Sports Books

Men And Speed is an informative survey of NASCAR racing history and is written by a journalist who had exclusive access to Roush Racing, a large motorsports operation. Miller spent a year on the NASCAR racing circuit with owner Roush and his drivers: the result is an epic of racing events.

This book is a must have for any and all Roush Racing/NASCAR Fans. Every page I read sent chills up my spine and tears down my eyes. G. Wayne Miller gets up-close and personal with the Roush Guys and tells all the stuff we want to hear and all the stuff some of us would never come close to knowing. He is a super writer and a great person as he keeps the Roush fans up-to-date with his continuing adventure with the Roush guys. I hope he would consider a Pt. 2 because I know it would be just as great! Thanks for this wonderful insight!

Interesting look into the workings of a NASCAR Winston Cup team.

This book gives the reader a wonderful glimpse inside the 2001 NASCAR season as seen from the eyes of the drivers of Roush Racing. This particular season can be seen as the breakout year in which NASCAR gained much prominence for the following reasons: 1) the death of Dale Earnhardt 2) the intense media scrutiny regarding safety 3) the heightened public awareness and growing fan base 4) the relative under-performance of many racing teams.

This book will give you the inside story on all of these events and more. Highly recommended for the NASCAR fan and casual observer alike!

This is an awesome book. Somehow, Miller manages to write a compelling review of a year in racing which is enjoyable by both NASCAR novices as well as diehard fans who don't make non-race related appointments on Sunday. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about NASCAR from the inside. The anecdotes are exciting and amusing. The overall view of the Rousch racing endeavor is fascinating. I couldn't put the book down. Great job Mr. Miller!

I needed to read this book. I am in the process of pursuing a private pilots license and this was so beneficial to me to be able to read a book that answered those questions I would have never thought to ask.

I must agree with every positive thing said about this work. It has really inspired and carried me through into actually taking action. Like having a friend by your side, giving advice.

Very well written introduction for anyone considering becoming a pilot. This book provides a short, but thorough, analysis of just about all that being a pilot involves - from initial training to life as a General Aviation pilot. Finally - a book well worth the money!

Your Pilot's License provides a simple, concise guide to getting your license to fly. Eichenberger describes both how to actually fly a plane as well as the process by which one learns how and is licensed to do so. Eichenberger's experience as a flight instructor (CFI) clearly shows, as much of the book reads like a flight lesson.

The book is a must-read for anyone thinking about taking up flying or who has just started taking lessons. Not only does is summarize what to expect, it also provides a wealth of knowledge that should help make your lessons more effective. Eichenberger explains complicated concepts in simple English. Particularly helpful to the beginning pilot will be his explanations of how lift works and how to "fly the box" taking wind into account.

For those who have been flying for a period of time, the book offers very little (other than perhaps nostalgia about those first flights). If you don't already know what is covered in this book (and in some areas, significantly more than is covered) you really shouldn't be flying a plane.

For those looking to get their flight instructor certificate, this book holds particular value as it will help you learn how to teach your students! It is also very helpful in remaining us how if felt "from the other side."

I am a CFI (Certificated Flight Instructor) and have read several popular 'Private Pilot Training' manuals. Many of them are expensive, and very thick. I don't use them though...I use THIS book. It covers 90% of what I want covered in ground school, and I augment it with other materials as I see fit. It is quite inexpensive, and it is very well-written. I highly recommend this book to prospective pilots, to student pilots, and to certificated pilots as a handy 'quick refresher'. If you have ever considered becoming a pilot (trust me, it is worth every penny), this this book gives you a great overview of what flying is about.

I have several books written by Dave Gerr.
In This book, He explains many things what boat builders,designers and other boat related professionals should know ..

If my wife read this book, she would divorce me instantly, as she would understand why a Nautically Obsessed person will never change, and will get worse as time goes by.....

Honestly, this book made me realize there are others like me that can't stop thinking about boats and the ocean! It feeds the fire burning in your soul and loads you up with all kinds of facts, concepts, and the author's experience to send you off to the drawing board, the boat show, or maybe West Marine. Great writing and a flow of information that will make you not want to let it down until you've committed to memory. While you're at it, get "Elements of Boat Strength" also. Highly recommended!

