1 comments about Game of My Life: New York Rangers.

1. John Halligan did an amazing job on the Rangers' 75th anniversary book and in this new title, he has an opportunity to tell more in-depth stories about some of the most popular Rangers players in history. His inside knowledge of the team and clear, crisp writing style makes him THE authority on the Rangers. I highly recommend this book.

5 comments about Positively Page: The Diamond Dallas Page Journey.

1. This is not really a book about professional wrestling.
   
   This is a book that is partially set in the world of professional wrestling. The subject of the book is really positive thinking.
   
   It's out of print, and it may be hard to get, but if you are into human potential and the power of change - combining discipline with positive thinking - then this is a VERY good book.
   
   If you know (or if you are) a wrestling fan who needs to hear this message, then this may be the PERFECT book.
   
   Some people think that Dallas Page is a relentless self-promoter, but they're the ones who haven't been listening. He believes that anyone can do anything that they really want to - if they're willing to work hard enough for it. He uses his own life as the example.
   
   It's worth a read.



2. It is a well known fact that DDP is a no talent in the wrestling business who got to the top by kissing Eric Bischoff's ass. They were next door neighbors for godsakes. DDP's book is full of crap. He never drew flies. His workrate sucked. He was over, but not to were he drew money. The book itself is bad. 400 someodd pages of his life. 200 of it on wrestling. He writes about how he was a bar manager for 200 pages. This was incredible dull. He puts himself over so much that it is tiring and he positively sucked. He was a product of the WCW Bischoff era and we now know why WCW went under. DDP you will never be in the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame. And that's not a bad thing, that's a good thing.



3. I guess everyone and their mother decided it was time to write their gripping life story. This poorly written book is yet another discredit to the wrestling business. This is a business where so many people have given pride back to the business and then Page Falkenberg produces a book written on a third grade level full of wrongful facts.

   The question is obvious, why does Diamond Dallas Page even have a book? I can't answer that one. If he has a book then why doesn't Marty Jannetty, Pat Tanaka, Buff Bagwell or even Scotty Riggs? Why don't they? Because with all due respect nobody would want to read a full book about these wrestlers. Certainly one shoot interview on video or 4 page one on the Internet would be enough for a fan. Just like Bill Goldberg, Page is another guy who was convinced by Eric Bischoff that they were a star and even though he is by the way one of the worst champions of all time according to the ratings, Page bought it.

   This book was the fire back from WCW to the WWF at the time for having Mick Foley's book. Well if that is the case, that is a bigger joke of a fireback then the debut of the Maestro. If you are looking to buy a good wrestling autobiography, pass on this one at the bookstore. It is a terrible book!




4. All the History comes flooding back with each word. The times and places so easily parallel life and it's many hits one takes, leading to a the ultimate take-down. We all wish the best and try our best, some deal with the injuries better than others...some will always keep the bag of ice handy so the swelling doesn't show. We can all take a lesson and hope that our trials will bring us back to the same familiar places so near and dear someday. Here's to happy summers on the shore with those we'll always treasure. One Jersey girls' dream.



5. good book and all, ddp's a cool guy and everything, but none of the books compete to foley's 2. but hell, ddp still made a good read. get foley's 2 first (like you haven't) then get bobby the brain's second.

1 comments about Annapurna South Face: The Classic Account of Survival (Adrenaline).

1. The first ascent of the South Face of Annapurna is told in Bonington's characteristically engaging style. No detail of organization, logistics or communication is left out, with the result that we end up knowing quite a lot about what the climbers had for breakfast and what was said during their radio conversations; but I see this as a good thing. The book is slightly lacking in exciting scenes of actual climbing, as many expedition books unfortunately tend to be, but has plenty of gripping material nevertheless.

5 comments about Black Maestro: The Epic Life of an American Legend.

1. The story of Jimmy Winkfield is an amazing one, and honestly told. I say the latter because, although the author obviously wants to inform us about this great unknown athlete, he's honest enough to tell us the man's faults, too. Overall, he wasn't a very honorable man yet you can't help but root for him.
   
   His story will leave you shaking your head in amazement. I think it's safe to say no American athlete ever led a stranger life, and that includes Babe Ruth. Winkfield was one of the best jockeys in American history, but he had his color going against him at that time. He went to Europe and.....well, the stories are incredible!
   
