5 comments about Sub 4:00: Alan Webb and the Quest for the Fastest Mile.

1. I found the book very interesting and factual of how good prospective high school athletes can be ground up like chopped beef. The USA top division I coaches have a bad repretation for running and competing the good prospective Olympic athlete in the ground from European coaches. The book was exciting when the races were described and very dissappointing when the results of the biggest and last races of the year were not there because there were thirty-three pages missing in the book and of course at the dmost interesting part. Very dissappointing. WMW



2. at the end of the book i actually disliked Webb. it was a story about someone who was not patient enough and thougt of himself as above everyone, i actually think him running such great times as a highschooler hurt him,he did not give the coach at michigan a fair chance and found ways to make everything a drama. the part i did enjoy though was reading about the other people from michigan and the fact that chris lear is such a great writer and really connects with the reader.



3. In a space of several months in 2001, Alan Webb ran the fastest indoor mile by a U.S. high school athlete and then set a national high school record for the magical distance, breaking a mark that reigned supreme for 36 years by the legendary Jim Ryun.
   
   Author Chris Lear takes the reader on the rocky journey Webb runs while carrying his fantastic prep record to the college ranks and beyond. In particular interest is how Webb deals with coaching legend Ron Warhurst at the University of Michigan.
   
   The pressure on Webb from outside the confines of the college campus are chronicled without editorial comment from Lear. It is my feeling Webb comes across as a boorish teenage tennis player or figure skater that must have things his/her way and coaches last about as long as a pair of training shoes for an ultra-marathoner.
   
   Webb's "team" that was around him when rewrote the prep record book seemingly derailed Warhurst's efforts before his star runner went on his first workout as a Wolverine. One must wonder if they had the best interest of Webb in mind or if dollar signs were circling that track.
   
   There was the lure of professional money from shoe companies and race promoters who were certainly salivating at the chance to have the great American star wear its logo or compete on the domestic/international stage.
   
   But the blame for being swayed by so many voices clearly falls on Webb. And if this tug-of-war would have been in a bigger profile collegiate sport, it would have been as big a national story as - for example - Maurice Clarett's public battles with the Ohio State brass and coaches from a few years ago.
   
   Sometimes the biggest search for a young world-class athlete is for those who will provide good advice over what can be profitable today. For every Tiger Woods or John McEnroe - who used brief collegiate careers as a springboard to professional success - there are hundreds like Webb that want it all now, but end up with fleeting glimpses of brilliance.



4. Alan Webb in this story strikes me as more a baby than a runner who has ran under 4 minutes in the mile. He whines about being hurt and not getting trained right. Warhurst is one of the greatest american distance coaches, if you can't run under him don't run at all. Nate seemed more likeable and more of a team player than Webb did in this book. Being for Illionis I love how Webb lost to Don Sage in 1500 meter final. Towards the end of the book, you knew he was going to quit michigan, now granted Webb has become very big in the sport but for a while he struggled after leaving Michigan and going back to his old coach. Good Book, if you like Webb, you might change your view of him, Nate is awesome, so is Tim Broe



5. Chris Lear has done it again! Following an exellent debut with "Running With the Buffaloes" he comes back with "Sub 4:00" -- a great account of Alan Webb's first and only season at the University of Michigan.
   
   Lear is the only guy out there writing about the collegiate running scene as most books in the running section at your bookstore revolve around training logs or how to run your first 10K. It's about time someone took a different path and I'm glad Lear has done so.
   
   Webb's tumultuous season at UM is well-depicted. The tough workouts, the injuries, and most importantly, the hot and cold relationship Webb has with his collegiate coach. Webb is pulled in a couple of different directions, whether to turn pro and go back and train under his high school coach, where he had great success; or stay at UM where he has friends and training partners. After awhile one can tell where Webb is going to end up.
   
   What makes Lear's books so good is he gets right into the action. Just like his first book, he has intimate access to the team, it's workouts, meetings, and private moments. He's with Webb in the residence halls, on solitary and team workouts, at the meets, and even on the road in his car. Lear isn't an outside observer, he's right there. Also, the main supporting character, Brannen, gets his fair share of coverage.
   
   This isn't just a book for runners, but anyone interested in athletics, particularly college athletics and how the system works and how coaches are under pressure to win -- yes, even so-called minor sport track and field coaches.
   