Great book for all the same reasons listed by all the other reviews. However I have one to add. At a party, try reading the section titles out loud in a somewhat suggestive tone. It will astound you how almost every single section title can be read literally or perverted. Whether or not the author meant this to be the case he accomplished it quite well as there are many- many sections.

I love books on how things work, and I love books on boats. This one is a great combination of both. It covers a lot of naval architecture subjects and all in just the right depth for the interested novice.

The book begins with a review of different types of hulls and their advantages and disadvantages. That is followed by my favorite section which is the one on the theory of naval architecture - the parameters and how they affect the problem space. After that there is another good section about how to understand a drawing of a hull and relate that to performance characteristics of the boat. Engineers love to talk about tradeoffs and this book covers that really well, including topics like stability and roll resistance, hull strength versus shape and many others.

There is a lot more, but I don't want to spoil the ending, so I will just say that if you are interested in boats as an engineer, sailor or purchaser, then you need to read this book.

Subtitled Insights and Esoterica for the Nautically Obsessed, this book is a direct hit on its intended audience. Read it once through quickly, then enjoy it over and over again like a favorite song, and you will learn an amazing amount about every sort of boat an individual is likely to own or dream about. Gerr covers design and construction, sails and motors, and boats from homemade paddleboat to liveaboard oceangoing cruiser either motor and/or sail, and everything in between. He covers more about boats than you could imagine he would, and writes wonderfully.
It is difficult to say in a few words how useful, or how enjoyable, this book is. I love it.

Anyone who fishes with a fly in salt or fresh water should consider this superb collaboration as fundamental reading. Seriously, I believe this book will together with G.E.M Skues's works, LaBranche and Pete Hidy's collaboration with Leisenring, will be referred to over the next century as fundamental revolutionary and rare works.

Again the applicability of the theories expressed extend well past the tidal zone up through rivers and trout streams to glacial lakes. The commentary on the evolution and stagnation of fly design in the first chapter alone are priceless, to those who seek to seek to imagine the timeless struggles of life below the surface.

With the vast and somewhat ridiculous glut of fly fishing books currently available, finding an honest, clearly understandable and sage guide may seem more difficult than landing one of Skue's day's of 5 brace of 3+lb wild brown trout. But beyond the finer works of Sy Nemes, Gary Borger and David Hughes, this work synthesizes a wealth of new tying techniques with cogent natural observation and clear theoretical principles. That is why it is one for the ages, and will forever remain next to Minor Tactics of the Chalkstream, The Art of Tying the Wet Fly on my tying desk.

THis book is everything I hoped for. Has good information, wonderful pictures. I know that I will reference it over & over.

Marvellous piece of art, to get really hooked on fly tying saltwaterflies. Also for Dutch and Korean people!! Jolly good...

Pop Fleyes is by far the best saltwater flytying book that I have ever owned.

This is a down to earth , excellently illustrated , well written and innovative book. Bob quickly becomes your friend and mentor , guiding the reader through each tying stage without prior assumption .Personally , and I,m sure for most readers , this book sets trains of thought in motion . What more could a fly tier want ?

I have found most "self improvement" golf books to be difficult to grasp without great photographic portrayal of the techniques being taught. Video would make them all that much better. This book, however, deals with easy to grasp concepts and exercises that are practical and efficient. What a great thought process the super fluid concept is! This is just the book needed for those who need to take a break from the physical grind of improving their golf game and get into the mental end of the spectrum.

A PGA master professional told me that my greatest problem was rhythm and tempo. He introduced me to a few aspects of "quantum golf" and I suddenly hit my 3-iron longer than I previously hit my driver.

Back in Europe I still focused on my rhythm and tempo but after several months the length of my shots decreased and I went back to classical golf.

Only after reading the book "quantum golf" I saw that I was missing one essential part of quantum golf - the Q-position. I went back to quantum golf and my results are amazing: my length and precision off the tee improved a lot.

A fascinating novella, where a Mr. Smith learns about himself as he explores golf with a mystical teacher in the middle of Iowa. Great reading for tennis players or golfers who want to learn a "superfluid" swing, but also for the golf/tennis metaphors that apply to life. Delightful

I'd heard of transcendental meditation since the mid-70's and always found it fascinating. I never paid the exorbitant fee they wanted to learn it, but understood enough of the fundamentals that I could apply it to some things in my life.

