5 comments about Babe: The Legend Comes to Life.

1. This is a complete and thorough examination of the life and playing career of a baseball icon. The author has done a commendable job of separating the facts from the fanciful fictions that have grown up surrounding George Herman Ruth. While his home run record has been surpassed, I still think one can argue that Ruth was the greatest baseball player when one considers that in addition to his hitting abilities Ruth was an outstanding pitcher. He was shifted to the outfield when his managers determined that he could be of greater value as an everyday player rather than pitching every third or fourth day.



2. As author of the yet to be published "Babe Ruth: The Man Behind The Legend," I have read every book I can find on the subject of Babe Ruth. The more I read, the more I appreciate Creamer's exhaustive account of Ruth's playing career. This one is, by far, the best of all and I keep it with me at all times when I am in need of reference material. It is the most thorough and comprehensive. It is easy to see why this book has endured the test of time - an amazing 33 years in print. Thank you, Robert Creamer, for your truly wonderful contribution, and may you enjoy many more years in print! Sincerely, Rebecca Rau



3. Legends transcend time. The Stories get better, the adjectives get bolder, until they become passé. Ruth was the only athlete who was already at legend at age 21. There was no reason to exaggerate, and no words to describe his ferocious dominance. And the timing of his nuclear assault on history couldn't have been better planned. Fresh from the Black Sox crisis of 1919, America's greatest sport teetered on extinction. To this day, this baby faced Neanderthal had more athletic dominance over his peers than anyone in history...and more charisma than ten W.C. Fields. He changed the sport. Some say he changed the world.
   
   Home Runs were non-existent before him. Baseball runs were earned one base at a time; singles...sacrifice bunts...a sport of hard drinking pitchers, and gritty base stealers led by Cobb. After Ruth arrived, the physical dimensions had to be rearranged just to accommodate his abilities. Mammoth stadiums were built with double the capacity, replete with awe inspiring 450+ ft fences. All because of Ruth. But the parks were no match for him. He was the all-time home run champion at age 25, HR champ 13 times in 15 years, and in his 17 years as a hitter, he hit 235 home runs 450 ft. or further. By comparision, Bonds was HR champ just twice, and hit just 3, count em, 3 450ft HRs his first 15 seasons pre-roids.
   
   I've just read the new Ruth book out called The Big Bam, but afficionado's like me still choose Beamer's documentary as the voice of record. Unlike the rest, he best captures Ruth's massive power and abilities, childhood innocence, great sense of humor and rebelliousness, and rock star image. Ruth was the real deal. He was a true legend in his own time, and wore the badge humbly on his sleeve. He lit up every room he entered, and lit up every pitcher he faced. This book is a classic, like the man himself.



4. Some personalities are too big to be contained in a single book, especially one who exemplified bigness like Babe Ruth.
   
   Ruth was not much into analyzing the whys of his greatness. As retold in Robert Creamer's 1974 biography, when asked the secret of why he hit so many home runs, he replied: "Just swinging." Asked about "the psychology of the home run" by the same reporter, Babe responded: "Say, are you kidding me?"
   
   Creamer seems to feel the same way. He's not the prose version of Jack Webb exactly, but his "Babe" is heavy on facts and remarkably light on the sort of thing modern sports writers like to fill their weighty tomes up with, cultural impact and inner-self profiling. Creamer presents teasing glimpses of Babe's revelries, and some hints of who he really was beneath the legend (one close friend says "I don't think he really loved anybody"). But his focus is on Babe the baseball player, his statistical brilliance and his awesome, game-breaking power.
   
   He broke into the majors as a pitcher, developing into "the best lefthander in the game" before it became clear, in this blessed time before the advent of the designated hitter, that he could do more to win games with his bat than his arm. What followed transformed baseball from a slightly noisier and faster version of cricket into the National Pastime. Babe Ruth didn't invent the home run, but he might as well have deserved the copyright, hitting 54 homers in 1920, more than any other entire team produced except for his Yankees, red-haired stepchildren to the fabled New York Giants until Babe arrived and changed everything.
   
   Even though his career home-run record was in the process of being broken when "Babe" was published, Ruth was about so much more than that. Creamer gets at a lot of the on-field stuff, especially, like the fact he once led the American League in batting average and, as a pitcher, produced the longest stretch of earned-run-free innings for more than 40 years.
   
   The book does come across as dry at points, though, focusing on Ruth's more measurable accomplishments and ignoring the less tangible stuff. Creamer doesn't overwhelm you with a lot of flowing prose, which is a good thing, but he leaves a lot of things alone that seem fertile ground for exploration. Possibly because the last bio I read was Robert Caro's "Path To Power," it felt like Creamer was light on sourcing, but that's probably because his method of research was a lot less formal, chats at the bar with old-timers over the course of decades condensed into the iceberg we get here.
   
