Hockey Books

I really like the format and the progression from basic skating through advanced skills. The author tried to make it a comprehensive skating resource, but didn't quite make it. If you have some skating experience or have attended a hockey skating school, this book should catapault you to the next level of your game. The drills are excellent and after doing them for a few months, I noticed a HUGE change in my skating style and fluidity as well as my speed incresing.

If you're new to skating, I'd recommendtaking a hockey skating class at your local rink or at worst get the Laura Stamm book (bring with to the rink for practicing) or get your hands on the Robby Glantz "secrets of hockey speed" videos and "dry-land" train yourself while watching them. Those will show you in slow motion and real time on-ice foot and body positioning to make you an efficient skater as well as some advanced skating techniques.

Once you have skating down, you can go full-steam into this book as the descriptions make much more sense and the drills won't feel so uncomfortable. You should notice a change in your skating abilities in no time.

This book was extremely disappointing. I expected a book similar to Laura Stamm's Power Skating book, which I already own. However, this book was not even close to the quality of Stamm's book.

My biggest complaint about Cady's book is the lack of detail the author gives about each skating technique. The book is very short and only takes a couple of hours to read. Most of the techniques are covered in about 1 page of text. Then some tips are given, covering about 1/2 page. Then several pages of drills are given. So very little info is given on the actual mechanics of each skating technique. All the techniqes are discussed in a very general sort of way, and all the details which are essential to mastering the technique are missing. Furthermore, the techniques are very hard to visualize since no illustrations at all are provided - only general photographs in which it is hard to see what the author is emphasizing.

If you really want to improve your skating, I would highly recommend Power Skating by Laura Stamm and Herb Brooks. Stamm's book is a masterpiece and goes into great detail on each skating technique. Best of all, Stamm's techniques are very intuitive, so it is easy to apply when you actually go on the ice. Stamm's book is filled with illustrations and detailed photos so that you clearly understand each technique. As soon as I started applying the skills I learned in Stamm's book my entire game improved dramatically. I've been skating for 20 years, and this is by far the best book to teach you how to skate like a pro.

As a first time hockey player this book made all the difference! The book is set up in such a way that you can progress at a good pace. The instruction on stopping was worth (to me) the cost of the book. As I progress the other drills will help all areas of ones skating. This book I would recommend without hesitation.

When I started hockey I wanted to be very good. After my first hockey season I got this book in Toronto. I used this book over the summer and now I'm one of the two fastest players on my team. This book concentrates on key points like good form and bad form. I would recommed this book for anyone who wants to be better.

Everyone who has played hockey knows that the most important aspect of the game is skating. This book and Laura Stamm's book on power skating are must reads for anyone seriously picking up hockey for the first time. Even players who have been slogging around the ice for some time will find his or her skating will improve after reading this book.

This book goes into step-by-step detail on forward stroking, backwards stroking, forward and backwards crossovers, hockey stops and transitions from forwards to backwards skating. If you read this book and practice hard you'll be the top player on your hockey team next season.

If you are interested in how the Red Wings put together their all-star hockey team. This is a good book. It is interesting to see how the players intereact with the coaching staff and each other off the ice.
It is a difficult read though because it is written in sort of a "random" mode. Do not really know what the book is supposed to be as it seems like a game play by play at points and them seems like a general manager/player issue play by play.
Almost like a bunch of news articles put together into a book with no clear thread to hang onto throughout. Less a story than an insider recounting of events.
But, if you like the Wings this is an interesting read.

At the start of the 2001-02 season, hockey fans everywhere wondered how in the world would the somewhat retooled Detroit Red Wings' nine future Hall of Famers manage to fit all those egos in the dressing room and come together as a team. There were those who thought the team was too old to go deep into the post season, citing the number of players over 35 on the team while jokingly referring to them as the Gray Wings. As the season progressed, we got our answers, punctuated with an exclamation point. Quite simply, they became a team to chase a common goal - a bright, shiny silver chalice affectionately known as Lord Stanley.