   I highly recommend this excellent book and hope Lear has more coming down the road.

5 comments about Forgiven: One Man's Journey from Self-Glorification to Sanctification.

1. Vince Russo's Forgiven is a fairly good read with his versions of his time in the WWF. The book does not cover his time in WCW or TNA and that is the book I would like to read. In this book he states several times how he was a changed man and would never go back to wrestling. Well shirtly after the book was released guess who went back to writing for TNA after his christian themed wrestling promotion crashed and burned after one show.



2. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one, but I was pleasantly surprised. Russo bares his soul and you get the feeling that he is a better man for all he has endured in his life. A lot of questions are answered here. Surprisingly recommended.
   
   GeorgiaWrestlingHistory.com



3. I was interested to hear Vince Russo's side of the stories that abound in wrestling. He was at the centre of a lot of the big events for the last 15 years and hoped to get his version of events.
   
   What I got was a watered down version of his pre-WCW days with him giving space to his thoughts today, now that he has found God.
   
   I have no problem with his religion except that his new belief meant that tha book was weak and feeble. Barely could read it as it came across as too preachy for my taste.



4. Vince Russo throws his name into the ever growing wrestling biography books. Russo claims to have written this book and then went through and commented on it after he 'found Jesus Christ'. This is alright to begin with but all his "New Saved Vince" comments quickly get annoying and pretty much says the same thing over and over again. Russo puts himself on quite the pedestal claiming to have been the sole force of WWF writing and idea man through out the late 90s.
   
   Russo begins by telling us this is going to be THE tell all book, he'll name names, reveal dirty little secrets, hold nothing back, and hurt some feelings. He does none of this. He also tells us he's not going to fill the book with "trite details" of his life then spends the first 150 pages doing just that. According to Russo, he was pretty much McMahon's sole defender in 'wrestling journalism/broadcasting (radio)' during the steroid scandal, even though he was only a co-host on a small, small time radio show that aired once a week (with the guy who lead the 'smear campaign'). He constantly insults Jim Ross, "The Man from Bland" (his words) and makes a lightly veiled comparison of how could TBS continually put Hubie Brown "the ugliest announcer ever" on the air when his appearance alone will make you not watch the basketball game.
   
   Among his more suspicious claims are that he has "deep respect" for everyone but the only non-main eventer he mentions is D-Lo Brown. He also managed to see that all the megastars were going to be megastars prior to them doing so (conveniently his stories made them so, he hints at). And finally pretty much everything in WWF in the late 90s was his idea including: Rocky Johnson refering to himself in third person and call himself The Rock, DX, reinstating the womens title to push Sable into the limelight, putting previously unheard of Stephanie McMahon on tv for the Undertaker kidnapping story, Wanting to put Mick Foley into Wrestlemanias, Triple H being called The Game, Chyna being called the 9th Wonder of the World, Owen Hart's Memorial show, and you guessed it - Russo also lays claim that the Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels screw job in Montreal was all HIS idea.
   
   He speaks about how he wrote all the stories not only for the main eventers, but the opening and mid-card guys so he was putting in over 80 hours a week. Guess that explains things like The Gang Wars (DOA, NOD, Los Borriquas), Mark Henry, Tiger Ali Singh, the 24/7 hardcore title, Beaver Cleavage, and the likes.
   
   Based on this book, the WWF was saved by Russo alone and the only reason Austin, Rock, Triple H, Foley, Sable, Chyna, and others were megastars was all because of him. He names no names with "dirty little secrets", reveals no dirty laundry, and is generally rather egotistical and juvenile. It's great he has found the Lord but I wonder if he claims this because so many other wrestlers have done so and published books (such as Sting and Shawn Michaels). Also while claiming others have to be careful of what they write because WWE is publishing there books, Russo doesn't have to do this because WWE is not behind his book, he then continually kisses Vince McMahon's ass through out the book. It's lacking but readable.



