5 comments about Hello, He Lied: And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches.

1. "Hello, He Lied" is a Hollywood book that bridges the gap to become a mainstream read. I originally picked it up to learn more about the reality of life in Hollywood, for women and otherwise, but I got an easy-to-read Hollywood book that tackles general business and life issues in an amusing way.
   
   Obst tone is that of a Hollywood outsider with insider information. She has a sense of humor about the nature of her work, her business, and her industry associates. When she tells stories of her experience, she has a sarcastic wit that gives people hope that not everyone in Hollywood has lost touch with reality. In fact, her family life remains one of her utmost priorities.
   
   In sum, her book was what I wanted it to be: A light-hearted, insightful look at producer's role with life and business gems a long the way.



2. Sorry guys, but I was unfortunate enough to have bought this book years ago from some hollywood bookclub I can't even remeber anymore, but this is THE MOST SUCK UP book, on how to make it in Hollywood that I ever had the time to waste reading. Do yourself a HUGE FAVOR and take her advice with CAUTION--PLEASE!
   
   
   
   For the most part I simply felt her advice was outright--dishonest in a way...Tip-toe here...Compromise there...For what?
   
   
   
   Talking about sucking up, she mentioned a pitch session she had with David Geffen, who wasn't even listening to her. After she was done he simply said to her, "You know, you'd be more attractive if you had some collogen shots." Obst's response? "What did he mean?" IT WAS OBVIOUS THIS MAN WAS BEING RUDE! Obst wasn't even honest enough to admitt that!
   
   
   
   You want to learn the business and how to break in with at least half a chance on developing enough clout to call a shot? Consult with the INDUSRY HERETICS and PROFESSIONAL MAVERICKS! Obst is doing nothing but rehashing COMMON WISDOM a zillion different ways. The answer is not in COMMON HOLLYWOOD WISDOM.
   
   You learn the RULES then BREAK THEM!



3. Ms. Obst has written a delightful book filled with many lessons about how to get complicated projects completed, something she's expert at accomplishing. This book has applications for most complex business projects, and also for building a career. Obst knows how to get over hurdles, deal with interference, hang in for the long haul, and keep the project moving along despite all the difficulties that come with big dollar, competitive deals.
   
   It's one of the few excellent business books I've ever read (including the ones I had to read in business school). Even though it's centered on the movie business, the author has shared many nuggets that are relevant to all kinds of endeavors. Very high recommendation! Plus it's quite entertaining from start to finish.
   
   P.S. The negative comments of some reviewers are a mystery to me. Complaints about "Hollywood movies" (whatever that stereotype means), and unsettling business practices are common enough feelings, but these feelings are not sufficient as critiques of Hello He Lied. If you truly want to learn more about how big deals are done, read this book.



4. HELLO HE LIED is written by Lynda Obst one of the top female producers in Hollywood. (I only say female because she does talk about the challenges of being a woman in Hollywood). Her films include such classics as THE FISHER KING, SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE and CONTACT. She lives in Los Angeles and Texas -- which should give you a hint already that it's important to get some distance now and then (and maybe more) from TWINKLETOWN -- I MEAN TINSELTOWN. Her advice to NEVER GO TO A MEETING WITHOUT A STRATEGY is one we all should remember. All too often we worry about our powerpoint or our clothes or our car-- and not the strategy and outcome we want. IT's this good common sense business stuff that makes Lynda's book different from so many schmoozerama books -- how to schmooze and meet and network with Moguls in Hollywood. All too often MAGIC is associated with Hollywood movies and dealmakings and Lynda lets you know that it's not magic but good hard work and a thick SKIN. She also mentions Yoga and has a bit of a zen approach to all of this that makes us realize it ain't brain surgery! Her chapter on the TAO of Power and her description of how the film THE HOT ZONE did/didn't get made is fascinating....what a smart lady this is. If you are a woman you'll like the section called CHIX IN FLIX...oh you don't need any more recommenation-- just buy it - used or new-- I don't know why it took me so long to read it....BUT DO IT -- all of life is Hollywood in some way now -- ie American Idol etc.