   What Creamer wrote, he got right, though, something I know as a fact. My grandfather covered the Yankees and was Babe's favorite ghostwriter, and my father, who saw Babe in the Yankee clubhouse, swore by Creamer as one of sportwriting's best for giving the honest, unvarnished truth. It's not a book for boys, as Creamer notes, but "Babe" will make you feel like one reading about this real-life giant who walked the earth.



5. That was written for boys & swallowed every legend whole. Robert Creamer has written quite a bit on baseball. This may be about the best biography of its time. You can't do much better than Tom Parker if you take the audio route. I've read or listened to other works by Mr. Creamer & they are consistently good. That said he has alway seemed a bit to attached to the numbers. Baseball is the most satistical of sports & I do enjoy them. Ever year there is a new on that can be applied however unofficially to players of other eras such as the Babe. One of the newest ones now in vogue is the quality start.
   Six inningss minimum with three earned runs or less is a quality start. Having said that sometimes the numbers overwhelm the story. Stats on the Babe's minor league years will be forgotten about 2 seonds after you hear them. Mr Creamer endeavors to be accurate & may knock down some of the legends, or reduce them to believable proportions. The belly-ache heard round the world & The Babe hitting three home-runs in his last game are examples of the hype at the time. Creamer gets real & lifts, in the end his biography to a more adult level. I think Mr. Creamer dwells a bit more on Babe's other appetites, as well, such as women. His various ailments, injuries & suspensions have surprisingly depressed records that could have been even greater than they eventually were. Babe's juvenile behavior in his early years & the number of people in the baseball world that he irritated by his sometimes arrogant attitude through-out his career thwarted him in the thing he wanted most: to be a big league manager. That is sad & we'd have a lot more to talk about since he lived for another 10 years after he left baseball. He died relatively young but he was & still is (despite his numbers being slowly
   eclipsed) the greatest. If you wanted a truthful biography this is is a pretty good one & its available in the audio version.

5 comments about Adam Copeland On Edge.

1. This book has kept me glued from the beginning. With pictures to look at while reading the story, it helps keep my attention. Edge is so good at telling a story and keeping the reader glued until he finishes it. He's had many funny stories happen to him, so anyone looking for a good laugh should read this book.



2. In my personal opinion this AMAZING book was about "The best there is. The best there was. And the best there ever will be." This book was extremely entertaining.



3. When I heard AC was releasing a biography, I was so excited that I bought it the first day it came out and read the entire book that same day! However, I was a little upset and felt cheated because he left so many details out, and the fact that he really did not go into depth and give his real feelings about anything! That is really a shame! I've only read the book once, and that's probably the only time I'll ever read it. If he writes another book, he probably shouldn't refer to it as a "biography" if he intends to write a book about practically nothing. So, I am giving it a rating of "one star."



4. With Adam "Edge" Copeland really being one of the last major stars to come into the WWE via the indy system that has actually succeeded in the WWE, this book is a great read. Unlike Mick Foley's Have A Nice Day, You can tell Edge had to struggle to get what he wanted out of life and dealt with set-back after set-back. Outside of one minor fact error (referring to a six man tag between Team ECK vs Too Cool at the wrong PPV event), Edge goes into detail about all the major events that helped shaped his career up till mid 2004



5. Awesome book, edge doesn't try to pass himself off as the greatest wrestler ever, just tells some rather humorous stories of how he got where he is today

5 comments about Best Damn Garage in Town: My Life & Adventures.

1. Smokey was an amazing personality and I did know very little about him before reading the book. It is written in such a way as if Smokey told you all of it in one go in a pub behind a glass of beer - in fact in many places he anticipates readers questions and answers them or tells weather you have guessed right or wrong. Often he repeats himself, then when telling a story something reminds him of another adventure which leads to another interesting fact, but finally everything comes back together. His grammar is not perfect and the language he uses, specially the detailed descriptions about his adventures with different women - well, you would not want to read it to your daughter or mother!
   But all the above is also reflecting what Smokey was as a person.
   Many times he looks back to what he has done in his life, points out mistakes he has made, dedicates many pages to other racing legends he has met, worked together with, some became his friends and some his enemies.
   All in all this is very interesting book. Smokeys's own story what happened to him before racing, during racing years and after that until his last months before cancer took him away.



2. I consider Smokey to be one of the greatest things ever for automotive innovation. This book is somewhat hard to read. It almost seems like he dictated it to somebody and told them "Don't edit a thing!!" If you get your self into the right frame of mind while reading, you'll have a lot of fun reading. I thought I wouldn't be too interested in his WWII years, but it was one of the most interesting parts. He did some really cool stuff during the earl years of NASCAR, but he doesn't really get into too much detail until you get to the technical chapters. When he does get into the technical stuff, he warns readers that it's gonna get technical and if you don't like that sort of thing, skip ahead. He also has no problems talking about his failures, and thats nice to see.
   
