5 comments about No Excuses: The True Story of a Congenital Amputee Who Became a Champion in Wrestling and in Life.

1. The next time you think that life has dealt you a bad hand, you should pick up this story about Kyle Maynard, the congential amputee athlete. I found the story very inspirational and motivating. While I was hopeing that Kyle would talk more about other aspects of his life, like career, it was impressive reading about how he trained for football and wrestling. There is also the amazing amount of faith and caring from Kyle's friends and family.
   
   Next time that you get self-conscious over a blemish or do not feel like exercising, take a few minutes to flip through this book about an amazing human being.
   
   Doug Setter, author of Stomach Flattening



2. Kyle's story is one that helps you to believe in love of family and power of the human spirit.



3. This book is truly inspiring!
   Read it, with a box of Kleenex tissue handy. This book will put iron in your spine!
   Then buy copies for everyone in your family . . . and friends . . . and.
   Do not! Repeat- Do not miss out on the rich blessing this book delivers.



4. It is a great book. It proves that the mind can overcome any physical disablilities.



5. Very great story. It's one thing to tell a kid that they can do anything they put their mind to when they're born with a body that's not "normal".
   
   But it's another thing for a man like Kyle to SHOW people that it's possible. He's served as an inspiration to at least 2 of my patients and their families, because they can see the possibilities of life as an adult, defining and projecting who you are as a man, rather than letting society tell you who you are supposed to be.
   
   Excellent read. Highly recommended.

5 comments about The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth.

1. Leigh Montville's The Big Bam is an exhaustively researched book on the life and times of Babe Ruth. Even for the non-sports fan, this book reads like the best of fiction, with a huge personality at its center and a fascinating exploration of how that personality influenced a generation of post war Americans. Entertaining and informative, Montville never shirks from probing into the faults and flaws of this iconic athlete. The book's triumph is in its evocation of supreme glory fading away with time, age, and illness. A milestone biography of a fascinating and elusive personality.
   
   Donald Gallinger is the author of The Master Planets



2. "The Big Bam" tells the fascinating story of the man behind the legend. Author Leigh Montville does an excellent job of intertwining the man into the baseball hero, without neglecting either.
   
   Babe Ruth was a character "from the wrong side of the tracks" whose make-up was often "lost in the fog." Was he really part Negro? Who were the parents of his daughter? We may never know for sure.
   
   Raised in St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, he first learned to play ball from the Xavierian Brothers who ran the school. Growing up with nothing, he exercised no restraint when he had everything. The tales of his undisciplined drinking (including during prohibition) and philandering leave the reader aghast at the life style led by the Babe. The failure of his first marriage and strange relationship with his daughter baffle the mind. Yet, through it all, Ruth emerges as worthy of hero worship and, in the end, a sympathetic character, a big kid who never grew up.
   
   The Sultan of Swat is never ignored in the book. For the baseball fan, this book highlights a legendary career and brings out some facts that may have gone unnoticed. For example, I have seen pictures of the window he broke across the street from Sportsman's Park, but I never knew that he was pitching for the Red Sox that day. I had not realized that he was the one who wanted to quit pitching in order to hit more. His sparing with the owners and his managers make for interesting reading. His performance is even more astonishing when compared to his contemporaries, such as the year that he hit more home runs than six teams in the American League. Ultimately, it was his undisciplined character which defeated his last dream, that of managing in the major leagues.
   
   This is a good read for any fan of the Golden Age of Baseball. It makes you admire the athlete and understand the man. Play Ball!



3. If you only read one biography of the Babe, then the Big Bam would be an excellent choice. It's a solid, well researched look at the biggest name in baseball history. One of the strong points - the author's decision not to speculate - results in a lack of titillating vignettes from both the Babe's earliest years and some of his escapades. However, the reader gains that back in his confidence in the reliability of the book. Besides, the Sultan of Swat generated more than enough stories that are reported.
   
   A number of photographs are included and they add a great deal to the biography. The excellent bibliography also allows one to reasearch further.
   
   Overall, I was wishing it was a longer book by the time I was done.