5. Lynda Obst uses her experience as an accomplished film producer to explain to new people how to make it in Hollywood. She hits every topic right on the head. I have experienced the same things in getting my films made, particularly The Indie Pendant. All of her info can used by anyone wanting to become a filmmaker. The chapter on figuring out which way the horse is headed was probably the best chapter I have ever read on getting things done in Hollywood. Look for all of this info and more during The Indie Film Hour on World Talk Radio. Hosted by myself. www.vdefilms.com

5 comments about The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton.

1. Joe Klein takes a detailed, dispassionate look at the Clinton Presidency. He takes great pains to put it in perspective, both generational (Baby Boomers take over from the WWII Generation) and international (pre-9/11). He acknowledges that it took Clinton a while to get a handle on being President, and bemoans how much was opportunity was squandered because of the President's own failings. Yes, Klein opines (and I agree) that Bill Clinton is one of the most staggeringly bright and naturally gifted men to ever hold the White House. But he also nails Clinton on character issues, even beyond Monica Lewinsky (once referring to the President as "a bimbo when he comes to flattery"). When you're done with the book, you appreciate all the nuanced things Clinton accomplished, but you're heartbroken over what he could have done, if not for the inexcusable distractions.



2. This short, fast-moving book on Bill Clinton forsakes a historian's detailed and measured treatment to get at the essence of this man's presidency. Because it's more like a magazine article than a doorstop, you're likely to actually read it, maybe in one sitting.
   
   The book has become timely again, in light of Hillary Clinton's presidential bid. The "Hillaryland" liberal faction split the White House of her husband, elected as a "Third Way" moderate. Her premature insistence on addressing health care was the most grievous policy error of her husband's presidency. And Hillary's unbelievably complicated proposal, concocted in secret, showed no political sense. Aides described how Hillary could drive Bill, with a phone call, from a good mood to a staff-chastising tantrum, and how they distinguish those tantrums by the tone of his shouting.
   
   She comes across as the more conspiratorial and paranoid of the two, an uncompromising liberal true-believer pursuing a scorched-earth policy against enemies. Sort of like, uh, that president she helped impeach, Richard Nixon. You wonder how she, and this country, would fare with her in the Oval Office.
   
   Klein does not see this as a sham marriage, though. While ever aware they might be playing him, he sees them as devoted to each other.
   
   One of his best chapters describes how Washington's culture of political warfare began with Watergate, intensified through the endless Iran-Contra investigations and the attack-ad era and culminated in the Gingrich speakership and the relentless Whitewater, Paula Jones and Lewinsky investigations.
   
   Clinton failed his potential for several reasons. The placid Nineties were too tame for a truly great presidency. After the healthcare miscalculation, he never seized another opportunity to remake major domestic policy. And the impeachment scandal fatally distracted him in 1998 when he had the budget surplus and standing with Congress to make a real mark by fixing Social Security.
   
   Like a charcoal sketcher, Klein has a fine eye for quick but telling detail. He sees Clinton as needy of praise and human contact. He'd keep dazed listeners awake into the wee hours, talking more and more intensely, unwilling to let the moment go.
   
   Klein describes bowling with him one midnight just before the New Hampshire primary, after the candidate enters but finds the emptied-out joint devoid of hands to shake. Klein, awaiting his turn in the lane, would find Clinton standing so close he pressed up against him, seeming to crave human contact. Clinton's intense but flawed humanity is what makes him interesting, and endlessly so.



3. The book shows that a journalist wrote it. That wasn't meant to be as backhanded as it seems. The stories about Clinton et al are those we can recall, this isn't a back room exposé full of conspiracy theory.
   A good journalist (at least) writes as if he has something to tell you. Only in the last chapter does Klein really subject the reader to an opinion piece.
   If you were alive at all for the eight years of Clinton's presidency then...no, none of this is really "new" or "insightful" but I, for one, found it none the less interesting.



