5 comments about Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six Mit Students Who Took Vegas for Millions.

1. I liked the story behind what these kids did. It was exciting and scandolous. I didn't like the actual people in the story. Most of them seem like overpriveleged brats who were looking for a free lunch. I was also a tad disappointed with how simple their methods really were. It had less to do with brainy algorithims and more to do with teamwork and deception. All in all though, an interesting book.



2. This book came to my attention after hearing a radio interview with one of the MIT Card Counters. I immediately searched out this book, and it didn't disappoint. Ben Mezrich does a great job of boiling down a sophisticated card-counting system, following the rise and fall of one of the team's key members. And for those interested in the details, an essay on card counting mechanics by the main subject, "Kevin Lewis," is presented at the end of the book.
   
   This was Mezrich's first forray into non-fiction and it shows at times with some cheesy and tedious metaphors and heavy-handed attemps at injecting prose into the action. Nonetheless, the book is short enough and the action quick enough that I wouldn't describe this as a major distraction.
   
   If you liked "Rounders" or the casino scene in "Rain Man," then this book is probably for you.



3. Book was like new and delivered as promised. Great book for a great price. Very easy transaction. Thank you!



4. Mr. Mezrich, in "Bringing Down the House", gives us a fascinating account of a group of MIT students who took "card counting" at the blackjack table to a whole new level. This fast paced page-turner takes a thrill ride that reads like a novel. Great read!!



5. It's certainly worth the read and is an interesting look at a group taking on Vegas. As most know, the book chronicles the rise and fall of one of the MIT blackjack teams and gives a behind the scenes look at the roller coaster ride they went on. There were tense moments that kepy the reader turning pages when the team was avoiding being caught, but there really weren't as many stories of the "Vegas" lifestyle as I was expecting. The finish was predictable and somewhat anti-climatic.

1 comments about Training a Tiger: A Father's Guide to Raising a Winner in Both Golf and Life.

1. When you here about a superstar like Tiger its natural to wonder where this incredible talent came from. The book is a bit of a mix of golf how to, parent child relationship and history of Tigers early years. If you are raising kids and want a perspective on what went into developing such a great talent the book offers some interesting insights. The book lacks the level of detail or story telling that could of showed us more of Tigers character and made the book a more interesting read. If you love Golf and want your kids to get involved with the great game this book is a must read.

5 comments about All or Nothing at All: A Life of Frank Sinatra.

1. To all those reviewers who didn't like Donald Clarke's five-star book, get your heads out of the sand, or wherever else they are. All or Nothing at All is outstanding on America, politics, gangsters, Sinatra, his music, his family, his friends, enemies, and more.
   
   I'm rereading it now. It is marvelous!



2. One thing I'm happy about is that I didn't pay full price. What a waste of paper and cardboard. There's nothing new in this book, nothing you couldn't find elsewhere. It's actually written in the first person, believe it or not, as evidenced by the not so infrequent "I never liked such and such" or "I found it to be." After a while, who cares? And evidently, the author didn't rate either a first rate editor or a fact checker. For example, there's no "e" after the "g" in judgment. He does this repeatedly. Moreover, for someone allegedly so well-versed in the entertainment industry, he's apparently rather ignorant of some basic knowledge. When discussing Reagan's inaugural parties planned by Sinatra, Clarke mentions "someone named Ben Vereen who performed in blackface", and then trashes Sinatra's "judgement" in arranging such entertainment. Uh, Mr. Clarke, Ben Vereen WAS black, he couldn't help BUT be in blackface!



3. Frank Sinatra was always a puzzle -- he sang like an angel, behaved like a jerk, and yet was apparently an extremely generous individual who kept his many charities secret.
   
   Donald Clarke sits with all the contradictions of Sinatra, both musical and personal, without attempting to simplify them. The reviewer below who complained that the book is like an extended essay is right. Clarke does not attempt, in this relatively slim volume, to write the definitive biographical work. It is instead a shrewd, opinionated, and often funny review of the man and his music.
   
   I'm not a FS fanatic, but I do own about 40 or 50 of his albums, which I guess makes me more than a casual fan. I almost always agreed with Clarke's musical judgements (although I think rather more of "Live at the Sands" than he does) and found a lot of value in the way he attempts to separate Sinatra's own bloviations from the facts (e.g. was Mitch Miller really responsible for how bad much of Sinatra's mid-50s work is? Not really, says Clarke, and gives reasons for this opinion).
   
   This book is not a replacement for a full-length biography -- if you want the details on who slapped who first in every fight he had with Ava Gardner, you'll have to go elsewhere. It's also not a replacement for an annotated discography, although it made me hungry for one -- I thought I had a pretty good handle on Sinatra's recorded output, and Clarke made me realize there's a lot I don't know.
   