5. Russo starts off the book talking about how he is now a minister and a born again christian. Most of the book is written by a bitter Vince in 2002, with chunks added by the re-born author. The "new" Vince starts off by saying that this book HAD it all for a wrestling fan. All the dirt, all the behind the scenes stuff, all the stuff that fans who will actually pay 25 bucks for a wrestling autobiography will want to hear! But "new" Vince then adds that it's not the christian thing to do, and that he has excised all of that stuff out. Great... What did I just buy?
   The narrative is quite entertaining, but everytime "new" Vince interjects you really just want to puke. All he does is say how horrible a person he was and glory be to jesus, he is the light, glory be... glory be! I have no idea how a person can go a complete 180 and be legit. He WAS cocky, arrogant and had a real Howard Stern sense of humor, and now is a bland, neutered, bible thumping bore-fest.
   The book is ok, but the tease that all of the "good stuff" was removed and the pages of "new" Vince really leave a bad taste. Also the book ends very abrubtly at the end of his WWF tenure, and has no WCW or TNA content.
   Alot of people either love Russo or hate what he did. I'm a hater, I really don't like the Springer like phase of pro wrestling he's responsible for, but I was legit looking forward to hearing his side. Unfortunately, due to the author's self-censorship I was really disapointed.

1 comments about King of the Gypsies: Memoirs of the Undefeated Bareknuckle Champion of Great Britain and Ireland.

1. This book was interesting to me for two reasons. The first reason being that I love biographies/autobiographies about fighters and the way they live so this book was no exception. The second reason I found it interesting was because it opened my eyes to a whole culture of people that I never even knew existed. All I knew about Gypsies were the old lady Meleva from The Wolf Man and Brad Pitt's character Mickey from Snatch. Well it turns out that the way Guy Ritchie depicts the gypsies in that movie is pretty dead on. Anyway, I have sort of a spoiler so if you don't want to know how the book ends do not read any further. I was pretty sad when i got to the end of the book. By the time you get to the end you feel like you've known the author Bartley Gorman, his family and his friends. Bartley became very ill shortly before finishing the book and talks about it. He died not long after finishing the book, so you get the feeling like you were sitting next to him listening to his life story right before he passed away. For me that was pretty sad. So anyway if you like to read true stories about fighters and fighting you will probably like this book, because practically every page talks about someone fighting. In fact the only thing I didn't really like about it was at one point he went on about all these old time fighters and it was just like "and this guy fought that guy and that guy fought this guy who fought the great fighter Joe smith who fought..." for a few pages. Other than that it wa a good read for me.

5 comments about The Boys of Everest: Chris Bonington and the Tragedy of Climbing's Greatest Generation.

1. I have recently read "No shortcuts to the top" and I loved that, but this is even better. It details the generation that really made the modern vision of mountain climbers - a bit aloof from the world and somewhat conceited about their business, but motivated by some need to go to the top, and by a harder route to prove something. This era of climbing and exploration is somewhat under-represented or is generalized all to Messner or his cohorts, while this book details so much of what was going on in the high mountains.
   Great book!



2. If you want to know about the folks that lived to climb and died while doing so, this is the book. Bonington is still alive, but the stories of he and his collegue's climbs are amazing.



3. Willis' current book (he's edited a number of collected excerpts) was the most intriguing mountaineering book I've read in a long time -- and I've read quite a few, although I myself am an "armchair" climber. Perhaps true mountaineers will find the book wanting for lengthy descriptions of raising funds for the climb; of the travails of arriving at base camp; of the flora, fauna and cultures encountered on the way in, but personally when I read about the extremes of high-altitude climbing, I'm always most attracted to how the alpinists themselves -- as humans -- cope with such extreme conditions. What do they think? Feel? What does this other worldly existence -- for it's nothing like everyday life -- give them that drives them to return, again and again, despite the torments, the cold, the hunger, the closeness to death that almost inevitably accompanies every serious ascent? Willis allows himself some artistic freedom in placing himself in the climbers' boots as they wake to bitter cold; as they jumar up old ropes; as they place weak protection knowing that any failure can lead to their death and possibly the death of their comrades. But this is why I, for one, read about alpinists: they compell themselves to extremes, and Willis -- far better than anyone -- places you alongside these climbers as they unravel, or ignore, the reasons they are high on these mountains, and always destined to return to them.



4. "From the mid 1950's to mid 1980's, Bonington's Boys changed the nature of climbing Mount Everest. The risks they took and the price they paid is unimaginable but told vividly in this stunning book."



