Recreation Books

I could not find this book anywhere until I ordered it through amazon. And when I say no one had the NOAA dive manual I mean no one, my favorite dive shop listed it as out of stock so did Barnes and Noble and Hastings where all out of stock with no definitive stocking date.But as soon as I looked at Amazon.com for the publication they had it and shipped to me very quickly.I was very impressed, so thanks again Amazon.com for your professionalism.

This book not only outlines diving processes and procedures, but also the scientific principles behind them. It is by no means light reading, but it you are looking to enhance your knowledge about diving, this is an excellent reference point.

I purchased this book to give me more information on the science of scuba diving for my Dive Con and Dive Instructor courses.

The book gives detailed information on the gas laws, decompression theory as well as information on various forms of diving from contaminated water, tri mix, nitrox etc. The book is very well written and very clear.

If you are interested in get truly advanced knowledge of the effects of scuba diving on the body, I would highly recommend this book even though it is a little on the expensive side.

You can find all the explanations you need for those difficult issues related to diving. Excellent presentation, Beautifully illustrated. Easy to understand. If you want or need to go farther in your understanding of diving, you should get this book.

I sincerely feel that the NOAA Diving Manual should be a required text for anybody who is a diving professional. The information presented is valuable to all divers: recreational, technical, scientific, and commercial. I refer to this text often and bring it to all classes I work.

If you want to read about Piscator, Venator, milkmaids, and the rising of huge trout to those "little sailboats", this is not the book for you. If you are stuck in Yellowstone, New Zealand, or the Catskills and are complaining about the hatches while striving for the nature experience, this book is not for you. However, if you are a city bound angler needing to feed his urges, this is a good read. You will enjoy the stories as you gain insight on how to get out and rise to angling bliss when stuck in the concrete valleys. Arelt and O'Kelly have arranged the road trip for the forty-something urban angler.

I'm not a big reader, but I picked this up on a whim cause I used to like to fish and am now stuck in a big city. I really enjoyed the book.

I really liked this book, let me tell you why.

There's a passage toward the beginning of Dandelion Wine where the protagonist is lying on his back in the forest, squinting at the sun as it squeezed it's way through the leaves above him. It's a simple passage that effectively evoked the carefree afternoons of a young boy - it transports you to your own youth - and thereafter you read the book as if you are Douglas Spaulding. Similarly, by taking you along on his first fishing adventure as a child, Chris Arelt reminds you of the tension you feel when getting caught in a childish prank - you're now in synch with the authors as they walk you through their thirty years of piscatorial exploits.

The stories are fun and have a consistent mischevious bent, which for me, strikes home. When I went fishing as a kid, I was always getting away with something. Maybe I snuck out of the house, or was smoking a cigarette, or well, doing something I wasn't suppose to be up to. The Offbeat Angler captures that spirit, and by doing that, captures the essence of fishing.

There are a lot of fishing guides out there that teach you how to land the big one. They're not for me. It was a hell of a lot more enjoyable to sit back & read some yarns that reminded me why I grew to like fishing to begin with. It was all about being young, having time, breaking rules and getting a breath of nature. The dream was catching that big one, but in reality there were a lot of rewarding afternoons where I can't remember if I even got a bite.

So, in many ways, it was enlightening to read this book. I've got kids of my own now, and when I take them fishing, we'll hop a fence, skid down a hill, and pass a no trespassing sign. Then I'll know they know what fishing can be all about.

Buy this book, you'll be glad you did. I'm keeping an eye out for the sequel.

This book is a delight for anyone who has ever gone fishing, would like to, or simply enjoys good storytelling. Fish tales have often been prone to exaggeration, but these tales carry the ring of truth. The book can be enjoyed as separate and complete short stories, or savored as a whole. The authors have inspired me to pick up a fishing pole and go catch some fish.

After reading the reviews I was really looking forward to this book - what a disappointment. Don't the others who reviewed this thing ever leave their apartments? The stories and topics are pretty boring - and not at all well written. I found nothing "offbeat" about their "adventures." After years of angling and reading great books by people who understand the sport and nature, I am dumbfounded as to how others might find this book to be of any real value - especially 5 stars.

Fishing is connection with nature, which usually means the practitioner learns something about nature - this is the first fishing book I've read that calls a rock ledge an "escarpment" and brambles or thorns "pricker bushes". The authors also seem to think they were the first to ever trespass or to fish for carp in ditches or stripers from a rented rowboat. If the authors were talented storytellers perhaps they could turn these trips into something interesting, but this part of their craft is lacking.