   He is very repetitive. I guess the book was written over several years, and he must of forgotten he'd already told a story here or there. If you're a sensitive person, you might want to pass on this book. Lots of sex stories
   
   It blows me away that a 10th grade dropout was able to become a B17 aviator and one of the greatest automotive engineers ever. I personally think this book is good enough to be made into a movie. If you're a racing fan, you must read this book! I'm buying the hard bound version next for my library.



3. Anyone who knows NASCAR should know who Smokey Yunick was. I thought I did till I read this book. Sure, he could build a bullet fast race car, sometimes stretch the rulebook alittle. I knew that. But I never knew what this guy had really done in his life. What a great story. The guy lived a life that would make just about any guy awful jealous. He lived by his own rulebook, and backed down to no one. Need someone to look up to? Need a hero? Read this book. You may hate him. But if you don't, you'll love him!!



4. Best Damn Garage is one of the better books I've read on a racing personalty. I have a couple dozen books on NASCAR and the people who raced from the 40's till the present. This book and Fireball by Godwin Kelly are must reads for the diehard fan.



5. The book starts with Smokey's rough childhood in rural PA and then a very graphic view of WWII as a bomber pilot in Europe and how he ends up with the Flying Tigers working for Chiang Kai-Shek(pretty wild life!).
   Next Smokey gives an insiders look at the history of early NASCAR and his relationship with Detroit automakers. Nothing is sugar coated and I'm sure offended a few people. Also many details about automotive engineering, rules bending and his experience with INDY cars.
   If you're a car guy this book belongs on your shelf.

5 comments about Beckham: My World.

1. Item shipped with other items and book cover was damaged - did not care for this at all but I see it happening more and more - book wasn't even protected in any way from the boxed dvd sets (3) - so picture the damage that was done - will think twice in future.



2. I bought this book for my boyfriend when it first came out. He's obsessed with football and absolutely adores david beckham, so he loved it. All the pictures were great, especially since he's not that into reading. I would definately reccomend this book to parents who have kids who love soccer and hate reading, or just for anyone that likes soccer in general



3. i was so happy when i purchased this book. Infact, i would have paid almost anything for it...could not put it down for 1 second. the text was extremly insightful and what was even better was the added photos...Defintely would reccomend this biography to everyone!!!!!!



4. I have just recently become a daivd beckham fan so i purchased this book and to my surprise it was one of the best biographies i have ever read. David talks about not only his love for his family but his feelings about man. united and england soccer. This is a must buy for all soccer fans!



5. My mother brought me this book in England just recently. I've wanted to have the book since it was first released, but its rather expensive if you buy it in Indonesia.
   I have been an England fan, a Man United fan, and a Beckham since I was in secondary school 8 years ago. I knew Beckham since he was in the youth club. I lived in England at that time.
   I think the book is excellent. The photos are too. I already knew a lot a bout Beckham, but since I read the book, I found out new things that made me respect him even more. He really loves his family and ofcourse football. Hes a real professional! For those of you who are Beckham fans, reading this book is a must! For those who aren't or are even Beckham haters, you'd definitely change your opinion about him. Salute!!

   Alfatih Gesuan Panananjung

5 comments about Brody: The Triumph and Tragedy of Wrestling's Rebel.

1. I just finished reading this book and I totally recommend it to the diehard wrestling fan out there. It goes thru Brody's early years in the sport to how he became the legend that he is. It gives you the prespective from his widow Barbara and you get see Brody outside the ring as a loving father and husband. Its especially heartbreaking to hear his widows take on his brutal murder in Puerto Rico. Pleae read this book to get a great take on this great legend who was hardcore before there was such a thing as hardcore



2. I am a huge fan of Larry Matysik the co-author and Bruiser Brody the wrestler. Larry's previous book Wrestling at The Chase was awesome and this book contained a lot of material from that book. Also the book included way too much material on Barbara Goodish the co-author and widow of Bruiser Brody. I bought it to read about Bruiser Brody. I didn't need an autobiography of his wife.



3. I loved Larry Matysik's Wrestling at the Chase, so was excited when I heard that he was also doing a book on Bruiser Brody. Unfortunately my excitement was misplaced. This book offers little--if anything--new to anyone that has the most basic knowledge of Brody's career. I thought that having Barbara Goodish (Frank's widow) involved as a co-writer would mean a more in-depth look at this colorful, larger than life character. Sadly her contributions are superficial and reveal little. Dave Meltzer's informative and knowledgeable introduction is easily the highlight of the book.



4. Good insight into a very entertaining character. The flow of the book was alittle off as it switched from Matysik to Barbara. One voice intergarting all of the stories might have been better.
   
   I feel Matysik is writing this books as an ego ride for himself. He constantly talked about all the things he did. If he is so important in pro wrestling, why do historians like Dave Meltzer not mention him in the same regard as a Mushnick or Vince Sr.?