5. Back in the 1980s, when I was slaving away in grad school, escaping occasionally for a brief hiking trip, or a short cross-country ski outing, I liked to read stories of great expeditions and adventures, on sea and on land. And I think of all the books I read, Chris Bonnington's books of his expeditions were my greatest escape literature. Sitting in my downtown apartment I was transported to the slopes of Everest with Bonnington and his crew, making my way of a narrow rock gully on the face of Everest. When I was out on my skis in the woods, I'd imagine I was working my way through the ice fall, or carrying gear up to advance base camp.
   
   Then in 2000 I read Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air", his personal story of the tragic 1996 Everest expedition, and it stripped away all romance from Himalayan mountaineering; all I was left with was images of pointless death and selfish behavior. I stopped reading mountaineering books. Every trip seemed a pointless risk of human life. Then a few weeks ago I came across "The Boys of Everest" while looking for cross-country ski technique books, and my curiosity was piqued; I bought the book.
   
   Like some of the reviewers, I'm a bit put off by the author's use of imagined interior monologue, especially when depicting the last hours of a climber who disappeared into the mists, never to be seen again. But at the same time, I think Willis does a better job than most writers- including the mountaineers themselves- in explaining exactly why they climb, and why they take such unimaginable risks in pursuit of such intangible rewards. While this doesn't justify the deaths of so many ambitious young men, at the same time it makes them a bit easier to understand.
   
   Some have also faulted the author for his lack of experience in high altitude climbing, and lack of technical detail, or glossing over some important aspect of a given climb. I'm not a climber, and I suspect that most readers won't be, either, and to us, that's not really a fault. There are better books about the specifics of these expeditions written by the climbers themselves, and plenty of books about the techniques of mountaineering. What this book does deliver is a bit of a glimpse intothe lives and the minds of a very select group of men, who changed the face of climbing, and who for a very brief time in the history of the world stood on top of it.

5 comments about I Told You I Wasn't Perfect.

1. I am a Tiger fan and as a pre-teen was an avid Denny McLain fan. Since 1970 he has disappointed me. I could accept in his second book Strikeout that perhaps he was framed and was given a bad deal but by the second time he went to prison I can't believe it happened because he was framed. In this book as in the second book he writes as if he was an innocent victim and had to go to prison. The book is poorly written and his language is very crude. Couldn't Eli Zaret or whatever his name is edit the language a bit. I have found several contradictory things such as he mentioned he wasn't interested in pitching game six of the world series. I remember hearing on the radio that he was very eager to pitch the game. He also talks about having a kidney infection and was very sick during a doubleheader against California in 1965 and afterwards they flew to Minnesota where an ambulance was waiting to take him to the hospital. The doubleheader was played in Detroit and then Minnesota came in to play the next series--they didn't have to fly anywhere.
   
   I was disappointed in this book and rather disgusted with the way it was written. Don't buy this book.



2. As a lifelong and terribly-devout Tiger fan, I give this a five-star rating.
   
   But, for the general baseball public, a two is about it.
   
   The book is not poorly written. Eli Zaret committed McLain's story into written form. It's not a great story.
   
   It should be. The book reads mostly like Zaret spent a lot of time in the sports clipping "morgue" of the Detroit News and Free Press, and wrote down game notes and events. That part of the book is dry and not well fleshed out.
   
   If you think about a man who had the world by the tail in 1968, and by 1972 was a total has-been at age 28, then ended up with TWO large prison sentences in the following two decades, you've got the genesis for a world-class book and movie. If so, it's just not here.
   
   The print is large, and if you can't read this in a couple of hours, you aren't trying.
   
   Then again, as a Tiger fan, I enjoyed the stories from inside the clubhouse on what Detroit fans of a certain age regard as a great baseball assemblage. McLain's take on current announcer and then-catcher Jim Price is interesting. He bashes Al Kaline, not someone that the local sporting press has dissed since 1965.
   
   But there was so much more baseball-related information that could have been and should have been recalled and written. The endless stories about prison life - yes, Denny, we understand it was dehumanizing and hard. That's why we put you there.



3. It was most interesting to realize once again that no matter how high a star athlete rises in life, he or she suffer human frailties as everyday people. Denny McClain is a fine example. Little did I know that ,during my growing up years when Denny was one of my heroes, his life was unravelling off the field.



