Sports and Recreation Books

Active spots participants and athletes may know full well how important nutrition is; but where does one gain information on making a range of healthy choices from grocery stores and drive-throughs to restaurants? Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook is in its 4th updated edition covering everything - including the latest sports nutrition research on supplements, energy drinks and organic foods. Chapters review fueling before and during exercise, discuss losing weight without starving, and review all food options. Any library catering to athletes or exercisers will find it an important reference.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Whether you are trying to loose weight, gain weight or try to grow bigger muscles, this book has certainly many nutirition tips for you. "Fueling your body" concept changed my nutrition habits and now I have more energy during the day and exercises, eat more food that I like and it is now much easier for me to preserve the body image that I want.

I am very happy with this book. This book is very complete and really well organized. It was recommended to me by both my personal trainer and my Cycle class instructor (also a personal trainer). I am not an athlete but I do an hour or two of fitness work nearly every day at the gym. I was glad to see lots of information for my level of fitness and as well as my fitness program. Book discusses not just what to eat but how much, and ratios, and the whys of each. I think this book is useful and helpful no matter how little or how great your level of sports and fitness activity.

This book is very informative and explains nutrition in a way that is easy to understand. It has great tips and it helped me to balance my exercise routine and eating pattern. This book is great for a serious athlete to a casual exerciser and I would highly recommend everyone who wants to obtain knowledge about a healthy lifestyle to read this book.

I recommend this book to everyone. Although Nancy Clark calls it a Sport's Nutrition Guidebook, this is really a guide on the way everybody should eat in order to be healthy. She begins by giving general guidelines on what eating every day should be like. She explains why everything is important: carbs, protein, fat, sugar, dairy. Then she goes on to explain what it is each of these types of food does in the body and how and why we should eat them. She also explains how to eat and when to eat. It is an extremely detailed book where you get a whole new outlook on food. There's also some great chapters with recipes.

This book is very informative and easy to use. Best Taekwondo book I've read so far. A+

I have purchased many books from Amazon and have never left a review. I feel compelled to write on this textbook because it is an extraordinarily well written and has fleshed out in my mind the history, principles and practice of taekwondo.

All of the important fundamentals are here, with concisely rendered figures of the stances, strikes, blocks, kicks, footwork etc. What is most helpful to my children especially the poomse sections. All of the taegeuk forms are here with explanations and review sections with schematic figures of the patterns. This book is essential for any age taekwondo practitioner.

I was looking for a book that has all the forms with pictures. I also wanted an explanation of the kicks, stances and so forth so that I could practice at home in between my TKD classes.

This book contained all this and much more. Extremely comprehensive reference book if you are serious about TKD. I am 100% satisfied with this excellent book!

I also recommend "Ultimate Flexibility" by Kim if you want to learn the proper way to stretch and extend the range of your kicks. Ki-Yup!!

I've found this a really good book. It covers basic techniques and stepping in enough detail to be really useful, then moves on the descibe the forms in three different ways - a text description with notes on specific moves, a description using drawings, and a quick summary of the moves involved. And it includes information on sparring. I own three or four other books dedicated to different aspects of Taekwondo, but this is the one I use 90% of the time.

The only problem I had was with a couple of pages becoming detached, but this was probably from me having it open in my hand while I practiced!

Being a 4th Dan black belt in Tae Kwon Do, I tend to really dissect books on the subject and more than likely also tend to be more critical of the subject matter than perhaps I ought to. However, in this particular case, I feel that my very critical outlook on this book is actually a good thing, as this book far surpassed my expectations as an overall reference guide to Tae Kwon Do.

I was very impressed with the wealth of general information that was provided by the authors in this book. It was very well thought out and the organization of the material presented was exceptional. This book was so well done, that I even decided to hang onto it and keep it in my own personal library of martial arts book. It is that good!

The basic layout of the books starts with a brief but very informative look at the history and philosophy of Tae Kwon Do from ancient times to the more modern era. This is quickly followed up by a section on warming up and stretching, which brings up the one item that is usually a detractor when not used, but in this case it has been minimized by the use of well drawn human figures, and that is the lack of photographs in this book. Now I don't mean to say that there aren't enough photographs, I mean that there aren't any photographs at all in this book. Now under normal circumstances this would have been a HUGE detractor, but in this case it ends up being only a minor annoyance. At least that is how I looked at it.

