5 comments about Ben Hogan: An American Life.

1. I had read that Hogan would tell other golf pros that came to him seeking golf swing advice that they should "dig it out of the dirt" like he did. What sounded like a brush off may have been simply the truth. Hogan dug his swing out of the dirt by putting more work in on it that anyone else. Perhaps that was his real "secret". Hard work.
   
   This book puts a positive spin on a personality that was respected but was not uniformily well liked. Along the way the author gives enough well reseached detail to put human flesh and bones on an iconic figure. A good read. I recommend it.



2. As both an avid golfer, and Ben Hogan admirer, I was more than satisfied with this book. Once i turned the first page I couldn't put it down. The information shared on the life of who I consider to be the greates golfer ever is unparalleled. Although this will instantly become a cherished part of any Ben Hogan fan's book collection, anyone who enjoys American history, sports history, sports in general, and golf in particular, as well as those who like true stories of sucess against all odds, will enjoy this book. It's a well-written portrait capturing all the good and bad of Ben Hogan and his life, and there was plenty of both. Anyone who thinks they know anything about Ben Hogan the man owes it to themselves to read this book. As Arnold Palmer himself said of the book: "I thought I knew Ben Hogan pretty well, until this book came along...". If you were interested enough in this book to read the reviews, you should buy it. You will not regret doing so.



3. I would greatly recommend this book. It is a very comprehensive study into the life of a true legend and is also a very incisive insight into America during the thirties and forties. In the course of reading about such an outstanding career the name Tiger Woods inevitably enters one's thoughts. Just how would Hogan have compared to Woods during the prime of his career. Woods continues his gallop into history but Hogan's name will always be the one who was responsible for taking golf out of the country clubs and into the municipal courses.



4. An outstanding insight to the life and times of Mr. Hogan. So much was presented that never came to the public eye. And even though a discredit was given by one reviewer in his May 9, 2005 review, based on the fact that 10 birdies in an US Open on a par 74 course was not possible, this individual did not do his homework. The US Open was played on a par 74 course in Savannah, Georgia in the early 1930s. A great book, a wonderful revelation, a must read for those interested in golf history.



5. Only reason I'm not giving one star is simply because Dodson had access that no other writer was previously granted. I can only imagine what Curt Sampson would have done with all this extra information. The only reason I made it through this book is because I'm a Hogan geek. Anyone remotely well versed in Hogan's history will notice a factual error in just about every chapter. And for those not well versed in Hogan's history, there are many basic golf facts that don't make sense. I write this without the book in front of me, but one instance still stands out: Dodson refers to a 10 birdie round of 64 - with no bogeys. I know times have changed, but I don't recall many par 74 courses back in the day. By itself, this can seem like an innocent mistake, maybe even a typo. But when you pair it with the 100 other similar mistakes you lose credibility in the author. You also get the idea that Dodson himself isn't very familiar with the game of golf itself - the type of guy who keeps score on his wrist watch and uses 'golf' as a verb. The last half of the book I was just reading to find a decent quote or two. There's a reason Sampson's book was so popular and this one wasn't.

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

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



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



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



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



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

5 comments about West of Jesus: Surfing, Science, and the Origins of Belief.

1. With dry wit and self-deprecating humor, Steven Kotler examines surfing from a Spiritual perspective, or is it Spirituality from a surfing perspective.
   
   This book answers all the big Spiritual questions in life:
   Why am I here?
   Why do I surf?
   
   Everyone who surfs can relate to observations like, "I was both addicted to surfing and terrified of surfing." But it's a great book even if you don't surf. I just wish my temple had better waves today.



2. I'm a surfer/extreme sport athlete. Also have a BS in psychology as well as anthropology. Kotler's blend of humor, story telling, and empirical data in his search for the big question is seriously phenomenal. BUY THIS BOOK!!



3. I didn't know what this was about, but seeing the word "Jesus" in the title above a flying surfboard grabbed me enough to check it out. Turns out, Kotler has put together a pretty interesting project in his book.
   
   I call this a project because it doesn't feel like a novel, an autobiography, or any other nonfiction piece. Kotler goes on a multi-continent journey searching for the origins of a particular surfing myth he was told after a bad wipeout, and along the way he tells us all about his research into zen, weather science, drugs, and human psychology. All of these aspects combine with his first person narrative of interactions with surfers from all over the world to create an entertaining read with all kinds of food for thought and future discussion.
   
   Sadly, while he wraps up the ending in a tidy little package, there's no real or satisfying resolution to his quest. After all the fascinating facts and theories and stories he unloads on his audience, he doesn't really deliver any answers. And maybe that was the point, but it makes me as a reader feel a little gypped.
   
   Still, it's a fun read with a lot of insight and many parts where I laughed out loud, so I definitely recommend it.



4. The book was decently written but I found myself wondering half way through what the book was actually about. There seems to be an attempt to tie surfing, philosophy and religion together in some way but it never really happens. It seemed the author picked a bunch of theories and tried to force some sort of analogy to his life and surfing but the connections remained unclear. The book does not have any significant conclusion. I forced myself to finish it just to catch the surfing stories which were ok but couldn't stand alone on their own.