4. This is a nicely revealing look at the Sultan of Swat, one that informs about George Herman Ruth (1895-1948) both on and off the field. The narrative begins by examininig the Babe's turbulent childhood and upbringing in a Baltimore orphanage. Readers see how this young man's incredible pitching arm and all-around skill led to a professional contract. Reaching the majors in 1914 at just 19, Ruth helped pitch the Red Sox to three World Seriers titles from 1915-1918. After switching to the outfield, Boston foolishly sold him to the Yankees, where New York media, radio, newsreels, plus the Babe's tape-measure clouts turned him into a national icon. As the author shows, the Babe was an equally-enthused drinker and skirt-chaser (particularly prior to 1926). We also learn about his 60-homer season in 1927, his relations with Lou Gherig, teammates, and management, barnstorming, calling his shot in his last (1932) World Series, and his inevitable slide. The author concludes with a briefer look at Ruth's post-baseball days, frustrated desire to manage, and untimely death from cancer.
   
   Author Leigh Montville provides much information about the Babe, his emotions, genuine sympathy for kids and orphans, and his troubled family life. Sadly, Montville didn't uncover every relevant fact - in such instances he pleads ¨fog.¨ Still, this is a very good biography, nearly matching THE LEGEND COMES TO LIFE by Robert Creamer.



5. If you like historical accounts of baseball, this is a must read for you. There are accounts in this book about the most famous player to ever hit, Babe Ruth, that will make you wonder how he even survived to become the legend he did. Babe Ruth did not get a "cookie cutter" road to becoming the great hitter he became. IN His first years of professional baseball he was taunted, harassed, and insulted by virtually every possible means available to the other players. His nickname cannot even be mentioned in this review because it was so terrible. He was set up and fell for every trick in the book, and was the [...] of every joke because he was so innocent (in those ways of the world). In this book, you learn about the "young man" who becomes a legend, dispite the mean and cruel way he is treated. This young man, from St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys was freed by a Jack Dunn, a baseball guy from Baltimore. Ruth could hit as well as he could pitch. No one really explains where these talents ever develop, but the book mentions this legend (Ruth) as being extremely crude and racially motivated by anything that moved. Far from a gentleman, and never caring about it anyway, gradually he becomes recognized as one of the greatest hitters of all time. This initiation, into a most popular sport in the world's biggest city, turns out to be exactly what he needs to be molded into the world's greatest player. Babe Ruth knew how to live life in and out of baseball. He took everything everyone threw at him, and somehow became the greatest of the greats. This is an amazing tale of how a great one is made through saw dust and blade cutting, unlike say that of Joe D or Mickey. Ruth took all the pot shots, and learned to fire them right back. Nothing got to him, nothing. You have got to read this book, it is fantastic!!!! 10 stars. guyairey

5 comments about The Driver: My Dangerous Pursuit of Speed and Truth in the Outlaw Racing World.

1. A myriad of enthusiastic book reviews tout this book as "the best frickin' book ever" and, suffice it to say, I agree. Wholeheartedly. Thus, to avoid duplicity, I wanted to comment briefly on a less-reviewed aspect of "The Driver," one that seems to often take a back seat (pun intended) to the racing/high-speed/gumball-rallying/party-all-night theme that is the subject of innumerable other reviews: the author's attempt to answer some big questions in a car.
   
   Clearly Mr. Roy can drive. Obviously he is a brilliant strategist. It is axiomatic that he is insane. But some of my favorite scenes in the book did not take place in the lovely M5.
   
   Thus, for those who are thinking of buying this book and, also, in response to those who have taken the time to pontificate, often so carelessly, about Mr. Roy's life, and to judge, all too easily, his passion for racing and the actions he has taken in the exploration thereof, I humbly offer this.
   
   To understand what makes this book so special, it is important to read and understand those passages that do not relate to the garmins, radar jammers and police outfits that otherwise make Team Polizei the wonderful and ridiculous phenomenon that it is.
   
   Indeed, when read holistically, "The Driver" is a fast-paced journey through a world of insane cars, playboys and rally-racers just as much as it is a window into the driver's personal search for that which money can not buy. Meaning. Answers. Passion. "Cadillacs."



2. On the whole, a very good book.
   
   The best parts are the recounts of the Gumball battles and the road racing. However, I think Alex felt the need to tie all the events in the book together with a single underlying storyline - one that I think is fictional. To me, it's too incredible to believe, and I don't think Alex would have believed it at the time either.
   
   This book is really a must for Gumball enthusiasts. While it is accessible to those not familiar with Gumball, I would say it's most enjoyed by those in the know. An excellent accompanyment to any DVDs you have, as it gives amazing tales of antics not seen in the documentaries - both off the road and on!
   