4. I have to admit that Klein's book about the Clinton presidency is one of the most objective accounts of Clinton I have ever seen. Although friendly with the ex-prez, Klein pulls no punches and presents Clinton's presidency warts and all. In the end we all know what Clinton did, but Klein gives us more insight as to the "whys" of his actions. Is Clinton the greatest president of all time? No. Is he the worst? Not even close. If all books on presidents were written as objectively as this one, we would all have a better understanding of what makes these men tick.
   Is Clinton a better president than W? You tell me: peace and prosperity vs. war, a declining stock market, and skyrocketing gas prices.



5. I got the impression that Mr. Klein just threw together a bunch of odds & ends he had left over from another book and notes -- the way they made the movie "Midway" out of edit-outs from "Tora, Tora, Tora!"

5 comments about The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty.

1. Very well-done and ambitiously-scoped biography of the Bush family, as well as the Walkers they intermarried with a few generations back to form what we know as the Bush `dynasty' today (although the Bushes themselves hate that word). Not biased for or against the family either way, it manages to be very thorough and completely devoid of political judgment, yet full of valuable personal and political detail from an historical point of view.
   
   It's always difficult for biographers to decide exactly where to begin, but to best tell the story of the Bushes they began four generations back, with Samuel Prescott Bush, who was George Sr's grandfather and the son of a clergyman. There are many, many branches of the Bush family tree, but the Schweizers concentrate, naturally, on the direct line of Bushes who ended up in American politics. I value the personal details most of all, since I always find those the most interesting. For instance, the Bush men don't inherit the bulk of their wealth (and their wealth is not as extensive as most probably think). Rather, each is expected to make his own way, which is why they all ended up in different industries: manufacturing, railroads, steel, oil, etc. They do, of course, have the advantage of name and connections and make full use of that; they just don't inherit a big pot of money when they turn a certain age.
   
   I really enjoyed the in-depth look of the very different personalities of the Bushes, particularly the reserved George Sr., the aggressive, focused W., and the ambitious, conflicted Jeb, as well as some of the Bush women - Dottie (George Sr's mother), Barbara, and Laura. One of the most poignant details, to me, was the story of how Barbara Bush ended up with the snowy white hair everyone lambasted her for because she looked more like George's mother than his wife. Apparently they had a daughter, Robin, who was born a few years after W. While still a toddler she was diagnosed with advanced leukemia, and from diagnosis to death she lived about eight months - never improving at all, just dying a slow and painful death. It was over those eight months of watching her daughter die that Barbara's hair turned from dark auburn to completely white. When George began his first forays into politics she did heed the advice of PR people and tried to color it, but the dye wouldn't take and ended up running down her face and neck, at which point she stopped trying. It must have felt to her like a badge and constant reminder of the terrible pain she endured during that time as a young mother. Very sad.
   
   The husband-and-wife team of Peter and Rochelle Schweizer do an excellent job of bringing this very large and tightly-knit family to life, not an easy to thing to do given the size of the family and their reticence at talking very much about themselves. As biographies go it's one of the better ones I've read.



2. I generally read more on business and technology but picked up a copy of this book just to get an idea of Bush's background.
   
   I agree with one of the reviewers that it's hard to write an unbiased book on such a political topic. The book is certainly pro-Bush but gives a glimpse into the generations of the political dynasty.
   
   Two key takeaways from the book:
   * Oil is certainly in the family, perhaps the reason why the President focuses on energy as a means of National Security.
   * The power of the Yale Cosa Nostra, and the Skull and Bones Society...repeated in several chapters



3. Schweizer continues to flog his breathless admiration of everyone wealthy, Republican and corrupt.
   
   Schweizer utterly fails to address the Bushes' multifarious connections to both Organized Crime and to the Nazi Party. After all, when Schweizer refers to a "company headed by Prescott Bush", he neglects to address the fact that that company was the Union Banking Corporation which invested in Nazi industrialization and profited from slave labor at Auschwitz. (See John Loftus's books, if you doubt this.)
   
