Bowling Books

Like anything in coaching, particularly coaching fast bowlers, nothing is the total be end of all. This book, however, provides a valuable resource for coaches learning their way. It adds to the library and gives another interesting point of view to ponder when looking at your own coaching methods. I for one found ti to be a well written and easy to understand book. Well set out, some very good information.

I play league cricket in the USA. After my knee surgery, I have lost the rythm in my bowling, lost pace and spraying the ball around. I have been looking for a book that teaches me not just what to do, but also the mechanics behind it. In that sense, it is the only book available.

Author followed how and why to do every step that constitutes the bowling action, starting from the run up to follow through. I have improved my pace and control within a couple of practice sessions. I recommend this book to every bowler.

One caution is that one may need to read the book again and again to understand it, at least in my case.

It showed the impact of cheerleading and how important it is to our society. It was great how she said it is a true American tradition, and she writes in a clear, coherent, and concise way.

GO! FIGHT! WIN!: CHEERLEADING IN AMERICAN CULTURE by Mary Ellen Hansen gives a brief history of cheerleading in the United States. The book charts the course of cheerleading, an American invention, from its beginning as yell leading in the late 1800s and early 1900s to its present existence as a commercial entity and sport in its own right. Cheerleading itself has changed. How cheerleading has metamorphosed from its clean-cut beginnings (the first cheer leaders were decently-dressed students from the audiences of sports games) to its now shady existence amazes me. Hansen addresses how the first cheerleaders were truly revered as all-around good people and how today the cheerleader stereotype is a dichotomy: a cheerleader can be a "good girl" or a "bad girl." Adding to today's stereotypes of the cheerleader is the contradiction of a moral person whose dress and dance moves are suggestive. Another theme of the book is the demographic shift of cheerleading from being an all-male activity to being a coeducational activity. As Hansen notes, ironically, this coeducationality of cheerleading has not made cheerleading a sport that equally reveres men and women: cheerleading merely plays out the gender inequities that still exist in American society.

I am the granddaughter of Henry Brunk. He reared me from the age of twelve until high school graduation. The other review was inaccurate in those who are remaining. I did travel with him some during the summer when not in boarding school.

I have read the book and it is accurate and very interesting to anyone who has an interest in vaudeville and the travelling theatres of the early 1900's. Mr. Brunk also worked with Ringling Brothers after his travelling show was discontinued.

I am the grandson of H.L.Brunk and have had some experiences on the show as a youth and as yet I have not been able to view the book. Both Hank and Mercedees are now both deceased only his daughter myself and and two sons remain...also heard some stories from my grandmom on some of the funny things that happened...

The one thing I can recommend about this book is that it is a quick read. I finished it in one afternoon and was able to get enough information out of it to make it worth my time. However, you sometimes wish a little more was put into the book which seems more a collection of essays then anything else. The same ideas are reintroduced in every chapter and too much psychoanalysis is being used that doesn't seem strongly supported by the cinematic examples. However, I learned a lot which is why I'll give it the four stars. The author provides a generic basis by which to look at science-fiction film of the 50s (such as a fear of radiation, of the scientists who were now denouncing the bomb, and the fear of the bomb being used against us). I also like that the author doesn't ramble on. Even though she could have been more specific and concrete in her analysis, the book is only 100 pages instead of say 200 or 300 (which is sometimes the case). What would have been nice however is a concluding chapter on how other countries portrayed the bomb and how it compared to America's (such as Japan).

The science fiction films of the 1950s showcase the cultural paranoia characterizing the American populace of that cold war tension fraught decade. Pervasive fears born of the possibility of nuclear warfare were triggered by the discover and use of nuclear weapons during World War II and the movies, as with all other aspects of American culture, reflecting the feelings, fears, and prejudices of the time. In Paranoia, The Bomb And 1950s Science Fiction Films, Cyndy Hendershot provides both a theoretical discussion of paranoia and close readings of science fiction films in order to convey and explain a society forever altered by the advent and reality of the atomic bomb. Within their paranoic cinematic worlds, these films reveal that the only way the Atomic Age makes sense is through a skewed perception of the world because only within paranoic logic can radiation contamination, nuclear war, and concepts like "mutually assured destruction" and other post war ills make any political, social, or cultural logic. Paranoia, The Bomb And 1950s Science Fiction Films is highly recommended for scifi fans, and students of American popular culture and cinematic history.