This was the first book about golf that actually used those principles. I had been in the Navy for quite a while and had the opportunity to play golf at many fine courses around the world.

I bought this book one early summer while my handicap was hovering around 17 and went on leave. I read the book, practiced the way the teacher asked in the book, and went back to my duties after my thirty day leave. Within a month, I had my handicap down to 12 (quite an accomplishment for a self-taught duffer like myself.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that aspires to achieve "Zen" in their golf game.

I'm a pretty good golfer, and I knew that my game was plateauing. I was stuck at about 79-83, and I knew that spending time beating balls at the driving range was getting me no where. I bought this book based on the reviews I saw here, and I have to admit I am SHOCKED. The book is that good. It's a story, that reveals the secrets of golf within it, primarily teaching you better rhythm, and how to "dance with the club", I feel the difference already, and I have owned the book for only 3 days. Its a great read, and very helpful, I would recommend to all level of players.

Let me start by saying that I'm a 13 year old boy and that Reggie White is my hero. I bought this book looking to learn more about my hero's life and I really struck gold.

Reggie White tells you about his entire life in this autobiography. He starts with an Introduction called "Promise Kept", which I particularly enjoyed. He then tells about his childhood, College days with the University of Tennessee, his Memphis Showboat Days, the USFL's fold and his move to the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles (my favorite team), and then his move to the Packers.

In between that though he tells stories of God and his miracles on the football field and about Buddy Ryan and the players he would go into the trenches with any day.

He also writes about the death of Jerome Brown, stories of God, how he didnt want to leave his teammates of the Eagles but had to because of the ignorance of Norman Braman, and much much more.

This is perhaps my favorite book I've read so far, and I enjoy reading.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the NFL in general. Reggie White is a true NFL Legend and my hero.

I don't know where I'd be today without the witness of the late Reggie White. I suppose the answer is that God would have used someone or something else to crack open my hard heart, but I will still be eternally grateful to Reggie - not only for writing this excellent football book, but more important for always wearing his heart for the Lord on his sleeve, in plain sight for any observant fan.

THIS IS THE STORY OF REGGIE WHITE FORMER NFL GREAT. THIS IS A GOOD READ FOR EVERYONE, NOT JUST FOOTBALL FANS. REGGIE TELLS US OF HIS LIFE AND CAREER WITH THE EAGLES AND PACKERS, ALONG THE WAY HE HAS SOME GREAT STORIES ABOUT FORMER COACHES AND TEAMATES. BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE IN THIS BOOK IS HOW TO LIVE A CHRISTIAN LIFE. REGGIE WAS A DEVOUT CHRISTIAN AND SPREAD THE WORD. HE NOT ONLY TALKED THE TALK BUT WALKED THE WALK. THE LESSONS AND MESSAGES IN THIS BOOK ARE WELL WORTH READING AND USING IN EVERYDAY LIFE. I WAS VERY SHOCKED TO LEARN OF REGGIE'S DEATH. HE WAS A GREAT ROLE MODEL FOR EVERYONE. I RECOMMEND THIS ANYONE AND EVERYONE TO READ. THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH REGGIE WHITES IN THIS WORLD.

"I've never seen any conflict between Christianity and football. I don't see football as a violent sport; I see it as aggressive. And I see Christianity as an aggressive faith." (pg. 189).

IN THE TRENCHES spends tons of time talking about what made Reggie White famous, FOOTBALL, and what he thinks is most important for him to do with his football success, use it to promote JESUS!

"...three words--IN THE TRENCHES--sum it all up for me. I live my life in the trenches. I do my work in the trenches. I serve my God in the trenches. I go to war against evil, poverty, racism, and injustice in the trenches." (pg. 22)

Reggie talks about how he grew up. He was the second son of a teenage mother, who seldom saw his father. He was always much larger than other kids his age, and they called him names like "Bigfoot" and "Land of the Giants." He got saved when he was 13, and he would point out what the Bible said to bad kids who were doing things like always telling lies.

He claims O.J. Simpson as his childhood inspiration and main reason that he wanted to play football, even though this book was written after the famous murders?

