Athletics Books

This is an excellent book for backs who need more speed, like me. There are many, many ways to improve speed. All of which are helpful. Any athlete needs to read this book, it will take them to the next level of performance.

The book does have some good drills which can be helpful. Unfortunately, the text based descriptions of those drills are hard to understand, and only a few pictures are provided to support those poorly-written sentences. It's obvious that different authors wrote different portions. For example, in the early portion, we are told that an athlete who wants to gain a pound of muscle only needs around an extra five grams of protein per day, since 70% of muscle weight is water. Later on, when the Advocare (TM) system is being promoted, the number goes to the more standard .8 grams of protein per pound of lean body weight.

It covers plyometrics drills, increasing stride length, increasing stride frequency, and other essential areas. However, as others have noted, it does not give any information about how to really integrate this into the training program. As well, some of the tables are just plain confusing.

Bottom line, read through it, (and this is going to be some dry reading), copy some of the drills down, and then read other books which cover a more integrative training approach towards periodization and hitting peak cycles.

This book tells you many ways to improve your speed....What plyometrics you should do.....and soooo many ways to imrove yourself..ways which YOU wouldn't have thought of!

I'm a defensive back (6'2, 205) who has been trying to take it to the next level and find a team. I don't have the luxury of trainers and fancy equipment. All I have is all I get. This book helps me get more than I know I have.

I never knew why all that stuff was important until I read this book. Now when I work out, I know what's happening to me and what I need to do in order to make it happen more. They even get down to the mental aspect of training as well as breathing techniques. The exercises they illustrate are definitely speed and agility powerhouses! Believe me I know!

This book proves that sprinting isn't just running, but a complex science and it has "Dumbed It Down" for all who read. They say that sprinters are born not made, well this book proves that sprinters are born on the track as well and not just in the womb. The scouts are going to love me come May 13th in Atlanta. Thanks for the insights fellas!!

This book is mostly a kitchen sink approach to speed training methods and is a sure fire perscription for overtraining. And as previous reviews have pointed out, the book does not provide an overall logic that helps the athlete or coach properly integrate the training elements. The book does not properly explain how the components of its sytem interact with each other and how they should be balanced against each other when determining the needs of a given individual athlete. In addition, many of the techniques, most notably overspeed training, are highly dubious and most likely counter productive. For those interested in proven speed training methods, I highly recommend Training for Speed by Charlie Francis, which is light years ahead of SportSpeed. Also be on the lookout for Charlie's new training manual which should be released by the end of 2002 and will make every other book on speed training obsolete.

I wish every football fan would read this book, but I am willing to bet that a majority of it's readership is full of people like me. Oklahomans who are fans and supporters of our Sooners. I have to admit, I doubt many Texas fans are going to rush out and buy this book, hell, they probably wouldn't read it if there was a free copy in the john, but they might use it for something else.

So right off the bat, I have to expose my bias on this book. How could I not love it? So it doesn't mean much for me to say things like, "Everybody will love this book, it speaks to all college football fans."

While this book does not hold universal appeal for all people, here is why I think it should. It has an underlying message that is positive and inspiring. A message that can be used by anyone, anywhere, and at anytime.

Being born and raised in Oklahoma, I of course became very familiar with the place and the people that live there. From an early age I began to realize that Oklahoma wasn't all that popular of a place. Even most of the kids I grew up with didn't have many good things to say about Oklahoma. They always wanted to be someplace else, and this always bothered me a great deal. In fact, that is one of the biggest problems my home state faces. Oklahoma isn't great enough to hold onto it's own people. I live in Southern California, which might as well be Hell to many OU fans after what the Trojans did to OU in the Orange Bowl. So even I became one of the traitors, in a way. I will always call Oklahoma home, I just live in Hermosa Beach. I'm an Okie, and proud of it.

I knew we didn't have any pro sports teams, no major cities that get mentioned in the same breath as "New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, St. Louis, etc." Whenever the big news stations covered the weather, they never gave the weather in Oklahoma, we just kinda got looked over. After all, we are just the funny shaped flat state out in the middle of the country.

I very quickly realized that the only time my state popped up on national radar was when the University of Oklahoma's football team was involved. Of course, this became a source of pride for me and countless others. Oklahoma has no place comparing itself to other states in many ways, whether it be pro sports, big business, vacation hotspots, or just simply being a "popular" place to live and work. But when it comes to college football, we stand as proud as anyone, and we know that we deserve the right to do so.

What I didn't know as a kid, was that this was the plan all along. Years before I was born, the big wigs at OU and others around the state of Oklahoma wanted to use the University's football program as a source of pride for the state, and this was especially true when my home state was devastated by the depression and the great dust bowl.

The Sooners of Oklahoma at one time, won 47 straight football games, and this cemented their legacy as one of the all time greatest college football programs. The mission was truly accomplished, Oklahoma was on the map and everybody knew it.