   As of my review, this hardcover book is on sale here for five bucks. You have to be kidding! What a bargain. This is great reading if you any interest in people, not just horse racing.



2. the sport of horseracing owes much to the African Americans who have nutured its athletes. Rarely, however, are those unsung heros shared with the public.
   
   This well written and very well researched book shares the life of one of the sport's more colorful participants and gifted partners to equine athletes - Jimmy Winkfield.
   
   The pages kept turning, the story was fascinating, and the author did a lovely job in both pace and content.
   
   If you have any interest in the "sport of kings" and those who make it come to life, this book is an important read. For those who just want to read the story of a gifted athlete whose genetic makeup destroyed his promise on American soil, this will inspire you as to Jimmy's fortitude and once again bewilder you at the mindset that eventually took his craft out of his home country.
   
   put it on your read list.



3. This book is so well written that it got me hooked on it right away and I am not a racing fan. The author, Joe Drape really captured the essence of Jimmy Winkfield and brought his story to life in this book. After reading this book I was left with the firm understanding that man can accomplish so much in a lifetime; it is up to us to make something of our lives regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in. It is a truly amazing account of one man's life. Jimmy Winkfield is a legend and I would not have heard about him if it were not for this book.



4. The media sometimes works in very strange ways. Several years ago, middle-distance running star Steve Prefontaine had two movies on his life released literally simultaneously.
   
   And with forgotten jockey legend Jimmy Winkfield, two of the best turf scribes going - Ed Hotaling and Joe Drape - end up publishing biographies within several months of each other, with Drape's being the second to reach the bookstores.
   
   Winkfield's story is one for the ages, as this black jockey battled racism on and off the track in the United States & financial ruin caused by two world wars while forging a racing and training career in Europe. Winkfield was aboard the winning mounts in the 1901 and 1902 Kentucky Derbies - the last black jockey to win the renowned race - and rode in the 1903 event, before Jim Crow destroyed the remaining careers of black riders.
   
   Born into a family of sharecroppers, Winkfield initially pursued his racing dream at Latonia Ractetrack, grooming horses and as an exercise rider before getting the opportunity as a jockey.
   
   Early in his riding career he got caught in the middle of the turf wars by mobsters at the Chicago racetracks, where it wasn't good for business - or health - for a jockey to ride races honestly.
   
   After racism slammed the sport's doors, Winkfield forged an outstanding career in pre-revolutionary Russia. But World War I and the Communist Revolution found Winkfield leading an expedition of individuals and Thoroughbreds out of the war-torn nation. The escape alone is worthy of a book or movie.
   
   Settling in Paris, Winkfield again picked up the pieces at the track as a trainer and jockey. But the opening salvos of World War II forced Winkfield to flee France before the Nazi occupation and return to America.
   
   A telling and tragic scene is his invitation by Churchill Downs officials to be honored in a ceremony before the 1961 Kentucky Derby and the ugly racism he faced in trying to walk through the front doors to the banquet.
   
   Buried in France with a plain gravestone that - in Russian - says, "Moscow," sums up the feelings Winkfield felt about where he was most comfortable and accepted as an athlete and - importantly - as a human being.
   
   Winkfield is arguably the greatest jockey ever to ride in this country. And maybe having two biographies published in rapid-fire fashion will finally help him gain the recognition he truly deserved after all these years.



5. I read Black Maestro this summer. It was a great read so I'm buying several more copies to give as Christmas presents. The book works on several levels. It is first and foremost a book that details the triumphs of a black man at the turn of the century and his subsequent quest to do what he loves to do - race horses. The book also describes the trials that the black athelete faced in the United States during the first half of the 20th century. It would take 50 years before atheletes such as Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron were able to break the "color barrier". Finally, Black Maestro is a great adventure across two continents and through two world wars - I imagine Hollywood is already chomping at the bit to get this story on the silver screen.

5 comments about Favre: For the Record.

1. Wonderful, for those of us who are Packer-backers and even for those who aren't. Good history, honesty about his addiction.