If you want to read well written stories of offbeat angling, get some early Gierach books, not this one. Arelt and O'Kelly write in a breathless style, sharing sophomoric observations and their own opinions, which are neither enlightening nor fact based. Guys, Jane Fonda comes from a fly fishing family and she brought Ted Turner to the sport, so don't worry about her. Instead, worry that people in our society mistake what you do for literature.

My favorite book is Peak by Roland Smith. Peak is the main character. Peak has not seen his long lost father because he got a divorce with Peak's mom. His dad asks him if he wants to climb Mt. Everest. Peak says yes. But the reason that he is going is because he has to. First he was climbing a NY skyscraper and people found out. So they told the Police. So then he has two decisions, 1-go to Juvey or go climb Everest with his long lost father for a couple of months. His dad owns a climbing company in Thailand. When they are climbing Mt Control stops them and says they can't climb Mt. Everest. So Peak, his father, and other climbers go with Peak on the other side of the mountain. When they reach the top this is what they see- an unbelievable view and lots of Os tanks and lots of snow. Lots of it. I like this book because it is very exciting. None of the pages are boring and none of Roland Smith's books are. I would recommend it to 10 yrs to young adults.

My favorite book was Peak by Roland Smith.
Peak is about peak Marcello, who gets arrested for scaling a skyscraper with an understanding from the judge to live with his dad in Tibet, China not knowing his dad wants him to break a record for the first person
ever to reach Mt.Everest. The book is classified as an adventure. Smith's writing style is fast-paced, never boring, and a page-turner. I recommend this book for people ages 10-16. I love this book because it keeps going, never gets boring, and there is a little comedy thrown into it. My favorite character is Peak because he is brave, funny, and considerate. In the end Peak is ten feet away from Everest and he lets another boy named Sun-Jo reach the top and lets him break the record. This is because he thought Sun-Jo wanted it more than him.
That is why Peak is my favorite book.

After 14 year-old Peak Marcello is arrested for (illegally) climbing a skyscraper, he is sent to court and is about to go to jail for three years when his father, that he hasn't seen for seven years, offers to take custody of him. His father lives in Thailand, but instead of taking him to Chiang Mai, Thailand, he takes Peak to Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world. As Peak explains it, "to a climber, stopping by to see Everest is like stopping by to see God." When Peak hears this offer, he doesn't even consider saying no! Peak is a nonstop thriller to read and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves books that surprise you on every page. It's very hard to put down and will grab your attention several times.

it is an awesome book. Peak is a 14 year old kidwho scales skyscrapers (illegally). Both his parents are pro climbers. One day he is climbing and he gets caught. He needs to spend 3 years in juvinille facility or he can go to china and live with his dad. His Dad takes him to China with him. What peak doesn't know is his dad is taking him to climb mt. Everest. I thought the book was good. It was exciting when peak was climbing the skyscrapers and mt. Everest. If you want to find out more read the book. I would definitly read other books from this author. I would recomend the book to other people.

"This is it, I told myself. Fifteen more handholds and I've topped it.
"I reached up for the next seam and encountered a little snag. Well, a big snag really...
"My right ear and cheek were frozen to the terra cotta wall.
"To reach the top you must have resolve, muscles, skill, and...
"A FACE!"

This quote from the book Peak by Roland Smith shows how much detail there is in the book and almost makes it feel like you could be there. This story has many quotes that show the realistic side of this fiction book. For a fiction book I don't think I have ever read anything that seemed so real, and tell so much about climbing. This is a great book for people that want a good story.

Peak's professional-climbing father had not seen him in seven years but hears of Peak's crazy climbs and summating huge skyscrapers in Manhattan, New York. Peak is then going around the world to Kathmandu trying for the world youngest person to ever climb Mount Everest. Thinking about climbing Mount Everest doesn't even bother Peak because he doesn't even think about the dangers but he is excited to be the youngest climber to climb Mount Everest. The story has many twists and turns and lots of detail to make you feel like your there. This book was AWESOME and I recommend it to all people.

The author gets into details regarding how to build
a supercar. In doing so, many scientific explanations
are set forth in easy-to-understand language.

For instance, engineering slip involves defects or
missing atoms which can be corrected by placing more
counterbalancing defects. Mild steels promote
magnetism. The use of iron increases the melting point.
Cross-linking of materials; such as, polymers can increase
strength overall. Tighter tolerances provide for more
precise measures. Adding small metallic flakes to paint
allows for added coloration.

The idea of engineering torque and power are dependent
upon the structure of the engine. The Nascar engine
gets 850 horsepower. Both beryllium and copper valves
dissipate heat better than steel by the author.