The author's chose instead to provide some very well done drawings of a human figure to demonstrate the various techniques explained in this book. And though I still believe that photographs would have been helpful, the drawings themselves were done well enough that I considered them, for the most part, to be an acceptable substitute.

The next few sections cover some basic techniques in Tae Kwon Do such as; stances, footwork, blocks, strikes, and kicks. Of which, the following kicks were demonstrated:

Front Kick (Achieving Kicking Excellence, Vol. 6)
Axe Kick (Achieving Kicking Excellence, Vol. 3)
Crescent Kick (Achieving Kicking Excellence, Vol. 4)
Reverse Crescent Kick (Achieving Kicking Excellence, Vol. 5)
Roundhouse Kick (Achieving Kicking Excellence, Vol. 9)
Side Kick (Achieving Kicking Excellence, Vol. 10)
Back Kick (Achieving Kicking Excellence, Vol. 1)
Hook Kick (Achieving Kicking Excellence, Vol. 7)

Now I must add a particular note here that all of these techniques came with very good explanations to their proper execution and in some cases applications against an actual opponent. A lot of good relevant information was included in this section, as well as, the rest of the book.

The second to the last section of this book was very well done concerning the use of Tae Kwon Do techniques in a sparring type situation. Although I might add that some of it is also relevant to use in a self-defense type situation with just a bit of modification.

The final section in this book is devoted to the eight basic Taegeuk poomse or forms that are required for advancement through the gup ranks and also for the rank of black belt. Now I must admit that I am not a fan of the Taegeuk forms, but they are demonstrated rather well in this book and if you are looking for good reference material to refer to, then this section will definitely be of interest to you.

Overall this is really an outstanding book and one that I highly recommend.

Shawn Kovacich
Martial Artist/Author of the Achieving Kicking Excellence series.

A wonderful horse story! The plot was a bit far-fetched, but it was still an amazing read. A classic girl-and-her-horse story. I really loved it! I wouldn't reccommend it to readers much under eleven, as they might not fully understand it. However, Peyton's work is so excellant, that I should think adults might love it too! Destined to be a classic, Blind Beauty has earned a spot among such giants as Misty of Chincoteague and Black Beauty.

This book is called Blind Beauty by K. M. Peyton. This book is about a girl named Tessa who, when she was young went with her mom to live in England. By taking Tessa away, Tessa's mother separated Tessa from her drinking father and horse Shiner. Being separated from Shiner made Tessa so upset that no one could cheer her up and she started smoking and doing terribly in school on purpose. Tessa and her new stepfather hate each other. Her stepfather sends Tessa off to work at Sparrow Wyck after being expelled again from school. There she meets Buffoon, Shiner's baby, that Tessa will do anything to be with. Shiner gave birth to Buffoon in Tessa's Dad's stable, but Buffoon was ugly, so eventually he was sold at an auction and then taken to England where Tessa finds him. Tessa rides Buffoon and shows everyone that he has talent to race long distance races and isn't lazy all the time. Then she meets Tom, another jockey who agrees to ride Buffoon and can get Buffoon to do his best. Tessa really likes Tom and looks up to him. That's when things get worse and Tessa's stepfather ruins Buffoon's chance of winning the Grand National by stealing Buffoon's buddy Lucky. Tessa stabs her stepfather and is sent away to a rehabilitation place. While she is gone Buffoon is sold and Tessa doesn't want to get better. So now Tessa has to somehow shape up and find Buffoon. Read the book to find out what happens!
I thought that this book was good. I liked how there was always something exciting going on in each chapter that made it hard to put the book down. It often felt like I was Tessa, angry at her stepfather or talking to Buffoon. The main conflict kept me interested in finishing the book to see how everything turned out. The main character, Tessa, had a rough beginning which explained some of her behavior for most of the book. By the end she had grown up a little bit more and had figured out who she wanted to be and what she wanted to do. The characters were so realistic that they could just pop out of the book and be in real life. I think that this book could be made into a movie it was a really good story. The beginning was really quick in getting into what was happening and what was going on, so it didn't take too much time explaining stuff. I also liked the ending, it was just the way that I thought that it should turn out.
K. M. Peyton wrote the book like it was in Tessa's mind. The book had what Tessa was thinking most of the time but every now and then it had what one of the other characters was thinking about Tessa or what was going on. K. M. Peyton had a few tough words but otherwise there weren't many difficult vocabulary words. The author would end every chapter with a statement that made you want to read on to the next chapter and made it difficult to put the book down. The author also described every new thing entering the book so that you could picture it clearly. The dialogue in the story went smoothly with what was going on and the mood of the current situation in the book. The tone was upset, angry or cold a lot but there were some happy and a lot of exciting parts. I really liked how the author kept the book moving at a nice pace and didn't slow it down with too many descriptions. I've read a couple of books where the author explains and describes to much that the reader loses interest.
I would rate this book at a seven out of ten compared to other books I have read. The book was good and well written but it wasn't as exciting or page turning as others that I have read. It also didn't have as an exciting plot and climax as other books I have read. I would recommend this book to people who like horses and are over the age of eleven. Younger children might not understand some of the things that happen in the book and people not interested in horses might get bored with the book or not understand some parts.
I thought that this was a good book. Some parts were heartwarming while other parts were disastrous. It was weird how nobody could get through to Tessa except for Tom and how Tessa looked up to him of all people. Also, I think It was weird how Tessa's father didn't try to help or find Tessa after seeing her at one of the races. He did get drunk a lot but he still should have a least visited Tessa. This book was also kind of emotional because of Tessa changing out of her old ways and people getting hurt. I liked how Tessa liked Buffoon and Shiner not because they were pretty (which they weren't) but because of their personalities. Overall I think the book was very well written and exciting to read. If you want to read a book on horses then you should read Blind Beauty.