   As for Clarke's writing style, I say "bravo." Judging by the impish grin he's wearing in the jacket photo, I'd say he's well aware of how provocative some of his comments are, but there's nothing arrogant about this book. Clarke has his opinions, and states them very strongly, but it's clear the reader is welcome to his or her own. If you're the sort of reader who is secure enough to enjoy strongly held and amusingly stated beliefs rather than be upset by them, I recommend this book most highly.



4. Mr. Clarke's "book" is really more of an extended ( and poorly written ) magazine essay. However, I'm not sure what magazine would publish it ( surely not the NEW YORKER or DOWN BEAT ). Clarke never sheds any light on Sinatra's upbringing, personality or musicianship. Not for a moment do you feel either the man or his music come to life. There are literally dozens of examples of his amateurish writing; in one amazingly idiotic passage ( page 132, 3rd paragraph ) he states that the title of Sinatra's famous album "SONGS FOR SWINGIN' LOVERS" has become "mildly irritating" (!). He goes on a moment later to ask whether "swinging" was a euphemism for suburban wife swapping (!!). No one should shell out $$ for this type of drivel. By the way, Mr. Clarke, if you're amusing yourself by reading this review in between writing your "books"; I DIDN'T buy it ( thank God I merely checked it out of the library! ). To concur with some of the other reviewers: regarding the music, try Will Friedwald's "THE SONG IS YOU; A SINGER'S ART" or Charles Granata's upcoming "SESSIONS WITH SINATRA". For an extremely well-balanced, thorough account of Mr. Sinatra's life, try Randy Taraborelli's "SINATRA: A COMPLETE LIFE". For a short but poignant essay, try Pete Hamill's "WHY SINATRA MATTERS". For a famous account of Sinatra c.1966, try Gay Talese's essay entitled "FRANK SINATRA HAS A COLD" ( available in the FRANK SINATRA READER ). Other short but informative passages on Sinatra have been written by Shirley MacLaine and Mia Farrow ( I forget the exact titles of their books ). As far as Clarke's volume is concerned, it only ranks slightly above Kitty Kelley's stinker; in other words, it deserves a spot deep in the bowels of Dante's inferno.



5. You get the feeling reading this book that Donald Clarke sees himself as a far more noble and heroic character than some mere mortal like Frank Sinatra. Clarke has taken self-righteousness and developed it into something approaching an art form. A waste of time, a waste of money, a waste of paper, glue, ink, and whatever else was needed to print this "biography". By the way, give the word "biography" the loosest interpretation possible. Donald Clarke has even less of a clue as to what the word "biograpy" means and his book is the best evidence to support my thesis.

5 comments about The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie (Charnwood Large Print Library Series).

1. Charles Osborne was chosen by the Christie estate to convert some of her plays into novel form. Last week we saw the first production of "Chimneys" a long lost play adapted from the novel, THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS. Some times this works, but not always.
   THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF AGATHA CHRISTIE is a great reference work for checking publication dates and some story lines when so many titles are being reissued under a new title. It is plodding in its descriptions of the personal life of a very shy private woman. Some of the less than exemplary titles are given the same status of the great ones and any author has a flop, the one that just doesn't cut the mustard.
   A writer of Dame Christie's status is to be congratulated for having so few bloopers.
   Writing as a Small BusinessSins of the Fathers: A Brewster County NovelQualifying Laps: A Brewster County NovelNatchez Above The River: A Family's Survival In The Civil War



2. Agatha Christie (1890-1972)is generally considered the single most widely published and read novelist in the history of publishing. Best known for mystery novels featuring such characters as Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple, she was also a noted dramatist and memorable short story writer, and under the name Mary Westmacott generated several well-regarded works as well. But for all her fame, her private life--as Lady Mallowan--was indeed private: although she made the occasional public appearance for the sake of her latest venture, she resisted public intrusion; even her autobiography, although entertaining, is somewhat uninformative.
   
   Published in 1982, Charles Osborne's THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF AGATHA CHRISTIE is typical of the numerous "Life and Works" books re Christie: it tells you nothing you will not find in a dozen sources or more. But it does so in meticulous detail, covering what is known of Christie's life and tying it to her various works. From her earliest book to her last, the book offers dates, publishing information, plot outlines, character notes, and all the rest--and ties each work to what Christie herself happened to be doing at the time. It's a handy sort of reference.
   
   Unfortunately, I have some issues with Osborne's skill as a critic. Or more specifically, his lack thereof. Osborne is fond of shrugging off Christie's distinctly superior works in favor of her less successful efforts. He also "toes the line" in terms of what Christie fans want to hear (and in some cases prefer not to hear) about their favorite author. So while the book is interesting, useful, and even entertaining in a factual sense, it is considerably less so in an interpretive one. Recommended, but only just.
   