I have read this book from front to back their is a lot of information that I didn't even know. Specially growing up in a bowling family. Doug informed a lot of history in this book. I am glad he covered a lot. If you look in the back of the book he even have bowling centers from the Milwaukee area listed with all the different names. I was happy that he mention the three guys who shot a 900 series which included my brother PJ. This is a must read book.

Although I have not yet read my copy, I have heard the author interviewed on Wisconsin Public Radio. If his writing is as informative and light as his conversation, this "history" of Germans in Milwaukee and the evolvement of bowling as we know it today will be a great read.

I am currently enrolled in American Society and this is the corresponding textbook. After reading some is its chapters, Putnam seems to contradict himself at the end. How can you make sense of his work, interviews, experiments, and outlined research if is objective to his own views?

It's rather drier and more academic than I'd hoped for, though terrifically erudite. It's enormous too. A fascinating subject, and a very important book, but hard to sustain an interest in. Suited to the more academic reader.

I admit I didn't finish the book. I was bored by much of it and read parts here and there. But what I looked for and didn't find was what seems to me to be obvious...We're less social because we're more mobile. Corporations shuttle families around the nation so rapidly that after a few generations of this nobody is really part of any community anymore, they're just living/working/earning there. Nobody you grew up with lives near you. You have no reputation to protect. We're a nation of strangers. I think it's less important that people join formal groups and more important that they actually know each other and relate in a way that indicates that the relationship is permanent. But in our mobile society it's not permanent.

I know from being displaced myself that when you move to a new area you don't expect to be in long, you simply do not care about it in the same way as "home". And related to that, the inhabitants there sure do not care for you!

I agree with another review that overcrowding and urbanization may be a part of the problem too. If you're constantly having to deal with crowding on roads and in shops and at events, you may just prefer a nice basement media room to sitting on the porch chatting up neighbors.

Also, if you know you're living with people for the next 40 years, your attitude toward them is quite different than if you're just a transient in their lives for the next year or so. Till you either change jobs, move to another suburb, or retire to where you really want to live. Corporations' needs for workers in different cities force us to either choose financial security or social stability. There is little effort given to ensuring workers can have a career in one city anymore. Even fractional advantages in costs/etc will cause companies to move hundreds of workers. I've been affected by it.

Overall, a very disappointing book that had a good premise but came to the wrong conclusions.

Robert D. Putnam's BOWLING ALONE provides what is, arguably, the most robust scientific treatment in a single volume of the conversation about friendship and its benefits begun by Aristotle nearly twenty-four centuries ago, a conversation about what has now come to be called "social capital" :

"...how can prosperity be guarded and preserved without friends...And in poverty and in other misfortunes men think friends are the only refuge. It helps the young, too, to keep them from error; it aids older people by ministering to their needs and supplementing the activities that are failing from weakness; those in the prime of life it stimulates to noble action." [And,] "Friendship seems too to hold states together..." (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics).

No less importantly than this Aristotelian connection, Putnam joins earlier 20th Century writers to enlarge Adam Smith's emphasis on the productive effects of `capital.' Smith wrote:

...the produce of a man's own labour can supply but a very small part of his occasional wants. The far greater part of them are supplied by the produce of other men's labour, which he purchases...with the price of the produce of his own...A stock of goods of different kinds, therefore, must be stored up somewhere sufficient to maintain him, and to supply him with the materials and tools of his work... (Introduction to Book II, Wealth of Nations)

BOWLING ALONE demonstrates how this "stock of goods" including the effects of friendship, reciprocity, sympathy, trust, and integrity, become the "materials and tools" fundamental to the health of the community. Thus, emphasizing the productive nature of affiliation, social capital - a smile, a kind word, a helping hand, group participation - gets "saved," in our rolodexes or their hippocampal versions, to be used advantageously another day. Here one notes that, though little emphasized by most contemporary cheerleaders for unfettered Capitalism, Adam Smith, too, emphasized sympathy, rather than petty selfishness, as one of Capitalism's essential ingredients.