When I first picked up Blind Beauty, a book by K M Peyton, I wasn't expecting much of it, it was just going to be another silly horse book I'd read to pass the time. I couldn't have been any more wrong. Blind Beauty is a story of a girl and a horse that don't fit in and have troubled lives. They find each other by destiny, and develop an undying bond of love. The girl, Tessa, has always loved horses, and finds peace and serenity in riding her cherished horse, Buffoon, through the rolling green hills of a steeplechase farm called Sparrows Wyck. Through experience, she becomes a skilled rider and begins to dream of riding in the Grand National. Blind Beauty is a story of love, hope, and dreams that stay true through whatever life throws at you, and I highly recommend it.
By Maggie

from the glossy, smooth cover and beuatiful illustration, to it's descriptive words, everything about this book is perfect. Now, I know that there is no such thing as a perfect book, but while reading this, i realize, there is. As i am writing, I am holding this wonderful book in my hand. I am in the middle right now, so am not fully done with it yet, but i can already tell that this is going to be one of my favorites. I HIGHLY!!!!!!!!!! reccomend this book to all people, horse lovers or just book luvers!!!

HURRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!You simply MUST read this book! So quickly, gallop over to your favorite bookstore, and don't whinny if it's not in stock, you can order it on amazon! Once you are done reading it, you will simply neigh with happiness!!!!!

I was expecting some good, useful information from this book. Oh yes, it has that and much more, with an eye toward stout, functional and practical boats and building methods. What surprised me was the wit and excellent humor while the author spins the occasional yarm or tale about this or that method and why he will or will not use them, a few sea stories and history through his eyes. Hillarious, informative and immensely practical. I'd have it on my shelf even if I never touched a boat.

RadioRay ..._ ._
s/v Milenka
Virginia - USA

Buehler's Backyard Boatbuilding is a magnificent guide to thinking about the craft of boatbuilding, and a paen to the days of self sufficiency. There's a gleeful contrarian bent to this book, and Buehler's muscular 'sticktoitiveness' is nothing short of infectious. Halfway through the book I was levitating off the couch shouting, "You gotta believe!"

Buehler is a delightful pain in the arse. He recounts the various sins of modern boat designers, who, in the pursuit of creating a "boat for everybody" succeed in designing breakdown-prone 'hangar queens' that cost a fortune and satisfy very few. Buehler believes in designing them stone-simple and rock-solid. In his engine spaces you will actually have space to replace a secondary fuel filter in a seaway--try that in a modern production boat! A Buehler boat is built around the people (usually a couple) who will actually sail and use it. Buehler has harsh words for designers who compromise their interior spaces to fit around the visiting Hendersons and Joneses.