5. Sometimes a strange disease changes the course of a life. For Steven Kotler, it was Lyme, described by one notable physician as "a very intelligent bacteria." The journey precipitated by these Borrelia burgdorferi lead the author of West of Jesus on a surf trip of sorts. Twin stories of a Conductor who can control the weather and "conduct" the waves, which he hears eight years and thousands of miles apart, lead inexorably to a space where physics and metaphysics converge. Here is an strangely exciting tale of coincidence and serendipity sub-populated with shamans, Tibetan White Buddhists, and kahunas at the intersection of Stoke and Karma - where the Surf Quest, for Kotler, is experienced as a disturbingly real search for the Holy Grail.
   
   Subtitled "Surfing, Science and the Origins of Belief," this is an alluring and stimulating tour-de-force that has more to do with mind surfing through the wonders and paradoxes on our times than with riding ocean waves. The book is replete with attractive speculations; like, that humans' competitive advantage in the animal kingdom is to be found most singularly in our long-distance running ability (we're born marathoners; we'll catch anything eventually). This book is a worthy companion for the journey.
   
   Kotler's story of the pursuit of the Conductor didn't click for me (it felt either like a literary device or a bad justification for a rather aimless surf trip). But the trip's the point anyway, and if you can bring along Einstein and Tom Stone and Rabbi Shifren and sundry commentators on altered states of consciousness, well - hey! West of Jesus resonates right along with its shelfmate, Dancing Naked in the Mind Field, by Novel laureate (and surfer) Karry Mullis. It's an enjoyable and enlightening ride, even if you don't get barreled.
   
   - Drew Kampion for The Surfer's Path [www.surferspath.com]

5 comments about Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero.

1. Leigh Montville paints a brilliant portrait in words of the man who wanted to be remembered as the greatest hitter who ever lived. Ted Williams deserves to be on the short list of baseball's greatest hitters, and he easily deserved his hall of fame induction, where he was the first prominent white man to publicly call for recognition for negro leaguers Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson.
   
   Ted WAS a great hitter, and he had many other desirable qualities as well, giving generously of his time and money to charity and serving his country TWICE during the peak of his baseball powers, losing five major league seasons to WWII and Korea. We can only speculate how many more hits and homers Ted might have had if not for those lost years.
   
   But Montville shows us the warts as well. We see an arrogant young Ted who cared ONLY about hitting and only took the field because that got him his turn at bat. He considered pitchers contemptuously and Montville gives several examples where the great hitter gave priority to HIS individual achievement over less important matters, such as his team winning.
   
   Gifted with an extraordinary mind, Ted was nonetheless minimally educated and when he had opportunities to "get away with things" because of how well he could hit, Ted took every opportunity.
   
   I agree with another reviewer who wrote that Ted's career is not chronicled as well as his later years. The last hundred pages are about the pathetic final years of the great hitter's life when son John Henry used his father's name and money to finance one failed business venture after another. After Ted's death Montville describes John Henry's nearly desperate efforts to have Ted frozen at a cryonic center in Arizona, for the speculative reason that there might still be another buck in it for John-Henry. In a cruel twist of fate, John-Henry was stricken prematurely with leukemia and joined his father in frozen perpetuity.
   
   To present a biography of such a man is a daunting task, and Montville succeeds admirably. No doubt some of the unwieldy nature of this volume comes as a result of the volumes of research done by the author and an unwillingness to pare the passages that could use a prune.
   
   Universally acknowledged today as one of baseball's greatest - the last man to hit over .400 and one of the small number of players with over 500 home runs - before steroids and with five years lost to the Marines, Ted nonetheless had the personality that made baseball writers, for example, choose Joe Gordon as MVP in 1942, even though Ted won the triple crown, leading the league in batting average, home runs and runs batted in. How ticked off would the writers have to be to give such an award to someone else when you've led the league in EVERY major hitting category? Ted Williams did that to some people.
   
   A baseball hero - but a cautionary tale also of a man who was often not a role model.



2. Leigh Montville's biography of Ted Williams is exhaustive in its analysis of one of baseball's greatest hitters. At times childish and self-absorbed, but always focused upon his art, Ted Williams emerges as a troubled genius in this wonderful book. Some of the anecdotes about Williams' intensity evoke a character who loves a few things in life to obsessive delight while ignoring almost everyone and everything else. An absolute master in the science of hitting a baseball, Williams loves his talent and nourishes it in a way that illuminates how beautiful, powerful, and fragile is the human desire to achieve greatness. A must for baseball fans.
   
   Donald Gallinger is the author ofThe Master Planets



3. From the beginning, Ted Williams was a larger than life personality - a great player on the field, the last baseball player to hit over .400 - and a player off the field as well, married three times, but never to the true love of his life. His antics on and off the field were legendary, as were his breaks from baseball to serve in both World War II and Korea. And, of course, his relationship with his children, especially son John Henry, led to headlines long after his career and life were over.
   