5. The legend of Bruiser Brody has finally been documented on paper by the people who knew him by both his personas; First there was Frank Goodish - the gentle giant, caring human being, loyal friend, loving husband, and proud father; And then there was Bruiser Brody - the wild and often controversial wrestler that most of us are familiar with. This combination of distinct characteristics bundled together to create complex and entertaining MAN who was loved by those who knew him personally and admired by fans who knew him professionally - although many greedy promoters knew him as a seven foot tall walking talking headache. Larry Matysik (the voice of St. Louis wrestling, announcer for the famed "Wrestling at the Chase," and author of a wonderful book by the same name) joined forces with Barbara Goodish, the widow of Frank and mother of his only child, Geoff, to boldly present the life and times of Frank "Bruiser" Brody.
   
   With the exception of the big two, WWF and WCW, Bruiser Brody literally worked everywhere on the wrestling planet. He developed one of the most unbalanced reputations in the history of the wrestling industry. Starting out in Texas, then making a name for himself in St. Louis under the guidance of promoter Sam Muchnick, hitting virtually every territory in the country, dominating the wrestling circuit in Japan, and taking advantage of the national exposure by appearing in Verne Gagne's AWA. The road-map of Brody's career literally circled the globe and he did it all with an iron fist and a steadfast commitment to preserving his own character as well as the integrity of the sport. His insistence on getting every penny he earned often left a bad taste in the mouths of unscrupulous promoters, who would inevitably book him again due to one unavoidable principle - Brody could "draw" the fans like no other.
   
   Personally, I have always been very much intrigued by Bruiser Brody. My limited exposure to his matches, and fuzzy low-quality compilation tape left me terribly curious about this mysterious figure that seemingly has the entire wrestling world in the palm of his hand. Very few wrestlers could attract the attention of his audience as well as Bruiser Brody, and perhaps (no I'm pretty sure it is) that's the reason he was able to make so much money in so many territories. Bruiser Brody, sometimes known as "King Kong" Brody (as not to infringe on Dick The Bruiser's notoriety), will go down in history as one of the most all-around fan-friendly professional wrestlers ever - despite what role, heel or face, he was playing.
   
   Thanks to the courage of his widow, Barbara, fans of the legendary Bruiser Brody have been formally introduced to the man behind the wild persona known as Mr. Frank Goodish. This is a book about Frank's early life, football career, pro-wrestling career, his famously firm philosophies, becoming a LEGEND in Japan, and of course the tragic events leading up to his murder in Puerto Rico at the hands of another wrestler who never spent a single day in jail. Also included in this book are touching stories of Goodish meeting his wife while touring New Zealand, and the effect their first child had on his life. Both writers theorize on what the wrestling landscape would be like were it not for Brody's untimely death in 1988.
   
   "BRODY" is a truly fascinating look at a man that captured the imagination of every person fortunate enough to experience a Bruiser Brody match and/or wrestling interview while Brody was still with us on this earth.
   
   Rating: 9 / 10

4 comments about The Player: The Autobiography.

1. It's much more about his personal life and business pursuits than tennis. The extent to which he has burned out on the game really comes through in the lack of interest he seems to have in writing about it. Few matches get any more than a sentence or two. Pretty disappointing.



2. I found the book pretty interesting. I was a major Becker fan back in my teens & as such I've heard so many stories about him over the years. Problem was none of the stories involved his side or his view of the events. So I enjoyed learning about the events from the major player's point of view. He is a gentlemen about his relationships with women, including the mother of his daughter out of wedlock. I respect that, in today's "Jerry Spring" environment it would have been easy for him to get too personal or [...] to try & increase sales & he refrained from that. I hope Becker finds the happiness that seems to have eluded him all these years. (But if your looking for pictures the only ones in the book are on the front & back cover)Good book overall.



3. This is an excellent autobiography about one of my favorite tennis stars of the Open era. His book compares favorably to Mac's "You Can't Be Serious." Although both personalities are equally intriguing, Becker opens up more. Mac remains more focused on the tennis. Becker engages in depth into all his demons, the tax evasion scandal, the wrenching divorce, and the sleeping pill addiction.
   
   With Becker you feel the heights and lows of fame. It is an extremely charged bipolar life. You also feel that Becker found it physically and emotionally exhausting. His body was crippled with tendon injuries resulting in several surgeries. His lingering tax evasion case lasting years took a heavy toll on his tennis career. His marriage to Barbara was a casualty of fame.
   
   Many relationships he experienced have gone through Faustian dramas. This is true with his coaches and his women. He always seems to share a very strong bond and trust at the onset. Invariably, they don't meet expectations (his or theirs). Then, things fall apart. But, somehow they often recover and end up as mature friends. This was the case with both Ion Tiriac and Barbara (his former wife).
   