His designs, by his own admission, lack polish. I would more charitably say that he asks prospective builders to re-imagine polish. Yes, he uses loads of plywood and hot-dipped galvanized steel and home-grade lumber. This isn't "polished" in the traditional sense. But it does harken to the days of wooden ships that got their crews of iron men home safe in greasy weather, fresh winds, and foul tides. Survivability, maintainability, mean times between failure--those are elements of performance. Performance is its own polish!

I can't recommend Buehler enough. I've read and re-read this book and it's fueled more than one fantasy boat. For my money, this is the best money you can spend. Even if you don't buy into his particular designs, you'll be armed with a whole new attitude and know what to look for when you build someone else's boat.

The content of "Buehler's Backyard Boatbuilding" provides a structured, step by step, method for the construction of a single-chine workboat. The construction methods tend to focus on less expensive materials and methods for builders with relatively little experience. It effectively outlines virtually all elements of construction, from laying a keel and casting a concrete ballast, to rigging and wiring. The book provides an extremely important reference material to any boat builder; even, to a lesser extent, those constructing round-bilge boats. With a multitude of pros, excellently identified in the other reviews posted here, I will address some of the shortcomings I encountered with the materials.

Mr. Buehler included an in-depth treatment of concrete cast ballasts, however, he did not introduce other techniques, namely lead casting, in any significant detail. For the majority of his designs and builders, concrete ballasts work just fine, however, this may not carry through for some builders, other non-Buehler designs, and those using this book as a reference material.

I noted a few examples of his boats posted for sale and noted, as pointed out in other posts, that the boats do not appear to sell for much more than the cost of their materials. While you should not expect a valuable yacht quality result, their design employs massive timbers and does produce an extremely sturdy vessel.

He addresses the lofting process in an incredibly simple and brief manner. It provides an excellent introduction to the process and, unlike most other treatments, won't scare a first time builder. Unfortunately, the description does leave out a lot of advanced techniques. For the projection of the transom, frame curves, and bearding lines, etc. turn to Howard Chapelle's more difficult treatment in "Boatbuilding", as Mr. Buehler suggests.

The single most significant shortcoming I find in Mr. Buehler's work involves the exclusion of smaller boats. He includes plans for a 28' and 35.5' cutter, a 43' schooner, a 42' marconi cutter, 34' basic powerboat, 30.333' powerboat, 50' 3 or 1 mast sailboat, and finally a 55.333' powerboat.

He provides excellent and complete, although small, plans for all of these vessels; an outstanding value. Unfortunately, many builders turn to Mr. Buehler's book for a simple and straightforward construction method because of amateur/intermediate experience. The large boat designs frequently run directly counter to this. While Mr. Buehler does an excellent job of encouraging builders, many newer builders cannot justify an expenditure of several thousands of dollars on something without near certain success. A simple remedy for this would include a simple 15-20' design, allowing builders to hone their skills and make their mistakes on something far less expensive.

This said, he does include a full set of building plans, complete enough for a first time builder, for the "Happy Camper of Pogo Pogo" a beautiful 16' schooner on his site. Unfortunately, a recent, massive increase in their price, from $195 to $395, will likely place them out of reach of many first time builders.

While I focused primarily on the few shortcomings in "Buehler's Backyard Boatbuilding", I believe that all, but the most advanced builders will find the information invaluable. The inability to find lower priced plans for a 15-20', chine, heavy displacement boat might force a newer boatbuilder to some of the instant, keel-less, light displacement boat designs promoted by Harold Payson and, in particular, Jim Michalak.

This book is just what it says a book on building a boat at home yourself. If your interested in building a boat you need this book. He directs most of this book towards large boats 30 to 60 feet but you can apply alot of this to smaller craft. He explains how you can build cheap and substitue materials to save money.