He toughened himself up for football, to prove wrong the folks who said he couldn't handle it because he's a Christian!

He talks about playing in the USFL and the NFL, for the Showboats, Eagles and Packers. This book was written before he won the Super Bowl with the Packers. He spends plenty of pages giving many details about many different games. Sometimes it gets a little too long for me, so if you are interested in hearing about his football career, then this is the book for you! "Sacks are fun, man. There's nothing like throwing a quarterback down for a big loss." (pg. 83). He also talks about being one of the first really big stars to go into Free Agency, which was not popular with the team owners of the time! "The owners who screamed the loudest about free agency were the owners of the notoriously tightwad teams--the Eagles, the Bengals, the Steelers." (pg. 127).

He details the times when God pulled off public miracles to heal him to play. He also discusses how God used his football fame to bring to the public eye the problem of church arsons in the South, by having Reggie's church get burned down, which brought national media attention, and plenty of extra love and support from Green Bay fans, and from across the nation.

There are many b/w photos in the middle of the book, so you get to see many of the family and friends discussed.

This book is better than Reggie White's later book, BROKEN PROMISES, BLINDED DREAMS, which is mostly about his thoughts concerning African-Americans in the USA. BROKEN PROMISES focuses mainly on what's wrong with the immoral US culture, these days, so you should read BROKEN PROMISES if you are interested in social activism and the African-American experience, from Reggie White's perspective.

He only briefly touches on the culture wars in this book, IN THE TRENCHES, "Nobody's preaching abstinence today because nobody's figured out how to get rich off of other people's abstinence--but there's plenty of money to be made from other people's sexual activity...[...]..sexually transmitted diseases...aborting unwanted babies...Much of the money spent on various aspects of people's sexual behavior is TAX money--money you and I shell out to the government, money that is spent without our say-so!" (pg. 217).

At the end of the book he give tips on how to be a good role model.

I am a Reggie White fan, because I like what he did with his football fame, using it to promote Christianity throughout his entire career, and way before and after his pro football days, as well!

I think this is the best Reggie White book that I have read, though I can also recommend BROKEN PROMISES for anybody who is intrigued by the activist aspect of Reggie White's life.

There is also a pretty decent book of photos called REGGIE WHITE: A CELEBRATION OF LIFE, 1961-2004. This is slim on text, but has many interesting photos of his pro football years.

"When I face the final judgment, God isn't going to ask me how many Pro Bowls I played in or ask me to recite my stats. He's going to ask me if I knew Jesus, and if I helped to bind up the wounds of people." (pg. 195, IN THE TRENCHES).

I found this book very interesting I learned a lot about Reggie White. I wish that he was still with the Green Bay Packers. I am a huge Green Bay Packer fan. This book had a lot of interesting stuff in it. For example I never knew that one of his favorite players growing up was O.J. Simpson. Reggie said in the book that O.J. Simpson was like a moving target for defensive linemen; he said, that was one of the reasons that he wanted to play defensive end. I also learned that he really liked his coach Buddy Ryan when he played with the Philadelphia Eagles ,and when Buddy Ryan got fired Reggie couldn't figure out why he got fired; he said Buddy Ryan was a good coach. Reggie also talked about his church getting burned. He also talked about his friend and teammate Jerome Brown who was killed a car accident and he thought he was a really great person and he said he misses him. I learned a lot from reading this book. This book is one of my favorite books that I read. I would recommend this book to every Green Bay Packer fan.

This is a great book that shows a great basketball program. It shows the struggles and triumphs of the season. John Walters did an excellent job at writing this book and capturing the true meaning of UCONN basketball.

This is the best book I have ever read! It's funny, inspiring, informative, a great all around book for any basketball fan. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

Ok, first I have to admit, I'm a huge fan of UCONN basketball, Diana Taurasi in particular, but that doesn't make me biased:). I think this book is well written, fun to read, funny, and insightful. It tels the story of an amazing basketball team that deserves recognition even though they didn't reach their final goal. I learned a lot from this book, and it made me laugh and cry. I think that anyone who has interest in women's basketball will enjoy this book, especially if you are a fan of the UCONN huskies. Go huskies!:)

After winning the 2004 NCAA Championship, UConn senior Maria Conlon said, "I feel like it was just yesterday we were lying in the locker room in St. Louis crying our eyes out, saying we never wanted to have this feeling again. Sure enough, we never did."