   Becker is full of contradictions. For instance, when he is in court to fight over the terms of a bitter divorce he states that he lived all his life in Germany. This was in an effort to transfer the divorce case from the U.S. where his wife filed the divorce paper to Germany where he would benefit from more lenient financial disclosure. But, when the German government goes after him for back taxes. All of a sudden, he has supposedly not set foot in Germany for decades. What gives?
   
   The description of life on the tour and the limelight seems really existential at best. Becker suffered from the inability to make genuine friends with fellow tennis players. He found the resulting social isolation difficult. But, how could you be close friends when your livelihood depended on your killer instinct ability to beat your fellow pros.
   
   The richness of the book is generated by all the chapters dedicated to other stars than Becker. One of them is by Ion Tiriac who describes his side of the story, including the fall out with Becker, and the eventual reconciliation. Another chapter is about Ali, another one consists of a fascinating interview with McEnroe, another one is an ode to Steffi Graf, finally another is an ode to Mandela. So, this biography is not just about Becker or tennis.
   
   If you like this book, I strongly recommend McEnroe's "You Can't Be Serious" and Bill Scanlon's "Bad News for McEnroe." Both those books stick more to tennis. Nevertheless, they are fascinating as they are written by two of the most talented players and incisive minds in tennis.



4. I would imagine that most of the autobiographies of sports personalities (and perhaps movie stars) in todays day and age are ghost-written. This book doesn't seem to be an exception.
   
   Being a great fan of Becker, I picked up the book as soon as I saw it in a bookshop. However, I was reasonably disappointed. The book talks very little about his tennis (which is what a fan would like to read about). I wanted to read about his epic matches, and his wimbledon wins.
   
   Instead of writing about tennis in this book, Becker writes more about the off-the-court aspects of his life (his misunderstandings with his coaches, with other players on the circuit). He seems to be making a point that he was never in the wrong but that he was misunderstood. The book seems to be his attempt to set the record straight.

5 comments about Rapid Response: My inside story as a motor racing life-saver.

1. As someone who has followed open-wheel racing for a long time, I had heard about this book. I just got through it and was amazed as to the coverage and insight in the book. There are some really sad stories, but I was also laughing some as well (you AJ Foyt fans will love the "cooler" story!)
   
   Excellent book and an easy read. A bit "graphic" though, so be careful with kids.



2. This is almost certainly the best book ever written about motor sport safety and the tremendous advances made in the last 30 years. Olvey and Trammel not only raised the bar but in reality invented a whole new concept



3. If you followed Indycar anywhere from the 70s to the late 90s you will remember most of the sad stories in this book. However it is very interesting to read first hand how safety has increased in our favorite sport over the years. Dr. Olvey gives great accounts of the highs and lows of his career as an Indycar doctor.



4. This is a fascinating book about the development of safety



5. Dr. Stephen Olvey served as Championship Auto Racing Teams' medical director from 1979 to 2003. This very moving memoir of his years leading the charge for motor sports safety in the series at the pinnacle of open wheel racing in America recaptures an exciting era in the development of technology, both in motor racing and in sports medicine. With professionalism, sincerity, empathy and humor, Olvey recounts the challenges, rewards and devastating losses of forwarding safety in the sport.
   
   On a personal note, I have had the distinct honor of knowing Olvey during most of his tenure with CART, and have heard many of these stories directly from him and Dr. Trammel. Many of the people he writes about are friends of mine and I was present during most of the racing accidents he describes (and several he doesn't mention). For me, it is a bittersweet reminder of the history of my own life in motor sports.

5 comments about The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life's Journey.

1. This beautiful summary of Ali's life is not just a gift to his kids but to all of America as well. In his own simple words, Ali shares with us his greatest triumphs and his worse agonies. It is all done with the same Ali, verve, upbeat spirit, and of course with smatterings of his homespun poetry. It is a superb collection of wisdom and witticisms that greatly enriches all who read them. The arc of the amplitude of his life is breathtakingly wide in scope. And I am fortunate in having had the good luck to have met him on three different occasions, and to have been touched by his style, grace and confidence on many others. All have been memorable experiences for me personally.
   
   Some of the things he shares in this short volume come as a surprise even to me, one who kept up with his career almost religiously. For instance, I never knew that the Nation of Islam was against his refusal to go to Vietnam, and that he was expelled from the sect as a result of it? Nor did I know that he was refused a seat in a Louisville restaurant in 1960 while holding both the key to the city and while wearing his Olympic Gold Medal? Nor did I even know that he had actually denounced Malcolm X and "sided" with Elijah Muhammad in the feud between his two spiritual leaders: the feud that ended in Malcolm's death? Nor did I know that he was a Sunni Moslem? Or that he had thrown his Olympic Gold Medal into the Ohio River?
   