This book covers a lot of ground in the history of OU football, all of it is exciting and interesting. I would think that anyone who is attracted to stories of victory, and overcoming great odds to succeed above all others, would love this book. It's not just about sports in my opinion. The reasons that Bud Wilkinson and his Sooner teams were so successful was because they displayed the attributes of champions. These attributes are universal to just about everything, business, family, sports, etc.

I am sure there will be some Negative Nancy's about this book, who can't help but bring up the numerous brushes with the law and the NCAA, that OU has had. All I have to say is, you're probably right, but if you're a fan of any major college football program and some of the not so major ones, then you have to right to criticize. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. That's what is said anyway.

I suggest you ignore all that stuff and focus on the inspiring message inside, don't let YOUR bias against Oklahoma, or it's University, or it's football team prevent you from enjoying a very fine tale of glory.

Maybe I knew too much of the story before I read it but there was more info about the players and coaches and the women they had than about football. I would have liked to read about the football games they won!!!

A great great football story, but disappointingly written. For starters, Jim Dent misses his audience. Recreated quotes reminisce made-for-grade school stories, yet hollow and stereotypical characters go on big-time drinking binges and grow 'harder than Chinese arithmetic' over the ladies. More disappointing is that one must read between the lines to discover what's most fascinating about 1940s/50s-era football - that the national champion was chosen BEFORE the bowl games (imagine THAT before BCS), that players played on both sides of the ball, that there were no designated field goal kickers, and heaps of other subtleties that have faded away as college football has 'grown.' Perhaps there was a rush to get this out while the 2000 Sooners team was STILL undefeated and national champions. It takes time to make a winner, I guess.

As a fan of the history of college football I found Dent's book to be a breath of fresh air in a genre that is often peppered with statistics, numbers and facts & figures. Dent goes beyond the numbers to present a living work about the Golden Program of the Golden Era of college football.

Many books about the history of a team give just that, a history of the team but overlook the individuals that comprise the whole. Not Dent. He relishes in crawling in the dirt or sailing into the clouds with the players, coaches, supporters and fans who made the story of the OU 47-game winning streak possible.

For all the glory and fame, it is well remembered that the Sooners, perhaps the greatest college football team of all-time, was made up of the same stuff as the worst college football team of all-time...a coaching staff of chain-smoking, hard drinking, middle aged coaches and stiff-legged college boys often more interested in getting laid than getting playing time.

From desk drawers full of cash, to skirt-chasing, to fist-a-cuffs, to race relations, to sweaty lockerrooms to game day, Dent captures the aura of the greatest winning streak of all-time and the crushing pressure of winning and gut-wrenching fear of losing like few sports writers can.

Careful in his details and persistent with his research Dent writes a classic tale of college football while weaving a great yarn of story-telling.

Combine this book with Dent's "The Junction Boys", gift wrap them both and you will have the perfect gift for not only the football fan on your gift list but the overall sports fan as well.

Hell, my wife actually read and liked the book and she doesn't know squat about football...

Great job, Mr. Dent.

I try to read every college football book that I can get my hands on. I can honestly say that I have read few books written as poorly as this one. I was expecting much more considering the potential story lines involved in this subject. I simply did not enjoy this book because of the way it was written.

This book is a fast read, and I really liked it. I thought he made his points and got his story across very well, and gives some insight as to how the coaching profession works. I recommend it.

Take ajourney with Charles Weis, New Jersey born
and raised guy who happened to go down and talk
to one of the 'Fathers' in the Notre Dame Athletic
office one day back in 1975 about what HE thought
the 'Fightin' Irish' should be doing to inprove
the football team. Fast forward through the years
as Charlie Weis becomes the sports enthusiast who
moves up through the ranks and becomes a first rate
football coach who ends up going back to Notre Dame
after winning FOUR Super Bowls and becomes it's H.
Coach! Great and inspirational reading! As good as
Marv Levy's fine football book, "Where Else Would
You Rather Be?"

The book has several interesting stories. Though CW doesn't mention it, he must have been a pretty smart student to get admitted to ND. I thought he said his dad was of a blue collar profession, so he must have gotten quite a bit of financial aid.

I found his story about how he quit HS coaching to take a grad assistantship at South Carolina interesting, as well as how he was to be offered the head coaching job with the Bills, if the Patroits lost the AFC championship game to the Titans. I also found his early days as coach of the Fighting Irish to be interesting. All in all, it's a story of a hard working guy who always tried to do the right thing and succeeding to get the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

This is a very refreshing story of how an outwardly ordinary person with some extraordinary insight and self-confidence goes from being a regular kid to a top level coach, and how he balances his family life with his professional life. He doesn't dish dirt or tattle, and it isn't all about Notre Dame Football. He acknowledges success and failure without bragging about his system or complaining about setbacks. He doesn't breach the privacy of others to sell his story, so details of who said what and who did what are not there, though he does give plenty of credit where it is due. It's dignified but not stuffy or superior. You just can't help but admire him, and you wish you had a boss with his sense of priorities, directness, and honesty.