4. I am a sports fanatic, and have read "literally" hundreds of sports books over the last decade or so. This autobiography has much more in it than a normal sports fan would expect. Sure, it has his baseball history, which shows him as perhaps the first "modern day", totally spoiled, self-possessed, spoiled brat, baseball star, who took advantage of the media's growing fascination with spoiled, rich ballplayers. He admittedly let his mouth run wild as his fame grew. Alienating, not only his teammates, but also, all "old school" players, executives, and fans. (Me!)
   
   The beginning of the book, which traces his abusive childhood, up to his making the major leagues, leads us to the information that I already knew and expected: The last player to win 30 games in a season, (31 in 1968), the youngest player in major league history (At that time.) to win 100 games, (25 years old.) being suspended from baseball for gambling. Interesting, but old ground. Here is where his trouble really begins, and it seems like it takes forever, for Denny to realize he's the problem, not everyone else.
   
   Here's where this book became absolutely fascinating to me, and became way more than your every day baseball book! When Denny went to federal prison, he describes in agonizing, claustrophobic, detail, what it's really like to be in federal prison, not a country club prison. What I tell you next is the absolute truth! A couple of times while I was engrossed in the portions of the book of what he went through, in his tiny, cramped cell, I actually got out a tape measure twice, and measured the size of my bed, to compare it to the cell he was in. To me this book is much more than a baseball book, it is also a "scared-straight" story. This is a story of success and arrogance gone astray. Denny went from 31 wins in a season and back to back Cy Young Awards, to Federal Prison, sharing a cell block with Gotti Jr., and innumerable de-humanizing body searches. I not only recommend this book highly; I feel it should be mandatory reading for every rookie entering the Major Leagues!



5. Good read - lots of great stories. I think there's "a little Denny Mclain" in all of us. I recommend it for all sports fans.

3 comments about One Yard Short: Turning Your Defeats into Victories.

1. Coach Steckel has written an inspiring and entertaining book. I'm a football coach myself and can relate to the highs and lows of the profession as Coach Steckel explains in this book. Coaches if you want a book to lift you and show you how God can lead a man thru the highs and lows of life this is it. God bless you Coach Steckel.



2. This was a GREAT book! It sounded like something I would like because I am a huge Titans fan & watched the super bowl when Kevin Dyson needed that extra yard, so I asked for it for Christmas. I couldn't put it down. I put off finishing it though because I felt like I had a connection to Les & his wife,and I knew he didn't have another book out. It was very inspirational. Football fan or not, anyone who likes fair play & God will love this easy to read book! Thanks to Les for taking time to write it!



3. If you are a Christian and you coach any sport, especially football you should take a look at his book. I was so moved by it I was on the brink of tears about 2-3 times. It talks about letting God control your life, and if you put full complete faith in HIM as your savior, you will be able to live and lead a very gratifying life. I highly recommend this book.

5 comments about A Kind of Grace: The Autobiography of the World's Greatest Female Athlete.

1. Jackie Joyner-Kersee elaborately describes the struggles and obstacles that she had to overcome to become a successful and outstanding athlete and person. Her book is filled with emotions that the reader can intially relate to. Her life was filled with adversity and proves that a strong and self-determined person can triumph regardless of depressing and self-destructing obstacles that may stand in your way. Jackie, who is portrayed through the media to be "Superwoman" is really more human and down to the earth than most of the world. Life for Jackie was not always "peaches and cream." She was born and raised in East St. Louis, which was not known as a very safe place at the time. A reporter once suggested to Jackie that she should not tell people where she was from cause it might destroy her image. This event, however, made Jackie appreciate her hometown even more. You cannot put into words why this woman is thought of as superb. She went from rock bottom to soaring to the unlimited top. With the help of this book, Jackie's title as "The World's Greatest Female Athlete" has been justified.



