Sports Books

A great read! My 4 year old can now recite just about every page word for word. The main character is is a girl so the story line promotes equality!

Nice illustrations, good story with rhyme. Better for ages 6 and up probably.

Once again, you have sent a book that will also become my grandson's favorite reading. It is a pleasure ordering books through this website.
Jan

Recommended to us by the PR staff at the Carolina Hurricanes and we love it!

This book is fun to read, cute artwork, with a lesson for all. My son enjoyed it very much and read it to his class for this birthday. Easy to read, fun to dream, easy for kids to connect.

I love Jim Corbett, I don't know if any author is better at transporting you back in time & making you feel like you were there. A warning though, once you start reading a Jim Corbett book you will need to find more of his books they are addicting. Also you will be hard pressed to find stories as exciting. This book wasn't as good as Maneater's of Kumaon. If you haven't read any of his books start with that one.

Corbett is a natural writer and combines his knowledge of the jungle with uncanny hunting skills to give us one of the best Indian adventures ever written.

Reading his books is not just following a maneater with a gun - it is a journey into the days of the British Raj where you will be transported into the remote jungles of Northern India, read about the simple people and their unsophisticated lifestyle. There are no villians, no suspicious characters lurking around and nobody to provide humour. You just have village folk trying to eke out a living which is sometimes interrupted by a feline with a taste for humans.

This particular book is about one leopard which terrorised a large region for many years and claimed about 420 lives. To understand what these people must have felt, it must be noted that in those days there were no high security fences, no guns or any kind of technology to track the leopard. Yet the people had to enter the forest to earn their daily bread. There is an unforgettable chapter in the book titled 'Terror' which starts something like this:

'During the day, people went about their lives as usual. Trade and commerce, transport and all other transactions went about their normal way. But as evening approached, there was a marked change in their behaviour. Pilgrims rushed towards their night shelters, businessmen closed shops abruptly and people scurried towards their homes for relative safety. No curfew was more strictly imposed. No orders to remain indoors were observed as faithfully.'

This is one of the books which shows that for writing adventure you don't need weapons or FBI investigations. All you need is a writer with a big heart who loves what he is doing and knows what he is talking about.

If you like adventure literature, you should find this piece really wonderful. I read it while I was alone at home for a week and I started to "feel" leopards all aronud the house at night. Very well writen, hard to stop reading.

This book is available from the Oxford University Press website: http://www.oup.com/

I just purchased a new copy for 12.49 British pounds including shipping to the USA which is just over $21 USD (December, 2003) I don't know why the new/used books advertised on Amazon by private sellers are so expensive.

If it's anything like Corbett's "Man-eaters of Kumaon" it is a masterpiece.

Another excellent book from the corbett library. Its true that fact can be stranger than fiction. And no where is it more evident than in the story of the maneater of rudraprayag.

Corbett is out to kill this very clever and wily old leopard in the second half of the 1920's. The leopard is believed to have made its debut as a man-killer following the influenze outbreak of 1918. Corbett hunts this killer over two years. In an intense battle of nerves between the best shikari that ever was and the wily leopardus, corbett's life hangs by a thread many times. On one dark stormy night, robbed of his defenses, he makes his way back to the village after a failed attempt in an experience that he terms his scariest. Another time the leopard snatches a goat right under his nose and gives him a run for his money! All and many illustrations of man's utter helplessness when a clever maneater turns against him.

In the end, corbett suceeds in putting a bullet where it truly belongs - in the maneater - to end its career. In true corbett fashion he has a soft spot for the old dead leopard, which gave him such a sporty fight. I am sure they both met again in the happy hunting grounds!

A wonderful book by a wonderful man.

Well collected thoughts and words that flow from the page in a language that a reader understands.

As a former resident of Ft Collins, Colorado now living in California, this book really brought me home. The author paints a vivid picture, not only of the beautiful scenery surrounding him, but also the internal landscape created by being in such a magical place. Reading this book is almost like a meditation, allowing us to connect with the solitude of nature, and the stillness within us. If you read it in a very quiet place, it can transport you there, where the only sound is the wind in the trees.

This book made we want to go to Medicine Rock. Only a few pages into the book and I found my mind wandering to all the wonderful wild places to which I traveled, especially in my childhood (parents were rock hounds). Kyle's book brought all of this back, and even a month after reading Medicine Rock Reflections I find myself "reflecting" on my time in the wonderful remote places in this land.

If we're lucky we have something like a Medicine Rock in all of our lives. To have it on the scale of Kyle Gardner would be quite a coo.