   Some of the stories are so enthralling I didn't want them to end, and this was one book I couldn't wait to pick up again after work.



3. This book is the best book I have ever read, A lot of information in it and still written in a way its easy and fun to read!
   Anybody who is remotely interested in reading just has to read this book!



4. As much as I disapprove of what Alex Roy does (and I truly do), I couldn't help but get a guilty, vicarious thrill reading this book. Alex Roy participates in road rallies and cross-country runs for speed, often clipping along at speeds well into triple digits (how does 175 mph strike you?) on public roads. No matter how many safety precautions you take, that's putting the lives of non-participants at risk and there are plenty of legal ways to get your car onto the track if you want to drive fast safely. Lecture over, my immature half will now commence the review.
   
   I stayed up late reading this book despite writing that is disjointed and frequently hard to follow because I just loved hearing about the antics of the guys who drive these rallies. I am always curious how these guys get away with driving the way they do, how frequently they get caught and what happens when they do. This book answers those questions.
   
   What was unexpected for me was the level of technology and preparation that Roy and a couple other drivers put into these rallies and cross-country runs. Roy's penultimate achievement is setting the record for driving fastest from New York to LA in just 31 hours and 4 minutes. He uses police scanners programmed with the frequency of each state's highway patrol, infrared cameras for night driving, gyroscope-stabilized binoculars and a spotter plane - yep, a plane.
   
   If you've harbored the same questions I have about how and why these guys rally, if you like technology and planning, if you have a kernel of resistance to authority in your personality, if you like cars a little too much, you too might find yourself staying awake too late into the night reading this book. Even if you do disapprove of what these guys do.



5. This is an ego driven look at someone full of himself. He continually talks about "racing" and refers to other drivers on the public roads as "civilians". Alex Roy is no race driver. His accomplishments are staying awake while driving thousands of miles and avoiding the police. He is not pushing the car or himself to the limit, thank god. The one time he got on track he crashed.
   
   The book is best aimed at the "Grand Theft Auto" crowd.
   And Mr. Roy, you ARE a civilian.

5 comments about Wanderer.

1. This book is as convoluted as its author. It maintains a flow of semi-stream-of-consciousness from start to finish, and what emerges are the memoirs of a man whose love of seafaring and considerable self-deprecation ("self-loathing" is a little too strong a term) has brought him to a sea voyage to Tahiti with a pick-up crew and his four children in violation of a court order. Hayden's story is it's own animal, going from the coasts of Massachusetts and Maine, to the forests of Yugoslavia, to courtrooms and congressional chambers and movie sets and finally to the high seas and South Pacific islands with a strain of fatalism and regret throughout. It should make for a downer of a read; instead, I found myself staying up and turning the pages to see what happened next. A great book.



2. I would like to add something to the excellent and perceptive reviews above. What came through so strongly is that life is messy, yet Hayden's remarkable self awareness didn't seem to help him. This is a fascinating look inside a big life. I found it valuable.



3. 
   I believe it was 1959 and I had just returned from a month's cruise to the Tuamotus and Marquesas islands on the copra schooner Charlotte Donald. I was sitting at a table on the quay in front of the Hotel Le Grand when the schooner first appeared off Papeete. It sailed in smartly, picked up the Pilot, and docked stern first, as was the custom, at the concrete quay. The name "Wanderer" was nicely affixed to her transom. I lived in District Punavia, kilometer thirteen, next to Paul Gauguin's old home by the Thompsons. Several weeks later I would board the Wanderer after meeting her skipper at a party to buy some of the 16mm color film he had for sale. He was courteous, the children were well mannered, the library below was impressive, and his ship was clean and appeared to be able to sail on a minute's notice. We chatted for some time and he recounted some stories of his trip. We knew the same haunts in coastal California. We met a couple of more times at functions on the island. He seemed to be a cheerful and courteous person. He was a large man and deep voiced and I knew he was an actor, but that's about all I knew. Not long ago I had written my autobiography and had made a small mentioned of the encounter and the film. A friend who read my book asked if I had read Hayden's biography, which I hadn't. He suggested I do so, and last month I ordered it from Amazon. The book was disheartening for me to read. While he and I had many similarities in our lives (I wasn't an actor) and had been to many of the same places, we came away with massively different reactions. Mr. Hayden is a good writer and tells, especially about his life at sea, in an authentic style that kept me reading. I don't know if I would have finished if there weren't the similarity of our experiences. The sparse interjection of the third person voice over his normal narrative of first person was effectively used. The book and his life stand on their own merits and I make no judgment. He was first and foremost a seafaring man of unusual talents, and I wish I had visited him in the States in our later years. Mr. Hayden, you steered the course you wanted in recounting the voyages of your life. That's about all most of us could ask for. Rest in peace.
   