   GFT, Amazon Reviewer



3. This book is pretty well summed up in its subtitle: "A Biographical Companion to the Works of Agatha Christie."
   
   It is also one of those useful and occasionally indispensable volumes compiled by a natural-born plodder. Osborne is the chosen scribbler given the task of producing novelized versions of some of Christie's plays. He clearly is held in high favor by the Christie Trust. As a biographer, it very quickly becomes clear that he is concerned with presenting the Establishment picture of Dame Agatha May Clarissa Miller Christie Mallowan. There will be no surprises and no probing beneath the respectable (save for nearly two weeks in December 1926) life of the public figure.
   
   The one lurid episode in the lady's life, her mysterious disappearance, is wrapped up on pages 51 to 57 of the hardbound edition with no more factual material than that contained in Christie's famously uncommunicative autobiography. Of speculation, there is even less. So little, in fact that the existence of "Agatha," a popular mystery novel by Kathleen Tynan that offers amusing conjectures about Christie's actions and motives, is willfully ignored. This is even more true of the movie based upon the book that featured Vanessa Redgrave as Agatha and Timothy Dalton as Archie. The index of Osborne's book does, indeed, have an entry for Ms. Redgrave, but it refers to a small part she had in the movie of "Murder on the Orient Express," not to her portrayal of Agatha Christie herself.
   
   This ultra orthodox approach to biography does no particular harm. The essentials of Christie's public life are laid out well enough. In all probability, the inner Christie was as respectable as the outer one--but we don't know and with biographers like Charles Osborne, we never shall.
   
   Osborne's treatment of the "Works of Agatha Christie" is that of a mystery fan, not a critic. He provides a sketch of how a work came to be written, identifies the main characters, establishes the premise of novel, story or play, but he never outlines the complete plot and he never, never identifies a culprit.
   
   There are, of course, some critical trappings. Poirot's French, we are informed, is sometimes less than idiomatic. Christie occasionally gave voice to the casual and unthinking anti-Semitism of the class and time into which she had been born. (That deplorable fault faded away with time, particularly after a pre-World War II encounter with a Nazi official stationed in the Middle East. He was perfectly charming to her and her second husband until he shocked her by going all Dalek while talking about the Jews then in Germany: "Exterminate them!") Christie had a thrifty, want-not-waste-not bent for recycling useful plots and details of action, such as three or four occasions in which one character looking over another's shoulder suddenly observes something that will lead to grim results. As Agatha became elderly, her books became less tightly plotted and her dialogue more diffuse. All this is widely known and perfectly acceptable to the Christie Establishment. On the other hand, there is no insight offered as to why, in particular, Christie's prose continues to sell books at a quite remarkable rate while her great contemporaries, Marsh, Allingham and even Sayers have largely fallen by the wayside.
   
   This is not a great book but, for all its plodding ways, it is a useful guide and reference. I assign four stars to it in the sure and certain expectation that I'll give it a toss when something better comes along. I don't think that will be soon.



4. Charles Osborne's book offers a fast-paced chronicle of Dame Christie's life and unbiased critique of her works. The book highlighted many interesting tidbits of Christie's private life (engrossing account of Ms. Christie's famous disappearance in 1926; her work as an archaeologist's assistant; her love for dogs; idiosyncrasies like forever munching on apples while she wrote) to her characters (from her intolerance over sleuth Poirot to her favorite character, Caroline Sheppard, not least her alter-ego, Adraidne Oliver).
   
   While in general affectionately and reverently written, Osbourne remained impartial and did not skim over Agatha Christie's limitations as a writer of sorts:
   
   (1) As a Poet - "...talent for poetry was genuine, but modest and of no startling originality..."
   
   (2) Grasp of French language - "...despite her Paris finishing school, Ms. Christie's French was to remain obstinately unidiomatic..." in reference to Poirot's characterization.
   
   (3) Heavy-handedness - "...construction of English sentences a trifle more exotic than needs be".
   
   (4) Subjectivity - "...you won't turn people into angels by appealing to their better nature yet awhile - but by judicious force...."
   
   (5) Occasional propensity to not play fair by non-disclosure - "I have a certain amount of rules. No false words must be uttered by me....but it's not unfair to leave things out".
   
   (6) Carelessness - "Mrs. Christie's carelessness again? Or simply a misprint in certain editions? Or has Poirot moved without telling even his creator?" and "She tells us that Ackroyd is nearly 50 years of age,...later it becomes clear that he could not have been older than 43" and "now in the 80s, Dame Agatha is more careless than ever. Improbabilities are not explained, certain things do not quite add up....".
   