This is fine reading and a must for all considering building your own boat. As we say in the Elevator Trade, "That man know more tricks than a two-dollar ho!", ho ho Merry Christmas. Book is full of useful info and the book list in back is also how I found Harold "Dynamite" Payson's book 'Boat Modeling'...for building small versions from any plans using real boat building techniques. Buehler is a winner.

I recommend this as a reference for anyone interested in Iaido/Iaijutsu. One word of caution, though: there's many schools of Iaido, so some of the material presented herein will or will not apply to your particular school. However, the background and philosophy material are applicable throughout.

It is a great reference for anyone who wants to learn about martial arts history, bushido or start in Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iaijutsu. Highly recommended!

...Let's face it everyone. You are not going to learn the kata from this book. The book is helpful for remembering them by Name and by Bunkai, helping you keep the cirriculum sorted out in your head, but to learn the kata correctly you will need instruction from a sensei. If there is no chance of instruction, like no dojo within a long distance, I recommend all you self-teachers purchase the MJER videos from the 'Sei Do Kai online catalog'. These are the best videos on MJER I've ever seen, with superbly detailed demonstrations and bunkai. Without the demonstrations and descriptions by a teacher on a video like that, you have no hope of gaining even mediocre mastery of the system without personal instruction.

For those who are recieving instruction the book is perfect, since the kata descriptions are mostly for reflection after being taught firsthand. As mentioned by the other reviewers, the best aspects of Flashing Steel are the Philosophy section and the Kihon. These will help you learn the purpose and fundamentals of Iaijutsu, but for the kata, this or any other book will always be insufficient on their own.

I give the book five stars because it is definitely a great read and reference, but don't buy this thinking it is all you need to master Iaijutsu. Too many people make that mistake. Just look at YouTube.

A well written book with good hints for those who are well qualified in Iaido and just need some very details about the Katas. The book covers all levels and all major Katas. Probably due to size limitations the number of pictures are less than enough to follow in detail the actions. The posing helping staff in the pictures are beginners which greatly hinder the understanding of the real meaning of the bunkai (applications).

If you are, or ever have been interested in the art of samurai sword fighting, this book is definately for you! It has great introductory chapters discussing the samurai/eishin-ryu-jutsu philosophy and way of life, as well as excellent instruction on cutting techniques. It gives you a new respect and outlook on life, and teaches you to truly respect your katana; if, in fact you have one; as an entity of its own, as well as an extension of yourself. If you have ever been interested in samurai swordsmanship, BUY THIS BOOK!!!!

When it comes to martial arts, kendo is my second choice after karate. If you plan to enter a kendo dojo, read this book first. It introduces you to the world of this great art and makes you want to practice it even more. I recommend you the both: to read the book and to perform the art.

Anticipating the start of Kendo classes, I ordered this book to get an overview of what to expect, what to do, and how to do them. The book is well translated by Angela Turzynski, and makes for a quick, easy read. Segmenting the chapters into snippets is perfect for one studying, and not looking to get an overly drawn-out explanation of procedure and custom.

Not looking to memorize the entire book, I went through the book rather quickly to pick up the basics and have a small understanding for the first lesson. Upon entering the class, after the first practice the sensei asked me if I had studied Kendo before, which I had not. I attribute this compliment to "Kendo-The definitive guide". When I learn something new, I can also come back to the book and review in more detail what the move entails without having to drag the class down with questions.

In the appendix you can even study scoring, refereeing, terminology, and get a list of Kendo associations near you.

The book has good illustrations to show you the different strikes and the katas for Kendo. This is a good suppliment for any new student to help review what they learned in the dojo. It is also good for experts to have the names of the techniques and the rules for the tournaments. The book is a complete guide. The Heart of Kendo and Kendo: Elements, Rules and Philosophy is good if you want to know the history of Kendo.

This guide is a must have for any kendoka, with correct and up-to-date information on the IJKF rules, techniques and theory. I highly recomend it.

but still a very good guide yes... i have very much intrest in kendo but don't have the chance to do it here... no clubs near or far... i do iaido that is... and i can imagine how it must be...


but then again, i can not really tell if it's a good book for people with years of experience...

Nice, colorful, easy to read and has 40!!! stickers, which are the most important part after the kid reads the book. Organized in one full book.