   PS:
   Spike Africa, his mate, came as a surprise, or else I had forgotten. Skip ahead twenty years and I chartered the "Spike Africa", a 70 foot schooner out of Newport Beach California somewhere around 1979 for a company off-site (the exact thing Hayden despised ... sorry). Bob Sloan built and then christened the boat "Spike Africa". The California yachting community all knew of Spike Africa the man, as a legend in the Pacific ocean, although I never knew any details of the legend.



4. Hayden was one of those force of nature types who, sadly don't exist in sufficient quantities to make the world a really interesting place. In this book, he tells his life story, while telling the story of his last voyage on the 100 foot schooner, Wanderer. His prose is lovely and has the rythm of the sea; like other great works of sea literature (like Moby Dick). I'll give a high point of his prose before I complain:
   
   "What does a man need ---really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in --and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all --in the material sense. And we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where then lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be, bankruptcy of purse of bankrutpcy of life?"
   
   Hayden was a child of the depression who worked his way out of bad circumstances by a combination of stubbornness, physique and leadership skill. He is eventually given a job a an actor, after being spotted by the media during a sailboat race in Glocester. He abandons this due to a love affair with an actress who fancies herself concerned with serious social issues. He joins the war and does OSS/CIA type operations in maritime support of partisans in Yugoslavia. He returns to his acting. Makes many movies. Marries an evil shrew. Divorces. Gets the kids. Chucks it all for a trip to Tahiti in his 100 foot yacht. All this is well and good, but the man reveals too much about himself. His self loathing isn't interesting. It is certainly not edifying, and though he seems to abundantly pity himself, I cannot feel sorry for him. The man had many fine opportunities. He had fine charachter qualities; I admire the fact that he chucked it all, just because he didn't like it. But he was not a fine man: he was petty and ugly -he couldn't even treat his own widowed mother decently, and though his ex wife was probably no better, I rather doubt as being around such a tormented spirit was good for his kids. In that way, he is a tragic figure; all the more tragic because he doesn't seem to realize it himself. It is no suprise he never did much with himself after he wrote the book. I don't know this to be true, but I suspect he drown himself and his self-loathing in booze.
   
   Still, it is a beautifully written book. In a way, the book is his triumph over it all. It is doubtless a finer thing than any of the movies he made, and his great "the heck with it all" dramatic gesture is probably better than any he made on camera. I know I will read the book again. Perhaps when I am older I will think differently of Captain Hayden. Amusingly, a visit to Sausalito revealed that I had known Hayden as the demented General Jack D. Ripper in "Dr. Strangelove."



5. A griping story that reads like fiction. Hayden is a "one of a kind" spirit that lives life to the fullest. He wants good things for the world and lives up to his character of being an iconoclast. A great read for sailors or romantics who dream of being before the mast and finding lifes' meaning out on the sea.

2 comments about The Great Swim.

1. During the summer of 1926 the eyes of the world turned to Europe, specifically the small strip of water that separated the British Isles from France. Four American women had announced their intentions to swim the English Channel. The first swimmer to accomplish that feat would be the first woman to ever complete the channel swim, joining elite group of male athletes who had managed to navagate the channel. Women had been making huge strides in the realm of athletics, steadily setting aside stereotypes and prejudices.
   
   Four women, Gertrude Ederle, Mille Gade, Lillian Cannon and Clarabelle Barrett, completely different but each posessed the desire to be first to complete the swim. Each knew the accomplishment would thrust them into the public spotlight and could better their fortunes and futures. The public interest after their swims was beyond anything anyone could imagine, and changed their lives. The Great Swim captures the giddy optimism of the 1920's and the emergence of women as a force in the world. Using diaries, newspaper archives, and primary sources Gavin Mortimer brings to life the excitement that surrounded the swims, the people supporting the swimmers and the swimmers themselves. It is a unique glimpse into the "roaring twenties" and the way the idea of a lone female swimmer taking on the channel captured the American public's imagination. It is also a cautionary tale of public adolation, the power of the press and greed. An engrossing read.