In "Hockey Gods," Nicholas Cotsonika, the hockey writer for the Detroit Free Press, follows the team from their embarrassing and shocking first-round ouster in the 2001 playoffs (the team's earliest exit since 1994), through training camp, the regular season and the Olympics (in which the Wings had 10 players and one prospect representing five countries), culminating in the spectacular playoff run and Stanley Cup victory.

If you are a Red Wing fan, this book should be required reading; however, I think any hockey fan would enjoy reading this book. It gives an excellent inside look at perhaps the best assemblage of talent the NHL has seen on one team in quite some time. And with Curtis Joseph in net replacing the retired Dominik Hasek, Mr. Cotsonika may just have to write a sequel to "Hockey Gods" next year!

I loved this book!!! There was alot of insider info. It was interesting to hear about the behind the scenes deals and negotiations that went on to make this great team. This book did not overdo the stats and scores, etc. like most hockey books do. It was a quick, fun read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have bought several copies for gifts for family and friends.

This book could have been great - but it isn't. If you're wondering about the exact time shots occurred or goals were scored, buy this book. But if you're looking for a behind the scenes view of how this team worked together, DON'T buy this book. Cotsonika's writing style is like a book full of box scores. He mixes past, present and future events in the same paragraph - there's no flow to the story, no drama, no interesting facts. Cotsonika even throws in a couple of self-serving lockerroom moments that have no bearing on the story being told. I really looked forward to reading this book, and I forced myself to finish it, hoping it would eventually get better. My advice? Look in the Free Press archives for Mitch Albom articles about last year's run for the Cup.

This is a really excellent book for Detroit Red Wings fans to read. I read this book a few months ago and I keep thinking about the stories I learned from it. It has a lot of backstory of how they added more players to this already amazing team, like how they signed Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille and Dominek Hasek. It demonstrates why fans love the Detroit Red Wings. It gave a lot of behind the scenes information that the average fan would not know. And there was a lot of information in the book that I don't remember reading in the newspaper when it happened. This book is essential for any Red Wings fan to own because it documents one of the best seasons the Wings ever had, going for their third cup in 6 years. I highly recommend it!

Although Jacques Plante has passed on,this book serves as a reminder of his great work ethic. While many books break positions down to minute strategies,this one stays more fundamental. Coverage of mental and physical form along with equiptment and coaching of goalies is achieved gracefully. My son and I broke things down for his begining level and he thoroughly enjoys it.

This book is a very basic book. I found it not so helpful in the way that the information contained in the book isnt updated to the new techniques. Plante has never used the most popular NHL style ( the V style, butterfly) so its a big lack even if he has a few pages on it. The information is sometime unclear, not necessarely well write. Some things are repeated many times. So, I you buy this book, its OK. But dont rely ONLY on it. BUY other more modern books that are concious of today goaltending.

As a young goaltender growing up in Toronto I was fortunate enough to watch Jacques Plante play. I have played, studied and taught goaltending for over thirty years. Nobody in the history of the game understood the demanding position of goaltending the way that Plante did. He revolutionized the position. Keep in mind that Bernie Parent didn't achieve his full potential until he came to Toronto and worked with Plante, Tretiak learned to play goal largely by studying films of Plante. Yes, this book is a little dated, especially the equipment section, but it is a well written book by the best to ever play the position. A must read for any aspiring goaltender.

Although Jacques Plante has passed on,this book serves as a reminder of his great work ethic. While many books break positions down to minute strategies,this one stays more fundamental. Coverage of mental and physical form along with equiptment and coaching of goalies is achieved gracefully. My son and I broke things down for his begining level and he thoroughly enjoys it.

This goalie's bible addresses all aspects of the position - physical, mental, and pregame conditioning. Jacques Plante was the master professor of goaltending; thankfully, he committed his best tips and techniques to this superb manual. I originally bought it in the late 70's, and recently purchased the latest edition for my son. If you don't label, dog-ear, and highlight every few pages of this ultimate hands-on guide, you're not using it right!!

ISBN 0380765802 - Stories of underdogs who take on bullies, the system or the anointed champions are always appealing, particularly in kids' books - we do, after all, want them to learn that they, too, can do amazing things. While Please Remove Your Elbow from My Ear presents that message, it does it in a fairly mediocre way. Because the target audience is the Young Adult crowd, mediocre isn't good enough.