   "Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero" by Leigh Montville is a wonderfully written look at the colorful Williams. Montville covers all aspects of Williams's life, from his childhood and troubled relationship with his parents (especially his mother), his career in Boston, his tumultuous relationship with Boston sports writers, his life after baseball, his troubled relationship with his children, and of course his controversial freezing after his death. Williams was a complex man and Montville does his best to show what made Williams tick. It's not an easy task, Williams was prickly and had two sides to his personality - the public Ted and the private Ted. By the end of the book you will both love and hate Williams - you'll love the public Ted that associated so well with fans (at least off the field and especially the young ones - Williams was instrumental in helping the Jimmy Fund, which supports young cancer patients, get off the ground) and hate the private Ted, who made life difficult for those around him.
   
   For the most part, Montville is objective in his writing, treating both the private Ted and public Ted even-handedly and making no excuses for his behavior. But his objectivity slips near the end of the book when he discusses Williams's son John Henry. It's clear that Montville doesn't like John Henry. As much as your feelings for Ted may waver throughout the book, by the end you can't help but feel sorry for him and the way his family treated him the last few years of his life.
   
   "Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero" is an interesting look at a complex man.



4. I have read a couple of books on Ted Williams, but this was the best. It's exhaustively researched -- Montville spoke to anyone and everyone who may have come across Williams, almost to a fault -- and a lot of fun to read. I guess I would label it sympathetic, but it's really quite fair. I think that after reading this book, you will understand why so many people loved Williams off the field, but why he rubbed fans and writers the wrong way. Montville made me feel like I was along for the ride throughout Williams's amazing career, and that's not always easy to do. A great read to be enjoyed by all.



5. I have been reading quite a few baseball biographies over the past 4-5 years and this one was absolutely and by far the most thoughtful, the most thorough, and simply the best. And frankly, I was not even a Ted Williams fan before I picked it up. I knew very little about him and didn't remember him, having been born in 1961. But the portrait Montville draws is remarkably detailed and nuanced. This book goes beyond the person and gives glimpses of the times.

5 comments about Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig.

1. I read this book while in middle school and it inspired me. Yes even a Red Sox fan enjoyed this book. This is not a book about a Yankee or baseball but a story about an amazing person.



2. Author Jonathan Eig has written a fantastic character study of New York Yankees great Lou Gehrig, a shy, Momma's boy who always followed the rules and didn't want to let anyone down. A proud man, Gehrig always handled himself with class. He had few equals on or off the field.
   
   Eig paints a sensitive portrait of Gehrig while discussing his relationships with his mother, his wife, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and his other teammates as well as Yankees management.
   
   Never considered colorful enough to merit the press' attention, Gehrig played in the shadows of Ruth and DiMaggio.
   
   Thanks to locating letters between Gehrig and his physicians at the Mayo Clinic, Eig is able to shed light on the relationship the Yankee great had with his physicians, what the doctors told him about his disease (ALS) and how he handled it.
   
   After reading Eig's biography, you'll have a deeper understanding of Gehrig, the man, and a better appreciation of Gehrig, the baseball player.



3. Lou Gehrig has always been an interesting subject for me. I'm a so-so baseball fan, but I am a fan of individual's who appear to have the same values and morals that I hold.
   
   Jonathan Eig does a very nice job in this book of focusing on Gehrig's baseball qualities and his qualities as a man. I really enjoyed the book that gave a tremendous insight into how Gehrig acted behind closed doors.
   
   A few things that really interested me:
   
   I didn't know he was nearly that good of a baseball player. If ALS wouldn't have ended his career he might have gone down as the greatest first baseman ever. Eig did a very nice job in citing statistics and comparing those to other players in Gehrig's era and in the modern era.
   
   I also didn't know that a number of times Gehrig would play an inning or two and get credit for a game. I appreciate the fact that the writer didn't get caught up in the legend of Gehrig and pointed out the streak and how it lived basically because of the manipulation of Gehrig and Yankee manager Joe McCarthy. That definitely diminshes the accomplishment of consecutive games played in my mind... not by much because Gehrig did play with a lot of injuries and issues.... but it does diminish it. It also puts that much more of a wow factor into the consecutive games streak of Cal Ripken because I believe he had to play 5 innings to get credit for a game.
   
   That said, Eig did a really nice job in pointing out that Gehrig really was much more than just "An Iron Horse" at first base. The stats, the clutch hitting, etc. were well documented by Eig.
   
   I also liked the detail that Eig provided on ALS and Gehrig's final years. As I was reading the book, I was thinking we are sure flying through his playing career and there is a whole lot of book left here. That was because Eig wanted to take some time to describe in detail Gehrig's final years and he did a very nice job.
   
   I would suggest this book to anyone wanting to know more about Gehrig, Yankees history, or if you just want to read a great account of a man who should be well-admired for his work ethic and moral values.
   
   A great book and great subject matter.



4. I'm a Yankee hater, but I loved this book. I always found the story of Lou Gehrig to be an inspirational one. Jonathan Eig did a great job of not only telling Gehrig's story, but also making you want to root for Gehrig to survive. At times I found myself forgetting that he dies in the end, only wanting to read more about his amazing feats on the ball field. A great book that everyone should read.



