5 comments about Letters of the Dragon (Bruce Lee Library).

1. Bruce Lee books or papers about him and his success are the best basis for every serious training martial artist. BL & his JKD are open minded, only truth development we can join this world.



2. This collection of correspondence gives the reader a chance to peek into the mind and life of Bruce Lee. We get to tag along on his first trip to the US since his birth, his friendships, his marriage, his children, what he thought of the jet set, how the dog was eating, father-son bonding, etc. His heart went into every word, as his hand interpreted the flow of his mind.

   Bruce's widow, Linda Emery Lee Cadwell, mentions in one of the forwards that until the last year of his life, Bruce didn't have enough money to make excessive long distance phone calls. I'd hate to sound selfish, but, lucky for us.




3. I thought this book offered a completely different perspective of Bruce Lee and offered quality reading into the personal life of a famous martial artist. His letters were very honest, thought-provoking, and genuine from beginning to end. There was one very short and disturbing letter towards the end of the book which, in my opinion, was a significant clue as to why he passed so early and I hope other readers can understand this clue as well.

   John Little did an extraordinary job of presenting the letters in order and importance as with all of his books on Bruce Lee. Highly recommended!




4. Great book. I liked reading about Bruce Lee's thoughts and ideas



5. This book provides another view of the legendary Bruce Lee. I really enjoyed reading his thoughts on the martial arts, his work (film and books) and his family. The letters to Linda showed how much he loved his wife and children. I know this is part of her life too and she may want to keep it private, but I would have liked to see some of the letters she wrote back to Bruce.

5 comments about Built to Win: Inside Stories and Leadership Strategies from Baseball's Winningest GM.

1. I picked up a copy of the book at the local Dollar store and I am glad I didn't pay full price for it. I am not sure if he is surrounded by a group of toadies or what but I have to wonder who gave him any feed back on the manuscript. The man must have a wealth of knowledge about how trades were made, how some people he thought were stars failed and others he thought wouldn't make it did, etc. There were some good stories such as the Bonds to Atlanta trade. I had heard Andre Thomas was involved and he wasn't mentioned so I don't know if the full story wasn't in the book or that was just a rumor.
   
   He had some interesting things to say about Andrew Jones (positive) and some agents (negative) but really nothing about what went on in Kansas City, why that team collapsed or how he worked with Bobby Cox to make trades. He did make some great trades and mentioned a few but not much into the thought process behind them.
   
   I wouldn't know who the intended audience for the book is. It's not for baseball junkies, it's not for business managers, maybe people who want a few tips on management techniques? I don't know but if you are looking for baseball don't expect to find much here.



2. I bought this book with the hope of some kind of insight, and some good stories.
   
   It's a decent book, but I could care less about John Schuerholz the poet, I bought the book for baseball.
   
   I was very disappointed, it seems like another book that is an attempt to destroy "Moneyball" in the book market, but fails miserably.
   
   I love the Braves, but left this book feeling pretty disappointed.



3. John Schuerholz' book reads as if it was directly dictated to his writer. There are bland recollections of several decades in baseball, but the general themes seems to be pointing out obvious concepts (work together, listen to your staff) to make this a business/management book. Meanwhile, Schuerholz levels repeated jabs at players for being greedy and directly states that agents are destroying the game. These statements are routinely paired with an attempt to bill the Atlanta Braves as a medium-market team without the resources of largest teams. However, Schuerholz argues revenues for the team are modest, without acknowledging that Time Warner, the owner of his team, has cleared hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising by broadcasting Braves games. Sadly, this is a book devoid of self-reflection or insider details.



4. First of all, I've been a Braves fan for 30 years, so I appreciate the success of the Schuerholz era. Having said that, this book is really terrible.
   
   Schuerholz comes across as a pompous blowhard who wants us to know that he IS the best dressed man in baseball ("dapper" & "stylish apparel" are used in the book), and that he and Tom Glavine know more about wine than idiots like Stan Kasten. In fact, we get three pages on a Chateau La Fleur Petrus Pomerol, vintage 1961 - oh yeah, that's great reading!! Add some incessant name dropping and a pile of Management 101 anecdotes and you get this opus of self-love.
   