Stormalong Sprague has one friend - Jonathan. They are friends almost by default, because each of them is "weird" (read "different" in kid-speak) in his own way: Stormy says and does stupid things and Jonathan dances. Both are forced to pay a quarter a day to the Terminators - for protection FROM the Terminators. When Stormy ends up in detention, he makes friends with a surprising group of people who all have their own weirdnesses. Among them is Joey, who convinces the bunch to form a floor hockey team, The Dregs, to play for the Morton Mallory Trophy.

Stormy has more going on than just floor hockey - he likes the new girl, Loreeta, and pursues that relationship while trying not to discourage Jonathan in his pursuit of out-of-his-league Amber. He's also battling to keep his younger brother from turning out like him when an up and coming Terminator begins demanding a dime a day from Brandon - just as Jonathan decides to take his life into his own hands by refusing to pay his daily quarter!

The multitude of strange, or at least uncommon, names is mildly distracting - Stormalong, Loreeta (not Loretta), Melvin, Dabny, Adon, Joey Floozeman, Orchid, Tulip... it's just unnecessary. The story itself is okay but not well-written. The way the kids speak doesn't reflect the way most kids speak and, for those parents who are particular about language, " 'Dumb me!' I swore" makes "dumb" out to be a swear word, but "jackass" later in the book gets no such note, nor does "crap" (intentionally mis-spelled "krap").

Most offensive is the character of Dimps - a recent arrival from "some place in Asia". Her poor English is no surprise, if she's just moved to the States, but the author chooses to put a "K" in place of almost every letter she has difficulty with: Jokee (Joey), Melkin (Melvin), kes (yes), etc and to create funny, but highly unlikely, sentences: We wont to scare a mole (we want to score a goal). The book isn't horrible, and might appeal to younger readers, but the target audience is, in my opinion, bound to be smarter than this.

This was the first book I ever read that I couldn't put down. I read it when I was like 12 or 13, which was almost 10 years ago, and I still hold it as one of my favorites. I think it is a great book for any kid who has trouble getting interested in reading!!!

It was a great book with exciting parts which were very surprising. There were many instances that I thought were humorous. I reccomend this book to people who like exciting stories with good plots. Many scenes in this book made you think about things in real life. I really liked this book.

This book is really neat. It tells about the feelings of underdogs. This book is also very unbeliveable that a kid that is really bad at sports and his team wins a trouphy

IT WAS AWSUME!!!!! My brother got it and i started reading it and i couldnt stop it was so good. ive read it a total of 45 times its that good.

This book is great. As far as I can tell, it's the best thing to come out of the Sabres this season. Rob Ray and Budd Bailey have given us a great real life story. This is a book for fans and players. Gene F.

As a former Buffalo area resident and Sabres fan who has been somewhat distant from the team for quite awhile, I found a couple of sections of Rob Ray's book particularly interesting. First, he discusses the controversy surrounding star goalie Dominik Hasek's injury during the 1996 - 1997 playoffs. Later in the book, Ray offers some new (to this reader, at least) thoughts regarding the mysterious departure of Buffalo Sabres Coach Ted Nolan. If you are a Sabres and/or Rob Ray fan, you will undoubtedly enjoy this book.

We all think of professional athletes as pampered stars who believe that the world revolves around them. Rayzor's Edge shows what it is really like for a kid growing up in a small town in Canada, working his way through junior hockey, dreaming to one day play in the NHL. What I liked most about this book was the honest and open way the authors described the fears and insecurities of Rob Ray, not just as he was on his way to the NHL, but once he got there, as well. From his first day at junior hockey to his last day on the ice as a Buffalo Sabre, authors Ray and Bailey expose the human side of the ups and downs of a professional athlete - what scares them and what drives them - first, as a green rookie putting on a team sweater for the first time and later, as a seasoned veteran. The book is engaging, thoughtful and very well-written and I highly recommend it to all sports fans.

Sports superstars write books all the time, often after only one good season. Mostly it's the same story: How I overcame (insert minor setback here) by being blessed with incredible talent to become rich and famous.

