1 comments about Rio: My Story.

1. If you haven't ever read a soccer autobiography, this is a great place to start. A fast entertaining read filled with great english slang, and to the point style. You can tell that Rio was having fun telling these stories and isn't afraid to use a few swear words to get his point across. This isn't just a glossy childrens style soccer biography, its definately fun to read for adults also. I thoroghly reccomend this book. C'MON UNITED.

No comments about Pete Maravich: Magician of the Hardwood (Great American Sports Legends).

5 comments about Remember This Titan: Lessons Learned from a Celebrated Coach's Journey.

1. In a world saturated with stories overcoming life challenges, Remember This Titan delivers a message unlike any I have read.
   Steve Sullivan's ability to capture the essence of Coach Bill Yoast while weaving in an out of the life narrative is remarkable. He has cleverly captured in words, the essence of a man who made it his life's commitment to make a difference and inspire. Sullivan has beautifully portrayed with drama, insight and humor, the life of a man whose unwavering commitment to others enabled them to prosper- all became better, some became great. Many went on to positively impact on other's lives and for this, Sullivan's book is a brilliant reminder that the `Domino Effect' can be a powerful force.
   Although Coach Bill Yoast is in the twilight of his journey, Remember This Titan and the wisdom it delivers is a legacy that will live forever.



2. A friend sent me the book as gift. She said it would change my life. She was right. It took me on a glorious trip. In a world filled with deceit, fear, anger and lost people Remember This Titan shows how one man can make a differance. Remember This Titan is a story that delivers integrity and courage in abundance. Coach Bill Yoast is now my hero. Remember This Titan is triumph and should be required reading for anyone looking to navigate life with a sense of purpose. Five Stars is not enough.



3. This is a great motivational and uplifting story. A must read for teens and parents alike!!



4. Remember This Titan, is a wonderful accounting of Bill Yoast's life, ups and downs, the expected and the unexpected. It is the story of a man who LIVED decency long before it was fashionable. The success of the team, both on the field and in their interpersonal relationships, was nurtured by the presence of this fine teacher, leader and coach. In a time when schools go out of their way to emphasize that character counts, this is a fine, enjoyable book to share with the children/students in your life. There are so many valuable lessons, from Mary's impact on Coach Yoast to the profound influence of Raymond Tetfeller on Yoast's young life. This book is beautifully written. It flows with astonishing honesty from humor to heart-wrenching pain. Sullivan has an obvious knowledge, understanding and respect for Coach Yoast. As if all of the above isn't enough, there are action plans and lists of invaluable facts in the back. Remember This Titan is a great read which has had a lasting impact on me. p.s. I had a student at the end of the year say, "Hey, Ms. Stewart are YOU reading a football book, cool!" Enjoy.



5. "Remember This Titan" is an excellent story of an American hero. In a time when personal glory is mainstream, Bill Yoast was not only an inspiration to a community but to the nation as well. Absorbing every word of a simply beautiful story of a no-nonsense man, I learned that, "In navigating life, the best lessons are learned when the riding gets rough". Not only do I believe in the philosophy of life according to Coach Yoast but our entire youth organization and metro area are looking forward to having Mr. Sullivan and Coach Yoast motivate our young men for our 2006 football season. I look forward to meeting Coach Bill Yoast and Steve Sullivan in August, (www.greenmountainfootball.org) and showing them that the TITAN theory exists in Colorado. Steve Sullivan along with Bill Yoast are truly the cornerstone of INSPIRATION.

3 comments about Harry Hooper: An American Baseball Life (Sport and Society).

1. I suppose that when your subject was notoriously known for being boring and bland, it would be a monumental effort to write without getting caught in the web. Sadly, and despite Paul Zingg's best efforts, This book only solidifies the obvious...Harry Hooper, although a very good ballplayer, was also a very boring ballplayer. This was a difficult read because interest was so sporadic. Lets face it, Hooper is boring and so is the book. No fault of the author, moreso it is the subject.