   I really thought I'd enjoy this book. It's too bad the big guy didn't stick to baseball and leave the management cliches for someone as impressed with the author's insights as the author himself. It's almost as if Schuerholz is desperately seeking his share of the credit for the success of the team; so much so that he tries to convince the reader that his management expertise is more responsible for the team's success than the organization Bobby Cox had in place when the author arrived in Atlanta. I'm not buying it, John - even though I was dumb enough to buy this book.



5. An occasionally interesting look into the mind of a successful MLB general manager is marred by insipid management book cliches regurgitated from far better motivational books.
   
   If this book had stuck to the inside stories, it might have been a modern baseball classic, but Schuerholz can't seem to resist slinging tired bromides about commitment and teamwork. When he talks about baseball, Schuerholz is a joy; but when he babbles about his "leadership strategies," this book jumps the rails.
   
   Methinks this book might be a better library or bookstore skim than a take home purchase.

5 comments about Boys Will Be Boys: The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty.

1. Book felt very choppy...not a good flow and nothing of great substance. It's an entertaining read if you don't like the Cowboys (I'm an Eagles' fan...I know, it's sad). So, I would just stick with Jeff's articles on ESPN. They are more concise and hard hitting.



2. This is a pretty entertaining book, but throughout reading it I kept feeling like it could have been better. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but I think fundamentally the book just lacks a certain storytelling quality. It dumps a lot of sensational story lines and episodes on the reader, but it failed to make me feel like I was being told the stories in a high quality manner.
   
   Frankly, without the bizarre Charles Haley stories, I doubt this book would get much attention at all. I heard about it on sports radio and the Haley craziness was the focus of the discussion. The more central stories about Jerry Jones, Jimmy Johnson, Michael Irvin, Switzer, et al were OK, but they left me feeling like they were repetitive and possibly exaggerated a little.
   
   In any event, if you have an interest in the Cowboys or in weirdness in pro sports, you'll probably find this book fairly entertaining despite some flaws.



3. Did you know that the alternate title to this piece was "How to do Coke and Act Normal"? I know, pretty cool huh?
   
   I liked the book so much that I set it on fire and prayed to the great Nate Newton's a$$. Dolla dolla tip!



4. Jeff Pearlman, author of a terrific Barry Bonds biography and a book about the 1986 Mets, does a great job of profiling the 1990s Dallas Cowboys. Even if(like me) you hate the Cowboys you should read the book. The characters are far more interesting than in any work of fiction, from the extremely promiscuous Michael Irvin to the square Troy Aikman to heartless but effective coach Jimmy Johnson. This is the best sports book of 2008.



5. Pretty good synopsis of the High Flying Cowboys of the 90"s. I felt it was a little disjointed in parts. If you aren't a faithful follower of the Cowboys, you might not understand some of the references. Also, since he brings up Troy Aikman's sexuality, it might have been nice to follow it up with the facts relating to his marriage.

4 comments about Fantastic Federer: The Biography of the World's Greatest Tennis Player.

1. This is a Bio of the World Number One Tennis Star from Switzerland. I have kept up with all his tournaments and love to watch him. The book is excellent and tells a lot about his early life.I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in Tennis. Thanks Amazon for having it!



2. I got this book for my birthday (the new one wasn't out yet) and i assumed from the reviews that it wasn't going to be very good. But I was happy to find out that the book was not cheaply made, the pages weren't too thin, and the type wasn't over-sized. I'll admit that I love everything and anything to do with Roger Federer but, with as much objectvity as i'm capable of, I thought it was a fairly good book. I learned a lot of things about Roger's childhood and early junior career that I didn't know. Looking at him now it's hard to believe he lost SO much back then! It was almost hard for me to just READ about him losing! I still havn't read the new one but in the mean time i'll give this book a thumbs up.



3. I'm totally agaisnt biographies about sport personalities that are still at their prime (or even having the potential to achieve so much more, as it's the case with Federer!)
   
   So, I do not reccomend this book.