2. First I want to say something about the book. It's great!! If your a true fan of the Packers and want to know about one of the teams, and NFLs greatest players, buy this book. It shows you the kind of person Favre is on and off the field. He takes you through the ups and downs of his life and career that have made him the person and player he is today.Now, for the other reviews I read before writing this one. What promted some numbnuts to write about the packers loss to St. Louis in the playoffs in a book review?? They must be a Bears fan! Another one decided to write that Brett and his family were (...) That's intelligent. I know when I go to read a review about a book that interests me, I want to have to wade through the garbage that idiots like that jerk take up space with.For those of you with a brain in your head, trust me, Farve: For The Record is a great read!!



3. This is a good book ,the problem came from the fixation they put on his painkillers addiction and the problems it bring with his wife and teammates.You also have a lot of details about the health problems this addiction caused to him,a little bit like "Drugs is bad to you,see what it do to me."His wife almost let him down for that,his teammates are tired of him asking for Vicodin and others painkillers.The two or three first paragraphs talk about that, but chapter after chapter they come back with it.The book talk to much about his "post popularity" life and not enough of him when he was unknown.His "post popularity" life are report in all the daily newspapers,that why I expect to learn more about Bret Favre before he was a star.They pass to fast on his teens years,his collegiate years.The reason to write a biography his to talk about the unknown parts of someone life,but in this book you just found what everybody read on the last five years newspapers.That a good but incomplete book.



4. Favre for The Record is the best book I ever read.It is totally a must buy.



5. As a Londoner, who learnt to appreciate American football at 21, I wanted background reading to enhance my enjoyment. I started by looking into favourite players of mine, so came this book!

   I wanted to understand what goes on in players mind before a big game. How they react to the coach barking orders. How they conduct themselves on and off the field. This book helped me to do all these things and more. Favre is not a roboback, he is an individual with flair and creativity, which is why this book is so entertaining.

   I seem to be able to climb right on into Brett's head, and into his personal life through the pages in this book, which is enlightening to say the least. We hear about his highs and lows, and he is frank about his addiction to Vicodin, and his relationships with players and coaches alike.

   I think this book is for American Football fans only, which explains why this was my first Amazon purchase, (This book isn't in print in the UK) but for a fan of the Packers, or just a Football fan in general, you can do no wrong in buying this, which will no doubt increase your respect for the stress players endure every game.

5 comments about Bad Intentions: The Mike Tyson Story.

1. Excellent insights; especially into the behind the scenes elements in Tyson's life - or lack thereof. The darkness of Boxing is exposed by the accounts of the deals made without the neccessity of finding smoke-filled rooms.
   While you may find it hard to pity Tyson of today; it's easier to understand the path he's taken after the reading of this book.



2. This book gets five stars alone for the great investigative journalism and stop-at-no-ends-to-get-the-truth reporting.
   
   This kind of writing is getting rarer and rarer given sooo many writers -- especially of sports book -- come with a slant that once you get beyond it's timeliness, really paints the author in a worse light than the subject/team/issue they wrote about.
   
   This is by far and away one of the best books I've read in a long, long time.
   
   Mike Tyson as ... mindless brute to be feared? con artist too smart for his own good? endlessly incredible athlete to be respected? menace to be locked away? and self-destructive, innocent manchild predestined to failure?
   
   These are all concepts that are explored and in depth in this book.
   
   I honestly can see all of the aforementioned perspectives!!!!!
   
   It's interesting but the writer supports each of these ideas enough that you really can't automatically tell just from reading this book what opinions/conclusions the writer actually reached on a personal level -- and this book is all the better for it.
   
   Mike was one of the most physically awesome athletes of the 20th Century and he also said/did some disgraceful things.
   
   Mike is yet another pro athlete that fell victim to all the vulptures who saw him and used him as a meal ticket.
   
   And he's also on woeful little boy who grew into a man who acted out his childhood traumas.
   
   All in all, is he a hero or a monster? A man who just didn't take responsibility for his actions or someone to be pitied because of his (inherent?) personal inability to do so?
   
   You have to read this book and THEN make the call. It's not as easy as you might think.



3. Buy this book read & see why Mike Tyson was the greatest Boxing Champion ever.
   Tyson will always Rule!



4. Bar none, this is the best book I've read about Tyson. It's full of facts and direct quotes from loads of people who worked with/against Tyson, as well as the man himself. It's also a great book for someone like myself- a fan who loved Tyson the boxer but always found Tyson the man to be a jerk, albeit a sometimes misunderstood one.
   
