cubs fan, a National League fan at a time when there were few inter-league games other than the World Series. I didn't know much of what was going on "on the other side" and knew of Murcer only as a Cub.

Reading his autobiography, shortly after hearing about his death from brain cancer, I was struck by what a complete life he lived in his 60 years. Not much was wasted, either in his professional or personal life.
He seemed to regret little in his life, other than his shilling for Big Tobacco. If at the end of the day, that's all that's regretted, then it was a life well-lived.

My condolences to his wife Kay and his family.

Having been a Bobby Murcer fan for my entire adult life, this book did nothing but reinforce that. While I was saddened to learn of his cancer and even more saddened by his recent death, this book provides insight into his fight, his attitude toward the disease, and the support he received from his family, his friends, and his faith. So, while it is not just a "sports" book, it does include numerous stories about his relationships with many greats of the game...both on the field and in the broadcast booth. It is in Bobby's down-home style..full of his sense of humor including asides to himself! On the baseball side, it is a memoir of his dedication to the team that originally signed him and the team he will be remembered most playing for...the Yankees.
Bottom line? Loved it, quick read, and a must for any Bobby Murcer fan!

Bobby Murcer begins the book with the shocking news he received on Christmas Eve 2006 that he had a brain tumor. He then tells his life story in an engaging "real-person" manner with just the right amount of detail.

There are occasional remarks reserved for his wife Kay, which adds another interesting perspective to Murcer's interesting career with the Yankees, Giants, Cubs, then Yankees again.

When Murcer goes into greater depth regarding the removal of his tumor and the extensive treatments for his brain cancer, it's as if the reader can hear him speaking. He never complains about the fatal hand he has been dealt, and closes the book on an upbeat note. A truly courageous man.