The author presents a study of wind tunnel airflow.
Slower moving area exerts greater pressure on machinery
wings aerodynamically. Airlift can be best achieved
when the top of the wing is more curved than the bottom.
Lastly, the author extols the advantage of good welding
in the manufacture process.

The book provides an excellent perspective on how to
build a virtually indestructible Nascar !
It should be read widely by race car enthusiasts and
auto buffs in general.

This is an entertaining, informative, and very unusual book. The author has actually written two books, one about NASCAR technology and one about elementary physics; however, she has melded them seamlessly into something rare: a serious academic book that is so entertaining that you forget it's serious.

On one level, the book is about how NASCAR race cars are engineered, constructed, and adjusted to enable them to achieve two often contradictory goals: safety and high performance. On another level, the book is about the basic principles of physics and chemistry, including motion, fluid dynamics, combustion, materials science, etc. The uniqueness of the book derives from the way she combines the two, using car racing to illustrate the scientific principles.

I'm a NASCAR fan, and I have a pretty good background in science. I found this book engaging on both of those levels. At the same time, I think it would be a very valuable book for a casual fan-- or even a non-fan-- to read. It makes the sport come alive as something much, much more than just a bunch of guys who stomp on the gas and turn left.

I thought this was a valuable, enjoyable book, and I recommend it most highly.

I found the book very informative. I know the sport well but found the book going into details that I never
considered. It is easy reading and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in NASCAR!!

I'm a forty-something, female, liberal arts graduate who works in healthcare marketing, but I felt like the book was written just for me. It was entertaining and educational; and now I have a new appreciation for a sport I've barely noticed. But my new heros aren't Jeff Gordon or Dale Jr....it's the hundreds of men (and the occasional woman) to design, build, and manage the cars.

I'm not a NASCAR fan by any stretch of the imagination. But this book's title intrigued me. Browsing through it and seeing all the interesting diagrams convinced me that I should buy it and read it. I did and I was not disappointed. The author, a physicist, is a gifted expositor of scientific principles at a level ideal for the general reader. She explains, using many useful analogies (and no mathematics), the finer points involved in building an automobile suitable for racing the NASCAR circuits. The book could just as easily have been entitled "The Science of NASCAR" since sciences other than physics are also involved and explained, e.g., chemistry, metallurgy, aerodynamics, engineering, biology, etc. In addition to the science, the author gives a fascinating overview of some of the dedicated people who are involved in building and racing a potentially winning car as they do their work before, during and after a race. The writing style is clear, authoritative, very accessible and quite engaging. Based on the way this book is written, it can be enjoyed by absolutely anyone, not only science buffs or NASCAR fans.

I read this book this past week during a cross country flight. I have been a Yankees fan since 1959 and have consumed almost every word written on the team. This publication is the very best of anything I have read on the team in the past 43 years. The writing took even familiar Yankees' lore to another level by digging beneath the surface to fully understand how being a Yankee impacted each and every one of the subjects even beyond their playing days. Regardless of the player's era, the author delivered a consistently enjoyable book that flowed and entertained at the highest level.

I think this is the best book that I ever read. I couldn't put this book down. This is a good book for die hard Yankee fans or just people who love baseball. Bill madden goes out to find players from past Yankee seasons. This is a good book I recommend this book for all baseball fans.

Baseball is a game of stories, and Bill Madden has transversed the United States to garner tales from a unique group of alumni, those who played for the New York Yankees through the twentieth century. The title is something of a misnomer. Some of Madden's subjects were never young Yankees. Reggie Jackson cut his teeth in Oakland, Lou Piniella caught fire in Kansas City, and Paul O'Neill even won a World Series ring in Cincinnati in 1990 before arriving at the East Coast. And even with the Yankee "lifers" interviewed for this work, many of the best remembered stories are about established ball players and their antics in their prime. Whitey, Mickey, Billy and Hank were hardly kids the night the Yanks trashed the Copa in 1957-in fact, it was Billy's 29th birthday that sparked the occasion. Yet this tale appears-more than once-among the multitude of memories along this nostalgic trail.