Rob Ray's story is a bit different. Ray had to struggle his whole life to make it in hockey. It is refreshing to see a sports biography written by a role player, by someone who watched many of his team's greatest moments from the bench or even in street clothes. And it is also refreshing to read the story of a player who made it by being the ultimate team player, a guy who had to struggle through the minors to make it.

The book's main weakness is the Ray may be too nice a guy. While he would happily deck anyone on the ice, he seems to hesitate to say anything that might offend anyone he played with (with the notable exception of a certain Czech goalie), or even fought against.

Enjoy this book for the story of a player who did his job as best he could, and still can't seem to believe he got to play in the the bigtime.

When I found out that Rayzor had the book coming out, I was quick to order it. I'm a life-long Sabres fan, and enjoyed watching him contribute to the team over the years. He was always fun to watch, and a smart player.. (I don't know if there ever was an enforcer better at goading his opponent into a penalty.)

The book left me wanting something different. Rob tells about the history of the Sabres, from his perspective.. He tells some interesting stories, but I was left wanting more. I wanted to know more about the off-the-ice antics; who were the best/worst fighters in the league, and why? How about some stories from the lockeroom? Nights on the town in Buffalo? Overzealous fans?

I must also note that the copy editing in the book was not great. Similar to Keith Jones' book, there are multiple errors in text that should have been caught. (Although there were many more in the Jones book.)

It is very interesting to note how much of the American media is advocating that the Pittsburgh Penguins re-locate to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Sound reasoning involved here; after all, isn't Winnipeg a city where hockey is a religion? Yet from Winnipeg itself there appears to be no interest at all in bring the NHL back to the city. Thin Ice, even though it was written back in 1996, very accurately portrays the business community in Winnipeg as lacking in entrepreneurial spirit, both then and now. The grandchildren and great grandchildren who inherited all the "old money" from when Winnipeg was a boom-town are only concerned with preserving what they have, and have no ambition to use that money to create new business ventures. I agree with Jim Silver that professional sports teams should be run entirely by the private sector, and that tax payers should not contribute one red cent to what is in actual fact a luxury, especially when health care is in a crises. What is more important to taxpayers? Having millionaire athletes live in in the city, or ensuring that patients in over-crowded hospitals get the treatment they require NOW, not later? But I disagree with author Jim Silver when he advocates funding anti-poverty activists, who are themselves interested in perpetuating poverty so that they themselves can maintain well paid jobs as "social activists". When will the Left learn that the best way to eliminate poverty is to create opportunity for the poor to better themselves and become self sufficient? That said, and to conclude, Winnipeg will likely never have again have an NHL franchise, as long as the business community does not want to take the risk, and the Leftist Establishment in town is hostile to any attempt to create a worthwhile business venture. For this long time Winnipeg Jets fan, an unfortunate situation, as the opportunity would be there if only the business community would "wake up", and the government, both civic and provincial, where not so hung up on pouring money into the black hole of "social services".

The book was a great lesson on what happens when power and greed is the motivation behind building an arena and NHL Franchise. As a tax payer in a sports town, a must read.

This book demonstrates a ken sense for the takeover of the Canadian Game (Hockey) by the US. Goes in depth on the background work on the Winnipeg Jets. Great Book! Trying to find more on a similar topic!

A thorough and unbiased account of the struggles to compete and survive as a small market professional sports franchise. Book takes us through the history of pro hockey in Winnipeg, from its pre-NHL days, to the Winnipeg Jets, and finally to the Jets demise and relocation to Phoenix. The author's conclusions and predictions have proven to be slightly off base with the passage of time, but the book is still a fascinating read.

This book demonstrates a ken sense for the takeover of the Canadian Game (Hockey) by the US. Goes in depth on the background work on the Winnipeg Jets. Great Book! Trying to find more on a similar topic!

If you like hockey or are from Canada, Northern U.S., or Northern Europe, you would enjoy this book. Tod is the Average Joe. I think this is a good book for 7-11 year olds. Matt Christopher is a good author for sports books.