Perhaps the true greatness of the 00-01 Huskies can only now be appreciated. Could Taurasi & Co hunger for excellence without first knowing the bitterness of falling just short? This book can add fuel to the argument.

I am an avid Husky fan, and I loved this book. I bought it after this year's double championships.i enjoyed reading about the players, about Diana's first and Sveta and Shea's last.This book is a must for any Husky or Women's basketballl fan.

A fictional account about a goalie of French Canadian ancestry and who plays in the NHL, Saved borders on non-fiction. It's no serendipitous coincidence that Jean Pierre Savard plays goalie for Jack's favorite team, the Bruins. It's no surprise then, that Jack was also a netminder, and that like his protagonist, Falla's family tree is partly rooted in French-speaking territory. Falla's description of the on-ice action and insights into how players deal with the media, and what happens in a player's private life--as well as what he's thinking--all read true. The novel also contains characters, names that Bruins and/or AMHL fans will recognize: Cam, Rancourt...even a cameo by a Dwyer. Other characters' names sound more cartoon-like--"Flipside, "the Mad Hatter," and "Rinky"--but add color to Falla's commentary. And like any good book, conflict, sadness, doubt, compassion, faith, and redemption make this a keeper.

I write this review with bittersweet feelings, as Jack Falla's recent passing has left a void in the hockey community. I don't know of many authors more qualified to touch on the subjects covered in "Saved" than the esteemed Boston University journalism professor, who touched so many lives with his professional writing skills and love of the sport. Although I met him only briefly a few years ago, he made my year when he recognized my name and acknowledged my own meager contributions to sports journalism.

"Saved" is the tale of a veteran NHL goaltender who is still trying to find his balance several years after losing his wife, an aging talent who realizes that his opportunities to win the coveted Stanley Cup are dwindling. Throughout the course of this fictional season, JP Savard will have his world turned upside down both on and off the ice, as he deals with positive changes in his life (a new love) along with challenges he never really seriously considered (an unexpected trade to a bitter rival).

Falla's intricate knowledge of the sport, the position (he was a goalie) and its real-life characters serve him well in this tale of modern athletes who are in many ways, still reflective of the old time hockey pro hockey players Falla grew up admiring/folllowing and later covering as Sports Illustrated's NHL correspondent. As a kid growing up near Boston in the 70's and 80's, I was a fanatical devotee of the Boston Bruins and can readily identify with so many of the themes and storylines surrounding the team in Falla's fictional yarn (the bottom-line conscious billionaire owner, the curmudgeonly, set-in-his-ways GM, the heart-and-soul captain who has never won a championship and desperately wants to before he can no longer play, the team that always comes up short to the hated Montreal Canadiens [sorry Habs fans]). I was (and am still) a hockey goalie, so Falla's book is especially meaningful to me, as I have quite a bit in common with JP Savard from a playing standpoint.

I wasn't good enough to pursue a professional hockey career, but my love of the game never subsided. Through Jack Falla's timeless hockey classic, I got to live vicariously through JP Savard and thoroughly enjoyed his quirky, yet honest NHL journey as if it had been my own.

RIP, Professor. You are dearly missed, but your spirit lives on this great book.

I loved this book! Parts of it are laugh-out-loud funny and all of it gives great insight into the minds and hearts of hockey players. Lots of good stuff that you know had to happen to someone, although I know names and locations have been changed. Also, a lot of interesting and informative bits of hockey lore. But, above all, the story is great and the characters are all three-dimensional ones. You care about them and want to know what happens next. I hope to see more hockey fiction from Mr Falla.

This book is a MUST for any hockey fan.Anybody looking for any behind the scenes expose of life in the Nhl should go elsewhere. The book took me two days to read.JP Savard is a goalie determined to hang on to his job and continue playing in the Nhl.Throughout one season we follow him through the highs and lows and how he deals with them. Jp is a very likeable protagonist as well as the rest of the characters. I really liked the way Falla includes hockey history throughout the book without bogging the story down.