   (7) Recycling of plots - "Variations of one of the plot of one of the stories....will be presented in...Murder in the Mews and in the novel, Evil Under the Sun....the plot of another story...will be made use of again in the novel...an element in the plot of ....will re-occur in ....".
   
   (8) Limited literary range - "....examine various aspects of human behavior that is impressive, rather than the actual quality of her writing, though her prose is never less than adequate to convey mood and meaning..." and "...Death by Drowning which is also one of the few occasions when Agatha Christie strayed into working class territory".
   
   (9) Monotony & Repetition - "...for they are (Miss Marple's tales) all very sedentary stories whose action is recounted in retrospect..." and "...the reader is plunged again into Christiean nursery rhyme syndrome: a series of murders committed concurrently with the progress of the images in a nursery rhyme".
   
   (10) Anti-Semitism - "The mandatory racial slurs...have been edited out of more recent American editions....".
   
   I disagree with reviewers who criticized Osbourne's book for being biased for he has ostensibly studied and researched the subject matter to the point that he could thoroughly cross-reference both the good and the bad in Agatha Christie's works (read: inconsistencies/flaws/negligence/carelessness, or that of her editors*). Having personally read the entire oeuvre of Christie's crime novels, I believe Osbourne's conclusion that "the plotting of some of Poirot and Miss Marple novels which Agatha Christie wrote in the last 15 years of her life is a more than a trifle lax" is more than justified.
   
   *Not only did Osbourne not give away the plots, he also painstakingly forewarned would-be readers of Christie's crime novels to be wary of untimely revelation of plots/true identities of murderers - "...Cards on the Table quite gratuitously reveals the solution to Murder on the Orient Express. Readers of "Cards" who have not already read "Murder" should get a friend to block out the sentence..." and "In Chapter 18 (of "Dumb Witness"), the author allows Poirot to mention the names of four delightful personalities, all of whom were murderers....the danger could be avoided by deleting 5 or 6 lines...".
   
   It has been 20 years since I last read Agatha Christie's books. With a keen mind and depth of knowledge, Osbourne fairly documented ideas and goings-on pertaining to the Queen of Detective Stories, not least enunciated many of the thoughts and views I (and probably representative as one voice of those of her fans) concluded in passing while reading Christie's books.
   
   In fact, Osbourne's excellent biographical companion has since reawakened my desire to re-read Dame Christie's selective works, her creme de la creme - "Murder of Roger Ackroyd", "Murder on the Orient Express", "And Then There Were None", to name just a few - written during her most prolific years in the 1930s and 40s.



5. I have enjoyed reading and re-reading Agatha Christie's novels for many years. In my opinion, she truly had an original mind and a keen understanding of human nature that made her characters seem to come alive, no matter what "carelessness" may have existed in the plotting out of later novels. It is in this regard that Mr. Osbornes highly analytical mind goes a bit too far in summarizing her stories (they are, after all, just stories). It is also why I did not like his "novelizations" of her plays at all; they still read like scripts, the characters moving stiffly from one side of the set to another.
   But beyond delving too deep into the meaning of mystery novels, my biggest issue is that his over-analysing seems to have created plot inconsistencies where there were none. For example, when outlining "Murder on the Links" (1923) Mr. Osborne writes about how the face of the murdered man is described in detail, then Poirot tells Hastings that a piece of lead pipe discovered near the body was intended to disfigure the murdered man's face. "Poirot's theory of the crime, fortunately, does not hinge upon this point!" Mr. Osborne writes. In fact, his theory DOES hinge on that point. The man who was killed was not the intended victim. The victim had brought the lead pipe himself in order to disfigure another man's face to fake his own death. Then, ironically, he was murdered himself. This is made absolutely clear, and it was baffling to me that Mr. Osborne could make this and other such a misinformed statement about the book. It was almost as though he had been skimming through the novels for the sole purpose of discovering flaws to "catch" her at. "Look! Nobody else noticed this mistake she made but me!"
   So while it is interesting to read about what was going on in her life while she was writing each work, it just feels like Mr. Osborne is trying too hard to be more clever than Agatha Christie. Sorry Mr. Osborne, but there is a reason why more people have heard of her than you!

1 comments about Autobiography of an Elderly Woman: In large print for easy reading.

1. Firstly and thankfully this book has been brought out in large print which makes it very easy and comfortable to read. Anyone old person will be able to identify with the predicament of the author who describes how it is to be old.
   
   But young people will like it too because everyone gets old, and if you are young this book describes what will happen. Its more important for young people to read this book because they can prepare for old age.
   
   . The book begins by recalling the stages of the authors life: her girlhood, the years when she was raising her children, the years when she and her children were adults together and companions.
   