   This book traces Tyson's history from his reckless juvenile days in the streets and the Tryon home for outcast boys, all the way up to Don King, Robin Givens, and his rape conviction. There's a subsequent update chapter that describes the goings-on after his release, but this is just a few pages long and stops before his first post-jail fight with Peter McNeely. It's interesting, but it's very short. Fortunately the book itself is a meaty several hundred pages.
   
   Its outdatedness is the only real problem with the book. Originally written in the mid 90s, it describes everything up to his rape conviction in great detail. It reads like a page-turning novel, a tale full of treachery and corruption - the honing of a wayward youth into a disciplined fighter and his subsequent recidivism. The book is completely objective, as well. It shows us the sweet side of Tyson, and makes no bones about the fact that he had one. But it's also crystal clear that he was a beast, giving us many examples of Tyson's primitive and criminal behavior. Beloved trainer Cus D'Amoto isn't safe either, for there's evidence in this book (which I'd never seen before) that shows he wasn't just a sweet old man who took Tyson in and raised him as his own.
   
   But in addition to discussing main characters like these, people like Robin Givens and Don King are discussed in great length as well. They emerge as the real villains of the story, as well they should. Everyone knows how badly they affected Tyson's career, and the book traces all the details of how and why. In fact, King has his own lengthy chapter, giving us a full portrait of the man's history and questionable relationships with countless people on his way to Tyson -that's how thorough this book is.
   
   Long story short, it's a shame that this book doesn't continue past Tyson's imprisonment and brief release, because it's a greatly researched, open-minded, passionate and thorough account of Tyson's career as well as boxing itself and loads of the people on Tyson's periphery. Loaded with insight from other boxers, scholars of the sport, and many (like Teddy Atlas) who worked with Tyson himself, it's a very broad offering of information. Pick it up whether you like the man OR hate him, it's a fascinating read.



5. I am a huge Mike Tyson fan, and this is pretty much required reading for any Tyson fan. If you want to know about Mike, read this book. Provides lots of information, and Peter Keller really picked a great title. This book takes you through all of Mike's various stages, and each is fascinating: From Mike's early years in Bronwsville as the kid who was teased on as a young child, to a bully by age ten, a hardcore criminal not long after that, a Cus D'Amato disciple at age 13 who soon moved to Catskills, a pro in the making and a ferocious fighter as an amateur for five years, a pro at age 18, the death of D'Amato, a champion at age 20, a superstar and legend not long after that, the blowout of Michael Spinks, and then of course there is Don King, Robin Givens and her mother, the divorce to Robin Givens, the shocking KO loss to Buster Douglas, the rape conviction, and then the beginning of his post-prison comeback.
   
   Unfortunately, that is where this book ends, so there is no mention of all the other fascinating stuff in Mike's life after that.
   
   One thing that some readers might not like is how Keller goes into deep detail on virtually everyone in the Mike Tyson story, and explains their background, history, etc. Ordinarily, that would put me off, but since I am such a huge Tyson fan, I was interested in knowing about Don King, Robin Gviens, Cus Damato , etc.

5 comments about Bass Master Shaw Grigsby: Notes on Fishing and Life.

1. Shaw Grigsby is obviously a Bass Master and tells his own story in a humble and consistently interesting way.
   
   The one thing that is a bit off-putting about the book are the "testimonials" included between chapters. We're already convinced that Grigsby is a good guy--the gushing endorsements from third parties seem excessive and not in very good taste.



2. This isn't your typical bass tips book. It's that and so much more. Yes you will gain valuable knowledge as to how to catch more and bigger bass. Shaw truly is a master and his tips are golden. But he also offers insight into what it takes to be a professional angler, into life, into fishing in general, and the history of bass fishing. It's a biography and more and it stands heads above the numerous books in this genre.



3. great book, I met shaw grigsby, and I must say if you read the book, youll feel like you now him an honest book,



4. The title of my review is evident throughout this fine book. Anyone serious about bass fishing should read it. I've read my copy about 4 times already (since 1998 when I bought it) and it never seems old. This is a MUST have.



5. I give this book a 5, and I own a lot of fishing books.

   When I first purchased the book it seemed a bit small, would it be worth it? It was.

   In short chapters it discusses how to improve your fishing, tournament ethics, and family fishing. That's a lot of ground.