I have recommended these books to all of my friends. They have helped my 4-year-old (born October) read and he LOVES to read them every day, twice a day. He can read sentences with ease like "I want a plane and a crane" or "The hot dog is on a log." In a matter of one month he's learned to read. The stickers offer a great incentive and make it so much fun for him. I have bought these for kids birthday presents (they have enough toys already, right!) and have 5 of them at my home. I wish there were more!

Great for blossoming readers. My kindergartener is really enjoying these funny short books. He loves seeing what happens next as he sounds out new words. My only complaint is that in this series as well as the level 3 the font isn't appropriate for new readers. The "g" is cursive looking & is very confusing. Don't know why that changed from the pre-readers & level 1&2, disappointing.

The best way to expose your child to reading. My daughter reads a couple books on most nights and she has improved dramatically over the past months. She enjoys reading the stories and putting a sticker on each time she does. Every parent that cares about education should get these books for their kids.

I bought this for my 4 yr old after having used the first two sets of Bob Books (scholastic). Now I'm Reading!: Amazing Animals is an excellent next step! Amazing Animals introduces long vowel sounds and vowel pairs (digraphs) in managable chunks.

This set is great for kids who are intimidated by the usual graded learning-to-read books (like Danny and the Dinosaur) or books which rely on the repitition of longer sight words.

Younger readers benefit from these short funny texts with lots of words worthy of sounding out. The illustrations and vibrant colors have kept my dughter enthused through out.

Young children can learn to read too with patience and these great books.

One of my students wrote the following review:
If you are a baseball fan you should read this book. This book is about a kid with a power. He can go back in time. He goes to 1919 to make the White Sox win the World Series by not letting Shoeless Joe Jackson take money. What will happen next?
It was so fun to read it! I couldn't stop reading this book. It is a long book but it is fun when you read it. There are more books that this author wrote about baseball.
-Brian

The book I am reviewing is Shoeless Joe & Me written by Dan Gutman. I think this book deserves five stars because Dan Gutman doesn't stretch the book and he does not rush it. This book is about a boy named Joe Stoshack who can travel through time with baseball cards. The problem in this story is that when Joe had lost a game because of a bad call, he complains to the sponsor of his team, Flip Valetini. He says that it wasn't fair, and Flip tells him about the Black Sox sandal and Joe Jackson. Now he wants to fix it. But the rest... you will have to figure out. I would recommend this book to anyone from 3rd to 5th grade that loves fantasy books.

Shoeless Joe was a fun book to read. It was about baseball. He was a good player but did not have power. I liked this book because it was about baseball. He was a player on the White Sox. The story was in Chicago where Shoeless Joe was a famous baseball player.
The kid in the book went back in time. The boy wanted to meet Shoeless Joe, so he went to the store to buy the card. Then he packed his tooth brush and clothes. Then he went to his room. Then he hugged the card and went back to the past. This was the most exciting part of the book.

Shoeless Joe and Me is one of my favorite books! The book is about a kid who can Time-Travel by using Baseball Cards. He tries to go back in time to stop the Black Sox Scandal. The Black Sox Scandal was when 8 players on the White Sox were tricked by gamblers into losing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds on purpose.

Even if you don't like Baseball, I'm sure you will love this book. I loved it SO much that I couldn't take my face away from the book. I recommend this book to ANYONE, as long as they love a good book. It is part of a series, which include:

Honus and Me
Jackie and Me
Babe and Me
Mickey and Me
Abner and Me
Satch and Me

Haven't you ever wanted to go back in time to prevent something that happened to you? Shoeless Joe Jackson was one of the best baseball players in 1919. His career was destroyed by a gambling scandal. Joe Stoshack was a young boy and he heard about the famous player from a guy named Flip who worked at the baseball card shop he always went to. Flip told Joe that Jackson was not allowed to make the Hall of Fame because of the scandal he was in. Flip gave him Joe Jackson baseball card and the little boy thought to himself what it would be like to go back in time to see what the scandal was all about and even maybe prevent it from happening. He thought if it works in movies then it should work now. The next day Joe Stoshack found himself going back to the 1919's and found Joe Jackson at the stadium. He talked to Joe and asked him to leave the game before it started. He told Joe if he didn't something bad would happen. He told Joe he came back from the future and he knew that if the great Joe Jackson did anything to lose this game, he would never get all the rewards he deserved. He wanted to prevent the "Black Sox Scandal" from happening so Shoeless Joe Jackson could get into the Hall of Fame.
I would rate this book a 5, on a scale of 5, with 5 being the best. Grades 4th and up would love it and its great family story.