   Vorse describes how she did not know when changes came. "I cannot put my finger on the time when I was of their generation. I cannot identify the moment when old age finally claimed me."
   
   Changes will come to everyone - read this book and be prepared for them.

3 comments about Past Is Myself (Transaction Large Print Books).

1. I read this book a few years ago, when living in the United Kingdom, and wanted to recommend this book to my Book Club in the USA for our next discussion. What a disappointment to find it is out of print, as this is one of the most readable and insightful autobiographies I have read! Dear Amazon team, please campaign for it to be reissued!



2. I am so sorry this book is not available. It is a fasinating story of a woman's ability to survive and keep her family in tact in WW II Germany. I met Mrs. Bielenberg a few years ago and she is still as interesting as she was in her book.



3. This is one of the best books I have ever read. I am surprised that nobody has reviewed it and I am also dissapointed to find out that it is not available to buy at the moment. I read it a few years ago and when I get the time, I will definitely read it again. Once you start you can not stop and it is a book you will remember for the rest of your life. Read it!

5 comments about Knight: My Story.

1. Coach Bob Knight is a colorful figure who ranks among the all- time greats in college basketball. Known by many people all over the nation for his outspoken personality and occasional temper tantrums, Knight has taken advantage of his skill at playing, recruiting, and coaching to reach the apex of his profession at every level through and including college.
   
   When I first heard about this book a couple of years ago, I thought about what I had heard on the news about Bob Knight, what I read in the newspapers, and what different people at Indiana University had said about the legendary coach; including players, assistant coaches, and university personnel. As a natural skeptic when it comes to the media, I was very curious about Knight's perspective on the many controversies that surrounded him and his coaching style during his forty plus years in college basketball. What would Knight say about everything in his book? Would he rant and rave about how unfairly he has been criticized? Would he return the insults to those who have so vocally criticized his personality and style? Or would he take it all with a grain of salt and stick with the positives that he has brought to the game of basketball?
   
   Reading about Bob Knight, and hearing about the controversial events from Knight's own perspective, I have a newfound respect for the man from Bloomington. Not that I didn't have respect before. I did. But this book cements that respect and proves what I had always felt all along: that the media was wrong about many (if not all) of the accusations against Bob Knight and that his dismissal from the head coaching job at Indiana was purely political in nature. There was no good, solid reason(s) to fire Bob Knight. He was a victim of some overzealous individuals at IU who had it in for him and were on a mission to eliminate him from Indiana at any cost.
   
   I really enjoyed the last few chapters of this book, because this is where the controversy comes out. It's interesting to listen as Knight talks about the different accusations against him and how the media and others would over-sensationalize things to increase newspaper sales and/or to try to bring him down. In some instances, Knight admits his guilt. Such is the case in the best- known of all the Knight- related coaching controversies: the infamous "chair tossing" incident discussed in chapter eleven. Knight admits that this particular act was a stupid thing to do on his part. But he also points out that he didn't aim the chair at anyone and no one was hurt. He just let his emotions get the best from him and he overreacted.
   
   With other controversial events, however, Knight isn't so quick to accept responsibility. One event that he is particularly disgusted over is the supposed "choking" of one of his players, Neil Reed. This is most significant because it was this event that led ultimately to his firing. Reed came forward in 1999 and claimed that Knight had physically choked him and this story made headlines all across the United States. If this was true, it would have been justification for some kind of reprimand against the coach. But the truth is, it was total bull. Reed had been voted off of the team by his own teammates (not by Bob Knight) in 1997. He made up this allegation, apparently, to get even. The other players said that there was no choking and a tape that was made when this event supposedly took place showed no evidence of choking at all. This should have brought an end to the controversy, but it did not. It was obvious that Reed, and those in control of the athletic department at IU, made up the whole story to bring him down. The media jumped all over this story, making it sound like Knight really did commit the crime, even though there wasn't the slightest grain of evidence that he did. And even when it was shown to be a bogus charge, the media said nothing about it. They exploited the accusation, but they said nothing about the truth when it came out later- that this story was a total fabrication by a disgruntled player and a tenacious IU athletic department that would stop at nothing to get Knight thrown out of Bloomington.
   
   It was at this point that IU instituted its "zero- tolerance" policy (or as I like to refer to this type of proposal, a "zero intelligence" policy) against coach Knight, warning him that any further problems would lead to his termination. Again, this was obviously a move to get Knight fired. I can remember when this decision was made public. I knew that it was only a matter of time before something happened that would get Knight terminated. Knight also saw it coming, but he was so attached to Indiana University, his players, and the fans, that he decided to ride it out. He was still hopeful that he could continue coaching at this school. But it was only a matter of time until something happened that would bring an end to his coaching career. And it did, a short time later, when a young guy referred to Bob Knight by his last name, prompting Knight to turn and ask him to please refer to him as Mr. Knight or coach Knight. That was all it took to get Knight fired. The young man went directly to the athletic department at IU and told what had happened (the book doesn't make any direct accusations, but it appears there is a good chance that this man planned the whole event, just to get Knight in trouble). After thirty years and three championships, Bob Knight was no longer the coach at IU.
   