   Tired of all those birds nests in your spinning reel? Why not follow Shaw's advice and cast and tug your line gently. No more snarls. Shaw doesn't use the word ethics but that's what he's talking about for tournaments. Read it, and you'll fish differently with your buddies. As for family, Shaw's kind remarks about his wife, kids and dad are special.

   I didn't realize it until now but this is a great kid's book also. It works on different levels. Hope the review helps.

5 comments about Racing the Sunset: An Athlete's Quest for Life After Sport.

1. This is a superb introspective look at the fear an athlete feels when the sound of clapping is silenced. This is a true literary gem that takes a qualitatively research based look at a problem too often ignored. I highly recommend this book to anyone who ever suddenly changed stages in life without benefit of a rule book to follow. You will find it engrossing and mind altering.



2. Scott Tinley has experienced firsthand the challenging life transition from adulated winning sports star to over-the-hill retiring athlete. Being introspective, he studied athlete retirement in depth. He threw himself into this project with as much intensity as he engaged in physical training for triathlons. On the way, he acquired two masters' degrees, one in writing and the other in sport psychology. And, he is currently studying on a Doctorate. Tinley completed this book in 2003 at the same time he finished an 18 month long seminal research paper on athlete retirement at San Diego State University. His research became the knowledge foundation for this book.
   
   The book is excellent. Tinley has a breezy writing style that renders the book very easy to read. While his research paper is very interesting. The book is a lot more fun. This is because the book reflects his firsthand experience of his sports career from childhood till his transition into academia. Instead, his research paper is focused on 16 other athletes and covers exclusively their post retirement experience.
   
   The professional athlete post-retirement transition is psychologically brutal. Athletes typically face this transition with no college degree, no professional skills, and little financial wherewithal. Tinley uncovered much research disclosing startling facts about athletes' retirement. Fewer than half of pro athletes get to choose when they retire.
   The divorce rate for retired athletes in the major professional leagues is over 60%.
   Retirement is especially harsh on NFL players. This painful transition is compounded by NFL careers being the shortest at less than five years in average. The suicide rate among retired NFL players is six times the average. Offensive and Defensive linemen have a 52% greater risk of dying of heart disease than the general population. Also, two thirds of football players retire with a permanent injury.
   
   Tinley was not spared the psychological ordeal of the retired sports star. When he retired, his income decreased by 90% (take out a zero as he puts it. That entails he made $100K a year as a triathlete). He experienced marital problems. He suffered a long bout of depression and tried several anti-depressant prescription drugs (Prozac, Zoloft) without much success. He sought therapy. And, he gradually pulled himself together thanks to his success in academia as a student, college teacher, psychologist researcher, and writer.
   
   His own research indicates an inverse relationship between money earned as a pro athlete and successful post retirement transition. Two opposite examples of this are Bjorn Borg, who never quite recovered his footing after retiring from a very lucrative tennis career. His life has been plagued by a succession of failed marriages, palimony suits, depression bouts, and bad business decisions that have nearly jeopardize his financial independence. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Tinley mentions Eric Heiden the five time Olympic gold medalist in 1980 who goes back to Stanford goes on to med school and becomes a successful orthopedic surgeon. "To me what is mythic about Eric is the seamlessness of his transitions between professions, between lives." Eric says "What I do now is so much more meaningful." Tinley states that big money is really a curse. It renders the individual so much more invested in their sport image that the upcoming retirement triggers a devastating identity crisis from which many never fully recover. And, he feels the key to surviving the retirement transition is how you perceived yourself beforehand. The more your self-identity had an obsessive single dimension as a sport star, the less prepared you are for retirement and the more you will suffer psychologically.
   
   If you enjoy this book, I also recommend John McEnroe's You Cannot Be Serious and Boris Becker's The Player. McEnroe is a good example of a sport star that has become very successful in post-retirement. Becker is an example of one who is still fighting his demons. Both books make for very interesting and entertaining reading.



3. Sorry Scott; I wanted to like this book. I have read pretty much everything you have written and will probably continue to do so, despite this book. Why? Because of all you have done that I can only dream of. And read of thanks to you. But with "Racing the Sunset" you have tried to go into creative non-fiction and take us beyond your experiences. Good on ya! But gee Scott, it really needs another re-write. It reads like a not-quite-finished draft. I don't know if this is a problem of editing, as another reviewer has suggested, or of writing. Read Bill McKibben's "Long Distance" if you haven't already and please keep writing.