During his time L.W., Kyle's grandfather, no doubt raised a few eyebrows as he lived the rather unconventional lifestyle of a wanderer, working a variety of jobs, gathering untold wisdom along the way. His life became the beginning of a legacy.

That legacy was carried on when Kyle's parents purchased Medicine Rock, a wild and rambling 80 acres northwest of Ft Collins, Colorado. While raising their family they couldn't quite pull off the reknown wanderings of L.W., so they chose a place where they and their children could move about with the freedom of L.W. but on a somewhat smaller and safer scale.

But, oh, the opportunities to commune with all that came to be their world at Medicine Rock. Kyle's reflections on their visits will have half of you grabbing your pack and heading for the trail while the other half sit spellbound by his descriptions that leave the air intense with scent and nearby colors heightened.

A heart that comes into contact with nature becomes a heart that sees more then just the surface shades we glimpse as we speed by in today's suburban world. Offered the chance to view things from the ground up and the treetops down, Kyle's heart seems to have expanded with each visit. Sharing all of this with his family in their truly off-the-grid cabin made him yearn for more then just the occasional ramble around the yard.

Kyle Gardner's foray into "nature writing" is exceptional. If you have a love for the outdoors, you will find something to relate to in "Medicine Rock Reflections". Kyle puts a new spin on some of those ageless questions, and the "journey" to Medicine Rock is inspiring.

This is the man that flew to South Africa on the same plane as Bill Clinton, plays golf with the world's best players, was runner up in the world putting championships.... and .... took my money at Sun City.

Great book Michael... must be due another one soon? PW

Michael Konik writes about golf as Emily Dickinson might have: with terse tenderness, through a quill of pliant steel. She would have noted the beetle scrambling out of the cup before her ball rattled in. She would have seen, in a five iron flying from the hands of the angry golfer on the south fairway, a metaphor of death in life or triumph in defeat. She would have asked if winning were "the only thing" decades before Red Sanders uttered the words or Vince Lombardi borrowed them, but without ever asking the question itself except through implication and indirection. She would have noted everything noteworthy in the only nine holes she ever played, and then reduced it to a phrase that floated up like monarch butterflies on a June thermal. She would have seen how one fine game--or one bad one--played with an old friend is a mirror held up to the world.

Dickinson was that good when the winds stirred the grass behind her home in Amherst, Massachusetts. Konik is that good when he totes a golf bag, heavy as a side of beef, for Jack Nicklaus, and then puzzles out nuanced truths of the experience for those of us who will never meet Nicklaus, or any of the golfing greats, except through a television screen.

I don't golf. It is a game of multiple demanding skills and attributes, of which I have none. "Nice Shot, Mr. Nicklaus" is, at least in part, a book for non golfers, such as the man with the physique of the skeleton hanging from a hook in the university's gross-anatomy class. I have that: the apparent lack of muscle, tendon, ligament or properly soldered nerves. My golf swing, as unpredictable as dice thrown on a fieldstone floor, makes dogs howl and Presbyterian caddies cross themselves. When my Titleist balls slice off the tee, men dive for the bunkers. As a teenager, I threw a driver through a plate glass window. I wasn't angry. I just didn't understand the grip. "Nice Shot" is for non golfers what Jon Krakauer's books on Mt. Everest are for flatlanders. Konik takes you there, be it a glorious course in Scotland or a cow-pie laden field in Wyoming. He stands behind you and wraps his arms around you and corrects your grip, stance, and balance. Mostly, though, he corrects your attitude. He whispers, "This is a lordly game, for ladies and gents. Be here now in body and soul. Smell the air and feel the smack at the end of the stick reverberate throughout the universe. Set an example of decorum for your children, and thereby teach them the essence of championship. Play in the Zen Master's Open, for it is open to all. Embrace your opponent whether you win or lose, as if they were the same event." And he spends much of the book explaining how they very nearly are. And the thing is, you come to believe it might even be true.

Konik has the ability to make a non golfer--and maybe even a golfer--believe he could actually discuss with Greg Norman, over a pint of Fosters lager, the advantages of graphite over steel. He worms his way into the hearts of those he interviews, and he permits a reader to imagine that his own heart might be shaped from the same warm clay. And be this the truth or merely the grand illusion of an extraordinarily deft writer really doesn't matter when you finally set the book on the nightstand, turn off the light, and dream of the skies over Augusta.

What a fun book to read and what great little insights into the game and some of the people involved. The author did a great job in his "little stories" of some of the unusual things of golf - from the cow pasture open in Montana to golf in the Arctic Circle. This book is a keeper (as if I didn't have enough golf books).