For our book reivew I read the book "Wingman On Ice," by Matt Christoper. It's about a boy named Todd Baker who gets a brand new hockey stick for christmas.Todd doesn't think he deserves the stick because of the way he had been playing,so he puts it in his closet. He practices for a long time, but still does not think he deserves the stick. This story takes place in present time. It was the last day of the season at Mana rink, Todd's game had really improved, now he finally thinks he deserves the stick, but does not have it with him. If you want to know what happens next, you will have to read the exciting book, "Wingaman On Ice." If I had to rate this book from a scale of one to ten, I would give this book an eleven it is so good!

I like this book because how a boy practices to get better and he does so he finally earns his new hockey stick that he got for christmas.I also like this book because they make it real.I think people who like hockey they would like this book.

We enjoyed reading this story as it addresses a key value: that good things must be earned. At times, however, we felt the boy was a bit too hard on himself. Overall we enjoyed the story alot and if you love hockey it is a good way to learn more about how the game is played.

The book kept the interest of my son from start to finish. The book also provided accurate information on some of the skills used in hockey. My son is looking forward to the day he will be able to read it on his own.

The 1967 Maple Leafs were the end of an era. Talk about poignancy, they were the last team to win the Stanley Cup in the "Original Six" era. The next year the NHL doubled the amount of franchises, Bobby Orr achieved stardom and player acquisition changed.

Let alone the birth of modern Canada, Expo '67 in Montreal and the turbulence of that era in history.

Stellick and Cox have a wealth of raw material and they botch it badly. I gave it 3 stars simply because the story is so good, but it could have been much better.

I understand the way they told the story, alternating chapters about the 2-series Stanley Cup run with larger chapters telling before and after. But as written, the before and after chapters overwhelm the 1967 Stanley Cup narrative. Thus the 1967 team gets somewhat lost in the shuffle.

Plus, these before and after stories destroy any surprise that the reader may get when they read the 1967 team chapters. The context is completely lost and I found it quite annoying.

Reviewer Eric Paddon makes note that Alan Eagleson is given a pass in this book. Amen to that. Considering the book pulls no punches (justifiably so) in criticizing the embezzlement of funds and the child molestation scandal, the kid-gloves treatment of Eagleson is pathetic. The funny part of it is that Cox and Stellick allude to Eagleson's later sins, but don't say what they were. I was quite frustrated by that as well. After all, Leaf management's hard line against the union is cited as a major reason for their demise after 1967 and Eagleson was the face of that union.

The editors and authors equally share the blame in this book being as disappointing as it was.

Damien Cox and Gord Stellick are both well-known within the hockey world, and both are intimately associated with the Leafs (Cox as one of the country's top 3 newspaper columnists based in Toronto, Stellick a former GM and current broadcaster). However, neither of these men are blatent "fans" of the team (unlike, for example, Don Cherry), so this book reads as impartial and balanced. In fact, while praising most of the players, the authors are downright critical of the management of the team. The overall thesis of the book is that the Leafs win in '67 caused the team's administration to remain buried in outdated managerial styles, when the game was fundamentally changing.

Basically, this book is more about the seismic shift in hockey that took place in the late '60s. Bobby Orr was revolutionising the position of defense, Alan Eagleson took up the union torch that Ted Lindsay failed to light, and the league doubled in size (which also caused teams to start looking to Europe for players). Against this backdrop, the Leafs were the last of the old-time teams. Management (and some players) was bitterly opposed to the union. In addition, corruption and nepotism surrounded the team, especially with regards to the junior system (the Rochester Americans farm team was more profitable than the Leafs, so that team was sometimes stacked at the expense of the Leafs). It is the conclusion that the Leafs management - especially Ballard, Stafford Smythe, and coach/GM Punch Imlach - destroyed the Leafs proud heritage through hubris and occasionally criminal activity, from which the team has yet to fully recover.