2. In 1926 Gertrude Ederle, a 19 year old New Yorker, became the first woman to swim the English Channel. She did it in record time, faster than any of the five men who had swum the Channel before her. Although that feat is little more than the answer to a trivia question today, at the time it was an accomplishment that rated a huge parade through Manhattan. She was treated as a heroine, at least until Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic three years later.
   
   The Great Swim by Gavin Mortimer tells Ederle's story and the media frenzy surrounding it. There were three other American women competing to become the first woman to swim the Channel that year, including one who broke Ederle's record only three weeks after Ederle set it. What is most interesting is the role of the press in reporting, in making these historic events. Ederle and another of the swimmers were under contract to write regular newspaper columns about their preparations. Some newspapers sponsored one or more of the swimmers. They reported daily on the swimmers, and included lots of photos of the swimmers in their swimsuits. It had only been a few years since bathing costumes for women had included sleeves and stockings. The new one-piece form-fitting swimsuits of the twenties were the bee's knees. Incidentally, Ederle developed what may have been the first bikini, using men's swimming shorts and a modified bra. Shortly after she started the record-setting swim, she chucked the bra and swam the Channel topless.
   
   Mortimer covers the preparations, the swim itself, which was quite dramatic, and the aftermath. Ederle was treated as a conquering hero, then as an accused cheater, and then as a traveling show curiosity. If anyone thinks the media frenzies of today are new, they need only read The Great Swim to see that they are only carrying on a tradition as old as the press itself.

5 comments about Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero.

1. i have been a roberto clemente fan since before his heroic efforts in the 1971 world series. the book clearly highlighted his humanitarian efforts, and his love and devotion to his family and his homeland. i guess i was looking for more "pure baseball" info on this. such as what he did to improve in the years from his youth to hall of fame player. any particular advice, exercises, strategy , etc. there just wasn't any of that in here. this is my personal disappointment with the book.
   
   the book dwelt on, and repeatedly emphasized the racism of the time, and the double racism against clemente, being black and hispanic. while i admired his struggle, and the struggle of minorities , and the brave help they received from open-minded/thoughtful white people ( who also risked retribution from the racist/closed-minded establishment), i personally was looking for more baseball.



2. David Maraniss' work "Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero" is a book worthy of its subject. He explains that he means "Hero" in the best and most noble of definitions, and not at all the "hero" that is tossed around so casually about the next twenty-year old wide receiver with a 4.3 second forty.
   
   As a lifelong baseball fan and amateur historian I note two "golden ages" of baseball. One began when George Herman Ruth was traded to the Yankees and gave up pitching, and the next was ushered in when Jack Roosevelt Robinson came into major league baseball like a comet. Ruth and Robinson are baseball icons, and Robinson definitely meets even the most restrictive definition of "Hero", but Maraniss makes a case that Clemente may have been as heroic as any.
   
   I have been on a tear the last few years reading baseball biographies: Ruth, Cobb, Gehrig, Aaron, Williams, Berra, Walter Johnson, Koufax and I'm glad I had the other books to compare. Most biographies spend considerable detail on the baseball career of their subject. "Clemente" has an almost superficial description of "Momen's" career, except for his MVP year of 1966 and the Pirates World Series Championships of 1960 and 1971. There is due credit given to Clemente's spectacular right field play - he was arguably the greatest right-fielder in history. His throwing arm was so legendary that the book opens with a description of a game in modern-day San Juan. When a young player releases a laser-beam throw from the right-field corner the old men in the stands, previously barely paying attention to the game, immediately begin comparing the throw to those made by Clemente over three decades ago. Ted Williams said of Willie Mays that the All-Star game was made for him. The same could be said of Clemente and Gold Gloves. Although Clemente was killed tragically at age 38, he was one of the first dozen players to collect 3,000 hits. His .317 lifetime batting average was only exceeded by his All-Star average of .324 and his World Series average of .362. Clemente defined "clutch".
   
   Maraniss makes the point that great as Roberto was as a player, it was as a man and role model and leader, especially for latino players, that "The Great Clemente" excelled. Clemente's disdain for baseball writers (who can blame him when they routinely did things such as spell his responses phonetically to emphasize his hispanic-ness) was a contrast to the great love and time and devotion he lavished on the smallest fellow human who crossed his path.
   