   And, when he says that Prescott Bush was defeated because of smears of being "for" birth control, Schweizer fails to note that the Senator was a charter member of the International Eugenics League - a group that does NOT promote "birth control" but one that, rather, promotes the sterilization of the illegal, the immoral, the disadvantaged, the poor, the needy and the retarded, and practically every other social group that was deemed unfit for inclusion in the Bushes' "polite society".



4. Peter and Rochelle Schweizer, the authors of The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty, claim to have relied mainly on interviews with friends and family members of George W. and George H. W. Bush for their information. The authors' politics apparently leans to the right, judging from the recent release of a new book by Schweizer about the hypocrisy of liberals. And yet, The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty, while hardly a brutal attack on the family, does not leave the reader with a very positive view of the Bushes.
   
   George H. W. comes across as an ambitious man who schmoozed his way into jobs, and who worked hard, but who had no big goals he wanted to accomplish. He famously acknowledged that he lacked "the vision thing." He seemed to be absent as a father, but that wasn't unusual in those days. Still, for a man who claimed to prize loyalty and family above all, it was unforgivable for him to miss George W.'s graduation from Yale. His father's absence at the ceremony was a big disappointment to George W., according to this book, so it seems even stranger that he too would miss his own daughters' graduations.
   
   George W., in this book, comes across as a rude, foul-mouthed, ruthless politician who learned the family business while acting the heavy during his father's administration. He also learned that the press was the enemy and that his father wasn't tough enough. His behavior while he was drinking was irresponsible, but after he stopped drinking and found religion, he didn't seem to be any more pleasant to be around. He still mocked friends as well as perceived enemies and was strident about his religious beliefs.
   
   I'll admit that I skipped most of the parts about the generations before George H. W., but the sections on the two presidents, plus Jeb and the other brothers, make up for the boring spots. The women are glossed over, not because of the authors' bias, but because women are only for support in this family. Barbara burst out of that role and upstaged her husband, but it is unlikely that Laura will do anything like that. And the lone sister, Doro, makes no mark at all.
   
   Portrait of a Dynasty is an enjoyable read, and I have only one quibble. There is too much repitition. In one paragraph, Laura is described first as "shy," then as "reluctant,", and finally as "shy and reluctant." Maureen Dowd's on-again, off-again e-mail correspondence with George H. W. is mentioned several times. This sort of thing happens throughout the book. Other than that, I recommend the book to Bush fans and non-fans alike.



5. Biographies of prominent individuals or families are generally researched studies that give us a deeper look into the subjects. But this tale of the Bush family is a flawed skimming of all the questions that ought to be explored. We get little in the way of serious personal portrait of family individuals and especially the two President Bushes. Instead a sugarcoated story that excuses all their bad behavior and poor decisions almost without exception is served up in a manner designed, but failing, to evoke admiration. It reminds one of those complimentary biographies that CEOs pay to have written. It further always assumes that the reader will agree with the Bushes political actions leading you to conclude that no serious scholarship was intended by this work. The only accurate description would be that it is shallow, like the Bushes.

5 comments about Robert Kennedy: His Life.

1. The book is okay. It is that simple. The prose are incoherent and it is very hard to tell who or what the subject of the sentence is. He tries to be far too clever with his sentence structure which results in being forced to read a sentence several times, sometimes understanding what he's talking about the fifth time, sometimes still confused but forced to move on
   The most prominent of my complaints is that he is so repetitious. He will use the same adjectives to describe the same person over and over in almost identical sentences which begs the question: How long would this book be if he didn't repeat himself?
   My final complaint is that he will write ad nauseam about the most mundane events and details and will examine the motives and come to a verdict while repeating the evidence almost verbatim to what he just wrote the paragraph before.
   I haven't read another book on Bobby so I cannot compare it to other Bobby-books. However, since I was born in the eighties and did not live during all of this, it is new information and basically the only fact I can't give this a lower grade is because the information itself propels the book into mediocrity.