   Along with these controversial moments, the remaining sections of the book are also very good. Knight describes his early years and his friendships with other coaches, sports people, and political figures with passion and admiration. He has met and is friends with many sports icons, like Ted Williams, Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Bench, and others. He has also been a frequent guest at the White House and has met and formed friendships with many U.S. presidents, like Gerald Ford and George Bush. Knight describes these and other friendships with great feeling and deep trust. This might come as a surprise to those who always assumed that Bob Knight was difficult to get along with. Quite to the contrary, Knight speaks positively about most all of the people who have influenced his life, and they speak positively about him also. On only a few occasions in the book (with people like college basketball referee Ted Valentine) does Knight turn pessimistic and he only does so when someone continuously gets on his case, unprovoked, and won't back down.
   
   I really enjoyed reading about Knight's early days and his influences in the game of basketball. Shaped by these important people, it isn't difficult to understand why Knight got where he has in life and why he is so competitive when it comes to the game of basketball. His family and friends mean the world to Knight, and they have had an unmistakable impact on his life decisions and on his love of the game. It's also interesting to read and discover, in Knight's own words, how differently he is, as a person, on and off the court. While he still tends to be outspoken no matter where he might be, his mannerisms and personal conduct are far more reserved and friendly when he isn't involved in basketball. He comes across as a very down to earth, likable guy who loves to hunt and fish and who is fairly easy to get along with.
   
   Controversy has always surrounded coach Knight. He admits that, at times, his competitive nature and his fired- up emotions did get the best of him. He is not proud of everything he has done on the court, but he has no real regrets either. And regardless of all of the controversy, Knight is a proven winner and he commands (and deserves) a certain amount of respect. He has allowed his love of the game and his relentless desire to win to result in a few misjudgments in his career. But through it all, Bob Knight has been a winner. He has won NCAA championships as both a player and as a coach, reaching levels of success that are the envy of basketball coaches and other sports leaders all over the U.S. and the world. Enthusiasm, sportsmanship, discipline, and other factors are all important elements of the game. But the bottom- line goal is to achieve an honest and well- fought victory.
   
   And winning, as Bob Knight and other successful college basketball coaches know, is the name of the game.



2. With Coach Knight's long-time antipathy toward writers, often commenting how simple their job is compared to coaching, he left himself wide-open for criticism with his autobiography. Unfortunately, it reminds me of waking up a hibernating bear and jotting down his every yawn and gripe. A few moments of insight amid the tedium.



3. I truly believe there is only one way to judge a college basketball coach. League titles, NCAA appearances, total wins, Final Fours and National Championships are the norm in measuring success. And, of course, prowess in these areas will secure the legacy of anyone. However, the way I quantify coaching greatness is much more important than wins and losses. It's something you can't tangibly gauge. Simply stated, it's the relationships he or she cultivates with players. And the loyalty they show after they graduate.
   
   Even his staunchest critics can not deny that Bob Knight is a Hall of Famer in this category.
   
   In "Knight: My Story" Bob Knight writes about the relationships he has developed throughout the years with his former players. One needs to look no further than Landon Turner to realize why the ones he coached are tenacious Bob Knight supporters.
   
   Landon Turner played on Knight's 1981 championship team. Tragically, shortly after, Turner was paralyzed for life in a vehicle accident. Through the efforts of Knight, Red Auerbach selected Landon Turner in the late rounds of the NBA draft. A simple gesture which, Turner says, meant the world to him.
   
   The book is a window into the philosophies of a man who through the yelling, screaming, so called intimidation, language, and perceived sour demeanor, somehow has found the greatest allies in his former players.
   
   Some of Knight's pundits clearly know absolutely nothing about how to coach a basketball team; how to lead young men through a season of intense pressure and adversity. And, they are obviously not bright enough to understand that basketball is a metaphor for life. Knight is preparing boys for manhood. Do you think anyone of them (who gets it) make excuses when their boss asks them do accomplish a task? I think not.
   
   Knight is not a coach of basketball, he's a teacher of life.
   
   You need to look no further than his "eight greatest words", which appear in the first sentence of his book, "America, America, God shed His grace on thee", to realize how deep his character flows.
   
   I've been anticipating book since I was 15 years old. It was worth the wait.