2. Jackie Joyner-Kersee elaborately describes the struggles and obstacles that she had to overcome to become a successful and outstanding athlete and person. Her book is filled with emotions that the reader can intially relate to. Her life was filled with adversity and proves that a strong and self-determined person can triumph regardless of depressing and self-destructing obstacles that may stand in your way. Jackie, who is portrayed through the media to be "Superwoman" is really more human and down to the earth than most of the world. Life for Jackie was not always "peaches and cream." She was born and raised in East St. Louis, which was not known as a very safe place at the time. A reporter once suggested to Jackie that she should not tell people where she was from cause it might destroy her image. This event, however, made Jackie appreciate her hometown even more. You cannot put into words why this woman is thought of as superb. She went from rock bottom to soaring to the unlimited top. With the help of this book, Jackie's title as "The World's Greatest Female Athlete" has been justified.



3. Jackie Joyner-Kersee elaborately describes the struggles and obstacles that she had to overcome to become a successful and outstanding athlete and person. Her book is filled with emotions that the reader can intially relate to. Her life was filled with adversity and proves that a strong and self-determined person can triumph regardless of depressing and self-destructing obstacles that may stand in your way. Jackie, who is portrayed through the media to be "Superwoman" is really more human and down to the earth than most of the world. Life for Jackie was not always "peaches and cream." She was born and raised in East St. Louis, which was not known as a very safe place at the time. A reporter once suggested to Jackie that she should not tell people where she was from cause it might destroy her image. This event, however, made Jackie appreciate her hometown even more. You cannot put into words why this woman is thought of as superb. She went from rock bottom to soaring to the unlimited top. With the help of this book, Jackie's title as "The World's Greatest Female Athlete" has been justified.



4. A Kind of Grace is an excellent book. I think everyone should read it. It gave me a whole new look on life and how to appreciate everything I have. It also gave me inspiration to work hard at track. Now I have the heart and determination to train, lift weights, and practice, practice, practice. So everyone please buy and read this wonderful book, A Kind of Grace.



5. Jackie Joyner-Kersee's autobiography is everything a biography should be, well-written, entertaining, and deeply moving. Unlike many celebrity bios that center around events, primarily ones that reflect well on the author, Jackie's book is people-centered and equally honest about her struggles as well as her triumphs. She writes with love and admiration about many people who have touched her life both in big and small ways. It is not hard to see why Jackie became the woman and athlete that she is. This book could have just as easily been titled "The World's Greatest Role Model for Young People."

5 comments about Bobby the Brain: Wrestling's Bad Boy Tells All.

1. If you were a wrestling fan during the 70s and 80s, Bobby "The Brain" was a character you loved to hate because he was the smug jerk that helped his villains beat your favorite wrestlers.
   Reading the book, you'll find that, as in most cases, the bad guy was actually one of the nicer guys. Bobby has a great sense of humor and the majority of the tales he tells are hilarious and will leave you laughing, especially if you know the wrestlers he is talking about. The stories about Andre The Giant are interesting and eye opening when you find out who the man really was and how he felt about people.
   The book skips back and forth among timelines but with some of the names you can figure out about what time span he is talking about. Most of the tales are about his A-W-A days but he also discusses W-C-W and what a cluster mess that was thanks to people who didn't know what they were doing.
   The book is worth the purchase whether or not you were a big Bobby Heenan fan and due to only 190 or so pages is a quick read. I would have loved to have had more stories and hopefully he will do other books of nothing but behind the scene stories...



2. Bobby Heenan... here's a man that didn't finish 8th grade yet became one of the biggest names and most hated men in wrestling history. Bobby fills us in with a plethora of anecdotes about his career and has no qualms about telling you who he didn't like (Valiant Brothers, Haystacks Calhoun, Tony Schiavone to name a few). This is a very loose writing style which covers loads of stories throughout his career, often jumping back and forth in time. Stories are brief and straight to the punch, usually just a paragraph or two. Time periods are based off your wrestling knowledge as Heenan does not identify the year something happened; but if your reading this book, you're probably a fan and know it just by those involved in the story.
   
   There are some great stories involving Andre the Giant, Baron von Raschke, and even his real life appreciation of Hogan. He also really gets into his dislike of how WCW was run and all the positive career chances he received when dealing with WWF. My favorite chapter may have been the run-down of the Bobby Heenan Family which quickly covered most of the men he 'managed'. Overall, quick and fun read, wish it were longer.