5. Looking through the glass of hindsight, everyone just flat out looks better. Life is funny that way. If you were mean in reality, history may classify you as "gritty." If you were thoughtful, history may remember you as "genius." Or if you were fat, you may be labeled as "stout and strong." The story of Lou Gehrig is not necessarily an example of this. In reality I will never know. The author will probably not know either. Lou is painted as larger than life in "Luckiest Man." He was thoughtful, kind, humble, and amazing. Not only that, but he brought to the public the story of ALS and its affects. It became real and tangible to the whole world. His personal health tragedy no doubt amplifies his kinder qualities, as it would in most people's remembrance. Not to say it is undeserved, but in this book, it seems exaggerated. Gehrig is not really made into a real person. He is made into a monolithic figure. In baseball, he was one, but in his personal life, he would have hated this.
   
   I have always had a soft spot for heroes, especially heroes in baseball. No doubt Lou Gehrig is a hero in this regard. He played in the shadow of one of the largest figures in history, Babe Ruth. Not only did he thrive, but he made a name for himself that, in my opinion, out shined Ruth on the field. No one could outshine him off of it. I have no doubt that if the opposite had occurred, Ruth would never have made it in Gehrig's shadow. His accomplishments, unlike his character and personality, are in black and white. His statistics say it all. Amazing in his steadfast play, he also shone when it counted most, the World Series. Back in those days baseball meant something to everyone, and he had the privilege of playing and delivering in those times.
   
   Gehrig was a great role model, and a great player. His character and approach to the game are things I would teach my children, and plan to. These type of stories may not be completely true, but sometimes it is the legend and myth that build from simple beginnings that can shape our lives and build on our own morality.

5 comments about Strides: Running Through History With an Unlikely Athlete.

1. The joys of running are probably incomprehensible to those who don't indulge, but Benjamin Cheever does a manly job of explaining them. He also tells some great tales of runners throughout history, from the first marathoner, Pheidippides, who brought news to Athens about the Greek victory on the plains of Marathon, to U.S. soldiers who brave all sorts of horrible things to run in Iraq today.
   Cheever also draws on his own experiences running in dozens of marathons around the world and covering the scene as a writer for Runner's World magazine as well as the pleasures of a simple morning run around the neighborhood where he lives.
   I had a tough time getting through the book for a perverse reason: I happened to have picked it up the day my doctor told me my own running days were over. Back and foot problems coupled with nerve damage meant that I was sidelined for months if not forever.
   I may not be able to enjoy the sport in the first person any longer, but I can at least experience it with frequent re-readings of this chipper, well-expressed memoir.



2. I'm sorry Mr. Cheever doesn't have a personal website to where we could direct fan mail, so maybe this will do. This likable literary sextagenerian has composed/compiled a marvelous collection of personal essays on recreational running that will honor and touch all of us who lace up our shoes most mornings. Touching, inspiring, thought provoking and (most importantly) identifiable tales of the recreational runner and all he/she endures in the mutually identifiable compulsion for personal achievement.
   
   Such a nice book for the runner's collection. Thanks, Ben!



3. This is one of the best running books I have ever read! Mr. Cheever is an average, dedicated runner but he is a superb writer. He mixes his personal history with running with the history of the sport. He shares his personal journeys both physical (Kenya, France, Greece, Boston, etc) and emotional. I think one of the reasons I enjoyed this book so much was that we are about the same age and have traveled similar paths in our running lives (but he's a lot better runner). This book is thoroughly researched and he draws on a wide variety of material. A plus is the book's Appendix which includes a list of his favorite 26.2 running books of all time. This a book for the runner and non-runner alike. It moves to the top of my best running books list. A GREAT READ!!!



4. this was an excellent, amusing, and educatioonal read for me who have been running for over 30 years



5. I could not put this book down and was sorry to get to the last page. A brilliant read.

5 comments about Batista Unleashed.

1. When I first heard that former World Champion and WWE wrestler, Dave Batista was penning his own autobiography, "way too soon" ran through my mind. The book, "Batista Unleashed" only covers the first five years of his WWE career, right through his feud with Undertaker shortly after Wrestlemania 23. It didn't seem like a whole a lot of history to cover, and I thought the book would be a failure like previous wrestlers who released their autobiographies early in their career like Bill Goldberg and The Rock.
   
   I couldn't have been more wrong. Of all the wrestler biographies I have read thus far, no one has had such an eventful childhood as Batista. His accounts of growing up in the rough part of Washington D.C. leaves plenty of interesting first hand experiences. Batista's childhood troubles, growing up in a divorced family, dropping out of high school, having his own kid at an early age, his doomed marriage, and a ton of other shenanigans combined to have me hooked throughout the entire first half of the book.
   
   When it comes to Batista's wrestling career, Dave doesn't pull any punches and tells it like it is. He admits how he struggled in his early years learning how to wrestle while coping with his asthma, and his frustrations with management not teaching him anything else other than to be a big, powerful brute. Dave doesn't hide much either, as he tells the ugly truth about his enemies, and gives praise to people he still wish were in the company. It was quite fascinating reading about how he grew to learn the business and how he was taught so much while part of the faction, Evolution with Triple H, Ric Flair and Randy Orton.
   
   That all led to Batista transitioning from a supporting role to becoming a main event star by winning his first World Championship at Wrestlemania 21. Dave explains how tough it was behind the scenes to become accepted as a top draw, and how it became tougher when he got drafted to the Smackdown brand and had to deal with leading a new locker room.
   