4. This book had some interesting content and details, but overall it was a disappointment since it really isn't packaged well. The type-face was huge and kind of juvenile and it looked as though the publishers were struggling to get to 250 pages in the book. The paper was also kind of cheap. In general it was just not a quality book. I've read both Fantastic Federer and the Roger Federer Story: Quest for Perfection and I would definitely recommend the Roger Federer Story for better content and quality!

5 comments about The Game.

1. As a hockey fan growing up in the late '60's and early '70's, Ken Dryden was one of my heroes. The Canadiens seemed to always win the Stanley Cup in those years and Dryden was the goalie to watch in the '70's. The Game chronicles the latter stage of his career and provides a great deal of insight into the NHL, the Canadiens and, of course, Dryden himself.
   
   My favorite part of this book is when he takes the time to drill down deeper into the quirky personalities of certain teammates. When you think of the Canadiens of the '70's, players like Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, Bob Gainey, Guy Lapointe, Steve Shutt, and of course, coach Scotty Bowman come to mind. Dryden devotes much of The Game to coverage of teammates, coaches and even trainers, all written in the cerebral style he was known for throughout his career.
   
   Any true hockey fan will want to read this book, regardless of how much or little you know about Dryden and Canadiens history. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the NHL today is where it stands after the 2004-05 lockout. Although Dryden didn't touch on this in The Game, he offered these prescient thoughts towards the end of the book (and his NHL career):
   
   "Expansion and the WHA behind it, it will be a time to turn inward, to put its (the NHL's) unwieldy house in order. Like an aging adolescent having grown too fast, it will get reacquainted with its parts, get them in hand, and do something with them. It will be a time for realism, and stability, for chastened hopes and dreams deferred--except one. Off ice, the whispered word will be "cable." But it will represent a more modest dream this time, and more realizable, if the promised bonanza is only for some. It is time for a deep breath, a pause, a time to return the game to the ice. For that is the real tragedy of the 1970s, and the real opportunity for the 1980s. It is on the ice that its next great challenge lies."
   
   Gee, he could have written much of that in the last 3 years and it would have been just as applicable. The league is on the rebound but the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals, the ultimate hockey championship, are relegated to the Versus network. Ugh. I even had to bite the bullet and sign up for Versus network service yesterday so that I could watch games 1 and 2, featuring my beloved Pittsburgh Penguins against the evil Detroit Red Wings.
   
   How sad is that? The Stanley Cup Finals start out on some third-tier cable network. Maybe it's time to toss Gary Bettman out as NHL commissioner and replace him with someone like Ken Dryden...



2. This is no ordinary sports autobiography. Dryden does not sing his own praises and tell us how he became the greatest goalie of his generation. Instead this is a deeply meditative book in which he shares with the reader his own questions as to the character and meaning of his own career in hockey. He provides in the course of this an inside look at the game, and long interesting descriptions of the people he has known in it, most notably his teammates.
   The book does not really tell a consecutive story. It also leaves out certain things the reader might want to know. I for instance would have liked to have heard more about Dryden's family, his wife and parents, their relation to his success and career. But he pretty much keeps them out of it and focuses on the game.
   His own relation to himself and his success , is I believe , quite admirable. He describes in detail the pleasures and the pains of goalkeeping. He describes too the part this position has in the whole game. I imagine a real hockey fan ( I am not) would be tremendously interested in the inside look he gives at the way players actually think about themselves and what they are doing.
   Dryden is both tremendously intelligent and articulate- a truly outstanding writer.
   Many have said this is one of the best sports books ever written. It is certainly one of the best I have read.



3. When I saw this book I said to myself I will give it a try-- After reading parts about the conversations in the locker rooms between players. I liked his own history about the game when growing up and the teams day to day conversations--going to practice, before certain big games. But he has a nasty annoying knack of disrespecting other players on any page in the book. The first read of the book you think it is just great sense of humor, but afterwards I think about and it is a tremendous disrespect to other professional players on his team. An example includes page 110 "The one original part of his game around which it might be done he seemed anxious to deny." Page 77 "On the one hand he is a good skater and forechecker, capable of playing any of the forward positions, a better-than-average playmaker and penalty-killer;on the other, he is not big,not strong, not tough, often injured, a worse-than-average shooter, and has surprisingly little goal-scoring ability.