2. Very informative and very interesting account of the life of Harry Hooper (my great-grandfather). This book helps put into perspective just how significant Harry's life was for the development of baseball in America. It was full of lots of facts that brought to life the greatest baseball players in the early 20th century. It is more than just baseball, but an account of one man's life. I would recommend this book for anyone who is a baseball fan.



3. Very informative and very interesting account of the life of Harry Hooper (my great-grandfather). This book helps put into perspective just how significant Harry's life was for the development of baseball in America. It was full of lots of facts that brought to life the greatest baseball players in the early 20th century. It is more than just baseball, but an account of one man's life. I would recommend this book for anyone who is a baseball fan.

5 comments about Chess Bitch: Women In The Ultimate Intellectual Sport.

1. Two-time U.S. Women's Chess Champion Jennifer Shade presents Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport, a collection of true stories of expert globetrotting female chess players. Assembled from interviews, personal testimonies, and carefully researched profiles, Chess Bitch reveals what it was like for women to break into the male-dominated sport and subculture of chess, the adventure of traveling to matches worldwide, the quirks of talented individual female players, and much more. A handful of black-and-white photographs illustrate this one-of-a-kind, behind-the-scenes tell-all enthusiastically recommended for anyone with an interest in the competitive chess scene and the women who take part in it.



2. Jennifer Shahade is a fine chess player and I like her book about Women's chess.
   
   Shahade tells us plenty about Women in chess, both in the United States and internationally. Plus, there are the obvious questions about how good women are at chess compared to men. Just what does it mean to "play chess like a girl?" Um, I always feel like asking "like which girl?" And there's the question of the relative strength of women and men in chess. That is, we can see that women are at a serious disadvantage against men in a sport such as weightlifting. But what about sports such as chess, go, or even bridge? Is chess really the sort of sport that requires enormous physical strength? Obviously not, although it does require good health, conditioning, and stamina. Chess is similar in some respects to an academic discipline, and women can excel at academic endeavors, so it is highly unlikely that women are genetically unable to excel at chess. It may be true, of course, that many women can't play chess well, just as many men can't play chess well.
   
   Shahade does discuss the question of whether the weakness of women at chess compared to men shows that women are stupid or that chess is stupid. And it is clear not only that men vastly outnumber women at all levels of chess but that male chess players tend to spend more time on chess and play more tournament games than do women. That alone pretty much accounts for the fact that the men dominate the chess rankings. But why do women play so little chess? That's a somewhat controversial topic, although Shahade does have some things to say about it.
   
   I recommend this book.



3. I was a bit disappointed by the numerous grammar mistakes including various missing periods and commas here and there (no pun intended), but I do not feel it detracted enough from the book to be gruesome. It was still easily understandable what was being said, and Shahade alone certainly cannot be blamed for a book with so many obvious grammatical errors. The only fact I noticed that was too vague was that the camp she is referring to is really in NW or north central PA rather than "central PA." It would have been nice to have given this camp free advertising with the potential advertising as I think it was the first one to ever exist and deserves to continue on among the livelihood of other existing chess camps today. (It is likely that the camp would have given her permission to use its name.) Several other reviews state bad research on a 1980 Kasparov fact, but not too many other specifics are mentioned for what is "wrong" with the book. All the other "mistakes" are all based on opinion, so this is a book you will probably like a lot or not at all. For me, the book was open-minded and refreshing. It was personal enough that I felt she was with the reader at times, and her opinions were well supported based on her own experiences. I like her adult approach as this book is definitely not for children.
   
   In a portion of the book, she mentions how a particular group of people seem racist overall based on her experience the reactions she's seen, and I've felt the same way for this particular group of people. Not everyone is like this of course, but when you learn history between the US and other countries, you can see why certain sad biases form unfortunately. Hopefully with books written like Chess B-tch, these type of barriers and well pointed out feminist barriers can be broken in this day and age.



4. I knew absolutely nothing about the world of professional chess players before reading this book. I found this book to be well written, very easy to read, and interesting. I was certain I would be bored instantly, but as it turned out the book was quite entertaining and informative, an excellent effort from a first time author. It seems most of the bad reviews come from people who are either upset about the factual errors or are offended by the portrayals of some chess players. I think Chess Queens would have been a better title.