   This all culminates for one entertaining read. I am surprised this didn't turn out to be the quick cash-in book like I so dreadfully thought it would be. I wasn't that big of a Batista fan like before this book, but I had a whole new respect for him coming out of it. If wrestling biographies are your thing, than I highly recommend not to skip over Batista Unleashed.
   
   Batista Unleashed



2. This book is not meant for younger kids its for a much older crowd. This book brings out his true identity and lays out his life for everyone to see. If you didnt like batista before you will now after you read this book. A great read for batista fans!!



3. This book is an excellant reas.Dave goes well indepth of his life experiences in and out the ring.5 stars plus



4. Dave Batista, one of WWE's current big stars, while his autobiography was in the planning stages, stated that he was a pretty boring guy and was only going along with this because the WWE wanted to push a book about him. He was right - through no fault of his own, his book is not exactly must read material.
   
   Batista Unleashed, likely as told to Jeremy Roberts by Dave Batista, is the life story of the sudden sensation of a big man who started in the industry late in life, debuting at the age of 33. As the man is only 38 when the book was released to store shelves last October, most of the book is mostly based on his personal life.
   
   And that's kind of the problem. As a fan of a lot of wrestling autobiographies, I read mostly for the road stories and other industry workings in the strange and unique business of professional wrestling. Batista and Roberts do try to make the best of it, trying to put in as many interesting diversions as they can, since the book is an obvious cash in on Batista's current popularity.
   
   The story follows Batista from his childhood on the rough streets of Washington D.C., into a run with a bad crowd and a brief life of crime. He spent much of his young adult life serving as a bouncer, a natural given his height and build. He goes into his time as a bodybuilder, which he credits to saving his life. He spends much time speaking of his relationships with various women, and the resulting unplanned children from those unions.
   
   As expected, he doesn't actually start to speak of the wrestling industry until he's a good ways into the book. For what's there, he makes it entertaining and is seemingly not afraid to throw mud, which can be a positive or negative depending on one's opinion on the maturity of that. There are some fine gems of passages in the book, such as Batista's altercation in the WCW Power Plant with a small pasty white career jobber/trainer by the name of Sergeant Buddy Lee Parker saying that the future Wrestlemania Main Eventer would never make it in the industry.
   
   Another plus I'll hand the book is that Batista actually reflects on his past and is actually regretful of some of his past screw ups, such as the aforementioned delving into a life of crime, and even in the wrestling industry such as his known backstage brawl with fellow star Booker T. This is a nice change of pace to other books in the genre, where the author was always in the right and everyone else has no idea what they're talking about.
   
   On the flip side, as a duality, he still comes up as bullheaded a lot of the time, almost to the point of comicality. As an example, are his claims to be sleeping around with many of the WWE's Divas - women wrestlers. The need to promote this fact(if it is a fact) is a strange one to stick in one's book, especially given it's talking about a relatively current time of not even a year ago. One would think you'd keep your current sexual exploits to yourself until a later date, not publish them all for the world to see.
   
   It's by no means the worst wrestling autobiography you could buy. But you could do better. If you're a big Batista fan, it's probably worth a read. A general wrestling fan? I'd place it low on your list behind A Lion's Tale, Have a Nice Day, To Be The Man..., Etc. For a non-wrestling fan? I wouldn't even bother, as I do not see much universal appeal here in this obvious WWE Cash-in.



5. I refused to by this book but I did read it and I can tell you that Batista is a REAL jerk.
   
   I am NEVER was a Batista fan because I felt he lakced wrestling skills and Mic-skills. He has his moments but his personality is Blah. When he came out with this book, I was hoping that after reading it, he would eventually turn me into liking him as a person.
   
   The fact that he treated his ex-wife like $#it goes to show what an embarassment he is to pro wrestling. Guys like him give bad names to guys that passed and actaully changed their lives for the better. I do wish Batista would change in the future but I refuse to support someone who practically bragged about what woman he had sex with and how he cheated on his cancer-enduced ex-wife.
   
   I know a wrestler's lifestyle is hard but why would you get married in the first place. He thinks it's love but judging from this book, he did it out of comfort.
   
   After reading this book, I think i found the REAL wiesel of pro wrestling and that's Batista.
   
   In fairness to him, he could have made up these stories and if he did, then I take everything back but this is label a non-fiction.

5 comments about The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg.

1. I felt like I was reading the sports pages for the first 140 pages. Too many stats, facts and figures. The storyline didn't flow, the plot was sluggish and languished for the most part. The story of Moe Berg's life should have packed some punch! I expected more pizazz. His life warranted it, but the book didn't deliver.



2. This interesting biography covers a most unusual person. Moe Berg (1902-1972) was a talented linguist, ballplayer, and U.S. espionage agent for the OSS (forerunner of the CIA) before and during World War II and briefly for the CIA after the war. Author Nicholas Dawidoff describes Berg's mysterious life, including New Jersey boyhood, studies at Princeton and Columbia, and years as a second-string catcher for the Dodgers, White Sox, Indians, Senators and Red Sox. Even as a player Berg was better know for his linguistic skills and stealth than for his baseball exploits. Then readers learn of Berg's years as a spy, which probably began when Berg toured Japan with other big leaguers in 1934. The author describes Berg's secret wartime activities, including his 1944-45 mission to ascertain the status of Nazi nuclear research. We also read of his later years, when except for brief CIA assignments, Berg chose to freeload off relatives and friends rather than employ his superb linguistic and legal talents (he had a law degree). A Overall, Berg was an enigmatic man, and this biography, written two decades after his passing, fails to uncover much about him - perhaps Berg would have wanted it that way. Still, this is an interesting and nicely researched biography.