Particularly nice is that the book it can be read story by story, so that you can enjoy each one separately from the rest. It's like a tapas lunch: accompanied by a nice glass of white wine, you can sip and enjoy the full flavor of each course. Get this book and enjoy.

Michael Konik weaves humor, insight, golf trivia, travel adventure and philosophy into a wonderful set of short stories. You don't have to play or even like golf to enjoy this collection of clever and witty observations about the game of golf and the people who play it. The "hero" of each story might be a world class pro, or a caddie. Konik's ability to capture the moment makes this book a joy to read.

Thanks Mike. Waiting for more.

Very enjoyable to read one chapter at a time. Like one nice golf hole after another. Funny, touching, educational. Any golfer you know will love this book. Looking forward to more.

I have previously spent a year living aboard a Hans Christian 38 on the west coast and in the Sea of Crortez. The sailing bug has hit me again and plan to get out again in a few years. This book rekindled knowledge that I already believed in and offered insights that I wish that I had had before. A true joy to read.

So many ideas, most will save you time, some safety tips could save your life.

I recommend this book to all novices and many experienced offshore sailors to prepare for the unexpected problems that you need to address or avoid especially when you are so exposed to the extremes of nature, and completely disconnected from any immediate help. Lots of good lessons learned and references.
Chris C.

This book looks disappointing at first because it is a thin expensive hardcover, but it is worth the money. There is very little fluff and the content is well structured and to the point. It covers most things necessary to prepare your boat for offshore sailing including tool lists, weight distribution, polars and VMG, secants and many other useful tips. Lots of pictures, tables and diagrams.

This is a very comprehensive book explaining what you need to know about offshore sailing.

This is a very helpfull read. In fact I have purchased three additional copies as presents for my playing partners. One has already told me it has straightened out his thinking on the game. I love it because of its straight up no bull dust approach. It is the best of my lavish collection of how to play or not to golf.

My pro told me he met Mr J. Flick during his stay in the U.S. and was immediately a fan of him. So if he thinks he's a wonderful teacher, why should I doubt?

I'm glad I bought the book for I went to the golfcourse to do my best, even better if possible. But it went all wrong. I read a lot about the golfswing, practised a lot of techniques and my play went down a bit every round I played.
Mr. Flick made me look with different eyes: first of all, it is a game, so play! Enjoy the game. How you played yesterday is not relevant and tomorrow is still to come. Concentrate on the next shot, forget the previous and don't worry what might happen on the next hole.

Practice with mechanics, do you exercises at the practiceground. Engrain you technique there. Let your body, muscles and mind experience how to move, to act and to react.
But on the playground you play by feel. Be yourself. Be your own driver and don't let someone else take the driver's seat of your mind. If you are wrong you will learn to do it better next time. If you are right, the great feeling is yours.

This book is not written as a teaching method. Of course there are hints, tips on how to practice. But not under pressure. It is up to the reader to react if he/she wants to do what he/she thinks is relevant to improve his/her game.
Only a man with a lot of experience can write a book like this. It reads like a fairy-tale or a book about a great adventure. I found a lot of things I already knew, but told so explicitly made me feel more confident and improved my game.

Peter van Wijck
vanwijckpj@zeelandnet.nl
332 CHurchilll Av
4532 ME Terneuzen
Holland

This book by Jim Flick puts the whole attitude of golfing in the right context. It's not about the perfect swing based on fundemantals we've heard about, read about, and seen forever, but rather finding the perfect swing -- the one most comfortable -- for you. No pressure of finding your game, it's about having fun at it, and working through your stumbling blocks. His approach is quite good. I can honestly say the recommendations I've incorporated have improved my game.

As someone only just starting out in the game, I found Jim Flick's book to be full of the kind of practical tips that you don't find in your typical golf magazine. Written in an easy-to-read engaging style, the book will be helpful to both the beginning and advanced golfer. Instructions are easy to understand. My only criticisim is that at the start of the book, he goes on a bit about "feel" and it gets a bit repetitive. Other than that, it'll be one of the best books you can buy on the subject of golf.

The other reviewers are full of it when they say no mechanics are in here. They're in here, but they are presented simply, so you will understand them. The vast majority of golfers need to get their bodies to calm down so they're arms and hands can swing the club. Go to any driving range in the world and you will see that most people heave, twist, turn, and flop all over the place with there bodies. Except on the PGA tour driving range. There you see economy of effort and very easy looking golf swings. Jim gives great drills for getting the body to calm down and feeling great mechanics. DO THEM and you will get better.

Jeff Richardson

This book is amazing. It gives great instructions for many fun games. The instructions are brief,but fun,and give enough information to make the games easy to implement. I have used the book twice for a group of kids, ranging in age from 9-14, and they have loved the activities! I've purchased a couple other similar books that were not nearly as fun and well-put-together as this one.