5. Positives:
   
   1. Pioneer kind of a book
   2. Excellent research
   3. Variety of people interviewed
   4. It is very evident that the author is well-read
   5. Very honest about how she feels (as she changes opinins, she does
   not try to hide it).
   6. Reader goes through the intellectual journey that the author goes through
   
   Negatives:
   
   1. The book could be better organized with the same set of contents
   2. More about the author herself (how she became a champ. e.g.) would
   be desirable.
   3. At times, author wanders off the topic making the reader wonder why she
   is doing that.

4 comments about Satchel Paige's America (Alabama Fire Ant).

1. Lots of writers have praised William Price Fox's work: Walt Kelly (the creator of Pogo), John Updike, P.G. Wodehouse, Pauline Kael, and, yes, even Bruce Springsteen (Springsteen's song, "Darlington County", was based on Fox's book, Dixiana Moon), Richard Yates, Michael Murphy (Golf in the Kingdom), and then some.
   
   And now the Library Journal (the number one publication for Libraries in America) has ranked Satchel Paige's America as one of the top 25 books to read in 2005.
   
   Hopefully more and more people will take notice of his great work once again. For those who have never been introduced to Fox's work, I highly recommend reading his collection of Short Stories: SOUTHERN FRIED. (Shel Silverstein wrote the music for a play based on this work of fiction.)



2. This rather unflattering portrait of a self-indulgent and motor-mouthed Satchel Paige adds little new to either the Paige legend or the history of the baseball era he represented. It also raises some serious questions about the author's journalistic approach. Why does Paige--so lucid in memory on all other matters--boast of facing Mickey Mantle during the 1948 pennant race (Mantle was a rookie in 1951), clinching the tight pennant race by defeating the Yankees (Cleveland won in a playoff with Boston), or facing manager Casey Stengel that year (when Stengel didn't arrive on the Yankee bench until 1949)? If Paige is simply forgetful or chooses to purposely distort historical facts, was doesn't the author/interviewer point this out in a footnote, or perhaps in his postscript? And how could Paige's several days of detailed and colorful ramblings be here reported in such word-for-word detail and in Paige's supposed own words if the author/interviewer made no tape recordings (something Fox claims in the postscript)? One leaves this book wondering how much in its pages is actually Satchel and how much is a fictional character dreamed up by Bill Fox?
   
   The treatment of this supposed 1970 in-depth interview with Paige is also quite repetitious in spots (much of the Postscript is a reprise of Chapter 1) and thus the treatment seemingly lends itself far more to the original intended magazine piece and not to a full-length book. There is also little here (despite the book's misleading title) that captures the flavor of America during the 1930s and 40s eras in which Paige played.
   
   There are far better portraits available of Satchel Paige, especially those written by Negro leagues historian John Holway.



3. Theb book was interesting and informative. I enjoyed it very much.
   The price was reasonable and the service was timely and satisfactory.



4. As already noted, this work is the results of a seven day or so interview of the great Satchel Paige by the author in 1970. It is far more than simply a book of "baseball war stories." The interview clearly illuminates the personality of one of the greatest baseball players who ever lived (beyond a doubt the best pitcher). There was much more here, to this man than just a great arm. The author captures Paige's somewhat erratic personality. The man, Paige, was certainly a character and much more that a simple "jock." On the other hand, reading between the lines, there is a whimsical sadness ever present. As you read, you cannot help but wonder what might have been had the times been different. You get the feeling that Paige knew, ergo, the sadness. Recommend this one for any baseball fan or those simply interested in or countries history, warts and all.

5 comments about A Hero All His Life: Merlyn, Mickey Jr., David, and Dan Mantle : A Memoir by the Mantle Family.

1. This is a truly moving, inspirational and heartrendering book. It reads like a Greek Tragedy, but is so real because the Authors were there. Written by Mickey's wife Merlyn, and his 3 surviving sons, it is by far the most honest work regarding Mickey. This book is so much more important that that trashy, tabloid like "Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son" by Tony Castro, that I would suggest you never bother with that thing. Besides, Castro took most of his book directly from this one.