   The final fifth of the book would make a superb movie - Maraniss meticulously chronicles the "perfect storm" that convened to rob the world and his family of Roberto Clemente: the earthquake in Nicaragua, a country with a particular bond to Clemente (although he remains the consummate baseball hero to all latin fans). The world-wide relief effort with a particularly passionate interest in San Juan, led by Clemente. The corruption of the Somoza family ruling Nicarague, which was corrupt all the time, but made all the worst in the aftermath of the earthquake disaster as Somoza officers diverted planeloads of relief into private Somoza warehouses. The FAA nightmare that was the pitiful little man who tried to run an air freight business while skirting regulations left and right. The last-minute pilot replacement who probably was unsafe to walk, much less fly an unbalanced, overloaded plane of relief goods to Nicaragua.
   
   Clemente was already a baseball hero at the time of his death. The circumstances of his death elevated him to a pantheon of Heroes with few equals in world history.
   
   Well done, Mr. Maraniss. You have chosen a noble, Heroic subject, and you have done justice to the Man and brought us, Momen's fans, a glimpse into his passion and grace.



3. David Maraniss continues to amaze me with his gift of writing biographies to break down legends into real men with conflicts, faults and warts but never leaves out what it is essential to the man's character that makes them legends. He did it with Lombardi and now, Clemente. Some called Clemente, a prophet, and while Maraniss makes it clear that while Clemente was not deity he was a man that touched everyone who knew him with his grace, passion and pride. A legend, a hero and a man like no other.



4. This is the first time I've ever rated a book before even finishing it. I've always been a Clemente fan even though he died before I was born. Maraniss does a great job of portraying the man and the ballplayer, and I'm learning a lot about him that I didn't know before.



5. This book talked enough about baseball stats and plays to keep me, an avid baseball history and stat buff, interested. But the book was also great about digging deeper into who Clemente was after he took off the uniform. I learned a lot about Puerto Rican baseball leagues, other good players from the Pirates teams of the 60's, and Clemente's devotion to helping people. Great book!

5 comments about Every Second Counts.

1. This book is a very insighful look into Lance's life, and how it changed after being diagnosed with cancer. It describes his battle with cancer in detail, including lengthy descriptions of chemotherapy treatments. If you want to learn about cancer and chemotherapy, this is a good book to pick up!



2. 
   Lance's first book, It's Not About the Bike, is a great book weaving together the author's fight to overcome cancer and his remarkable first win of the Tour de France in 1999.
   
   Every Second Counts continues the story, including action up to and including the 2003 Tour. But it falls far short of the standard set in the original work.
   
   Much of the material dealing with Lance's values as a family man and a cancer survivor is repetitive; having established himself as multi dimensional in Not About the Bike, Armstrong should have gone deeper into the racing action this time around.
   
   Nevertheless I didn't regret reading this. Lance's achievements are astonishing and every bit of insight adds something. The description of the epic moment in the 2001 Tour when, after bluffing, Armstrong stared down Jan Ulrich and blasted past him up the Alpe d'Huez is worth it in and of itself.



3. Lance Armstrong is a unique athlete unparalleled in the world of cycling. This book gives you a look inside his head to find a very focused driven person with an indominatable spirit. You will find it enlightening and sometimes not very pretty, but no one can argue with his willingness to train ruthlessly to win. How many of us would be willing to climb a steep mountain on a bike and then come down and do it again to get it right. He shows us what it takes to win the greatest bike race in the world - multiple times. Lance is a champion among champions and we can all learn something from his drive and will to win!



4. This picks up where "It's Not About the Bike" left off. This is a more mundane read than About the Bike, but it was still a very good read. Lance lets you into his head a bit more to see what makes him tick and what his beliefs are. Well worth the read.



5. I liked this book even more than "It's Not About the Bike", and I loved that book. I enjoyed learning about the incredible team work involved in something as crueling as the Tour de France. As a woman, I wasn't raised participating in team sports and I never thought of a bike race as anything but an individual performance. I really felt as if I was riding along with the guys up those massive peaks...Good writing in my opinion...Insightful

5 comments about Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and the Battle to Save Baseball.