I bought this book to use to teach a drama class in my homeschool co-op, and I'm so pleased with the fun games and ideas for teaching basic drama concepts. The kids are loving all the games and I think that the games and exercises really spark their creativity.

I never take the time to write reviews for books but I had to for this one! EVERY activity is great--you don't have to search through picking and choosing. I know this will be an invaluable source for me in teaching drama to both elementary and high school students. Thanks to the author for such a great resource!

I purchased this book before I started teaching creative dramatics in Recreation deprtments teaching K-8. It was wonderful. I loved it. I would reccommend it to every teacher (theatre or not) it has wonderful classroom activities.

I love how all of the different skills are addressed in separate sections of the book. There are many, many games and tasks included in each so the variety never ends. I use this book as a warm up during the first couple of drama sessions and then as a filler when I think that the kids have had enough "serious" rehearsal time and need to let loose. Pair up this book with a play or set of plays and you are set to go with any group.

There is a real scarcity of instructional golf books for lefties. I bought this book for my lefty wife and she loves it. The only thing that could be better would be a lefty golf book for women.

The book really helped me understand what is right about my golf swing and I like his simple teaching methods as I read through the rest of the book. I now take lessons from Steve which has really given me the correct foundaion to build a proper swing on. I have given this book as gifts and even though I am left handed (which less than 8% are, he can work his magic on the right hander also.) I highly recommend the book and if you live in the area go get some lessons.

Being a left-hander and a begining golfer, this book taught me several things to do to improve my game the first time I read it.

My husband who is right handed and an experienced golfer also improved his golf game. He passed on some of the information to his friend who is also a right handed golfer.

Received this book on a Monday and had to play in a tournament the very next day. After reading just the first 40 pages it became clear the mistakes I was making. Before the tournament I went to the driving range and practiced what I had read and just like that I was hitting the straightest shots I've ever hit. I can't wait to read the rest of it and watch the strokes disappear!! I applaud Steve Anderson for writing a book for lefties and I agree with him that lefties are still being left behind in the area of equipment. The golf stores around here offer very little in the way of equipment for us.

I have just recently completed 8 lessons with Steve Anderson and as part of his instrucution I was given his book. Steve
could not be any clearer about the golf swing than he is
within "On the Other Hand". This book shows you everything that is needed to build a solid golf swing. I am a 16 handicap and after being down in Flordia the last 5 weeks and studying under
Steve, I have had the 2 best rounds of my career in tournaments
82 - 86 . I have no one other than Steve to thank fo that. Buy the book, and more importantly get down here and take a lesson with him !!! The great thing is that Steve's instruction follows the book word for word, so even if you don't get a chance to come down and work on your swing in person, you can be guaranteed to feel like you're "almost there" when reading his book. THANKS STEVE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you are a guy or gal who was born before 1950 and enjoy the game of baseball then Phillip Hoose's "Perfect, Once Removed" should be right up your alley. Author Phil Hoose had just moved to Speedway, Indiana with his mom and dad in late 1955. He was eight years old and having an awfully hard time adjusting to his new school and making friends. To make matters worse, no one had ever taught young Phil how to play baseball. He had never swung a bat or even had an opportunity to play catch! Kids being kids, they jumped all over Phil in gym class and at the playground after school. Phil was completely miserable until one day his mom casually mentioned that his dad's cousin pitched for the New York Yankees. And so Phil Hoose took it upon himself to write to his dad's cousin Don Larsen and ask for some advice. A short time later Phil received a postcard from Don Larsen that would literally change his life forever.
It is always wonderful to read a story like the one portrayed in "Perfect, Once Removed". Sometimes we never realize how such a simple act of kindness can impact someone so much. But Don Larsen not only sent that postcard but he also arranged for Phil and his parents to attend a Yankees--White Sox game at Commiskey Park. While in Chicago Phil had an opportunity to meet several of the Yankee players at the hotel where they were staying. It was an experience that would make him a baseball addict for life. It turns out that as usual the New York Yankees under legendary manager Casey Stengel would win the 1956 American League pennant. This time their opponents in the World Series would be their crosstown rivals the Brooklyn Dodgers. And in Game Five on a Monday afternoon in October Don Larsen would make World Series history! Due to the heroics of his cousin, once removed, Phil Hoose was suddenly the BMOC (big man on campus) at school. Quite a turnaround in just 6 or 7 months!
If I had to pick one adjective to describe "Perfect, Once Removed" it would have to be "charming". That may sound odd for a book about sports but I think the term fits here perfectly. For this book is so much more than a book about a perfect game. It is also a real period piece. For those old enough to recall those days it will bring back a flood of fond memories. I found "Perfect, Once Removed" to be a great change of pace from the much more serious fare that I ordinarily read. A great book to read while lounging at the beach or relaxing by the pool. This is an extremely well written and thoroughly enjoyable book that is am very pleased to recommend.