   This story is also one of the finest studies of the dysfunction in an alcoholic family, with all the roles being lived out and understood by the participants. These are real, caring and heroic people, not because of baseball, but because they became winners in life by facing their problems together. A great, great book!




2. Mickey Mantle's wife, Merlyn, and their sons tell the unique and inspirational story of their very separate, often harrowing private lives with the husband and father that was there for them through their lives before cancer took him away. Merlyn and the boys discuss how the effects of alcohol and the spotlight of fame play a role on him and how they all came to be. Merlyn talks about Mickey Mantle the most because they were the closest, and she discusses what she went through as a wife and as a mother. The boys tell their vivid stories of what they can remember while the father was emotionally and physically absent. The dexterous Mickey, played ball everyday and is still a very well-known name in the histroy of baseball. This story explains his lief and career while alcohol impacted himself physically, hi gamily, and his life mentally. It also touches base on his career achievements and how he became the amazing Mickey Mantle.



3. I have read several books on Mickey Mantle and this one is one of the best. Mickey's story is one of the best in baseball and he remains one of the most popular players in history. This book is an excellent look at the effects of fame and alcohol on the family and how the family members came to grips with things. The stories presented here are told by his wife Merlyn and his sons. Through his family, Mickey's story lives on and he continues to inspire us.



4. I'm only 13, and Mickey Mantle is my favorite baseball player to live. I have read about 6 books on the "Commerce Comet" and this book is exceptional. In the first chapter the Mick talks about his alchohol abuse. Then Marilyn talks about her highschool sweetheart. This is a great book.



5. I have read most of the books written by Mickey and when I picked this one up I was not quite ready for it's contents. The first chapter, written by Mickey himself address his views on his alcoholism and subsequent recovery.

   The following chapters by Merlyn and one by each of his surviving sons was indeed an eye openner into his private life. A lot of information I had not known before was given first hand by his family members.

   It took a great deal of courage on their parts to put this book into print and although their lives were not what we might have imagined, it still showed Mick's heart felt side and the love he held for his family and the respect and love they hold for an American Icon.

   A must reading for Mantle fans and a true story of courage.

No comments about The Warsaw Sparks: A Memoir.

5 comments about I Remember Woody.

1. This book was amazing. I could not put it down. It is a must for Ohio State fans. I will remember Woody after reading this.



2. This book was amazing. I could not put it down. It is a must for Ohio State fans. I will remember Woody after reading this.



3. This book shows Woody Hayes as the true person, not just the ranting coach on the sideline. As an aspiring coach, I see Woody as an excellent model for success. His genuine love and concern for his players is unique and inspiring. This book is a must read for those who want to see Woody as his players, friends, and family see him. Great book about a Great man.



4. being woody's grandson, i liked it, there was a wide array of people talking to the author about him. I thought that my favorite section was the last, the friends, foes and fans part. it seems as if many people here in columbus have their own personal run-in or encounter with him and for me, those stories are infitley more interesting than anything else.

   the recollections from the players and coaches were good, but they kind of blurred together under the "they may be smarter than me but i can outwork 'em" mantra.

   overall, good job. the photos were pretty interesting. we have a few at home that will never make it out, including one of woody in my darth vader helmet at christmas (i must've been ten or less).




5. I was surprised that such a complete collection of stories and experiences existed. Woody was bigger than life but at the same time he was only a simple man that expected the best from everyone he touched. A must read for all fans--not just Buckeyes!

1 comments about Paraffin Chronicles.

1. I've read most of the surfing memoirs available and this is my favorite. If you want the great American novel, read Melville or Fitzgerald, but if you are a surfer and want to hear what it was like "back in the day" this is the book. I can only dream of what it was like to live in the Islands in the late 60's before the breaks and beaches got so crowded (with people like me) but Torrens lived it. The book is written in a conversational style that suits the topic perfectly.