4. 
   Whether you love him, hate him, or are neutral toward him (I'm in the last category), Bob Knight's book is a fascinating glimpse at his personality, his Indiana basketball teams, and college basketball in general. For Indiana basketball fans (I'm an ACC fan) and college basketball fans in general (a category I fit into), this is a must read. Knight gives a lot of detail about his Indiana teams, especially those that won national championships, and discusses his point of view on the state of college basketball today.
   
   There are really two main topics that run throughout the book - and that is Indiana basketball and the controversies that have surrounded Knight - mostly because of his volatile temper. From a basketball standpoint this is really a great inside look at the college game and the Hoosiers. Knight's detestation of losing and lack of effort are part of what gets him into trouble because he is clearly a disciplinarian and expects a lot from his players and others involved in the program. On the other hand that is also why his teams traditionally have been over achievers. In my opinion, his success in college basketball has been mostly because of his coaching talent and getting his teams to play like a team instead of selfishly.
   
   Even though in some ways Knight claims, and I think in a lot ways rightfully so, that a lot of controversies about his temper and clashes with players, officials, or others is a result of his reputation and are undeserved. Frankly, I do believe him on this account. And he does seem contrite about some incidents that are clearly his own fault where he's lost his temper. Some may argue that he is not apologetic enough or doesn't face his own faults in some of the controversies and I can't disagree with that either. On these issues the reader will have to decide what to believe.
   
   But either way, this is highly readable and very interesting.



5. What a book. It is filled with info I never really knew. Never an Indiana basketball fam, I was always a Bobby Kight fan. I finished the book in one reading. I could not put it down. His love for fishing and hunting is explained in his book.

5 comments about Marie Antoinette: The Journey.

1. Wonderful book about the Queen of France. From her early days as the Arch Duchess of Austria, to Dauphine of France to finally the Queen of France. It follows her life (journey)to her death. It also gives insight into the last surviving member of King Louis Auguste and Queen Marie Antoinette, Marie Therese.



2. I have read many books on the Dauphine over the years and this is one of the best.
   It covers in detail all of the daily life of a queen and the sacrifice she made by becoming a queen.
   It seems that the paparazzi today are angels compared to what the people of France and all of Europe did to their monarchs.
   The book is well researched, and well done and like all good books on her, this one doesnt speculate but clarifies the life of this often misunderstood young woman.
   I recommend it highly.
   But be warned - it is very detailed and there are tons of people to keep track of,
   Even so, it reads well and you never get bored with it.



3. Hard to get into. The movie is better except the movie leaves out one of the children and I am sure alot more. Maybe onday I will be able to get into it.



4. I really liked this book and finished it in record time--even though I knew how MA's story would end, it was fascinating to see that she was not entirely the arrogant and unapproachable Queen of lore. Yes, she made some mistakes and was extravagant at times, but certainly no more extravagant than previous Queens of France. Minimally any reader will say after reading this book that it is sad she was a Queen who did not pay more attention outside the walls of Versailles so that she might be less oblivious--but even then, I'm not sure she could have escaped her doomed fate.
   
   The treatment of the family during their captivity and particularly the treatment of their children is startling (not to mention the legendary treatment of the Princesse de Lamballe). In the end, I'm not sure what was worse--the royal family or the revolutionaries.



5. Over halfway through in a just a few days. I love this book! I'm definitely looking into purchasing others by the author.

5 comments about American Soldier LP.

1. 15 June 2008 - Even though I was "in the military" during Operation Iraqi Freedom and watched CNN every day this book did an amazing job detailing OIF from start to the end of phase three. Gen Franks offers his insightful account of History at one of the major "creases" in American History. Gen Franks stands tall above the Washington blame game and instead focuses on successes and failures, why those failures may have occurred, and HIS solutions to some of those failures. This is a must read for anyone who criticizes our presents in Iraq.



2. Any American general or president who leads an army against jihadist Islam deserves our almost unqualified respect in a West that comes across as comfort-driven, welfare-pandering, entertainment-drugged, and seemingly too cowardly to defend itself. Both Tommy Franks and George Bush will stand tall in the annals of future history, as always defined by military prowess, long after the topical dust of our shallow, politically correct culture settles and fades into television-commercial oblivion.
   
   However, it's important NOT to take a book by Tommy Franks at face value. The brutal realities of fighting "our worst enemy since the civil war" will never be articulated in a world whose impression of any hard reality must first pass muster with Sunday School simplicity prompted by history- and context-free self-congratulation. "Guns aren't nice," some superficial wives sloganeer, and "Make love not war," effortlessly proclaiming a self-righteousness that is both unearned and dangerous to any hope of a durable peace.
   