2. I was so looking forward to listening to this book and so frustrated with the outcome.
   
   That part that I did listen to was written well but read poorly. Attempting to mimick the voice of Kennedy (and others) grows so old so quickly one would have thought it would have captured the eye of an editor sooner rather than later. But never? Alas, apparently that was not in anyone's job description.
   
   If you must do anything buy the printed version.



3. Although I was only 7 years old when he died I have talked to many people about the passion they felt for Bobby. Boy, could we use someone like that now. Although the book does not shy away from his sometime machiavellian tactics, it shows a person who was so affected by tragedy that he really cared. I see film clips of when he visited Buffalo, and the entire Niagara Square was packed with tens of thousands of people. I cannot think of anyone, short of the Bills after a super bowl win, that would garner that much enthusiasm. Evan Thomas captures that and draws the reader in. I actually felt empty when finishing the book and sad that I could think of no one today that could fill that void. Thomas also through thorough research seems to dispel the popular myth of Bobby as a womanizer. He was actually a devoted family man haunted by his brothers death but loyal to wife and children. Not so with Jack. When Bobby was in Indianapolis about to speak before a black audience it was announced that Martin Luther King had just been killed. He discarded his planned speech and relayed his own feelings of how he felt when his brother Jack was killed. It was totally ad-libbed and from the heart. Indianapolis was one of the few major cities not to erupt in violence. I wonder how different this country might be had he the opportunity to serve us.



4. Evan offers much insight into an unfinished life. He meets the mark of a good biographer; as a history this is a well-balanced read.
   
   Bobby once famously said: "Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator. And change has its enemies". Mr. Thomas has done a commendable job of tracking that change, speaking to the better known facets of Bobby's personal as well as political evolution. Evan's book captures the antecedents: his awkwardness as a young Kennedy; the shadow, and then death of, his brother Jack; the opportunities to question the rigidity of his Catholic faith; his decision to align himself with McCarthy (Joe not Gene). These alternately help set the foundation for the evolution of Bobby from FDR politician to modern-day progressive. These help explain what caused a 1950's era government attorney concerned about Comintern penetration of the State Department to become a proponent of the United Farmworkers in its most radical years. Or those changes that caused the one-time skeptic of Martin Luther King to become one of his most ardent political champions.
   
   Evans provides the rationale for the enmity shared by various mobsters, LBJ, and even Roy Cohn. His rationale is this: Bobby cared. Evans touches us when he describes Bobby as a man who strived to live lives as others did. The description of Bobby's pain witnessing the utter poverty of rural blacks in the 1960's Mississippi delta is palpable and authentic. But Bobby was also a shrewd strategist, adapting to a time when the solid south was no longer the dependable, conservative counterweight of the Democratic Party fulcrum, and the campus was no longer the only forum in America for frank discussion of problems in America. Bobby was not an opportunist, but he was a political realist, and in the days leading up to the '68 convention Bobby reflected not simply the changes occurring within the antiwar movement or the modern-day Democratic Party, but also those changes occurring all across America at that time.
   
   Would Bobby have turned around a country that was heading down a path of "secret plans" to end the Vietnam War, Watergate, "Trickle Down" economics and South American puppeteering? Evan Thomas to his credit wrote a book about an unfinished life, and a good one at that. But for those interested in what might have been, that's a different book.