4. I've been a Tinley fan (as a writer) for years and looked forward to reading this. It provided an excellent insight into Scott Tinley, and the way that he's approached his triathlon, and life. The way that he contrasts his ups and downs is excellent. The talks with other athletes and the empathy shown with other retired athletes speaks volumes to the character of the man.

   Unfortunately, there were a few times when a particularly well made point was undone by possibly poor editing. An example for me was when he was complaining about air travel - with which I can heartily concur, but then ruins the point by following it up by stating that he was travelling first class. (You should try it economy!) It ends up coming across as whinging.

   Nevertheless, I found this book an excellent read, and provided a unique insight into something we often don't see - athletes who never really learnt to "grow up" because they never had to.

   One thing worthy of note is to try and read it from Scott's point of view, and to not impose our own individual values on his comments. If you can achieve this, you can get past viewing it as a whinge, and see it for the gem that it really is.




5. before you can race the sunset, you first need to get a jump on dawn, and mr. san diego has been racing the rosy-fingered hues of early mornings for two decades as he defined, shaped, sculpted this athletic calling now known as triathlon. as the founder of tri-athlete magazine, i used to resent the fact that this bona-fide beach boy with cornflower silk hair and chiseled bod knew how to write--and write well. "jocks" shouldn't be known as true authors. tinley, the man he describes in this heartfelt confessional memoir, is still testing himself against seen and unseen obstacles. the memoir is both a trip down memory lane in the aero tucked position and a homage to the retired jock syndrome (rjs). every athlete must face that time in his or her life when age takes its toll. but that is not a call for surrender. tinley doesn't go DNF on us. nor does he want to. his writing the book was an act of courage--a private correspondence with a very public self.

5 comments about One Magical Sunday: (But Winning Isn't Everything).

1. Excellent book. I am not a golfer, but admire Phil Mickelson because it has always seemed to me that he has his priorities straight. His wife and his children are uppermost in his list of what life means to him. Must confess that I merely skimmed the details of the hole to hole play in the Masters tournament being described since I had purchased the book to read about his personal life. However, my husband, who IS a golfer, very much enjoyed the "play by play" in addition to more information on the personal side of Phil. This is an athlete children can look up to and admire without parents fearing an ugly, hidden side. That simply doesn't exist in this athlete. I have always enjoyed watching him play; now I will enjoy those tournaments even more.



2. i find this book very good , iam a golf player and i think that every golf player will enjoyed to read this book , phil mickelson biography is very interesting for a golfer , phil teach : thinks can do when you work hard .



3. This was a very personal book that brought you very close to the life of Phil Mickelson. When he describes his final round at the 04' Masters you feel like you were there with him every step of the way.



4. It was so good I got a audio copy for my husband.



5. If you are a golf fan, this is a must read. My wife read it too and she doesn't even like golf but she loved it too. Great insights into Phil's personal life, family, and values. Definitely worth the read.

5 comments about The Proving Ground.

1. I read An Extreme Event (about the 98 Sydney-Hobart race) prior to reading Knecht's book, so that was my benchmark. And a high one at that.

   Proving Ground contained a lot more descriptive information in terms of the characters, but ... I found his concentration on particular personalities in the book very disconcerting.

   It was baffling that he could practically write what Glyn Charles was thinking ... when Glyn was unable to speak for himself. These assumptions and supposition are quite offensive.

   I also found Knecht's intricate descriptions of the powerplays involved with some of the pivotal characters alarming. Bob Koethe, Steve Kulmar, Richard Purcell and Glyn Charles, specifically.

   While I do not doubt his authenticity in describing the interplay, I found the inclusion in such detail perplexing. My aim was to read the facts, not to become embroiled in the dramatic tension on board certain yachts in such dire conditions.

   At times, I almost felt a compulsion to "take sides" with some people, opposing others, which I roundly resisted. It is, after all, Knecht's presentation and everyone interprets events, thoughts and words slightly differently.

   All in all, not bad, but not great.