Putnam provides a vast array of empirical data documenting the productive effects of friendship and communal action on politics (Chap. 2), community involvement (Chap. 3), religious participation (Chap. 4), workplace association (Chap. 5), informal social activity (Chap. 6) and altruistic activity (Chap. 7). In any of these venues, reciprocity, honesty, and trust compose the yeast for productive social activity (Chap. 8).

Putnam's interpretation of the data convincingly indicates that some generations are equaler than others. Over the half-century leading up to the publication of Putnam's book, the combination of television, suburbanization, the changing nature of work, have been factors in the dwindling of our social "goods." But most significantly, shifts in generational norms (Chaps. 10-15), have resulted in "anticivic contagion," the substantial decline in the activities that generate social capital (Chaps. 2-8), though there are exceptions (Chap. 9). In astonishing geographic detail, Putnam graphs (Figures 80-89) the correlations between social capital and its deficits in American community life, public affairs, volunteerism, sociability and trust (Chaps. 16). These are tied quite demonstrably to costs for education and children's welfare (Chap. 17), safe and productive neighborhoods (Chap. 18), economic prosperity (Chap. 19), health and happiness (Chap 20), and participatory democracy (Chap. 21). In the last two chapters (Chaps. 23, 24) he details what might be done to replenish social capital and "walking the walk" has introduced websites and seminars promoting social capital under the auspices of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Putnam recognizes other earlier uses of the phrase "social capital" with varying degrees of specificity, tracing its earliest use to L. J. Hanifan, a state superintendent of rural schools in 1916:

"good will, fellowship, sympathy, and social intercourse...[result in] an accumulation of social capital which may immediately satisfy [the individuals] needs and which may bear a social potentiality sufficient to the substantial improvement of living conditions in the whole community."

Others who have used the phrase include Jane Jacobs, who applied it to the health of neighborhoods (The Death and Life of Great American Cities, 1961), and Pierre Bourdieu who emphasized it in the contexts of social competition (The forms of capital. In: John G. Richardson (ed.): Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. New York: Greenwood Press 1986). But, Putnam goes further than any earlier writer, applying the concept to the communal health of a nation.

The concept of social capital, and particularly Putnam's rendering of it, is not without its critics whose objections are on semantic, philosophical, empirical and policy terms. Andy Blunden objects to its quantification and to the causal ambiguity of correlations that Putnam uses to support his inferences, though I think Putnam does not dismiss the likelihood of hidden variables that might be influencing the more apparent ones. The eminent sociologist Alejandro Portes takes up similar issues (Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology, Annu. Rev. Sociol. 1998. 24:1.24), though, in fairness, his critique was on Putnam's earlier work in this area and BOWLING ALONE effectively addresses some of them. Theda Skocpol tellingly argues that Putnam's approach essentially blames the victim (cf. Unraveling From Above, The American Prospect no. 25 (March-April 1996): 20-25.).

The critiques notwithstanding, Putnam's work has been enormously influential even beyond the halls of academe, insinuating itself into state of the union addresses (Clinton, 1995) and the current presidential campaign (bridging v. bonding capital). For more specifics about how social capital has interrelated effects up and down the conceptual ladder from the genome to community life see A. R. Cellura's The Genomic Environment and Niche-Experience (Cedar Springs Press, 2006).

Putnam accurately articulates that odd malaise many boomers deeply feel; loss of "community" (whatever one may take that to mean). He then tangentially reasons that the culprit is "diversity". The fact is that this particular boomer angst is far more the product of population density. In the '50s and '60s (his "Golden Age") solitude was far more easily acquired. Even in urbania, a short walk or a brief drive could deliver the needed dose of peace and quiet that reknits the "ravell'd sleeve of care". No more. Today, we can't get away from the crowd. It is overpopulation that drives us to seek relative social isolation. And whether the crowd looks like we do or not, it is still the crowd.

Putnam commits the endemic error of improperly linking cause and effect. Because the America he bemoans the loss of was whiter and far more insular, he attributes its unfortunate transformation to diversity. Anyone who has studied mammalian behavior will know that once a certain population density is reached, the behaviors that Putnam collectively refers to as "community" drastically decline.

I can understand some people's negative reviews of this. The character is either someone you can relate to or not. I think anyone who's ever had depression, anxiety, or frequented a therapist can relate. Or even anyone who is tired and feels hopeless out in the singles scene. This book is fairly dark and real. It's got plenty of witty, dry humor but it is not a laugh a minute light read by any means.