4. As a big fan of Les Canadiens who frequently took a weekend and stood in the Forum to watch Dryden and his teammates play, I was expecting a great book. Look at the glowing reviews.
   
   But when I read this, I found it rambling, full of topics not explored. And the characters in the book come across as half-baked.
   
   The Ken Dryden I see in this book is introspective to the point of being morose. He gripes so much about the pressures, the disjointed life he lives. True, his role during the Canadien dynasty was not to lose the game. Of course, when you have guys like Gainey, Lemaire, Robinson, Lapointe, Lafleur, all in front of you, it does take the edge away.
   
   But I got no real feeling as to why he plays, with all the dislikes he has of it. The cameraderie? I am not convinced.
   
   But you get no real feeling for the writer, for his family, or his teammates.
   
   The book takes a bizarre turn 3/4 through on a history lesson, quite interesting but out-of-place. And his whining about the physicality of the game grinds on me.
   
   Dryden got a lot of attention for being a law student. But he has left his law studies behind and you hear nothing of why.
   
   The edition I have has a 20-year afterword. He is the president of the Toronto Maple Leafs now, with relatively little success.
   
   I guess the overall impression of the book was to appreciate parts of it but to wonder why it was written. Dryden comes across as quite introspective, often unwilling to share his thoughts and feelings. No problem with that, but why did he write the book?



5. Having grown up in the Boston area and having been a goaltender myself, I simultaneously despised Dryden for his mastery of our beloved Bruins, and admired him for his unparalleled consistency in a position fraught with inconsistency. In an era when college graduates in the NHL were few and far between, Dryden as a graduate of Cornell and later McGill Law School was a genuine odity. His level of intelligence is unquestioned however, it may have also been in part, what made for something of a "dry" read.

No comments about The Beautiful Struggle.

No comments about Cristiano Ronaldo: The True Story of the Greatest Footballer on Earth.

1 comments about Totally Frank: The Autobiography of Frank Lampard.

1. its great to find out more about frank's childhood and they way he began his career in the youth academy and also his relationship with mourinho, rainieri, but I have to say he should have let someone else write it for him, its was like reading an essay from a 15 year old boy.

5 comments about Branch Rickey: Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman.

1. This book took me months to finish, not because it was dull, which it is not, but because it is dense, a 750 page tome and written memoriam to Branch Rickey, the man known in baseball as "The Ferocious Gentleman," "The Mahatma," or (less flatteringly), "El Cheapo." How does an author manage to write a 750 page biography about a general manager? Lee Lowenfish has written an exhaustive, painstakingly researched, very readable biography of Mr. Wesley Branch Rickey, a biography which also happens to be an exhaustive, painstakingly researched, and very readable history of baseball (down to the box scores of individual games) in the early-to-mid Twentieth Century, the period of Rickey's lifetime.
   
   Rickey is well-known as the man who worked to integrate Major League Baseball with the signing of another Ferocious Gentleman, Jackie Robinson. Jackie's appearance in the everyday world of professional baseball, and his wholehearted embrace by the fans of the Brooklyn Dodgers was an augury of vast change in the American landscape. A line can be drawn directly from Jackie Robinson to President Barack Obama.
   
   Branch Rickey is a point on that line. Born into a religious (but hardly joyless) Methodist household with strict Sabbatarian views, the Midwestern-born Rickey was a dynamo who excelled in school, coached and played high school and college football, worked to support his family, attended law school, taught Bible classes, and had a short but impressive career in the Major Leagues as a catcher, all at once.
   
   Rickey's personal ethical views were rock steady--he did not drink, rarely swore, worked tirelessly, was strictly monogamous, and never involved himself with Sunday baseball---but he was a believer in American diversity, who befriended Jews, Catholics, African-Americans, and hard-living, ethically flexible reprobates like Rogers Hornsby, Leo Durocher and Dizzy Dean, uncritically.
   
   Rickey seemed to have a touch with marginal teams, turning them from money-losing and dispirited agglomerations of men in uniform into powerhouses of talent and business success. His work with the St. Louis Cardinals, who went from worst to first and became known as the roughnecking "Gashouse Gang" was legendary, as was his work with the Brooklyn Dodgers, who transmogrified from the laughingstock "Daffiness Boys" to the beloved "Boys of Summer." Rickey almost singlehandedly created the farm system, and he instituted scientific techniques in spring training that allowed ballplayers to develop and hone their natural talents, making the game far more interesting and precise.
   