The book does, of course, cover the Stanley Cup playoffs for the '66-67 season on a game-by-game bases (the Leafs played 12 games in total), which act as chapter intermissions. The book jumps around in time and location, but generally each chapter focusses on some aspect of the Leafs or the hockey world in general. For example, there is a chapter on the family connections (the Conacher, Smythes, Imlachs, etc), one on the union, one on the defense corps. Certainly all the players on that team are given some space. The standard Leaf tidbits are also included - the story of Tim Horton's coffee/doughnut shop and his car-accident death, the story of Baun's overtime goal on a broken leg, etc. But most interesting are the lesser-known facts, e.g. how Bobby Orr was passed over by Imlach as an insignificant teenager.

However, all told, the book really just uses the Leafs team of '66-67 to describe the way the hockey world changed when expansion arrived. The book is better for it, and that is what makes it a valuable addition for any hockey fan, not just Leafs fans.

You would think there would be nothing more to write about after the slew of books the Pal Hal era spewed out. Well, you'll be surprised as Damien Cox (one of the few T,O,-based writers who "gets it" and is not madly in love with the Laffs) with help from the Stellickian one put out possibly the finest analysis of the failure of the post-expansion Leafs.

Kudos for Cox focusing in on the true heroes of '67--Pappin, Stemkowski, Pulford, Pronovost and Hillman. Also, brilliant analysis of how the Leafs' scouting was not to blame but more their anti-union/anti-WHA stance of management for the failures of the team post-'67.

The book is written in a way that focuses on the games of each series in the '67 playoffs without getting bogged down in game stories. The game stories are very brief and act almost as jumping-off points for further discussions on other topics.

For example, who knew GM Punch Imlach kept better players down on the farm in Rochester because he had money invested in the franchise? Who knew disgraced player agent Alan Eagleson had ZERO WHA player clients? That should have been the first sign he was in with the NHL owners despite being an NHLPA executive.

Definitely a must-read for any of us well West of the so-called "Centre of the Universe" who were inflicted with the Laffs on TV every friggin' Saturday night during the '80s. This is sweet revenge for all those nights stuck with Dan Daoust, Pat Boutette and Claire "the Milkman" Alexander skating (and I use that term loosely) across our screens.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a long, storied member of the NHL as one of the "original six" franchises, but their history in recent decades shows a futility that is starting to close in on the one known by Ranger fans like me for many years until 1994 (only Chicago has gone longer without a Cup). The last Toronto Cup came in 1967, which not completely coincidentally was the last year of the "Original Six" era of the NHL before the onslaught of expansion, and it is about this team that this book is chiefly concerned with.

The approach by Cox and Stellick is quite interesting. Chapters on the individual games of the playoffs are interspersed with a deeper look at the players of this team and their careers before and after 67, as well as the general history of the Leafs itself during this time and how things were not well in the ranks of management with poor decision making by GM-Coach Punch Imlach that in effect gutted the team's future, as well as the misdeeds of co-owners Stafford Smythe and Harold Ballard that also helped run the team into the ground in the years that followed. Cox and Stellick also recount the details of sordid tales of sexual abuse by Maple Leaf Gardens employees that weren't known for decades, that was also sadly part of the fabric of this last era of winning hockey in Toronto.

About the only quibble I have with the book is their whitewash of disgraced Players Union head Alan Eagleson, whom they interviewed in regards to his role in trying to form the union at the time. It almost seemed like that in order to talk to Eagleson for this book, they had to promise to go easy on him regarding his later disgrace and frankly that doesn't speak too well of them. Aside from that, this book is the best I have ever seen that offers some well-written insight into what the NHL was like in the last years of the Original Six era, and even the casual hockey fan should be able to enjoy it.

A nice intro, but as noted by another reviewer, very short shrift given to other schools of economic thought. A recommended reading list gives plenty of well-respected conservative writers, with Milton Friedman topping the list, but only Paul Krugman appears representing other thoughts, and he's singled out as a "liberal economist". I think there are somewhat more honest introductions to the subject.

The book attempts to teach a reasonable mainstream core of macroeconomics and its basic models. The writing style is very good. For those who are looking for a broad discussion of policy issues, this may not be the book for them. However, the book is intended for first year college economics students and the need for them to understand a few consensus macroeconomic concepts and models so that they can apply those models and concepts to policy issues after they leave the course. A good example of putting the cart before the horse is the comment by a reviewer who thought the book had a liberal bent. Of course, we all now know that N. Gregory Mankiw is the head of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers (not exactly a recommendation for becoming a card carrying liberal). And that's the danger of reviewing introductory economics textbooks on the basis of an illusory political intent. The books most often ought to be rated on their objective--presenting a few models and techiniques to the student who will most often not take another formal economics course. Don't dismiss the book because it isn't steeped in political pronouncements. Check it out for technical useability and its writing clarity. You might like it.