Philip Reed's "In Search of the Greatest Golf Swing" reveals his elevating but daunting experience as a student, friend, and biographer of the amazing Mike Austin. Mr. Reed's humbling yet successful quest to learn the keys to super-human drives endured the gauntlet of Mike Austin's piercing, super-energized, indomitable personality. At the age of 64, over 33 years ago during competition, Mr. Austin achieved the still-standing Guinness Book of World Records standard of 515 yards for longest recorded drive. Curiously, until now, Mike Austin was largely ignored in conventional golf history though knowledgeable insiders believe he was a half-century or more ahead in power-golf technique. Philip Reed's documentary has filled a significant gap in our golfing lore. For the dedicated golfer who seeks an honest inside-the-ropes story, "In Search of the Greatest Golf Swing" is a terrific value.

Ostensibly this book is half biography of little-known long driver Mike Austin and half technical discussion of Austin's revolutionary swing, many aspects of which run counter to conventional PGA wisdom. But as the artfully written narrative progresses, a third element emerges as well -- the touching story of the friendship that develops between Austin and author Reed during the writing of the book.

No avid golfer could read this book and fail to feel inspired to work on his or her game (I finished it yesterday and headed straight for the driving range today); some might even want to try out Austin's unorthodox mechanics. Yet there is a human-interest story here as well, the story of a larger-than-life golfing god who smacked a 515-yard drive at age 64 but somehow couldn't putt to save his life; lived it up with Hollywood celebrities and was respected by the best golfers in the world; studied the human anatomy and wore a skeleton suit while giving golf lessons to demonstrate proper body movement; and forged an unlikely friendship with a journalist decades his junior who weathered Austin's steely gruffness until it gave way to genuine respect and affection.

Highly recommended -- not just for golfers, but also for anyone interested in a well-crafted feel-good story about a fascinating man and his iconoclastic genius.

I've just finished reading this book and I have to say it is a great read and is well worth buying.

It is a story of how the author, Philip Reed, sets off to document the world's longest ever drive in a tournament set in 1974 by Mike Austin, and along the way wants to learn enough about this swing so he can transform his own drive of 200 yards into a more manly 300 yards.

The books gets off to a shaky start but I stuck with it. And after a couple of chapters I could no longer put it down. He helped me get to know more about Mike Austin, his history and his achievements.

It made me want to be there in the place of the author since Mike seems like a real character and a throwback to a different age and a different world.

It even gave me a few tips, and some hope, on how I might possibly be able to improve my own swing to give 300 yard drives. Now that would be nice.

Read this and give yourself a pleasant break from all those golf instruction manuals out there while enjoying a good golfing story.

The other reviews say it all - that this is a wonderful book on many different levels. I trust that some day it will be recognized as a sports classic.

I just want to add that Reed's book is an invaluable companion to Dan Shauger's 'The 21st Century Golf Swing'. This latter book has such an odd and uncomfortable style (my opinion only, of course) that it was hard for me to know whether to take the technical parts of it seriously. After reading this fine book it became clear that, yes indeed, you can.

It would be great if Shauger and Reed could collaborate on a second edition of '21st Century...'. I'll put up some front money, if that would help.

This book is absolutely wonderful. I picked it up out of curiosity after learning about Mike Austin's record-breaking achievement (longest drive in professional golf competition history), and ended up being completely drawn into the story. With a straightforward, honest writing style that moves at a nice pace and never gets bogged down, Philip Reed does a masterful job of portraying a complex man filled with both flaws and greatness, who not only achieved a stupendous feat that no one has ever topped, but also lived a fascinating life that plays like a great movie. Reed deftly weaves Austin's story together with his own journey by bringing the reader along with him as he describes his efforts to get to know Mike Austin and learn his swing secrets. He sets out not only to write about Austin, but also to experience for himself the power of Mike Austin's swing, hoping to harness it to achieve a personal goal of hitting the ball 300 yards. As we learn about Austin's amazing life and unmatched golf swing alongside the author, we are simultaneously drawn into a surprisingly touching story of how Reed came to develop a bond of friendship with Austin. Viewed through the lens of Reed's relationship with Austin, we come to understand and truly appreciate Mike Austin at a much deeper level, and also come away with important lessons about life. This is a magnificent book, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

I could not put the book down.....fast reading and great stories and lots of humor.....one heck of a story teller....