   Although the book only reflects it indirectly, Ali is proof, that, whether black or white, we are all still part of the "American racial holocaust": A part of the Big American racial lie. The truths that Ali could not reveal directly in this book is common knowledge to all the world, that:
   
   America hated Ali the same way it hated Dr. Martin Luther King, not for his arrogance, nor for his refusal to go to the war, but for being a proud black warrior in a "white only world." And then he used his pride and his boxing skills to take over the stage of America's drama of heroism, formerly reserved for white males only (or occasionally for others designated American "sanctioned Heroes," of which Ali clearly was not one). America's highly touted religion freedoms ceased to apply when this "proud black warrior" at center stage in the American drama, where he was not supposed to be, chose to exercise that freedom to, first become a Muslim, and then to refuse to go to war to kill others at the U.S. behest.
   
   For exercising his religious freedom in these two ways, many interpreted both of his actions as the supreme insult to the nation's sensibilities. As a result, America tried to take away everything he had: his livelihood, his title, his fame, his money, the best years of his youth, his pride, his confidence: I know, I visited him in his home in Chicago during the Christmas of 1969 when he was in the deepest part of his "in country exile." But even though they took away everything else, they could not take away his pride or his confidence or his belief in his new found God.
   
   America was most gleeful about dragging him off center stage, but even off center stage, his quiet strength grew to even greater proportions than his physical strength: Ali became larger than life outside the ring, not within it. When America saw that his quiet strength was greater than his pugilistic prowess, they knew they could not defeat him, in or out of the ring. Thus, there was no choice but to capitulate: After the Supreme Court Decision, America "ate crow" but they did not apologize for stealing the best four years of his youth, or taking away his title. They just cheered wildly when Joe Frazier beat him. This humbled him enough for white America to embrace him, but still without apologies. It was done as much to continue making money off of him, and so that they could now claim him as their own, and then be able to bask in his larger than life aura, as to redeem America's much embarrassed soul.
   
   Because America's past is so ugly, it is very much the American way to pretend that nothing at all has ever happened in the past. The "bad Ali tape" was simply erased from the collective cultural memory banks: no apologies necessary, the same as it was done for Dr. Martin Luther King: one day King was a villain, the next a martyr, the next day a hero? Such is the nature of true "Black" heroes in America: Muhammad Ali, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charley Parker, Sugar Ray Robinson, Malcolm X, Paul Roberson, WEB Du Bois, Eldridge Cleaver, Stokley Carmichael, Fanny Lou Hammer and on and on.
   
   But the racist American system can never "own" Ali, no matter how many Olympic torches they allow him to carry around the stadium, because he beat the American system in the same way he beat all of his opponents in the ring: fair and square. He looked it in the eye and refused to buckle. And this book proves that Ali won, this, his most important bout, with the strength of his character



2. A third of this book is pure junk, purely awful. A third of it is okay, interesting in spots. A third of it gets you inside the soul of a great man, and you come away with a new idea of who he was and what it takes, in the heart, to be like that. Most great athletes are interesting because they're great athletes, though, objectively, reading about them, reading what they have to say, their athletic greatness, you have to say, is coincidental to who they are as men. With Ali, it seems different. You're tempted to believe he was a great fighter because he was a great man. This book helps one understand that.



3. "All the world's a stage,
   and all the men and women merely players"
   said who? William shakespear.
   
   I say the world is a boxing ring and we are the fighters, fighting for everything, everyone even ourselves.
   well knitted by Hana yasmeen Ali "The soul of butterfly" reveals the true character of Muhammad Ali, three time world heavy weight champion, who conquered the world with his skills and now conquering it with his wisdom. The book is all about Ali's journey through life, about events that tested him and his virtues, and how everytime he stood by his words like a true fighter.



4. I was very pleased with my purchase of this book. It arrived early and in great condition



5. It is very heartening to feel the gentleness and deep caring for humanity from such a powerful man like Mohamed Ali. Reading of this book fills you with hope, love and light.

5 comments about Foley is Good: And the Real World is Faker Than Wrestling.

1. Mick Foley is truely a gifted individual.Ive watched him professionally for many many years,his in ring talents never faltered.His have a nice day book was a fabulous,and Foley is good is right on its tale.I look for ward to reading more by this author.This book is certainly something id recomend for any Mankind or Mick Foley fan.As well as westling fans alike.Even those just curious about the sport.



2. I read Mick's first book when it first came out and enjoyed it immensely. His writing style is so personal, it's almost like we became friends. I've been to Santa's Village with my kids many times, and Mick seems to be the type of guy that wouldn't mind having a quick picture taken with him. He's just a regular down-to-earth guy, and I admire his ability to write his own material without the use of a ghostwriter.
   
   Over the years, and as I age (I'm now 36), I admit I've lost touch with most of the wrestling world. I was a HUGE fan in the 80's and 90's. Mick's first book brought back memories. This book was very informative as well, particulary the epilogue. It's loaded with Al Snow and Test jokes, as well as going behind-the-scenes with great information about certain matches over the years. I read this book (about 475 pages) in a few days, and had trouble putting it down. His writing style and approach just clicks with me.
   