2. I've read this book 3 times, and everytime it's great. It's the best book i've ever read, so far.



3. I read this book immediately after finishing another account of the 1998 Sydney-Hobart race by Rob Mundle (an Australian), titled: Fatal Storm. I thought both versions were worth reading because they focused their attention differently (Knecht spent much more ink on Larry Ellison; Mundle focused on the yachts and people most relevant to this particular race). Knecht was much more blunt in revealing difficult personalities, interpersonal tension and controversy -- particularly with regard to the Sword of Orion. Mundle was more polite -- or perhaps more prudent. It's risky to portray someone negatively who endured such an ordeal (especially when the writer wasn't there), regardless of whether they died or survived. While I found Knecht's take on the people interesting, I suspect it was part of his overly dramatic writing style. He writes like a mass-market action-fiction writer, trying to create drama and intrigue where either: 1) there is none; or 2) the facts speak for themselves. Funny -- this is not unlike American news media today (which is why I watch the BBC). He writes about a "character's" thoughts and actions is such an excruciating level of detail that it's not believable. Too much poetic license ruins credibility. This is a great subject, but read Fatal Storm first.



4. Anyone who has ever been on a competitive sailing yacht and been in nasty weather will read this book in an afternoon, unable to put it down. The book is written with tremendous insight and puts you in the danger and makes it feel real. Great book and a quick fun read for any sailor.



5. The sea was so vast, and the ship was so small.
   Man and everything made by man is finite.
   -Richard Winning, owner of the Winston Churchill, reciting a seafarers' prayer at a Memorial Service

   At the outset, let me just say that the Brothers Judd full disclosure policy requires me to acknowledge that Mr. Knecht is a fraternity brother of mine and if the book stunk, I'd not say so. In fact, the first few pages had me a little worried because there's some rather pedestrian prose and one of the yachts in the race was owned and skippered by Larry Ellison, of Oracle, who seems early on like he's going to be the center of attention in the book. This would be unfortunate because he's a difficult man to root for, at least as presented here, often in his own words. Actually, most of the yachtsmen seem fairly unlikable. It sometimes seems like every one of them thinks he's the only competent guy on board. But any initial concerns disappear once the storm hits and as the action at sea picks up so too does Mr. Knecht's writing.

   The Sydney to Hobart race is apparently quite a big deal in Australia; from the sound of it, nearly the whole nation stops to watch the start on Boxing Day (December 26th). In 1998, 115 unsuspecting boats set out but only 43 made it to Hobart (Tasmania). Seven boats were abandoned and another five actually sank. 55 men were rescued. Six men died. The race had run into hurricane conditions, a cyclone sporting 80 mile per hour winds, and the sleek, ultra-engineered boats seem to have been particularly unsuited to such weather. In short order men were in the water and it is mostly them that Mr. Knecht follows and it is there that the book becomes genuinely thrilling, and terrifying.

   The crew of the Winston Churchill, which was capsized by a 60 foot wall of water that broke over it, ended up in two life rafts. The other crew whose ordeal Mr. Knecht chronicles had been aboard the Sword of Orion. The hours, even days, these men spent in the water make for painful reading. One of the indelible images from the book is that of survivors recalling the sight of the bobbing heads of crewmates just a hundred yards away and knowing there's no way to get to them. The stories of these men and, as in The Perfect Storm, of the rescuers, make for a substantial portion of the book and it's outstanding.

   A shorter concluding portion, featuring various courtroom hearings, unfortunately serves to remind us that, with some exceptions, these sailors just aren't a terribly sympathetic lot. Mr. Knecht presumably chose to write about Larry Ellison because he's a well known figure and a major businessman (Mr. Knecht writes for the Wall Street Journal), but he becomes kind of emblematic of the hubris that plagues them all :

   I could have bought the New York Yankees, but I couldn't be the team's shortstop. With the boat, I actually get to play on the team.

   Note he's characterizing himself not just as any old player but as the shortstop. Likewise, Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert, who sailed on Ellison's boat, Sayanora, has this to say :

   There are people who in their makeup need to take risks. [...] Every once in a while I just have to do things that require me to make
   judgments about how far I can go.

   It takes a nearly superhuman effort on the part of the reader not to wish that it had been their boat that foundered. In this regard the book has a significant structural weakness in common with The Perfect Storm in that we spend too much time with people we don't care about and not enough time with some of the most compelling people in the book, the rescue workers who risk their own lives to save such men.

   On balance then, Mr. Knecht has written a book that's well worth reading and is truly gripping throughout the bulk of the action. That less might have been better does not diminish the quality of what's best here and at its best the book is very good.

   GRADE : B+