There are some interviews that actually do shed new light on Yankee history-or hagiography, if you will. Marius Russo's inclusion among Madden's subjects is fortuitous. One of the team's lesser known talents over the years, Russo, a left handed pitcher who joined the Yanks in 1938, was included in this work as one of the last living connections to the Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig. Russo sheds light on a remarkable Yankee pitching staff of 1939 remembered both for its depth and its sabermetrics. Seven starters finished the season with double figure wins: Ruffing [21-7], Hadley [12-6], Pearson [12-5], Gomez [12-8], Donald [13-3], Sundra [11-1], and Hildebrand [10-4]. Russo, added to the rotation late in the season [why?], went 8-3, including a 7-0 stretch in September. Russo would never win more than 14 games in any of his six Yankee seasons, but one of his most poignant memories involved fallout from the demise of Gehrig. When the Yankee team fell to fifth place in 1940, columnist Jimmy Powers of the New York Daily News reported that the entire team had been infected by Gehrig's "polio," as his affliction was then diagnosed. The report shook baseball and resulted in a $1 million lawsuit against the writer.

Another lesser-known Yankee interviewee was the observant bench jockey and reserve catcher Charlie Silvera, whose entire nine years of backing up Berra, Houk, and Howard produced only 429 at bats. Silvera recalls an obscure but impressive Casey Stengel accomplishment: winning five successive World Series with a depleted roster. The Yankees, under the rules of the day, carried two or three prospects who never made the team but counted against the 25-man roster. Silvera's recollections also highlight one of the secrets of the Yankee dynasty: a network of astute West Coast scouts who steered reports of promising young prospects to the East Coast Yankee front office that took such reporting seriously. Silvera as much as anyone recounts the awe that most players since 1920 have felt about donning the Yankee pinstripes. Silvera and others-including many of the household names--are as proud of their being Yankees as their personal stats as Yankees. In a year where Silvera, for example, did not get his first at bat until June 17 [1949], he still won his first of five consecutive World Series rings.

As all of the interviewed players wore Yankee pinstripes, it is hard at times to separate the individuals from the history of the team itself. And one era that Madden treats with considerable detail is the post 1964 Yankee decline. Some of the best interviews come from Yankees who played or managed through that ten year era: Yogi, Ralph Houk, Mel Stottlemyre, Joe Pepitone, Bobby Richardson, Ron Blomberg, and Bobby Murcer. There are many theories of the fall of the Roman Empire, nearly as many as to the decline of the Yankees in those years. The author and the players named above are in fair agreement that poor front office management [trading Roger Maris to St. Louis, for example], the failure of certain Yankee veterans to obey "one of their own," Yogi Berra, as manager, the free agent draft, the decline of the farm teams, and parity. One other applicable statistic: I looked up the 1965 Yankee roster, and discovered exactly one African-American in the starting lineup, Elston Howard [whose widow Arlene is the only non-player interviewed for this work], and one black pitcher on the staff, Al Downing.

As an interviewer Bill Madden is more Eddie Lopat than Vic Raschi. The questions arrive to the plate with a gentle thud in the catcher's mitt or get obscured in the dust in front of home plate. Madden has no problem getting his subjects to cry, but he is averse to making them squirm. Thus the free pass to Whitey "Slick" Ford, whose nickname comes from the old expression "city-slicker." Whitey's description of himself as a "professional drinker" in his playing days says nothing and says everything. It is no surprise he does not like to talk about Mickey and Billy, and Madden does not press.

But perhaps we should not be surprised that Madden is no Bob Woodward where investigative reporting is concerned. The author has covered the Yankees for a quarter century. I hardly think he would endanger the source of his bread and butter. It is in his vested interest in continue the legend, and he does this in a warm and congenial way. And we always have Jim Bouton for the hardball accounts.

Author Bill Madden has come up with a first rate book on significant Yankee players who have had distinguished careers with the team over the past several decades. The book reminds me of Roger Kahn's effort on the Brooklyn Dodgers of the early 1950's in which he traveled across the country to visit surviving members of that team. Madden has come up with a similar book on the Yankees with the only difference being the players that were interviewed didn't necessarily play on the same team. The oldest player interviewed by Madden was pitcher Marius Russo who concluded his career in 1946 with Paul O'Neill being the most recent Yankee included in the book. Madden interviewed the late Elston Howard's wife Arlene. Otherwise the book includes interviews only with still-living Yankee greats. The only disappointing omission from the book is Ron Guidry who certainly should have been included. However, Yankee fan or not, this is a first rate book for anyone who considers themself a baseball fan.

There have been a whole bunch of book put out to celebrate the first century of New York Yankee, of which "Pride of October: What it Was to Be Young and a Yankee" by Bill Madden is one of the best. It is also one of the more different, consisting basically of a series of conversations (they would not really be considered "interviews") between Madden and 17 former Yankees (and one very special Yankee widow). The other common denominator, obviously, is that they have to be alive, which sounds stupid when you write it down like this, but matters because it leads to some interesting and poignant choices.

Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin have died, which leaves only Whitey Ford to talk about the hell-raising days in the Fifties. Madden does talk with Hall of Famers Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, and Reggie Jackson, but the chief charm here is in names that do not come to mind. I have all the New York Yankees Topps baseball cards from the year I was born, so I recognize the names Tommy Byrne and Charlie Silvera, but I do not know a lot about them. However, the name that stands out is Marius Russo, one of the last remaining links to Lou Gehrig, because I do not think I had ever heard (or even read) his name before.

I became a Yankee fans in 1965; in other words, the year after they stopped winning championships. So my early memories are watching Mel Stottlemyre hit an inside-the-park grand slam homerun at Yankee Stadium and my biggest (early) heartbreak was when my favorite player, Bobby Murcer, was traded for my father's favorite player, Bobby Bonds. So while "Pride of October" starts with as far back in Yankee history as living voices can remember, it eventually gets up to the teams and players of our lives. Even if, like Ron Blomberg, they never played in a postseason game. When Madden has chapters on Bobby Richardson and Joe Pepitone back to back, you know you are getting a true cross-section of the guys who have played for the Yankees.

The one exception to this rule is Arlene Howard, the widow of Elston Howard, who was the first African-American ballplayer to play for the Yankees. I totally buy into the argument that the reason the Yankees went from first to worst in the 1960s was because the front office was racist and refused to sign any blacks when they probably could have signed anyone they wanted (Mantle, Mays and Aaron in the same outfield? Sure, why not?). The only way to touch on that issue is for Howard's widow to relate what it was lie, talking forth in the home in Teaneck, New Jersey where the city fathers once tried to keep her and her husband from occupying.

My recommendation is to do what I did, which was basically to only read one chapter a day. Just enjoy the Scooter's stories about his friendship with Gerry Priddy and be offended by the way the Yankees forced him to retire, before moving on to Russo's recollections of the Iron Horse, Cro, and Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons. There is a brief section of black & white photographs, that starts with Gehrig and DiMaggio kneeling side by side in Spring Training and ends with Paul O'Neill cleaning out his locker for the last time. The photographs are just the frosting on the cake, because the main treat here is just reading how Madden sat down with each of these individuals, who told their stories, with Madden supplying relevant information to fill in the gaps.

Trust your first instinct when you hit the green, and learn to keep those negative thoughts at bay. This mental and technical guide to putting will help you improve your form.

Very straightforward and comensensical. Seems everything we read these days is about positive thinking. And it does work along with a good basic set up. I especially like his instruction that once you are over the ball, don't wait there and let negative thoughts sneak in. Go ahead and hit the ball. He says to trust your first instinct when you read a putt and I have always found that to be true. Can't wait to put his recommendations into play.

After reading Golf is Not a Game of Perfect by the same author I got this one and found it to be just as good which I rate as 5 stars *****

Any golfer (including disc golfers) would benefit from this book. It's a very good book!

So much of golf and golf instruction is mechanical, and justly so. Technique is very important in a complex action such as the full swing, and improper form can lead to both bad shots and injury.

In contrast, we have putting. The action on the ball is so slight and simple, mechanics themselves are important only at a very rudimentary level. Technique has more to do with guaging individual variances for a particular situation than it does moving from positions A to B to C.

This is why putting is called the "game within a game". It resembles so little of the rest of golf. It also makes it one of the most difficult for the mechanics oriented golfer to master.

What Rotella has done here is to lay out his observations of what the best putters in the game think and do, not with their stroke, but with their minds. Using examples of unusual putters like Locke, he points out that it is not the stroke itself that counts, but your confidence in it. Locke believed he was hooking the ball into the hole, when this was likely not the case. Still, his stroke, which cut across the ball, made him one of the best putters ever because he believed in it.

Rotella goes further, discussing people with more "technically sound" strokes, such as Faxon and Crenshaw. Crenshaw, in particular, is an interesting case. Rotella introduces a story in which Crenshaw, in one sentence, completely turns putting instruction on its head, much to the horror of a professional golf instructor. Again, what is important is what was in his mind, not what a slow-motion camera might reveal.

People frustrated with their putting may find good, solid information here on how to improve. The biggest test will be trying to apply it, which may be harder than any swing change you could imagine.

This is a wonderful book about a truly remarkable, moving and literally tragic misadventure. I first stumbled across Donald Crowhurst's story through a terrific Channel 4 feature film, Deep Water, and was so captivated by it that I bought this and another account of the race (fellow competitor Bernard Moitessier's The Long Way (which, for the record, doesn't really touch on the Crowhurst story)).