   Why then, only four stars? Simple. It's nearly impossible to follow up a classic with a classic. It's like when AC/DC's "For Those About to Rock" album was released in 1981. Did it go to number one on the charts? Sure it did. Did it sell over four million copies? Sure it did. Did it measure up to it's 1980 predessesor "Back in Black" (Twenty-two million copies sold)...no way.
   
   Unfortunately for Mick, his first book was so good, one could say he peaked too early. Once you hit the peak of the mountain, it's impossible to go any higher, and there's only one way left to go...down. Still a great read. If this were his first book, I'd give it five, but when compared to Have a Nice Day, just comes up a bit short...(but still great...do you know what I mean?)



3. With the massive success of "Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks" it seemed unlikely that a wrestler/entertainer would put out another autobiography only a year after the first. Having told all in the last 800 pages or so, what new could he possibly tell us in another 500?
   
   With the pace pro wrestling moves, an assload, and not only that, but with his personal life as well. Much of the book focuses on his fun and spellbinding journey through 1999 in the WWF, with the main subject being his pain from years of hard wrestling. There's also a lot of focus on his Royal Rumble 1999 match with The Rock, and the documentary Beyond the Mat, which featured footage of his wife and children crying as Mick was hit about 9 times more than originally agreed upon by The Rock with a steel chair.
   
   It becomes obvious by at least Wrestlemania XV that Foley is close to retiring, and his in-ring wrestling quality notably deteriorates. He more than makes up for this with great charisma, and truly humorous promos, interviews, and just random things he did in his career then.
   
   Some of the book is simply repeated in the documentary portion of the video/DVD "Hard Knocks and Cheap Pops", but a lot of the book is also dedicated to things outside of wrestling, from Foley's book writing, his interviews with prime time news programs, and the experience of having his interview manipulated to make him look like an uncaring asshole, and defending the WWF against such reports as the Indiana University one which, as Foley discovered after calling the professor heading the research, was grossly exaggerated and mis-represented, with absolutely no fact-checking occurring afterwards. Foley then takes the opportunity to conduct a similar study with watching hours worth of soap operas and sitcoms---and the results are astounding, as going by the standards set by the study, he finds the amount of reported "sex acts" to vastly outnumber those in the WWF, and simulated "drug use" (which included alcohol) to far outnumber those in the WWF.
   
   The latter part of Foley's book is very sharply devoted to defending the WWF against the usual gauntlet of highly intolerant, narrow-minded conservative groups and people who used the WWF as the scapegoat for acts of violence among children, TV violence and sex, and other issues of "morality" and the like.
   
   Brent Bozell is especially harsh on the WWF, and thus Foley is especially harsh on him, exposing him for the cold, harsh, hypocrite he is (if Foley's facts are accurate), to the amount of acts of children killing children blamed on wrestling, when in fact out of the many cases used by the likes of Bozell, virtually none of them could be directly attributed to pro wrestling, and the few that did being largely the result of parental incompetence and anti-social and sociopathic behavior of the children carrying out the crimes.
   
   His first book is definitely better, but this one is not in the same category, as it explores beyond his wrestling career of the past and focuses more on that of 1999-2000, and his career and life outside of wrestling, including humorous tales of his fandom of Britney Spears, and coming out to his friends with this, to discover The Blue Meanie, Edge, Stevie Richards, and others are also Spears fans, as well as finally explaining the legend of the Penis Suplex, and its origin.
   
   Highlight: An audition for a commercial with Jerry Seinfeld in New York which many wrestlers attend, including ECW stars. When asking Taz (Peter Senerchia) if he could guarantee Jerry's safety during the shoot, Taz, acting on their fears of wrestling being real, replies "I can't guarantee nothin'. If Jerry gets in there with me, he's kind of taking his chances."



4. Foley is a good writer, has a great sense of humour intermingled with some insights into the world of professional wrestling.
   
   Very much not the stereotypical wrestling thug but a man with an opinion and the ability to voice it.
   
   This book is not as good as his first book but it is still an entertaining read. Just wish he hadn't toed the WWE line and said that he hadn't seen anyone use steroids there. Bit fanciful.



5. Mick Foley's sequel to "Have a Nice Day" is good, but not great. Of the three he has written, it is not the best of the three.
   
   However, it is still a very good book and an entertaining read. The part where his words were spileced to make the point NBC was trying to make about professional wrestling is a great example of media manipulation, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer, more sincere person as Mick Foley.
   
   True fans of the work inside and outside of the ring still need to have this book.

5 comments about LeBron James: The Rise of a Star.

1. David Lee Morgan, Jr. has incorporated a unique view in The Rise of a Star: LeBron James. Morgan has followed LeBron James basketball career from the beginning. Morgan covered James high school career for the local Akron paper, and was given the inside story by LeBrons family, friends, coaches, and teammates. Morgan has gotten to know and love the James family, and was there to watch LeBron grow from his high school youth, into the NBA star he is today. In this novel, Morgan provides a unique view into the rise of LeBron James, shown by no other writers. He gives an inside look on one of the greatest high school basketball players, on the brink of fame and stardom.
   