I have to say, I grew up in Chaska and went to the same high school as the author during the same era. I grew up Catholic and I also currently live in St. Paul (I don't know the author). It is so, so real to me. The humor is exactly what I gew up with. As well as the way her family relates to each other. It was actually a little scary. And all the landmarks were fun for me as well - from Chaska and from the cities. It just really spoke to me. It was so clear she was writing from her heart. I loved the optimism at the end. I really hope something else is coming along from Shannon. I'm married and have children and I still loved it.

Not only a great author but also a talented, understanding professor! Her creative writing class is a MUST. I'm looking forward to reading this sequel at the Mississippi Creative Writing Workshop. Koodles to you, Professor Olson! I'm bound to have a blast reading this novel this summer!

I found many things in this novel that I could identify with, and I imagine that many women in the same place as "Shanny (young, single, unsure about the men we meet and befriend)" will feel the same. Shannon is so honest that it is sometimes painful. I like her insights- both about life and about herself. She seems humorous, witty, and her relationships and struggles seem realistic. My only problem with the book is that she takes too long to have a much needed talk with her male friend, Adam. I feel as though the book dragged during these moments, when she went back and forth- trying to decide what to do. I am looking forward to reading the first book and any others that are forthcoming.

I read Shannon Olson's first book and I liked it, but this book was almost the exact same! It dragged on forever and was way depressing because no one would marry her, and she was in therapy, and she doesnt know what to do all the time........I wanna slap her and say, "make up your mind!"
But it was really sad how Adam died, I really didnt think he was going to.

I LOVED Olsen's first book so was excited to read this one - but I nearly hated it! Seemed like just another 30 something women depressed no one would marry her... how trite. Even though many readers didn't like the first one because it was "weird" - I loved it because of its quirky/uniqueness... This one just seemed to be more of the same of everything that's already out there....

I have only read the first two chapters but already I have found 5 things that I know I am doing wrong. I couldnt understand why it was happening, but now I know.

Cant wait to read the rest and see how I go on my next league night.

It might be from 1989 and it might still talk about urethane balls, but the basics are still the same.

Additional (Edited 7/3/2008)
I wish i had finished the book earlier. On my first night i tried to change too much at once and it wasnt till the 4th game when i just changed one thing and things came good.

The following week after finishing the book and reading that it says not to try to change everything at once, i added one new change to the existing change from the previous week and creamed my opposition.

Am back to my best, Great book!

Book was close, it provided a little technical aide but mostly the author's personal style.

My son's scores have been movin' on up. He is having more 200 games and is even a USBC 11 strikes in a row winner. (279 game) Really something to be proud of. I think others will learn some tips too. I think you'll be happy to "spare" some dough for this book.

The basic message was "trial and error" which, while it may be true, gives the reader no foundation upon which to build. Over and over, the authors related how professionals might approach a certain shot but that we needed to use trial and error to find how we should hit it, rather than to give some solid principle to begin to build our own process.

Whenever you are bowling with poor results and cannot figure out the problem, just take this book out of your bowling bag and read "Analyzing Your Flaws" or the chapter on lane conditions. It feels like you're carrying around your bowling guardian angel when in competition. And when you leave the 10 pin, the book says you DO adjust. How you adjust depends on what kind of 10 pin you left: ringing, flat, etc. I LOVE this book.

I have 2 complaints. 1 about the delivery , the other one is about the condition of the book.
I understand that amazon has no influence about the delivery. I chose usps as my delivery carrier, somehow they delivered the packaga at the wrong address.It took 2 additional weeks to sort things out and they I has the book in my possesion.
The condition of the book is ok, I think they do not sell this item often, so at the side of the book there were some dust spots, most were easily removed, there is still 1-2 spots left that I have to be more carefull with on the removal process.

Minus the delivery issue I am satisfied with the whole process,

Leopold

This book is a good addition to any bowling library. Although I'm always looking for that "magic bullet" on the release, which I did not find here, the book covers most aspects of sound bowling with much technical detail.

I recommend this book for anyone who wants to improve their score. Great helpful hints and information.