The summer season is rapidly approaching and many travelers will be compiling a list of books to read while on vacation. The hockey fan should consider Saved, by Jack Falla. It follows the season of Jean Pierre Savard, a goalie for the Bruins and his quest to win the Cup as his career is winding down. There are no surprises here but the book is loaded with hockey history and behind the scenes looks at the life of a professional hockey player. Falla covered the NHL for many years for Sports Illustrated and he brings the reader into the locker room, the rink and lives of these fictional characters.
At first Jean Pierre (JP) appears to be the main character as the first thirty pages focus on his background information, how he became a goalie and his college career then launches into present day. We are introduced to his best friend and teammate Cam Carter, get a glimpse of JP's personal life which includes a Ferrari and a lot of sex, which should entice the male reader to pick up the book. However, as the book progresses the real main character becomes evident, the hockey culture and game. Hockey is all JP has ever known and as the end of his career looms, he is terrified by the prospect of not knowing what to do with the rest of his life. Three concussions during the season cannot deter him from his need to keep playing, even with a warning from his fiancée Faith McNeil, a former college classmate and hotshot basketball player, now a dotcom millionaire and doctor.
My husband obviously has done a good job over the past eight years because I was familiar with the majority of the names, terms and events mentioned in the book and some basic hockey knowledge does make the book more pleasurable. Falla does provide a lot of detail, so that the new hockey fan will not be completely lost while reading this book. An example is the description of the Vezina Trophy. The reader learns for whom the trophy is named and why, and the details about Vezina's final game and untimely death. Sports metaphors run amuck in the book, which at times was cumbersome to this reader. It may be a gender difference, as the book is told from a male point of view, because while a sports fan I certainly don't answer every question directed to me with a sports reference.
As JP moves through his season and a trade from the Bruins, he gives details about the games he playing, what they mean during the different points of the season, what needs to happen for his Cup run to continue and how it feels to have someone else gunning for his job the entire time. Most readers cannot identify with being a professional athlete and being paid millions of dollars a year. But they can relate to being in their thirties, not knowing what to do next in their lives and struggling to hold onto their youth. This, coupled with the hockey history woven throughout the book makes it an enjoyable and quick read. (Provided the reader does not have a four year old and six month old vying for his or her attention.) As you pack your bags for the beach, mountains and beyond make sure you include Saved.

I really enjoyed this book. I personally am a gymnast so I can relat. It is a really great book. It tells you about a girl who is the under dog but comes out on top. Then when she is on top and after her first Olympics everione says she is too oldfor a gymnast. But she goes over what everione says .And she wins the Olympic Gold

Here's another awesome gymnastics bio from Krista Quiner! This was a terrific, nice and detailed book about Shannon Miller's life. From the minute she was born to the end of the '96 Olympic Games, this book is the ultimate one to learn about Shannon Miller. The book had plenty of great information, and you learn tons and tons of stuff about her. There were also tons of awesome pictures too! This is a must-read for all gymnastics fans.

This book goes into great detail about Shannon's gymnastics career from the beginning up until the 96 Olympics and her professional career. It's the best book I have read on her so far. This book is great for a fan who wants this book as a "map" of her career, or for someone who did not watch gymnastics before 96.

I am a huge Shannon Miller fan, and this book is great. I have read it twice and I am still not bored with it. It gives great insight into her past competitions, what she went through, and the things that led up to them. It is really wonderful and detailed.

This is a great book to know what Shannon Miller was like what she she had to do everyday. everything she won all the times she fell and practicly everything you wanted to know.

This is a very good book on Walt Disney World. It is far superior to the 20th Anniversary Book "Walt Disney World 20 Magical Years". Although, many of the pictures are the same, there are alot more in Since the World Began.

In addition, this book provides much more information on the creation of the park. Still the best book on the creation of the Disney theme parks is "Disneyland: Inside Story" by Randy Bright. Since this is out of print, Walt Disney World 20 Magical Years is a good choice.

Walt Disney lives.

No, I'm not talking about the urban legend about him being cryogenically sealed and stashed below the Pirates of the Caribbean exhibition. Nor is this some soft New Ageism about spirits inhabiting the celestial plane.