   But what was the big deal about one high school basketball player from Akron, Ohio?
   
   From the start, the odds were against him. LeBron was born into poverty to a single mother. He had no permanent home for his early years and grew up in a continuously unstable environment, due to financial trouble and constantly moving.. Through these hardships, LeBron excelled in many aspects of his life due to his determination and hard work. He worked hard at home and in school, and especially shined out on the basketball court. LeBron became one of, if not the leading high school basketball players in the country. With this, LeBron handled the criticism, stress, and pressure with composure and dignity. After his success in high school, LeBron became the #1 draft pick of the NBA in 2003. King James was to be born.
   
   This book was a decent read. It was good in that it was not focused on scores and statistics. The novel just tells about how a young, typical teenager rises to basketball stardom. Another plus to this book in the sections of colored photographs which help to further explain LeBrons ascend to fame.
   
   The biography also had some problems. The book seems to make LeBron out to always act in good conduct, excellent behavior, and be a nearly perfect young man. He is apparently not responsible for any of the actions and events he is criticized for, and is loved by practically everyone. LeBron is also made out to have such a difficult childhood and upraising, which seems to be the same for every professional athlete ever! So he had a single mother and moved a lot, suck it up! I mean come on; his childhood couldn't have been too bad if he turned out that well. The novel just makes LeBron out to have such a hard and difficult life, but fight through it to stardom; which is a load of crap. What a typical biography of an athlete.
   LeBron could be compared to many other characters from various novels. One such example is from To Kill a Mockingbird. In TKAM, a lawyer named Atticus Finch must defend a black man in court. This man, named Tom Robinson, is accused of raping a young white woman. Atticus is criticized by the community for standing up for the black man, but Atticus faces the attacks and fights as hard as he can to save the life of the innocent man. In The Rise of a Star: LeBron James, LeBron works hard through school and basketball, battling the intense pressure and criticism along the way. He could have just relaxed and taken the easy route through school, but LeBron works hard to become the success he is today.
   This book holds little social value. This book was merely constructed to show the amazing rise of LeBron James. If there is a small portion of social value in this book, it is to show society that no matter the odds, if you fight and work hard enough, you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.
   This book receives three out of five stars. It was an ok read, but some of the content I thought was a lie and a bunch of bologna. I would not recommend this book, but for those who insist on reading it, this book would be most appropriate for kids ages sixteen and younger. Any reader older than this will just find it dull. This book is not for the die hard basketball fans, just for those who are interested in an overview of one young talent and his rise to basketball fame.



2. My Dear Mr. Morgan, I can't thank you enough for writing the definitive book on the phenom that is LeBron. I learned so much about him, his friendships, his ability to overcome so many obstacles, and because of your book, I can't wait to see what the future holds for him. After reading your book, I was fascinated enough to catch the rest of his games, and have learned much about basketball and life from LeBron. My favorite passage is about Sr. Night. I have read this warm, sensitive passage several times, and never fail to cry when I read it. I have found the book to be a great read for all ages, and as a middle-aged woman who knew nothing about basketball before I read this book, I found that through LeBron and this book, I have learned that through basketball, you learn about life. How is that? Read the book and find out. I am eagerly looking forward to your next book, and thanks again, for the trip!



3. I purchased this book to encourage my middle/high school special education students to read. I must admit that when I first added the book to the classroom library all the students did was look at the pictures, but eventually they began reading and became hooked. The best way to get reluctant readers to read is to find a book that interests them. This book really caught on!



4. I live in Dallas,Tx and when it comes to basketball I hear 2 things: 1- Dallas Mavericks; 2- Lebron James. I was fortunate to find this book in Dallas,Tx and I judge books by how long it takes to read. This book falls under the term used on Lebron - "CAN'T MISS". It was a non stop read that resulted in my wife yelling at me for not doing my chores over the weekend. My wife began an investigation as to what I was doing. She soon discovered that the book was too good not to read after viewing the pictures. I am proud to report that she read her first sports book at the tender age of 34. There is hope? Being a media magnate for years - I've been able to see more media and athletic talent than Terry Pluto & Jim Gray would ever dream of: you simply have Ohio's best sportswriter in David Morgan and Ohio's best basketball player in Lebron James in 1 book. That combination makes it an easy choice to buy the book.



5. This book was unbelievable. David Lee Morgan Jr. is a mastermind. He captured every angle of LeBron's young life. The book was a pageturner from the very beginning when LeBron held a basketball for the first time right up until the announcement for the number one pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. Every time you turned the page something new and interesting immediately jumped out at you. The book also includes many color photos of LeBron which follow along with the storyline. If you're looking a book about LeBron James then this is the book for you.