What I really didn't like about this book is the constant rambling after starting the topic sentence in a paragraph. Which never concluded any information on the topic. Then instead of going over all the variations of an approach, he makes it quite clear that this should be the method for every bowler. In my opinion bowling involves individuals, and on mans view will not work for every bowler. It would be more helpful if he used his insight in bowling on how to work with the different variations that you can see in bowling.

of all the bowling books i've flicked through, Jowdy's was the most contemporary for addressing the advances in today's game, and the content is geared towards bowlers who want to improve upon their existing knowledge and understanding of modern bowling techniques. it is not written for the beginner, and it assumes some prior knowledge to be built upon. i read the book in one sitting, and it consolidated all the info i had been gleaning from various sources on the net and from other bowlers and coaches over the years. As for the content, all the info is there, and the descriptions are sufficient if you can visualise what he is writing about, which isn't difficult with some of the basic drills he explains. Some of the tips in this book are invaluable and it is the first place i go to clarify some element of my game when it goes off the boil.

I've averaged between 205 to 220 the last 15 years in different houses. This book did very little to explain why to use the adjustments mentioned. Except to say watch others that bowl similar to yourself and explore the lane. Many adjustments I often use are not mentioned at all, such as speed and where to set the ball down(ie. at the foul line or lofted to the dots). It is implied that you will always throw the ball the same. No mention of synthetic lanes, I guess a little out of date. The mentions of what ball to use on which condition and why are not discussed either. Some of the phrases are distracting. The math approach is something I already knew in terms of adjusting by boards, having a target and a break point. I could write a better book myself.

The subject matter has so much potential, but this book fails to convey the concepts.

What's missing? Here are my thoughts:

1) More pictures to explain the concepts. There is about 1 diagram per chapter and each occupies a full page. The illustrations convey too much information and are confusing. The solution to this problem would be to have more pictures concentrating on individual concepts.

2) Usage of bowling terms without an explanation of what you mean leaves the reader confused and doesn't help them to understand the concepts. Here is an example: "Everyone that can play ["play" in italics] will shoot "telephone numbers." [Page 23]. I have no idea what you mean by "telephone numbers". Solution: Don't use terms without explaining what they mean.

3) The use of italics and bold fonts is confusing. In the previous example, the word play is in italics. What were you trying to say? Was play in italics because you were injecting sarcasm into the sentence? My failure to understand the meaning is probably relating to my ignorance of the term "telephone numbers".

My goal in reading this book was to improve my understanding of the more technical aspects of bowling. The book has accomplished this, but the process could have been easier.

I bought this book two years ago. This book is for more advanced bowlers who can understand the technical aspects of bowling. My average was around 178, and I just couldn't seem to improve. Since studying this book, My average is now 197. I'm bowling the best of my life at over 50. I have now bowled two 700 series and one 296 game. Yea. the last shot was pretty shakey! I still return to this book and reread different areas. It takes some time to understand..but if your looking to learn how to move on the approach, and trying to understand oil patterns. etc. causing different lane conditions, then this is an excellent reference book.

based on all the other reviews for this book, i was really looking forward to reading this. when i got finished reading this all i could ask myself was "this can't be all there is?" the writer makes things way more complicated then they need to be, and there isn't anything earth shattering included. the basic stuff, he makes sound so complicated that you need to be a rocket scientist to figure out what he's talking about. this book contains information for the intermediate bowler, but he or she better have an iq of 200 to figure it out.save yourself some money, go bowl a few games and actually work on things that you need to fix. you know what they are. it will be a better use of your time and money.

I bought this book at the begining of last season. I had to read it twice to grasp the language. I have been bowling for 15 years and understood the concepts but never heard the terms Larry used. Once you figure out what he is talking about the lanes just seem to open up and the shots and adjustments become second nature. Last season my average jumped from 190 to 207. That was the highest average the house I bowled in has seen in the last 5 years. This house has the most difficult shot in town. My average jumped to 219 in the easy house. I credit this book for my making the local associations allstar team. Only 15 bowlers are selected out of nearly 5,000 sanctioned bowlers each year. While the section on balls is outdated everything else is spot on to improve your game. This book is short and to the point. Read it, Practice it, and take over your league. BE WARNED THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR BEGINERS THOUGH!