Racing Books

Steven L. Brecher, Beating the Races with a Computer (Software Supply, 1980)

There are few books on handicapping that can be considered indispensable. It's likely that, a quarter of a century after its original publication, Steven Brecher's Beating the Races with a computer is no longer on that list. After all, the handicapping game has changed quite a lot in the ensuing twenty-five years. However, Brecher's means, methods, and processes are just as valid as they were then; the reader just has to change a few things in their application.

Brecher's book came out not long after Bill Quirin's groundbreaking Winning at the Races, and what Brecher does here is, to some extent, simply revise and extend the excellent work Quirin did. History has, of course, borne out Brecher's prediction that computer processor power would continue to come down in price (and his breathless exclamation that someday in the future, the racing fan would be able to take the whole database to the track came true with the advent of the laptop), and thus this book, instead of languishing in its present obscurity, would seem to be even more important to the do-it-yourself punter. Brecher describes ho to set up your own system for computerized handicapping, including a brief discussion of multiple regression analysis and how to set up a database, and then shows you his own findings. Where the present-day reader will find the most value in this book is in Brecher's descriptions of how the statistics work; it's pretty easy to read between the lines and figure out how most of the automation was done. And, of course, these days it doesn't require a minicomputer that costs "about as much as a Chevrolet;" your old 486 gathering dust on the shelf can handle this stuff easily.

If you're a handicapper who dabbles in programming your own handicapping software, this book will be absolutely invaluable. Do what you need to do to hunt down a copy. **** ½

The book itself is excellent, very comprehensive in it's coverage. It covers many, many years of collector cards. The diecast section is a must have, particularly for pricing the older diecast and the newest up to about March or April 2007.
I received the book in mint condition, still in the factory plastic wrap.
Overall, excellent.

The appearance of the book was very good. It saved me a lot of money compared to the college book store price.

The book gives a good overview of the live behind the scenes of a Formula 1 racing team.

Uh-oh! Something is behind the wheel. I know it will cause trouble in the race. I like this book a lot.

This calendar is chock full of awesome action photography of all the top factory motocross and off-road racing super heros from team Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki including Ricky Carmichael, Jeremy McGrath and travis Pastrama. Toss-in Playboy's beautiful cover twins Amanda and Sandy Bentley, together with FastDates.com Calendar girl Taylor McKegney and you've got a fist turn pileup waiting to happen. But at least you know you've died and gone to motobabe heaven! Be sure to order to 2 calendars in case the first one gets its pages stuck together.

I'm so surprised nobody has reviewed this wonderful book yet! I guess it's up to me.

First, this book is easy to read and comprehend, which is good because there is lots of useful information to remember. There is nothing in this book that is not covered. It even has a section about the tick diseases greyhounds can have because at the tracks, the dogs are not given any sort of flea/tick control.

This book does not take sides in the greyhound racing debate. Instead it gives truthful, unbiased information all about greyhounds! If you are seriously interested in adopting a retired racing greyhound, this is the book for you. It has lots of gorgeous photographs and short, fun stories about adopted greyhounds. It is very well organized and it is easy to find what you are looking for.

I really like Adopting the Racing Greyhound by Cynthia A. Branigan also, but if I had to pick between the two I would pick this one simply because the information is just as good plus you get color photographs and shiny pages. Whee! Also, it is a hardcover book and in my opinion that is a plus.

This book is perfect and lovely. I highly recommend it to any greyhound fan!

I thought this book was very informative and especially liked the second half of the book dealing with wagering and how to formulate exotic tickets.

Of course, I wrote the book.

The secrets of successful betting, playing percentage, long and sure shots, rating methods, tips and touts, daily double tip off, 36 tested betting system and more. A compilation of 36 new systems, all tried and tested, for the horse players.

I haven't finished this book but I already found a key piece of information I wasn't aware of and it is very helpful. This advise has sense showed up in another book which is good.