The Bard himself could not have scripted a tragedy better than this. Crowhurst, a mercurial but fundamentally unremarkable director of a struggling electronics business, hits upon a means of saving his business and assuring his family's future: entering (and winning) the 1968 Sunday Times single-handed non-stop round-the-world yacht race.

Yes; quite.

Not only, he rationalises, will his entry publicise his firm's own brand of navigational equipment, but the £5000 prize will satisfy an ever more anxious major creditor. His plan to win, cobbled together from a standing start in six months, is to use an (at the time) almost unheard-of design: the trimaran, substantially of his own specification.

No matter that, a weekend yachtsman, Crowhurst has never been out of the Solent and has no realistic chance of beating the hoary old sea-dogs, renowned explorers and ex-navy officers already signed up for the race. No matter that preparing the boat involves raising further finance from the same major creditor who was already breathing down Crowhurst's neck (you do have to wonder what *he* was thinking, don't you). No matter that there is no time to have the boat properly finished, let alone thoroughly ocean-trialled.

And thereafter a perfect, inevitable, tragedy unfolds. Crowhurst is carried by events, some of his own making, to prosecute a plan it is plain, even to him, is madness. But events and circumstances spur him on. A BBC film crew is following him. A rather over-excited publicist inflates expectations. Before he knows it, Crowhurst is off the coast of Portugal in a slow, leaking, malfunctioning, poorly provisioned boat, fearing for his life if he should go on, and for his solvency and marriage should he not. He realises there his no hope of success, but is compellingly obliged to soldier on, stiff upper lip, and makes the hasty and fatal decision to exaggerate his progress. From that point on, fortune's wheel is set.

The ironies and twists of fate which thereafter play out and force events to their sorry conclusion are so cruel that one can hardly blame Crowhurst for reneging on a lifetime's atheism and laying his plight at the hands of a malicious (and game-playing) God. The saddest irony of all was the last: Crowhurst, never intending to do anything but come in a respectable but uninteresting last, announces (to add some drama!), that he is closing on the last remaining competitor who, in panic, redoubles his efforts to coax his own damaged, worn out and jury-rigged boat faster, causing it to break up entirely and sink - leaving Crowhurst to win (if he arrives home at all) by default - the one thing he simply cannot afford to do.

Tomalin and Hall's book, which came out within a year of the original event, is an expertly pieced-together and beautifully written forensic study of the whole awful saga, and charts sympathetically and extensively Crowhurst's descent into what they assume (plausibly enough to me) to have been a form of paranoid schizophrenia by the end of his life. The relation of Crowhurst's final plunge into the abyss, and his final burst of energy in recording his cosmic revelation is by turns dreadful and somehow uplifting: here is a hero going out in true Nietzschean style with the psychology of the tragic poet: "Not so as to get rid of pity and terror ... but beyond pity and terror, to realise in oneself the eternal joy of becoming - that joy which also encompasses the joy in destruction"

Olly Buxton

The other reviews said it all. Great book. I like the true-life adventure genre, and this one is near the top of the list. Crowhurst really lost it at the end. Wow.

If you liked this book, you might try Adrift, by Steve Calahan.

This is a must-read classic for any armchair sailor or adventurer. It tells the story of one of nine entrants in the first around-the-world sailing race, Donald Crowhurst, who perpetuated one of the great hoaxes of the 20th century before mysteriouly disappearing. Jonathan Raban, Fellow of the Royal Social of Literature (among his many accolades)writes in the introduction, "I've been reading the Strange Last Voyage every year for more than twenty years, and with each further reading, the Crowhurst story deepends and darkens, gaining in power as the world it records slides further into the past." Written by two journalists just a couple of years after the 1968 events, it is meticulously researched and brilliantly written. The result is a singulary moving, amazing, and haunting story. It transcends genre to become a genuine human tragedy. I envy those reading it for the first time.

I was led to this book through "A Voyage for Madmen". This book looks at the same Golden Globe race but focuses practically solely on Donald's trip. It gives you actual pages from his log and takes you all the way up to his last minutes. This book kept me really interested. It shows you Donalds trip from sanity to insanity and all in bewteen. It goes in depth on how he faked his progress and what he actually did. If you like sailing or psychology or you want to read some of the philosophy of a man on the brink on insanity, this is a great read. It kept me up all night and it has changed the way I think of solo circumnavigations.