   Rickey's story of how he came to racial awareness has the ring of contrivance, but it is undoubtedly true, though enhanced as a good raconteur's tales always are. One of Rickey's star black college players was denied accommodations in South Bend, Indiana---"It's my skin, Mr. Rickey! If I could only tear it off!"---and this pathos awoke Rickey to the great injustice of color prejudice. Whatever the actual moment held, Rickey was to remember the incident, and it changed him, then our nation, and then the world.
   
   Rickey was far from perfect. He tended at times to be sanctimonious and hortatory, he did not handle losing very well, and he was chintzy with his teams to an extreme, all of which made him unpopular with some. He was obstinate on occasion, a not-altogether bad quality which he used to his advantage in bucking the tide to such magnificent effect.
   
   Considering that Rickey earned $95,000.00 in 1928(!), he certainly knew how to value his own effort. He is the only baseball executive ever to garner a percentage of all trades made to and from his teams.
   
   Ironically, he hated and was hated by his Dodgers business partner, Walter O'Malley, who, like him, was a stocky raconteur, smoked big cigars, wore round rimless glasses on his broad face, and was "El Cheapo II." In photos the two men are hard to distinguish. Rickey however, had an inherent Love Of The Game and a respect for the fans and players that the avaricious, unsentimental and ultimately disgusting Big Oom lacked. Had Rickey retained control of the Brooklyn Dodgers they would still BE the Brooklyn Dodgers.
   
   Branch Rickey was that rara avis, a baseball intellectual, who demanded that his men think, act and work together for the benefit of themselves, their teammates, their fans, their communities, their country, and the world. The life of this courteous, temperate, bespectacled Ferocious Gentleman has had an impact which still reverberates in our collective consciousness today.



2. An excellent biography of Branch Rickey and his accomplishments during the first 65 years of the 20th century.
   It is a fascinating story of his life,life in America,a history of baseball and the social mores of the era.
   Fascinating reporting on the recruitment and emergence of Jackie Robinson.



3. Lee Lowenfish has written a fabulously researched book that is an entry point into the history of baseball since the start of the 20th century. Yes, I knew that Branch Rickey ran the Dodgers and hired Jackie Robinson, breaking the color barrier in major league baseball. I didn't know, however, that he started his career in St. Louis and as I read this easy to like book, I began sending copies to people I thought would be interested.
   
   I'm 65 (born in 1943) and started listening to New York baseball games in the car with my Dad starting in about 1948. As we drove, we'd hear the Yankees and the Giants and the Dodgers. Did I know that I was listening to history as Jackie Robinson ran the bases?
   
   Many of my friends are 20 years older than I am. I thought that this book would bring back wonderful memories for them and I was right.
   
   Imagine, to date I've sent 18 books as gifts to people from New York, St. Louis, Los Angeles. Everyone has been reading and loving Lowenfish's book.........each for a different reason.
   
   SO BUY THE BOOK ALREADY.