Marty Appel served in the Bronx Bombers' public-relations office for nearly nine years, and was the PR director during the tumultuous early George Steinbrenner years (from 1974 to 1977). Appel's "Now Pitching For the Yankees" recalls the turmoil of that period -- and Appel's ability to function under pressure --with wit, a keen eye for detail and sensitivity.

None of the long hours Appel spent at the ballpark, the turmoil he witnessed, or the high-pressure tactics of owner Steinbrenner have dimmed his appreciation for his colleagues and bosses. It comes through in the pages of this warm, often touching memoir.

The boldface names are there -- including Steinbrenner, Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin, Joe DiMaggio and Reggie Jackson -- along with less-famous but pivotal Yankee characters like clubhouse man Pete Sheehy, team execs Michael Burke and Gabe Paul, and Appel's mentor in public relations, Bob Fishel. (It even mentions the writers: Appel's anecdote about one scribe's losing battle with bladder control in Boston is priceless.)

Appel also reflects on his vibrant post-Yankees career, including a bittersweet period with the Atlanta Olympics and a still-thriving stint as a baseball author (subjects include early baseball star King Kelly, former Commissioner Bowie Kuhn and former Yankee captain Thurman Munson).

"Now Pitching for the Yankees" is a good find for anyone who loves baseball, cherishes its history and appreciates the people behind the scenes who make it happen.

As a Red Sox fan, I was ready to read this and get whacked in the face with the hubris usually shown by anything Yankee. I was surprised by the balance shown. Marty Appel knows more about baseball than a lot of people running the game now. He was born about 30 years too late as people like Epsteil, Beane and Riccardi get to run ballclubs, while Mr. Appel 30 years ago had to come up through the ranks with Steinbrenner's Yankees no less. Mr. Appel also wrote an excellent biography on one of the first superstarts of baseball back in the 1800's--King Kelly. I recommend both books highly.

Only if you really know your New York sports would you realize that Marty Appel's in a much more unique position to write a tell-all book about the 1970s Yankees than many other athletes. During his progression over 10 years from Yankees' fan-mail gopher during the Horace Clarke years, to PR director during the 1976 World Series, Appel had once-in-a-lifetime encounters (with the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Mike Burke, Gabe Paul, George Steinbrenner and ... Oscar Gamble) every single day.

"Now Pitching...", finally out in paperback, shows Appel's origins as a Yankees fan when everyone else was rooting for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and how he turned his love for the game into a career (when everyone else was watching the NFL). Most of the book covers the Yankees from 1968 to 1976, Appel's reign. Although many of the stories are familiar to baseball readers from what seems like 100 other books, only Appel is giving you the inside view. Nowhere else will you get such insider detail about Oscar Gamble's infamous haircut, Sparky Lyle's theme music, or George Steinbrenner's management style.

The book flags a little -- only a little -- when Appel leaves the Yankees and makes his mark in other ventures, such as team tennis and local NYC broadcasting. The most interesting part focusses on Appel's brief fish-out-of-water turn with the 1996 Atlanta Olympics organizers.

Marty Appel's been a very lucky guy -- who else gets to be friends with both Mickey Mantle and Billie Jean King? "Now Pitching for the Yankees" is several cuts above your standard baseball autobiography.

Posted 5:49 p.m., December 12, 2001 - Bruce M.
If I may add another book to the list. The best baseball book that I've read this calendar year is Marty Appel's Now Pitching for the Yankees. Marty worked in the Yankees' public relations department from 1968 to 1977, and shares loads of funny and insightful stories about the CBS Yankees and the Yankees of the Steinbrenner Era. The book is well-written, flows smoothly, and strikes me as honest without "hatcheting" people in and around baseball. I'd recommend the book to both Yankee and non-Yankee fans.