5. The life and times of Robert Kennedy beg for a coherent and in depth book .... unfortunately this is not it. Living in the shadow of his presidential brother, the shadow of his oldest brother killed in WWII and the all encompassing shadow of his father, RFK was able to chisel out an identity of his own in US history before his tragic death. Hoping to gain some understanding/insight of/into this man's character and evolution from a sullen child to presidential candidate and everything in between, and a chonology of such things as his involvement in the US civil rights movement, McCarthyism, Cuba (Bay of Pigs and The Missle Crisis) and his relationship in the White House with his brother JFK... I was greatly disappointed. A glaring hole in this book is any serious treatment of RFK and Vietnam. What the book does contain are snippets, quotes and anecdotes, some mildly interesting, (i.e. RFK's role in the release of Martin Luther King from prison), without any cohesiveness and very little context. And although many of the conclusions reached in this volume are valid they are simply not borne out here. The book's attempt to cover significant parallel events is at best confusing and there is also an alarming amount of armchair psychology. I hate to be so hard nosed but the subject deserves much better than this book.

5 comments about Otto of the Silver Hand: Library Edition.

1. for the student that is studying middle ages. A story of loss, revenge, and forgiveness. We read this together as a family for our unit study on the Middle Ages.



2. Howard Pyle is one of my favorite authors, as he has splendid archaic English prose and beautful illustrations in all of his books. Otto of the Silver Hand is no exception, and is rather a devation from his normal books. Unlike Robin Hood and His Merry Men, his King Arthur books, or Men in Iron, this book has few battle scenes and is mostly about character development and the setting of the Middle Ages. It tells the story of Otto, the young son of a robber baron, who grows up in a monestary and is thrust out into the world. He finds it a cruel place, and much evil comes to him. Meanwhile, Pyle is through the whole book trying to show that strength of character is stronger than strength of sword, and that the silver hand is more desirable than the iron fist. It is a wonderful book, with wonderful illustrations by Pyle himself. I definitely recommend this, as well as Pyle other works.
   
   Overall grade: A.



3. Do you want an historically accurate and masculine story? This isn't it. If you want a fun story with swoopingly goopy prose and fantastic illustrations, this is it. I wouldn't call on Otto to save me from a burning building, but I like his drooling story and Howard Pyle's ridiculously awesome sketches.



4. As an elementary and junior high school teacher, I have read and re-read hundreds of the best children's books, scores of them aloud to my classes. In my opinion "Otto of the Silver Hand" is the most perfect book ever written for children. The story is engaging and inspiring, the flavor of the middle ages comes through in the language, and the illustrations are classic. This is a book no 9 to 14-year-old child should miss, and it is a rewarding read also for any thoughtful adult who has an interest in history or literature.



5. There are many reviews that describe how wonderful this book is, which it truly is. However, there are phrases and words out of use, such words as dost, thou, weasand, and phrases such as "mare's egg". More importantly, there are many gaps in the book that all but the most precocious 8 year old reader will not be able to cross, leaving them lost in the story. It might work to read to younger children and explain the gaps, but certainly not to 4 year olds.

   I can only describe this book as being written out of love, though modern readers may object to absolute "goods" that are identified in the book. Two are the monastery and the King. The later is much the same as the Disney/Grim's fairy tales ilk.

   There is a fair amount of implied violence in the book, though only one explicit scene comes to mind, when the father, to save the life of his son, sacrifices himself to his arch enemy.

5 comments about At The Altar Of Speed.

1. I haven't been much of a NASCAR fan, but after listening to AT THE
   ALTAR OF SPEED: THE FAST LIFE AND TRAGIC DEATH OF
   DALE ERNHARDT by Leigh Montville, I just might change
   my mind.
   
   This is a very exciting tale of Ernhardt, a ninth-grade dropout who
   went through two marriages and a strong of no-future jobs before
   turning 25 . . . he then became a legendary champion, only to
   die in a 2001 crash.
   
   Montville interviewed many close to Ernhardt, and it shows . . . I got
   a real feeling for the man, as well as for his role in the tremendous
   growth of the sport . . . though I still might not run to watch the
   Daytona 500 or any other race on TV, I will not at least appreciate
   all that the drivers have to go through to even enter the event.