4. If you consider yourself a baseball fan you need to read this book, because Branch Rickey was an integral part of the game's history. The book is 600 pages long, but the reading style flowed easily for me, and held my interest throughout the book. The legal profession's loss was baseball's gain as he devoted practically his entire life to serving the game while serving others at the same time. He spoke his mind and rubbed some people the wrong way, but this conservative Republican knew a wrong when he saw it, and opened up the game of baseball to the Negro race when other owners dared not disrupt the status quo. After a stint at coaching at the University of Michigan where he encountered who he deemed one of his two favorite players, George Sisler, he moved on to St. Louis to cover the lowly Browns where he worked under his favorite superior, Robert Hedges. From there it was to the Cardinals where he placed his stamp on the Redbirds successful teams of the mid-1930s Gashouse Gang, and early 1940's which were under the ownership of Sam Breadon. From there it was on to Brooklyn where he made history by signing Jackie Robinson along with others who would become stars of Roger Kahn's book "The Boys of Summer" during the 1950s. Following the 1950 season he left the Dodgers following a power struggle with "The Big O", Walter O'Malley. The Pittsburgh Pirates came calling, and once again Rickey built a cellar-dwelling franchise into a championship 1960 team with players such as Dick Groat and stealing an unprotected Roberto Clemente from the Dodgers' minor league system. Rickey's last stop was back in St. Louis when Cardinals' owner "Gussie" Busch hired Rickey as a consultant. This proved an unwise move on the part of both Busch and Rickey. Rickey clashed with Redbird general manager "Bing" Devine who was in the process of building a winner in St. Louis. Rickey wanted Stan Musial to retire, certainly an unpopular suggestion where The Man reigned supreme. Rickey died in November of 1965 while making a speech in Columbia, Missouri. I remember listening to it on St. Louis radio station KMOX. This book is filled with legendary baseball characters such as Larry MacPhail, Red Barber, Leo Durocher, "Pepper" Martin (Rickey's other favorite player), Clyde Sukeforth, Rogers Hornsby, Frankie Frisch, Connie Mack, and numerous others. Incidentally, I was disappointed to learn that Mack was the only owner who protested to Rickey personally regarding the signing of Robinson. Mack is quoted, "I used to have respect for Rickey. I don't have any more." Mack added that his Athletics would not play the Dodgers in Florida if Robinson came with them. Don't be intimidated by the length of the book. To adequately cover Rickey's life it needs to be a lengthy book. If you enjoy baseball history this book will be a breeze. Treat yourself! You will also enjoy Rickey's quotations which are still appropriate today.



5. Let me touch on that last first.
   
   Branch Rickey may have used the term "ferocious gentlemen" about various people he appreciated. It certainly was NOT used regularly of others about him, definitely not to the point where it became a moniker.
   
   But, Lowenfish tags Rickey with it, and uses it of him about every 10-15 pages. It's grating, it's off-putting, and does nothing to move the story line forward. Nor does it do anything for me in a good sense of establishing Lowenfish as a special author.
   
   There's a few small errors of fact in the book. Most notably, the 1948 Chicago Tribune headline was "Dewey DEFEATS Truman" and not "Dewey BEATS Truman."
   
   Other than that, while not leaden, the style of the book is not crisp, either.
   
   As far as content, the book could either have been written a bit tighter and be 50 pages shorter, or else have been longer and more jam-packed. Rickey's Brooklyn years and especially his relationship with Walter O'Malley come immediately to mind. What first set them off against one another? Did Rickey have any quotable comments about O'Malley? Ditto for O'Malley about Rickey.
   
   In other words, this book isn't bad as a Rickey bio -- if you can get past Lowenfish's writing tics. But, there's surely a more compelling -- and better written -- book available.

2 comments about Jack Nicklaus: Memories and Mementos from Golf's Golden Bear.

1. If you are at all interested in Jack Nicklaus and can't, by time or distance, visit his museum in Columbus, Ohio (on the campus of Ohio State University), then this book will be a nice visual replacement. Well organized, this book follows Jack's entire career as well as his relationships with his teacher, Jack Grout, his parents Charlie and Helen Nicklaus and his wife Barbara. Especially nice are several pages of reproduced "mementos" in cellophaned envelopes for easy retrival and review.
   
   I would recommend this book highly to all golfers who have any admiration for the Golden Bear.



2. It sounds "trite" and simple to say it, but this book is a "must" for those who love golf and admire the qualities Jack Nicklaus brought to the game, talent, work ethic, competitiveness, success, and class. The epitome of what the game is meant to be.
   
   There are other, more indepth, books on Jack Nicklaus, but this one has it all, enough to appreciate the man, who is, what he stands for and his journey, a journey that has been a credit to the game of golf and has inspired many of us who have followed his career and the values and principles he has demonstrated so effectivly.
   
   There are many replica mementos, a letter from Tiger Woods, copies of his scorecards, Masters invitations and such that give this book a nice touch, a nice feel. Overall it is a comprehensive keepsake album of Jack, his career and the game of golf in his day.
   
   Simply put: "A must" for those who love golf and admire the Golden Bear.