3. Moe Berg was completely unpleasant. I found myself wondering why I should care about his life. He was a mediocre ballplayer, a mediocre scholar and a mediocre spy. His talent was that he was pleasant to be around. Why write a book about him?
   
   Why read about him? I wondered that. My reaction was, "So what?"



4. Moe Berg is truly one of the most interesting, and enigmatic, characters in sports history. What always fascinated me was how, after WWII and no longer in baseball, Berg never worked. He would stay at friends and relatives' homes throughout the country, reading multiple newspapers, and maintaining strict control of those papers. My guess, and this would make for an interesting investigative study, is that he stayed on the OSS/CIA payroll and was working for them, in some capacity: Dissecting the news, dealing with Communist espionage - or who knows, maybe he was working with foreign elemnets. Berg was something. He has to be considered a major hero. Surely the fact that he was an ex-ballplayer makes him stand out from the other heroes under "Wild Bill" Donovan, as does the fact that a Jew was sent to Nazi-controlled Finland to get German scientists. This is a terrific story. (...)



5. I'd been anticipating reading this book for some time, but getting through it was a chore. Dawidoff's writing and research are thorough. Berg left behind a wealth of personal material and many who knew him were still alive and available by phone or personal interview to Dawidoff. Hundreds of anecdotes and details about Berg's life emerge from these resources, and Dawidoff marches them all past the reader. The question is "Why?" Berg never becomes very interesting. It is well-known that he was a mediocre major league catcher. He was not much better as a spy, excelling mostly at running up large expense accounts. His tradecraft was abysmal; making and keeping notes to himself about briefings he received is such a fundamental error as to be ludicrous. After more than 300 pages it remained hard for me to take Berg seriously in any of his endeavors. In the end this is the biography of a moderately interesting obsessive dilettante, whose avoidance of normal human contact except on his own often strange terms seems almost pathological. Dawidoff tries valiantly but a New Yorker profile of about one-tenth this length would have been a sufficient account of Moe Berg's mildly curious life.

5 comments about Season on the Brink.

1. As best I can tell, this is the finest book yet written about Indiana University basketball and Bob Knight, and it's 21 years old. Feinstein is a top notch biographer and he doesn't sugar coat anything in this book. It's filled with interesting anecdotes and quite a few raw quotes. The mid-1980s was a magical time for IU basketball, including in their rivalry with Purdue and Gene Keady. And Feinstein tagging along for a whole season gives the reader a good feel for some of the magic of basketball in the state of Indiana, as portrayed in the movie Hoosiers. I think Feinstein is quite objective in his portrayal of the good, the bad, and the ugly in Knight. Regardless of your opinion of Knight, I think it's clear that he cares about his players, the sport of college basketball, and about running a clean program. Feinstein ends by stating that the then 46-year-old Knight is "A young man with a bright future. If he doesn't destroy it." Knight may have come close to doing so around 2000, but he's recovered nicely and seems to be doing well at Texas Tech. Author of Adjust Your Brain: A Practical Theory for Maximizing Mental Health.



2. Knight is nothing but a bully and a lunatic. He's proof that you can do whatever the hell you want as long as you win and make $$$$$$$$$$$$$.
   Typical America these days.
   When he got fired from Indiana I had a parade down my street.



3. This dated but gripping look at coach Bobby Knight and Indiana University basketball places readers squarely at courtside and inside the Hoosier's locker room. Author John Feinstein observed the team during the 1985-1986 season, and he recreates the excitement as Indiana surges through the highly-competitive Big Ten conference to reach the NCAA tournament in March. The players stress under their demanding coach, yet seem to accept him. And coach Knight is a handful; volatile, foul-tempered, immature, and willing to play head games ("BK Theatre") with his players. Of course, he's also highly intelligent and one of the few NCAA basketball coaches to punish class cutting and run a clean program with high graduation rates. That plus winning probably explains why Knight kept his job until 2000, despite cry-baby antics, throwing chairs, screaming at referees, and even kicking his own son.
   
   This is an excellent narrative, but I wish the author had gone even further. We could use a more detailed look at the team's defensive schemes, the players themselves, and the exploitive hypocrisy of letting coaches get rich while NCAA players play for scholarships in a multi-billion dollar industry. Despite these omissions, this is a superbly readable narrative, and one of (or the) top-selling sports book of all time.



4. Growing up, all I knew about legendary college basketball coach Bobby Knight was that he would rant and rave, throw chairs, get arrested, scream in his players' faces and snap at the media. During college, upon taking a class called "Moral Reasoning In Sport," I conducted research on Bobby Knight and got to know Bobby Knight as a person better. The ironic thing was that he stood for good morals but what he practiced as a coach boardered on the immoral at times. I saw how wonderful a man he could be and how badly he could cut a person down. I was fascinated by his style.
   