2. Biography on one of if not the best driver in NASCAR history. Montville walks the reader through the triumphs and defeats of Earnhardt Sr. through his racing career and establishment of DEI. He concludes with the legacy of the "intimidator" after his untimely death at the 2001 Daytona 500. Well written book that only introduces the reader to the Earnhardts.



3. Scott Stout, I bet you didn't even read the book. Don't go bashing it just because you are not an Earnhardt fan. Folks are growing tired of your reviews, look how many find them helpful! (SS, WMD).



4. I just finished this book, and I absolutely loved it. It had me laughing, crying, and everything in between. I'm an avid NASCAR fan, and Dale Earnhardt is and will always be my favorite driver. I am following the path of his son, and I have also read Driver #8. Both books are fantastic, and a lot of fun to read. Very hard for me to put down!



5. It's obvious that this book was written by an (admitted) outsider to NASCAR. After finishing the book, I felt like Leigh Montville sat around listening to stories about Dale and then decided to write a book about those stories. I'm sorry, but I feel like the only reason this book was written was for compensatory reasons.

   In one section, Mr. Montville writes that whereas other NASCAR drivers said that they were friends with Dale, Dale did not feel that they were his true friends (saying that you would always see them hang out at his trailer, but you would not see him hanging out at theirs). Dale did admittedly hang out with other drivers (outside of race weekends) and go vacationing, hunting, and fishing with them.

   Being a huge NASCAR fan, I was overall very disappointed with this book (though I did enjoy the section about Dale and Neil Bonnett). If you want a brief overview of Dale's life, then this may be the book for you. If you want to find out the real/more in depth story, then I would suggest you buy a book from an author who either really knew Dale personally or has spent most of their life affiliated with NASCAR. That's what I plan to do.

No comments about Mark It and Strike It: Steve Allen Reads His Autobiography.

5 comments about Ten Rings: My Championship Seasons.

1. This is great book to read if you love the pre-Steinbrenner Yankees of Mantle, Berra, and Ford. Yogi
   gives a simple (what else would you expect?) description of the glory days of baseball before big money. I loved the book! If you are a Yankee fan you can't afford not to read this one. Spend the money and sit back and
   let Yogi tell you what it was like to be young and a Yankee!



2. YOGI BERRA DOES A FIND JOB IN REHASHING EACH OF HIS 10 WORLD SERIES VICTORIES. HE GIVES US A LOOK AT HOW THE SEASON WENT, ADDITION OR SUBTRACTION OF KEY PLAYERS, AND SOME DETAILED HIGHLIGHTS OF THAT PARTICULAR SEASON. I ENJOYED HIS HUMOR AND HONESTY CONCERNING HIMSELF AND MANY TEAMATES. THE ONLY THING I WANTED WAS MORE DETAIL ON THE EVENTS HE COVERS. ALL IN ALL THIS IS A VERY EASY BOOK TO READ AND IS VERY ENTERTAINING. FOR ALL YANKEE FANS.



3. If you are a sports fan, baseball fan, Yankees fan, or a Yogi fan this book won't disappoint. The book chronicles the tough, unlikely hero over his career in his words. In many ways Yogi was the bridge between the "old" Yankees (Di Maggio, etc.) and the Mantle / Maris Yankees and beyond. Great book! Fun read!



4. I feel that I can make the claim that Yogi Berra is the most beloved living baseball player, without the same sort of argument I would get if I happened to be making a claim about the greatest living baseball player (Mays or Bonds or Aaron?) or the most admired living baseball player (Musical or Ryan or Aaron?). But who else brings a big smile to your face when you see him still doing commercials on television almost four decades after he retired from playing baseball?

   "Ten Rings: My Championship Seasons" was written by Yogi with Dave Kaplan, a former newspaper reporter who is currently the director of the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, and you have the sense that Yogi was looking at his scrap books and press clippings talking about what he remembers from each of the ten seasons in which he and the Yankees won the World Series. Yogi also comments on the four years the Yankees lost the Fall Classic and the three years they did not even win the American League pennant, but the focus is mainly on what those ten seasons that ended with him receiving one of his "Ten Rings."