3. Few people in the history of professional wrestling were as disliked as Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. He was smarmy, arrogant and flat out obnoxious. Mostly due to the fact he always gave off an air of being superior to those around him, especially the fans. What I'm saying is meant as a compliment because it was obvious to me that was the full intent behind his character. Bobby was supposed to be all those things and he managed to pull it off as well as anyone I've ever seen. Even as a little kid I knew the guy was something else.
   
   If you are a fan of Pro Wrestling there's no doubt you will really enjoy this book. Fans of all ages will learn a whole lot about the biz. From the squared circle to the behind the scenes action it's all here. Bobby was in the industry for a very very long time and so he knows what he's talking about. The man let's it fly and pulls no punches. It's an enjoyable read. There's even a great foreword by the legendary Hulk Hogan. I would recommend this book to any and all fans of wrestling. You do not have to specifically be a Bobby fan to enjoy this book.



4. THIS IS ABOUT BOBBY HEENAN LEGENDARY WRESTLER AND MANAGER. BOBBY TAKES US A BIT INTO HIS LIFE BUT MOSTLY HIS EXPERIENCES IN THE WEIRD WORLD OF PRO WRESTLING. BOBBY TELLS US SOME SCARY AND HILARIOUS STORIES COVERING ANDRE THE GIANT, NICK BOCKWINKEL, VERNE GAGNE, VINCES MCMAHON AND RUSSO, AND MANY MORE. BOBBY HAS A QUICK WIT AND IN MANY CASES IS JUST PLAIN HILARIOUS. HIS BOOK IS EASY TO READ AND THE HUMOR HELPS TO EASE THE MIND. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK BRAIN. VERY RECOMMENDED.



5. This book is worth buying for the Andre the Giant stories alone.

   One scene describing Andre during his afro years describes Bobby accidentally walking in whilst the big one was enjoying a local groupie in Japan. He description of the scene as appering to walk in on "a lion raping a rabbit" is perhaps the greatest line in literature since Shakespeare.

5 comments about Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow: The Dark Side of Extreme Adventure.

1. This well written book delves into a largely unexplored but important aspect of mountaineering. Curiously, despite its obvious dangers, few who partake in the sport ever truly examine the impact it has on their families and close ones, or even their own complex feelings about it. This book does not have all the answers for those who are plagued with the climbing addiction, but it does succeed in laying bare the huge costs the sport involves, most of which are borne by the family and friends of the climber, and that continue to reverberate and exact their terrible toll on loved ones for decades after tragedy has stricken. If you are a climber, this book is worth reading. You may learn something about yourself, some of the reasons why you are drawn inexorably to the high places, and what your family goes through each time you leave. I would like to say I have quit climbing, but in truth know I won't -- just as the book explains people like me never do. This book will sit heavily on my mind for some time to come.



2. I loved this book, but probably not for the reasons of most other readers. It reminded me of the Darwin Rules website and books celebrating the ways in which people find to remove themselves from the gene pool.
   Surely this applies to mountaineers! This is my conclusion after reading Maria Coffey's engaging book. She relates harrowing tale after harrowing tale in which these absurd risk takers try again and again to kill themselves. Eventually they all seem to succeded.
   It becomes hilarious after about the fourth chapter.
   Coffey does not try to make us feel sorry for those left behind. This is a wise ploy as it would only soften the impact of what she has to say, which is that these people cannot be helped, but perhaps understood.



3. A terrific successor to Fragile Edge by the same author. That book was a personal journey - a quest for answers - followed by the author after the death of her famous mountain climber boyfriend on the slopes of Everest.

   This book looks at the effect of following this most dangerous of passions on the partners left behind and some who sometimes accompany their loved ones. Even more interestingly, Maria Coffey looks at the point of views of those who have no choice in their relationships with those whose addiction seems as self-serving and as inevitable as any other addiction - parents and children.

   I really liked Coffey's earlier book, and I recommend this one as much. I believe she has matured as a writer as well. She has the knack of addressing very large picture issues yet not losing sight of the personal and `small moments'.

   Some of the personal testimonies about coming to terms with loss and dealing with grief are true not only for losses under such circumstances, but there are some universal truths particularly for anyone who has had to deal with death and the "loss of a future", rather than a mere celebration of a life fulfilled (as many older person funerals have become in my culture in recent years).