Anyone who grew up loving baseball needs to read this book. It perfectly captures the romance of the game from the perspective of a 9-year-old, back when 9-year-olds lived and breathed baseball. Five stars!

Served well by its brevity and the honesty of its recollections, Hoose's memoir is a perfect accompaniment as you follow your team through another spring training, because it's not so much about the team or the players as it is about your own hopes.

A great book really hitting the emotions of one's childhood growing up around baseball. A wonderfully written book and a very easy read. It is so much more than just the history of baseball's greatest pitched game. A very special book!

With ease and skill, Phillip Hoose recalls his childhood days when baseball ruled his world, consuming his thoughts during the school day, and consuming his play time at night. Hoose chronicles his childhood, from his family's move to the center of the racing world, Speedway, Indiana to his discovery of the great game of baseball, to his relationship with distant cousin Don Larsen, a Yankee great.

The book is an exceptional tale of baseball, and the effect it truly has on so many of our nation's youth. From his intense, yet usually fruitless baseball practice sessions to his late night attempts at finding a signal for a baseball game, Hoose adds a personal touch to the greatest game in the world. His personal touch, then, is what makes this book so special. In an age where baseball is struggling to keep a clean image, amidst steroid use and huge salary contracts, Hoose takes the reader back to the magic of the game. Hoose accomplishes what all good books should do, he transports us into another time, and another place: our youth, and our neighborhood. He reminds us, the kid in us, the joy it felt to first pick up a ball and bat, and the disappointment we felt when we lost our neighborhood pick-up game.

A refreshing and inspirational tale, Hoose's book should not be missed by even the casual baseball fan. Hoose's writing establishes a deep connection between baseball and life, and lessons which each can learn from the other. His tale is one of up's and downs, triumphs and heartaches. Through it all, however, Hoose maintains a sense of hope for life and a sense of love for the game. This hope is what propelled so many of our own baseball dreams, and it is what helps make Hoose's book a truly wonderful read.

No other shooting book compares! Brian provides a fundamentally different approach to improving your shooting speed and accuracy. This book goes way beyond the fundamentals of shooting including grip, stance, trigger control and sight picture (although he provides excellent pointers on these concepts). This book will take you to a new level of shooting, well beyond what you may have thought possible, and you will do it with a new way of thinking about shooting.

This is an outstanding book by a shooting master, it improved my skills a great deal. Its so good, I've referred to it several times. What impresses me is he gives you the tools, but yet he encourages the reader to even grow beyond what is given.

This book is initially difficult to read; I enjoy challenges. Especially mental ones and Brian will challenge you to challenge Self. NO book approaches shooting in a more cerebral way. Well, that's not true because he'll move you beyond Thinking about what it is you wish to do and simply Doing it without the Mind "thinking" away and slowing you down.

I cannot possibly over sell this book (just like Surgical Speed Shooting) and I push the book to all shooters who fancy themselves as "serious" about competition or life skills with a pistol.

I find the book difficult to put down now and reading it is "a breeze" once you get to the point that you've internalized his definitions. I rather enjoy studying the Mind so it took a day or two before all fell into place and I breezed through it after that. In fact, I breeze through it twice a year. It's one part of my "shooting bible" which must be studied dutifully.

If you decide you don't like his book I'll buy it from you and cover the shipping. It's that good. I don't think you'll find a better endorsement than that. I'll add it to the other three copies - two of which are worn out...

I've shot with Mr. Enos (hell I even beat him once, with a ton of luck), and I kinda grew up with him as a shooting guide. This book should be called "Practical Shooting: The Bible." It covers the fundamentals early on, and no not the fundamentals such as how to grip the gun or how to draw, but how to *think* and *view* shooting through your awareness and thought processes. This is the major difference between Enos and all the other greats, even TGO himself. Enos knows how to *think* shooting, and this book helps you get there too. I would recommend it to the D class shooter just getting started, the C class working on moving on up, or the M looking to perfect the art.

I'm picking it up just to refresh my skills, it's one you can read every few years and still learn something from it.

I bought a bunch of books on shooting recently. None of them came close to this one. Thanks to Brian's suggestions, I improved so rapidly it was scary. GET THIS BOOK and you'll see what I mean!