   I have read most of the books by and about Yogi since I was given a copy of Joe Trumbell's biography in the mid-1960s, and I was rather surprised by how many new stories Yogi came up with for this trip down memory lane. Especially interesting "Ten Rings" are what he has to say about Casey Stengle during the 1949-53 seasons when the Yankees became the first team to win five World Series in a row, and his thoughts about the Brooklyn Dodgers during all their classic confrontations in the 1950s. He also provides some nice details on the end of Allie Reynolds's second no-hitter in 1951. Some readers might be dismayed that Berra has little bad to say about his teammates and opponents, although I think it is clear he felt about Yankee GM George Weiss the way many feel about the team's owner George Steinbrenner today, but clearly Yogi is long past holding grudges. He talks about some of the abuse heaped on him in the early days of his major league career and speaks modestly about his own impressive career accomplishments.

   If you read between the lines the key thing you will pick up is the sense of teamwork and professionalism that existed on the Yankees during the Berra years. This book will be of some value to baseball historians in that it contains Yogi's thoughts on the key players in each championship season as well as some interesting anecdotes that show a different side of the Yankees. For example, Mickey Mantle thought calling pitches was not that hard so Yogi lets him do it during a game Whitey Ford is pitching. Then there is rookie Gil McDougald making a point to veteran pitcher Allie Reynolds. So there are a few choice tales in this rather brief book.

   In the fifth grade there were three of us with the same first name and since I had a catcher's mitt, I spent a year as Yogi. It did not matter that Yogi had already retired and that I had never seen him play. I liked New York as a city and the Yankees in the Civil War, so becoming a New York Yankees fan seemed like a good idea. The fact that they had a catcher with basically the same first name and a last name starting with the same three letters as my own, was too obvious to ignore. Since then I have become much more impressed by what Berra did on the field, much more than the celebrated Yogi-isms (although I love the way the best of those make perfect sense if you pay attention to what is meant rather than what is being said). Clearly I am at the point where I will read anything Yogi happens to write, and while we are not talking classic baseball books, you are not going to be disappointed by "Ten Rings" or any of his other volumes.

   Final Notes: Yes, the page numbers are superimposed on a miniature image of Yogi's ring for that particular championship season. Also, I find it somewhat ironic that the cover is done in a layout rather reminiscent of the 1965 Topps baseball cards, which was the first year in which Yogi was pictured as a player-coach for the New York Mets. The back of "Ten Rings" has an Appendix listing Yogi Berra's World Series Career Records along with his season and post-season batting stats along with line scores for all of the World Series games for those ten championship seasons.




5. This light reminiscence of Yogi's ten championship seasons is a quick, pleasant read. Like a fleshed out magazine article, perhaps, it touches on a bit of history, a few sketches of famous teammates, and a recounting of the high spots of this charming hall of famer's career. A good choice for the younger fan with no memory of the game as it was in a simpler time.

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1 comments about MY NAME IS MARY A MEMOIR BY MARY FISHER.

1. This audio book was fantastic. It is included on my short list of audio books that I've listened to more than once. But the book was published in 1996, can anyone tell me what has happened to Mary Fischer since then?

   Why did I like the book so much? It was well-written. Read by the author, it was sincere and heartfelt. Mary Fischer's life has been filled with many challenges. The listener may have experienced some of these challenges: life with an alcoholic parent, marital problems and divorce, lack of recognition at work, dealing with a deadly disease. But whether the listener has first-hand experience with a particular problem or not, Mary's narrative will pull at your heart, put you in her shoes, make your heart beat a little quicker at the tense moments, bring a lump to your throat at others.

   I listened to this book during a week that I was particularly down about my long commute and work situation. I couldn't have made a better choice. I wish Mary Fischer well and thank her for sharing her story.