1. I agree with Watty's review. Way too much rehashing of the best from JUICED. Tedious court testimonies and questions from lie detector tests.
   
   The only real interesting new stuff is about the refusal of the networks and media to accuse Roger Clemens of juicing up. Also of interest--Magglio Ordonez' almost certain steroid usage, and A-Rod's interest in 'roids and Canseco's ex-wife. Check this one out at the library.



2. Tells the truth (as far as I can tell)...
   Pats himself on the back constantly...
   Absolves himself of all personal responsibility for taking steroids...
   Absolves himself of all personal responsibility for injecting steroids in other players...
   Collects big $ for writing a tell-all book...
   
   Baseball, like all other pro sports, is saturated with cheaters. And nobody (who's cheating or benefits by the cheating) likes a rat. That's why most players, agents, team management, & media claimed Canseco lied in his book "Juiced" (which I never read). "Vindicated" is merely his *I told you so* follow-up.
   
   



3. Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and the Battle to Save Baseball It's so interesting when you've read not one, but two books filled with the type of self-serving truth Jose Canseco has so freely given us...all after the fact, of course! These two offerings might have taken on an entirely different tone had Canseco not allowed his huge ego interfere in very paragraph. Senor Canseco acts as though he is the second coming of an Omnipotent god rather then a simple baseball player who blew it for himself and many others by "Juicing" it up. He has excused himself everything while blaming everyone else on and off the field for his miseries and stunted career. My only hope is that the "Steroid Era" is marked in every book on baseball stats that is of importance. Their stats should not stand along those that were earned by hard work, sheer talent, practice and guts. None of the players he mentions, including himself, deserve a place in the Hall of Fame. Grow up Jose and lose the ego that got you where you are today. I used to be a fan...now I can only tell you how much you disgust me.



4. The only thing I found really interesting was the amount of censoring out of Roger Clemens' name the big media allegedly did at the time of Canseco's first book. Jose wonders in "Vindicated" if that wasn't deliberate, a GOP plot. Well, given Clemens' testimony before the House this spring, and the partisan division over whether Clemens or McNamee was lying, Jose may be on to something. Or he may not. He gives no reason WHY a conspiracy like this would develop. (Please, no third book about that.)
   
   The only other thing that was in any way news to me was his alleged degree of steroid relationship with Magglio Ordonez.
   
   That said, the before-and-after pics of various actual or alleged juicers, paired with the before-and-after stats.
   
   It's a borderline 2/3 star, leaning toward 3.
   
   Just don't write a third volumne, Jose. We'll know that that one is all about the money.



5. Vindicated? This book drips with Revenge and self justification as the unholy goals of this scumbag drug pusher. Once Jose Canseco was duly blackballed, he is marketing this filth as his way of dragging everyone else down to his Clintonian level. I confess it's always interesting to learn scandalous details, true or not. It's a page turner, but it leaves one with the impression that most of our baseball "heros" are horribly humanly flawed. Drug pushers like Jose should serve time in prison for his crimes. There should also be established a "Jose Conseco Hall of Shame", with his face on the door mats, toilet seats and urinals. That lie about trying to clean up baseball is just another guilt dodge. Still it was captivating reading to see how many lives he has ruined.
   -- Donald C.

5 comments about Never Give Up: My Stroke, My Recovery & My Return to the NFL.

1. Truly insperational. I love Tedy Bruschi and this shows the heart of a true sportsman and a great person. This book is easy to read and a must read if you are a PATS fan at all!



2. I haven't finished the book, but what i have read is excellent. It was well written, and I felt it explained in the details of his life.



3. I am a HUGE Patriots fan and i could not put this book down. I am 14 years old and i have to read every single night and i was excited when i started to read this book. This book makes you think about what you have and the things that you take for granted. Even though the patriots lost the super bowl i got over it quicker than i would of since i had just finished the book. I liked the insight on what goes on and what goes through the NFL players head. You have got to read this inspirational book!



4. I bought this book for my husband for Christmas. He has hardly put it down since he got it. I can't wait for him to finish so I can read it!



5. Bruschi inspires people, even those who aren't football fans, in this book that tells about what he went through when he had his stroke and the aftermath. I would even recommend this book for stroke survivors or people whose family or friends had a stroke.

5 comments about The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest.