   Accordingly, "American Soldier" is an unfortunate chronicle of media-palatible commentary about military and personal events that might be drawn quite otherwise if free-speech were truly to prevail in Tommy Franks' life as an honest spokesman of military wisdom. After all, he freely acknowledges his 4-starness to having been selected by Bill Clinton; he's a "Clinton general" in his own words. Must we ask what kind of commanding general would have been chosen by former presidential candidate Al Sharpton? Generals-in-waiting surely come in all chevrons, from Marxist liberals to Axis militarists. The commander-in-chief "of the moment" chooses. Today we want our military leaders to feign ideological innocence while being supported by a statistics-savvy management mechanism. Good luck, but it's ruthlessness and a whatever-it-takes aggressiveness that win wars, not media accountability or other facile diplomacy.
   
   Those who've attended the general's public lectures will recognize right away that he's not the Erwin Rommel, George Patton, or Tadimichi Kuribayashi they might have hoped for. Even so, let us acknowledge his predictable standing applause from largely World War II veterans everywhere: a salute to a universal code of military fighting spirit that has existed in all times and that will stand independent of the political surface.
   
   Too bad that Gen. Franks often chooses to portray a "Gomer Pyle" persona to audiences that expect to hear even more saber-rattling than is now fashionable. He shrinks from being more germane than political reality allows. Yes, we would much rather fight on foreign shores than at home. But shouldn't we also prefer to fight NOW rather than selfishly defer our battles to future generations? Too often, our orientation to politics is greedy, too apt to defer deprivations that might interfere with our own comforts. The example of our Spartan forebears will only vaguely influence us, though a strong Christian military in the West would surely benefit from a plunge into our Greco-Roman-Viking past!



3. If you enjoy military biographies, this is one of the very best I've ever read.



4. I read this book when it first came out, and out of the thousands of books I have read over some 60 years, it is one of the most unforgettable. This man came out of the dust and dirt of Oklahoma and Midland, Texas to enter the Army as a grunt boot, and when he was getting on the bus to report to the Army, his Dad simply said "Make em a hand, son" which in West Texanese means, "Whatever they teach you to do, Son, do a good job for them!" And did he ever----Commander of the greatest Military Force in the History of this planet! An unforgettable true story that should make all Americans proud.



5. I will admit my bias - I am a huge "fan" of General Franks. This book is about his life, his perspectives and experiences. There is a ton of stuff we'd never get to know about if it weren't for this book. One thing I admired most was his professionalism in writing it. If you're looking for some "tell all" expose, this ain't it. General Franks speaks respectfully about his bosses throughout the book. I know some readers won't like that, but to me it was refreshing.

5 comments about The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings.

1. I didn't read The Joy Luck Club; I wasn't interested, it sounded like a chick book, and I don't play Mah Jong. This book is more like taking a peek inside Amy Tan. It was great.
   
   I hated literature in high school and college, because all the professors always talked about all the "hidden meaning" and symbolism in persons, objects and events happening in the book. I thought this was a bunch of BS. So thank you Amy for proving me right!
   
   It is a well written compilation of stories, observations and even commencement addresses. My favorite was her thoughts on waiting to be introduced for a talk and seeing the Cliff Notes of her book on display. Nice touch. I would probably appreciate Joy Luck Club after reading this book.



2. The book is wonderful, so interesting. It is rather like Eat,Pray,Love with a chinese twist.
   
   The AUDIO version of the book is a revelation: Amy Tan has a lively and lovely voice, she is a gifted mimic, and she does a fabulous job of reading this great book.
   
   There are some very sad parts, you will definitely be moved to think and consider wider concepts, but it is completely delightful and thick with insight.



3. I've always enjoyed her novels, and The Opposite of Fate gave me an even deeper understanding of the origins of her work. I really enjoyed the opportunity to hear, in her own words, the true history of her family, her thoughts on her childhood, young adulthood, and even current day. She's a fun, funky, formidable, & fascinating woman & someone you'd love to know & introduce to all your friends. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to get to know her better!



4. This book is a personal favorite, as it gives so much insight into Tan's writing and her views, but also because the essays are simply so enjoyable to read. The book is a collection of essays that spans her literary career and is filled with her own special brand of humor. Within the pages we find writing on her authorial intentions, her perspective on critics and scholars who interpret her writing and her intentions, and biographical essays. I can imagine using one or two of these essays as material for teaching a writing class. These essays are overall lovely, clever, and engaging. This book is not just for "fans only." If you weren't a fan before, you may become one after reading this collection.



5. I had no idea. I had no idea what a great writer she is, what an amazing person she is, how difficult her life has been. Now that I've read this book, I know. And I am inspired.
   
   I highly recommend this book to any daughter, any Asian, any writer, and any person with an open mind/heart who wants to know a little bit more about an intriguing, challenging life.