   An understated but important subtext for me is what this has to say about gender relations. It is no accident that most of those off risking their lives, and the fur=tures of those around them are male. Ms Coffey does touch on this, and especially the unusual circumstance of women with children who still pursue the apex of whatever mass of rock and ice they have their heart set on. However, she never table thumps an agenda . . . you are lft to ponder your own conclusions.

   A remarkable achievement.That Ms Coffey has the confidence of so many associated with the pursuit is a testament to her insight and empathy.

   I rate this alongside Ed Douglas's book "Chomolungma Sings The Blues" as my favourite books discussing ethical and spititual concerns about mountaineering.




4. Losing a friend or loved one is never an easy process, but it becomes even more tangled when they leave for a mountain adventure and never return. I first experienced this in the early 70's when 3 close friends were killed while attempting Mt. Elias in Canada. Maria Coffey examines how climbers and their families and friends cope with the devastating losses that shadow this sport.
   She begins with a search for why people climb in the first place, and in particular why they continue after close calls; without becoming banal, she quotes Jim Wickwire, "One of the addictive aspects of climbing is that it allows you to be in the present moment in ways that are impossible in ordinary life". Similar thoughts come from Csikszentmihalyi's concept of 'flow' - which finds that the "enjoyment of risk comes not from the danger itself but from managing it, from the sense of exercising control in difficult situations." And then, there's the ultimate mountaineering existential futility of Camus' Sisyphus facing an "unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing... Each atom of that stone , each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart".
   The bulk of this powerful book interviews the survivors and comrades of lost climbers. At times, its difficult to read, but the feelings expressed range from acceptance to anger and denial. In most cases, there is a community of shared experience and values. Whether you're an active climber or arm chair mountaineer this book gives a much needed balance to the hyberbolic tales of expedition climbing. And for those of us who have lost people to the mountains it offers, not comfort, but a stoic acceptance.



5. My friend Arlene Blum (Anapurna: A Woman's Place) climbed in the Himalayas and elsewhere and lived to tell the tale. She now leads treks into the world's remote and wild regions, but she once rendered me speechless with her offhand reply to my horror at one hair-raising tale she told of crossing an ice bridge about a million miles up a some scary mountain.
   "Why on earth would you do that?" I had asked, when I recovered my voice. And another unspoken question hung right behind the first: Having done it once and survived, why on God's green earth would you do it again? And again, and again.
   "Oh, it's not really dangerous," and she poured me another cup of tea.
   Not dangerous. Yeah, right.
   Arlene had already lost a lover and several friends to accidents in high places, and others have died cold and lonely deaths since then. Not dangerous? I mean, what??
   But there will still be those who MUST climb mountains. Some of them will die, and their survivors often are quoted as saying, "He died doing what he loved best," or the feminine equivalent. Maria Coffey's book, Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow," chronicles the naked underbelly of the experience of this particular kind of loss. It looks behind the public quotes into the hearts and bleeding souls of the survivors, and I believe it's a story whose exposure is long overdue. The personal costs of extreme adventure are too often dismissed for the thrill of reading about the adventures themselves. Coffey handles with grace and delicacy the stories of wives, husbands, lovers, friends, and children left behind my someone who just had to climb yet one more mountain - for reasons the rest of us armchair travelers can't even begin to imagine.

2 comments about A Prophet with Honor : The Billy Graham Story.

1. While this book ranks as the most comprehensive take on Graham's life and career, it suffers from two shortcomings. William Martin is rather too uncritical of his subject, and, like most other Graham biographers, he depends too heavily on Graham's memory. Graham has repeatedly proven to be an unreliable source concerning his own history as I documented in my own research for THE PRINCE OF WAR: BILLY GRAHAM'S CRUSADE FOR A WHOLLY CHRISTIAN EMPIRE (Brave Ulysses Books, 2007). Unlike Marshall Frady whose BILLY GRAHAM: A PARABLE OF AMERICAN RIGHTEOUSNESS (reissued by Simon & Schuster, 2006) reported out some of the preacher's less admirable endeavors, Martin participates in the general canonization of Graham.



2. If you buy only one book about Billy Graham, this should be it. Wonderfully written, it is an objective view by a writer who had full access to Graham and his staff, and full freedom to write the truth.