   My curiosity about Bobby Knight led me to "A Season On The Brink;" a book which describes the full 1985-86 season with Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers. Author John Feinstein, who trooped along with the team complete with notepad and tape recorder, crafts this book in amazing detail with all the trimmings. We are given a real life look at the pressures that college basketball can bring to both coach and players, the trials and tribulations. We are given a taste of how addictive competition is and the emotional effects it can have.
   
   "A Season On The Brink" describes Bobby Knight in a way that begs you to love him and begs you to hate him. Passionate about not failing, Knight pressures himself to succeed and is quick to think himself a failure each time he does not reach certain goals. His characteristic short fuse is always there to represent this. After the disastrous 1984-85 season where he performed the legendary chair throw that got him in trouble, he vowed not to go through a repeat season in 1985-86. He constantly reminded his players of that terrible season as fuel for them to create a better season in '85-'86.
   
   We are literally taken to the "brink" of Knight's sanity at times as Feinstein describes Knight's techniques for getting his team prepared for games. The saga continues before each game for the Indiana players, from studying hours of opponent game tape in "the cave," to "walk-throughs" on the court of what will be conducted in the upcoming game, to appetizing pre-game meals of spaghetti and pancakes in the early morning. Practices are grueling as the players are screamed at by Knight; virtually every four-letter word flying in their faces each time one fails to get a certain rebound, set a certain screen or make a decent pass.
   
   Then of course there are always the Bobby Knight mind games present, a term that Feinstein calls "B.K. Theater." Players like his all-stars, Steve Alford and Daryl Thomas will be targets of his ranting and raving of how horrible they are, how they don't care about playing and how he should never have gotten players like them on his team. You did not want to land in Knight's "doghouse" as Feinstein describes it. In fact, on some of Knight's worst days, the whole team is in the doghouse as he throws all of them out of practices while yelling his questioning of their commitment to the game.
   
   Feinstein does an excellent job of describing the games themselves from the tension in the locker room before the game, during halftime and after the game, to the crowd noise and chants, to the arguments Knight has with officials. As for the players themselves, Feinstein chronicles virutally every key shot, mistake made, rebound and beautiful pass. As you read the book, you'll find your heart pounding as Indiana fights for the lead or fights to keep their lead as the clock quickly winds down to crunch time. You'll find yourself cheering for star players like Steve Alford when he drains another key shot and for Cinderella players like Steve Eyl when he makes two clutch free-throws.
   
   But you'll also feel the despair the players feel if a win has not been grasped or a goal has not been reached, from the chilling silence of the locker room, to Knight screaming and storming out of it only to come back in and talk calmly. Sometimes Knight will resort to taking off to fish or hunt with friends, attending other basketball games or letting the other coaches run the team for a while, while he watches from the stands. And of course there are the situations that the players bring on themselves that creates tension and stress such as Alford's posing for a calander, Daryl Thomas's injuries and Andre Harris's skipping of classes.
   
   You'll find out what Bobby Knight goes through with the media; how his past record continues to follow him and how the media jumps to conclusions and exaggerating. You'll also see Knight's recruiting process (players from high school and junior college) and the ups and downs that come with it. You'll hear Knight's own insecurity through talks with his other coaches over meals at late-night diners, on the plane trips and before games with words like "Do you think we're okay?" "Will we win again?" You will see Knight marking up important words on the chalkboard and trying different defensive and offensive set-ups that he wouldn't have done in the past. In short, you'll hear it, you'll feel it and you'll see it all.
   
   But one thing that Feinstein enables us to see is the loveable Bobby Knight; he Bobby Knight who doesn't forget past players that he has befriended such as Quinn Buckner. The Bobby Knight who sympathized with a deaf kid and gave he and his family tickets to the basketball game. The Bobby Knight whom past players and friends call upon for advice or to have some strings pulled. As Feinstein pointed out in the book, nobody could have a more loyal friend than Bobby Knight. You ask him to do something and he would do just about anything for you. And granted we see plenty of Knight's softer side around his players from Steve Alford's final game as a Hoosier, to the heartfelt goodbye to Delray Brooks who would transfer to another school. And of course you'll really get a taste of Bobby Knight's sense of humor and quick wit. When times are going a little smoother for the team, you'll read of Knight making cracks with his coaches and players.
   
   Feinstein even takes us right down the path to the crucial tournament games with heated rivals Ohio State and Michigan. The read is quite a nail-biting experience. Feinstein follows the chronicled 1985-86 season up with a fairly quick but detailed overview of the 1986-87 team on the way to a championship against Syracuse, where you will again start getting onto the court with the players as the key plays of this amazing championship game are described by Feinstein. Headed by new recruits such as a kid named Smart, the Hoosiers took home a championship and rendered Knight literally hoarse with emotion in the end.
   
   Indeed, if you are a fan of sports and you love the game of basketball; especially the thrill of college basketball, you will love this book. Even for those who may despise Bobby Knight, I would still recommend you give this book a read. It's a wonderful basketball story and a read that gets you right into the heated games and the hardened practices with the team. It could quite possibly be the best trip to the brink a sports fan could want.