1. Having read Krakauer's book, seen the movie and watched the PBS doc, I read this, purported to be the closest to the ten sides of the truth in this adventure/disaster.
   In a nutshell, Krakauer looks bad from this perspective, Sandy Hill Pittman still looks like a phony new money weasel, and Fischer looks much better than anywhere else; he is unfairly slammed in the tv movie if this book is at all true, and it does ring truer than the other projects (though the PBS doc Storm Over Everest is a must-see).
   Worth reading for anyone into climbing and/or this incident, which says so much about our massive egos and small brains.



2. This book appears to be written primarily to rebut certain incidents mentioned in Jon Krakauer's book, Into Thin Air. I have no doubt that Boukreev was an experienced and dedicated climber but this book is presented as if he did nothing wrong up on Everest in 1996.
   
   I have read almost every book published about the deaths on Everest in 1996 and the concensus of opinion is that everybody did something that contributed to the disaster. Boukreev made his share of mistakes and I would have been more impressed with this book if that concession had been made.



3. In 1996 one of the worst mountain climbing disasters that ever occurred on Mt. Everest took place. This tale of death and near death has been told and retold a number of times. With too many people who have paid large sums of money trying to reach the top, disastrous weather conditions, and bad judgments, loss of life was inevitable. It can be argued, that some of these deaths were needless, and that other actions would have brought other outcomes. If you are going to read only one book about this disaster, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer is considered one of the best, and if I had to choose between Krakauer's book and Anatoli Boukreev's The Climb, I would choose Into Thin Air. Still, there are often two sides to a story, and Krakauer heavily criticized the actions of Boukreeve in his telling. The Climb gives you another perspective on what happened, showing Anatoli Boukreeve as more of a hero than someone who could have done more as Krakauer alleges. He stepped into the storm and rescued three of his own clients, bringing them down alive in a raging storm. Yet, could he have saved others? People who were not part of his expedition? This is the crux of the criticisms levied against Anatoli. This book, in many ways, feels like Anitoli trying to defend himself against Krakauers criticisms, but if you would like to hear more of the story, from another point of view, then I would recommend reading this book. When you are done, you can try to make your own judgment on what really happened.



4. After i read Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, i thought i knew all there was to know about the 1996 Everest tragedy. Was i wrong.
   
   In Jon's book, Toli (Anatoli) was cast as a villian who knowingly put his clients at risks. After reading this book, i felt that Toli was the real hero in the tragedy. A few things strucked me:
   
   1. Toli came across as a humble and private person who just wanted to be in the mountains. This almost spiritual tie with the mountains shone throughout this book. Climbing mountains was all he ever wanted to do.
   2. Unlike Jon's book, this one didn't indulge in any conjectures. This gave Toli's account an air of honesty and somewhat more credibility.
   3. Toli was a superb climber (probably the best on both expeditions) trained in the best Soviet traditions whose actions on Everest were made based on what he thought was best for the safety of the clients. It was way too easy for Jon and others, especially amateurs, to restrospectively point fingers at him.
   4. Quite a number of people owed their lives to his personal bravery. I thought that this fact is the most telling point in the entire tragedy.
   5. Toli's poor command of English hampered him in his work in the expeditions and prevented him from explaining why he did certain things. This unfortunate fact alone could have cast him in a bad light on everyone's account of what happened.
   
   Read both books to find out what happened in 1996 but be wary of Jon's biased and ungrounded conjectures. Jon's book is by no means the official account of what happened. Read Toli's account to get a balanced view. Personally, i'm more inclined to believe in Toli's account. I was sad when i found out that this heroic man died in his beloved mountains in 1997.
   
   Read both books and see if you agree with me.



5. I was informed of Boukeev and DeWalt's THE CLIMB by a friend of mine who is an avid high altitude climber. Having read Krakauer's INTO THIN AIR, I was interested in other points of view of the May, 1996 Everest climb. Krakauer does a fine job in his self identified "personal account", but I felt that both a differing view and a less "personal" examination might go a long way to explaining the problems of the climb, the philosophy of commercial climbing, and enhance my understanding of that year's terrible loss of life on Everest. THE CLIMB did not disappoint me. I came away with all that I sought. Reading both books (INTO THIN AIR & THE CLIMB) provided me with a better understanding and a more well rounded viewpoint than reading either book to the exclusion of the other. I would highly recommend that those who are interested read both titles back to back to obtain the full informational effect. Then, make up your own mind about the danger and death encountered on that May in 1996.