He's alive down on a plot of land outside of Orlando, Florida, a boom city that was a dumpy little crossroad when Walt began buying what became a 30,000-acre spread there is the late 1960s.

Walt's gone, but his vision and energy lives on, and once you start dipping into "Since the World Began," you'll see that the scope of his vision is nothing short of awesome.

There are many faces of Disney, the producer of family-friendly and highly profitable movies, the creator of family-friendly theme parks, but also a visionary who thought that, as one associate put it, "bad information was responsible for all the evil in the world." Who tried to change people's attitudes within the confines of an amusement park, the man whose idealism spawned the Epcot center, and under Michael Eisner, the Disney Institute, where education and learning are on a par with entertainment.

What the book won't tell you -- this is published by Hyperion, Disney's publishing arm, and written by Jeff Kurtti, a longtime Disney employee -- is just what hell Walt went through to realize his vision. You won't hear of Disney's fundamentalist upbringing, his retreat into fantasy to escape a brutal father and life in poverty, his endless hard work to make animated movies, his multiple nervous breakdowns. His brother Roy is idealized as the business brain behind Walt's success, but you won't hear that Roy constantly opposed Disney's ideas as a waste of money. When Kurtti writes that Disney founded the design firm Walt Disney Imagineering in 1952 "because he realized that he wouldn't be able to create Disneyland within the boundaries of the studio system," he doesn't mention that it was also because Roy and the Disney board refused to advance Walt the money to design Disneyland, fearing that it would be a failure.

There was plenty of reason for Roy to be worried, too. Disney's ideas constantly threw the company perilously close to bankruptcy, generally on the order of every 18 months, until Disney's deal with ABC in 1955 made him very wealthy and put the company on a firm financial footing. Walt Disney was an idealist and a visionary, and if it wasn't for his tenacity, the company would not be the worldwide giant it is today.

Even while ignoring those shadings, there is still plenty of story left to make "Since the World Began" an awe-inspiring overview of Walt Disney World. It's probably the single largest and most complex construction project this side of the space shuttle. Its statistics are jaw-dropping: 55 miles of canals and levees were built to control the water levels, nine acres of underground corridors thread through the park, housing sewer lines, pipes and cables, and a pneumatic system for hauling trash, 60,000 plants and 800 varieties of trees acquired, moved and transplanted to build the park, 100,000 pounds of linen had to be washed every day.

As befitting its creator, the theme park was ahead of its time in its use of innovative technology. WDW was also the first area to implement 911 service in Florida, the first commercial venture to use fiber optic cables, the first telephone system using underground cable instead of overhead wires.

But the park was also a reflection of Walt Disney's vision of a global coming together of different peoples and cultures, learning about each other and attempting to find and enjoy peace as a result. It's globalization with a human face, to borrow someone else's phrase, and even if it seems outdated or even impossible in this post-9/11 world, Walt's beliefs is a hopeful and sustaining vision, and as American as the culture from which it sprang.

The author dives into the nuts and bolts of Disney history, including the formation of the Reedy Creek Improvement District and Disney's unique infrastructure. Yet the book isn't bogged down with technical, intricate details. Any Disney fan should enjoy reading about the Imagineering behind all four Florida parks' concepts, the hidden meanings of the names on Main Street's second floor windows, the transformation of Tomorrowland, ad infinitum. I received the book as a gift in 1996 and I've enjoyed reading through it several times.

Wow, wow, wow what a great book depicting the history of the number one vacation spot on the planet. I actually bought this book when it came out about 5 years ago. After reading it, I decided I'm going back to Dinsey World to celebrate its 25th birthday. Needless, to say it was a great trip. This is the book for all you wanting to know about Dinsey World History. For Dinseyland I would reccommend Disneyland: Inside Story, but getting on of those under... is a hard task.... What are you waiting for, buy this book! Get ready to experience the magic!

This is a very good book on Walt Disney World. It is far superior to the 20th Anniversary Book "Walt Disney World 20 Magical Years". Although, many of the pictures are the same, there are alot more in Since the World Began.

In addition, this book provides much more information on the creation of the park. Still the best book on the creation of the Disney theme parks is "Disneyland: Inside Story" by Randy Bright. Since this is out of print, Walt Disney World 20 Magical Years is a good choice.