5. Road To Satisfaction
   
   A Season On The Brink shows the struggles of a great college basketball coach, Bobby Knight, to not have a losing season. The intensity of Bobby Knight can sometimes cause problems and hurt feelings. Knight tries to keep his poise during the 1986 season and clean up a little bit. The way things are going for a while really doesn't help him control his anger. Coming off from coaching possibly the best Olympic team, Knight expects nothing but the best for his Indiana Hoosiers.
   The book can be repetitive at points while John Feinstein the author is explaining non-exciting games play by play; but the close games can get you caught up in the action. You can be thrilled at one minute and then picture yourself in the locker room during one of Bobby Knight's intense speeches after the game. Feinstein did a great job with the details of the whole season and that is why A Season On The Brink is a best seller.
   
   ---Sean Weakley

5 comments about Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks.

1. Both of my sons and my husband enjoyed this book. A lot of fun to read.



2. Amazing that in a few weeks, Mick Foley poured his life and soul into 760 pages of notebook paper that would make it, lightly cut and without any major edits, onto book, and earn it's New York Times #1 Bestseller's List. If only it weren't for that Oprah! (readers of the book will understand)
   
   Starting from childhood, he makes it quick, but sweet as he tells humorous stories about his friends, and the origin of the name "Cactus Jack", and his time in college, including the inspiration for Dude Love and the start of his wrestling career.
   
   Foley's writing is so personal and engrossing that he easily captures our attention with riveting stories ranging from lying to his parents and almost getting caught skipping a bus to college in order to catch a wrestling show (the famous Madison Square Garden match between Jimmy Snuka and Don Muraco), to gaining the respect and friendship of ex-wrestler and trainer Dominic DeNucci and being taken under his wing, knowing Foley couldn't afford classes, by reducing his fee, and then not charging altogether.
   
   Foley's tales of his independent circuit runs are definitely a grungy, and in some cases heartwrenchingly painful experiences, which his natural humor and goodnatured attitude help liven up and spare us the angst he must have felt, but without completely sugarcoating it.
   
   All along the way, Foley maintains a very brilliantly hidden line between kayfabe and shoot, though focusing more on the shoot aspect (for nonwrestling fans, kayfabe means the "fake" world of wrestling, including storylines and gimmicks, shoot is reality) and readily admits his talent isn't in technical or even very good wrestling, but rather in taking bumps and making the other guy and himself look good.
   
   From hellish stories of being stalked by crazed female fans thinking his real name is "Cactus Jack Manson" to wrestling in Nigeria and almost getting robbed by the corrupt government police, to losing out on a 3,000$ paycheck in Africa after the president of the country he wrestled in (who organized the event) was assassinated and the regime overthrown within weeks of his departure, Foley's wit and charm keep the story of his life so lively, you'd think it has to be fiction.
   
   Moving on to his time in WCW, he recounts the horrors of the backstage mechanics, from Ric Flair's awful booking and the backstage team's failure to recognize great potential talent, and hiring college TV production students to man their editing, to Foley's disillusionment as the feud between he and Vader was played down, a massive bump taken by Foley which the commentators could have brilliantly sold was sardonically mocked with a derogatory statement like "that's got to be excedrin headache #9!!", and Cactus Jack being attempted to be turned into a childishly ridiculous heel that would have ruined Foley's career.
   
   Then came Foley's run on the independent circuit, and shows for ECW, including full transcripts of some of his best, and in my opinion some of the best ever, promos, trying to be anti-hardcore and promoting WCW and trying to get Tommy Dreamer to go to WCW and be the pretty boy wrestler again.
   
   From the independent circuit, to stardom in the WWF, Foley is never sparse on details about stories while on the road, his many friends along the way from Mr. Haiti in Africa, to Steve Austin and Steve (William) Regal, The Undertaker, Sting, Owen Hart, Vader, and of course Terry Funk. Virtually every stop from his career, including the Japanese tours, the King of the Deathmatch, etc, and the evolution from "Mason the Mutilator" to "Mankind the Mutilator" to "Mankind" and the use of all three of his gimmicks in the WWF to eventual WWF Championship gold.
   
   Throughout it all, Foley never loses his charm or wit, or the incessant Al Snow bashing, with plenty of pictures scattered around the text and plenty of personal stories (like the time he shared a house with a junkie, a guy who was having sex with his girlfriend's 16 year old daughter, and the 16 year old trying to flirt with Mick) and stories with friends (like "Vader" Leon White's spendthrifting with hotels, or Owen Hart's penchanse for practical jokes) that his story never gets old or repetitive and when the story finally ends, you feel like you've known Mick his entire life.
   
   This is THE shining example of a great book about a pro wrestler's life, and I hope his other two books are just as great.



3. Mick Foley's "Have a Nice Day" is his first and his best. It is a whimsical journey in the life of one of the greatest hardcore wrestlers ever. Foley has always had the gift of gab, and it translates very well to the written page. Hysterical, insightful, and heartwarming.



4. If you are interested in the behind the scenes of wrestling, here's a great place to start. Mick speaks on his rise from childhood fan to wrestling superstar. He even talks breifly about the Boiler Room Brawl and his Cleveland promos! (I wish he would have went more in-depth on these topics, though.)



5. See a different side of wrestling with this autobiographical book. You'll laugh your way through this brilliant work of art and ask yourself how Foley survived.