This very readable book is a subset of the chapters included in Prof. Mankiw's "Principles of Economics". That book has thirty-six chapters in thirteen parts. This has eighteen chapters in eight parts. Parts one and two are common to both editions. This one excludes the discussion of microeconomics in parts three through seven, but has the rest of the chapters in parts eight through fifteen.

It is much more manageable for a one term introductory course in macroeconomics. However, do not confuse this introductory text with the more mathematically rigorous book Macroeconomics that is also authored by Mankiw. However, if you want to be an econometrician, neither text is probably enough to get you where you need to be to launch into those studies.

This book has a lot of strengths for those who want to develop some intuitions about economic thought and who may not have the mathematics necessary for a more rigorous treatment of the subject. However, the foundation it will give you will be sound and ecumenical enough to allow you to take on further studies in various branches of macroeconomics that have a more defined theology on the role of government in the economy.

Mankiw's book has a good organization -- for what it has. He spends a lot of time laying out some key fundamental topics, such as unemployment, GDP, CPI, DJIA, and so forth.

However, his book is entirely mum on the fact that there are different schools of thought, e.g., Keynesians, Classicals, Monetarists, Austrians, etc. A reader comes away thinking that all economists agree with Mankiw, and that simply is not true. Many other principles-level economics books have specific chapters devoted to these schools of thought.

In my Macro classes, I put Mankiw on "reserve" in the library and suggest that students read the 5 chapters dealing with "The Data of Macroeconomics" and "The Real Economy in the Long Run." However, I use other text books for the rest of the course, since they explain why economists disagree, give better information about actual public policy issues, and help a student understand, e.g., what the federal reserve is doing, or why some politicians like deficit spending and others dislike it, or whether the trade deficit is important or not.

For a reader who merely wants to understand the core issues mentioned above, Mankiw is a good book which I highly recommend. For a reader who wants to understand the nature of the public policy debates over these core issues, Mankiw is a horrible book which I suggest that you avoid like the plague.

The book face off is a sport book about hockey. A fast pace book about a kid named scott. Scott gets asked to play on a hockey team after winning a race against the golden bears captain's Del Stockten and Skinny Mckay. The golden bears are a very good team but they need a better defensemen,so scott becomes a defensemen.But when someone is about to shoot the puck scott gets scared and covers his eyes and face. The teams catch on to the puck shy and the starts to fake him out. Will he ever get over the fear of the puck.

This book is one of the best hockey books I have ever read. It tells you about a boy that has never played hockey before, but is a really fast skater. He races against the fastest player on the Golden Bears hockey team and beats him. Scott is then invited to be on the team. With a lot of help and guidness, Scott becomes a very good player. In the book, there are some kids on the team that arn't very nice to Scott and that makes him feel unwanted. After about half way through the season, Scott chatches on to all the plays and becomes a good player and good friends with all the kids on the team that used to not be friends with him. I thought that this book was very fun to read, and it reminded me of when I was younger and played hockey but wasn't very good. But now I am a good player from all the practice I have had.

I think this book is almost the best book I have read, because in my opinion Matt Christopher is my favorite author. It is about kids named Scott,Skinny,and Del. Del and Skinny are hockey players,and Del is the fastest player on the team. At the lake, Scott wins in a race against Del. So Scott tries out for the team and makes it. He does not know much about hockey, and he's afraid of the puck. So he never gets it so they always lose. Find out if the other hockey players ever accept him as a member of the team. I highly recommend it, because it shows me a little about old hockey.

My son read this book and found it "deameaning" because so much of the hockey information was inaccurate. He felt that the hockey premise was deceitful and the author only used it to draw boys in, but didn't do the research to make it believable. Kids know when they're being duped!