This is an amazing book, carefully and wonderfully crafted by its authors. Crowhurst was an amazingly complicated man, driven by his intellect and confined by his shortcomings. The sea was the ultimate challenge for him to face his personal demons. Setting out on a voyage inspires a whole range of emotions and feelings for those who choose to embark on such a journey. It is a study in contrasts: hope & fear; order & chaos; skill & luck; triumph & defeat. Crowhurst experienced each of these at such a deep level. He was on the world stage, yet confined by his own machinations. He set out to conquer the last great solo feat and relied on his own abilities. This is the story of how that played out. Along with this text, I would also recommend reading Peter Nichol's "A Voyage For Madmen." It provides an excellent overview of the men involved in the first solo-around-the-world-race and each of their fates. I was unable to put either of these books down.

The point guard college was recommended by my daughter's high school basketball coach. At hundreds of dollars for one week of camp, I decided to read the founder's book and see if the camp would be worth the cost. After getting the book from the library, I realized that we NEED to OWN this book and also will be putting her in the point guard college. Division 1 colleges----look out for this midwest farm girl!!!

A must read and re-read for any hoopster. Devenzio was not only an incredible player and coach, but a very wise man. I had the privilege of knowing him and hope that his legend lives on. All of his other books are wonderful as well. If you want the live version, you should attend Point Guard College: www.pointguardcollege.com

Many of the items in the book are secret weapons, unknown to most players. Most of the items will give a player an advantage against other players. Excellent book.

I bought this book back in the early 80s when I was a wannabe player, and kept it through the years. Now my daughter is a middle school player & loves the book. It is simply the best basketball instructional book I have ever seen. It is truly sad that Dick Devenzio died so young.

Just as legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden described himself simply as a "teacher", so should Dick Devenzio. Over the last ten to fifteen years, the game of basketball has changed a great deal and not for the better. Yes, players today are bigger, stronger, quicker and more athletic then their counterparts of yesteryear but therein lies the problem. Today's players depend too heavily on their athleticism and consequently have never learned (or been taught!) the skills or developed the basketball I.Q. needed to reach their full potential. Devenzio's book is a powerfull vaccine against this disease whch has been looming around the hardwood for far too long. If you are a player or a coach at any level, this is a must read. A+

Sam Muchnick was my uncle, and I grew up with "Wrestling at the Chase" and the Kiel Auditorium bouts, yet this book taught me so much about my uncle's work and interesting facts about the era and the wrestlers I watched. Well-written, and a real page-turner. Wonderful!!!

Sam Muchnick was without a doubt one of the best promoters ever! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and really loved all the stories. From Dick Murdoch describing Kevin Von Erich's debut and saying he wanted to rip off his head to talking about the various announcers. It is easy to forget that Joe Garagiola used to announce wrestling and even easier to forget that his brother did for several years. I grew up in the northeast which all you got to see over there was WWWF and you could only read about the NWA and Muchnick territory in wrestling magazines. This is a must for anyone who grew up watching wrestling in the 60's and 70's.

This is an awesome book for any casual fan or pro wrestling historian on pro wrestling in St. Louis during the height of the National Wrestling Alliance's power. I really enjoyed the stories about Sam Muchnick and Bruiser Brody (King Kong Brody in St. Louis). I really want to get the Brody biography when it comes out in 2007. Totally worth purchasing!

I grew up watching "Wrestling at the Chase" as a kid- Sunday morning meant time in front of the TV watching King Kong Brody, Flair, Race and all the other wrestling greats. This book gives unbelievable insight into the world of wrestling throughout the past several decades- A good read with some great stories!!

Larry Matysik's book offers great insight into the St. Louis wrestling scence in a well written, organized book (which is not always the case with pro wrestling books). Larry was a sports reporter, and it shines through in his writing. Having grown up with the Mid-Atlantic territory in Virginia, I had never witnessed Wrestling at the Chase, nor was I aware of its importance in the NWA. Reading Larry's book and seeing his DVD's changed all that. There were a lot of familiar faces (Flair, Brody, Von Raschke), and some new (Crusher Blackwell, a young Ted Dibiase before he moved on to the UWF and WWF, Bulldog Bob Brown). It's a real treat to read his anecdotes then watch them on video. If you're a fan of the old NWA, this book is well worth your while to pick up. ECW Press has churned out some great wrestling books in the last year or two, including The Greatest Tag-Teams, Terry Funk's autobiography, and Harley Race's autobiography. This one is near the top of the heap. Highly recommended for fans of late 70's and 80's NWA wrestling, as well as those curious about wrestling history.

Larry Matysik is now at work on a King Kong (Bruiser) Brody biography which should be out this year.

Its great to be able to read a book that has taken so many , many hours of labor and yielded so much useful information.
After reading the detailed analyses and descriptions in this book it is hard to argue the conclusion that Babe Ruth hit the ball harder and farther than anyone else-- with his much-too-heavy bat reducing bat speed and no weight training, much less artificial enhancements ala MC Quire and Bonds. Even on steroids, the latter two cannot touch the Bambino for 450 foot + shots. Its not even close. And consider Babe routinely bombed 400 --475 + footers that were fly outs in the huge old fields of the 20s and 30s--
So the truth actually transcscends the myth-- Ruth was better than his legend.
With some aerobic work and strength training, modern medical care, a lighter bat, modern day fields and the DH rule...

This was not, strictly speaking, a biography. Nonetheless, I found it gave me a fresh perspective on not only Babe Ruth's career, but also the man. Mr. Jenkinson has exhaustively analysed Babe Ruth's career and, incredibly, tracked down each of his home runs, including to the extent possible those hit in exhibition games. The book's title comes from his simple and convincing assertion that outfield dimensions have shrunk to the extent that the Babe would have had 104 home runs in 1921 had outfields been the size of today's ball parks, plus a handful from rule changes. Interesting enough, but for me the great joy of the book comes from Mr. Jenkinson's efforts to account for other changes in the conditions under which Ruth played.

The most interesting of these was the extent to which the Babe devoted himself to his role as a public icon. Yes, he was a man who saw no reason to curb his various appetites. But in Mr. Jenkinson's study he was also a man who gave himself to his fans to a degree we cannot fathom today. Taking nothing away from the most unselfish of today's stars, they could not touch the Babe's dedication to serving the fans even if they wanted to. Constant travel to exhibition games, even during the season, barnstorming to small towns around the country (or Hawaii or even Japan) during the off-season, and endless autographs were only the tip of the iceberg. The Babe was swamped by children everywhere he went, Gulliver sometimes literally toppled to the crowd by the Lilliputians -- and always apparently returning their love ten-fold.

The other aspect of Ruth's career that is so helpfully illuminated by Mr. Jenkinson is his history of ailments, or rather the history of inadequate medical care and poor training regimens provided by the Yankees. Although it is impossible to prove in the same way as his home run analysis, Mr. Jenkinson makes a persuasive case that Ruth was terribly ill-served throughout his career and probably had his career somewhat shortened as a result.

Bill Jenkinson has written one of the most fascinating historical reviews of sport that I have ever read, and a must for anyone interested in the history of baseball in general and home runs in particular.

Through obsessive original research, many years of study, and a steadfast focus on what Ruth did on the field rather than off, Jenkinson actually enhances the legend of Ruth in a remarkable manner.

It's possible to quibble with some of his conclusions, and there is an overwrought quality to some of his writing, but it is scarely possible to read this book objectively and come to any conclusion other than that Babe Ruth was a monumental power hitter who remains unmatched to this day.

This is not a book for those looking for special insight into Ruth's character, personality, and the broader context of his times, but perhaps that's the point- it's fascination comes through Jenkinson's obsessive focus on what Ruth actually did on the diamond rather than off, in particular the length of Ruth's longest home runs.

This book is like salted peanuts- tough to put down.

I have a great amount of respect for what Bill Jenkinson has done hear, spending over 25 years of his life doing very, very difficult research. Bill researched most of this book the old-fashioned way, going to libraries and tracking down the people who lived during the life and times of Babe Ruth. It's really a remarkable achievement that he deserves to be praised for.

My favorite parts of the book are the later chapters, in which Jenkinson takes a more of a stance on the issues: How did race play a role, equipment issues, rule changes, etc. This is where the true marvel of this book is finally realized. Simply put, that Babe Ruth was the greatest baseball player ever. PERIOD. No arguments (even from a Red Sox fan. Well...maybe Ted Williams... :)

The first-hand recollections really stand out, as do Jenkinson's journeys to find the facts. His conclusions (which I won't share here) are astounding, and only add to the legend.

My only negative, which unfortunately for me was a big one, is that the first 100+ pages really drag. It's a lot of day-by-day accounts of Ruth's batting performances, which after a few seasons of reading, is pretty tedious. I liked some of it, moreso when there were stories included within the sections. Obviously, some people will like this section, I however, did not. It'd be safe to say that I enjoyed the story sections, and Jenkinson's theories/facts/conclusions much more.

If you are baseball fan and analytical you will love this book (although if you are a Red Sox fan, it can be tough to swallow)