It really does hook you, so make sure you have plenty of time when you first open it to read the whole thing. I bought this for my spouse for Christmas. While wrapping it, I took a little peek. Two hours later I finished it. It was just too darn interesting to put down, and I am not a big football fan. Then I kept thinking about it and had to stop myself from quoting it (to keep from spoiling the surprise). When my spouse opened it on Christmas Day; I warned him that it would suck him right in. He laughed and took a peek. Now I have a nice picture him, surrounded by holiday chaos and kids, completely oblivious while reading this book cover-to-cover.

We both agree that this is a really terrific book. Since my spouse is a big Notre Dame fan (two ND degrees and grew up in South Bend), but I am not, I'd say that this book appeals to a wide variety of people.

Coach Weis starts this short autobiography out with a funny story about his student days at Notre Dame and how he had the nerve to complain to the University president about the football team. I would say that this is a rather interesting way for the man who is now in charge of that same football team to start out his book. Right up front Charlie Weis says to us the fans that he understands what it is like to be frustrated and that we Notre Dame fans really matter to him. I like this guy!

I say that this is a short autobiography because there is so much yet to be written in the Charlie Weis story but there is still a lot of information to be found in these pages. I must admit that I had wondered how a guy who hadn't even played college football became the coach of the most storied program in the sport and by reading this book I got my answers. Charlie Weis is one hard working guy. This is not to say that he didn't get some major breaks along the way because he did and he freely acknowledges that he did. Coach Weis is proud of his work ethic and that comes across loud and clear in this book but the man doesn't have a conceited bone in his body. I like this guy!

When Coach Weis was hired at Notre Dame most Irish fans read up on him in a hurry and so we knew the basics of his sparkling pro career but in this book we get a little more of story including some things that I'm sure that he didn't really care to share but he shared them anyway and the book is all the better for it. I really do like this guy!

Best of all, we finally get a look at Coach's personal life and we learn about his wonderful wife and his special relationship with his son. We also get a glimpse of his relationship with his special needs daughter who is able to communicate very clearly when she wants her dad to go away and leave her alone. The proceeds from this book go to a foundation he has set up in the name of his daughter Hannah and it was for the love of her that he even agreed to write this book. Did I mention that I like this guy?

This book is not a deep tome on Charlie Weis' coaching philosophy or an insight into the Notre Dame program. That may well come later when he has been at South Bend for a few more years. This is simply the basic story of a man who accepts no excuses from his players or himself and who expects everyone to give their all for the good of the team. This is Charlie Weis 101 and I hope that the graduate level course won't be too long in coming.

Mychael Urban's book takes a different view than Michael Lewis' "Moneyball" does. Urban goes in-depth to show you what goes on in the minds of Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, and Mark Mulder. Hudson, Zito, and Mulder are about as different as three men can be, but all three have one big thing in common: They are all driven to be the best.

Urban's book discusses the trials and tribulations of the Big Three's and the A's 2004 season. It was a unique year for the A's, as they missed the playoffs for the first time since 1999. Urban had earned the trust of the Big Three, therefore all three let their guards down and talked about what makes them all tick. You'll read about Hudson's battle through an injury-plagued season, the always confident Mulder struggle through his first moment of self-doubt, and Zito's various musings.

The book wraps up with the frantic few days during the 2004 off-season in which Hudson and Mulder were traded within two days of each other. This book is both a nice look back at the A's 2004 season and an excellent look at an interesting topic in the Big Three. A's fans will likely hang on to this book and look back in upcoming years on what a fantastic trio Hudson, Mulder, and Zito were.

I was looking forward to this book, as I'm a big fan of the A's system and was intrigued by the possibility of the story of the last season these three spent together. However, author Mychael Urban is kind of all over the place; he says that it's not a "team" profile or the profile of the season, but in fact that's prety much what it is. He tries to write around major aspects of the team's 2004 season -- the failure to find a closer for the first half of the season, injuries to Chavez and others -- but ends up spending quite a bit of time discussing them. The interviews with the 3 pitchers are interesting but not much different than one might find in a daily column or extended SI profile. Not a bad book for fans looking for a closer look at these three players, but the look isn't that much closer and there's not much suprising or unusual. "Moneyball" has much more of a take, and "Three Nights in August" conveys the day-to-day ball activity in a much richer manner.

Aces is a great insight into the minds of three very good pitchers who have different personalities. Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito are known as the Big Three, three fantastic young pitchers on the Oakland A's staff. This book, by a daily newspaper beat writer, covers the three pitchers through the season. Although its about the A's, and Billy Beane wrote the foreward, its not like the famous book by Michael Lewis, Moneyball, at all. There's little in it about Beane's approach to baseball, except how the Big 3 feel about the A's lack of spending money. They aren't happy about not bringing in free agent talent due to their limited funds. The book goes through the mental aspects of the game, how Mulder and Zito both dealt with failure at different points in the season. Mulder had a great start but faltered in the 2nd half of the season, while Zito had a bad start but pitched well in the latter part of the season. After reading this book, its hard not to root for these three pitchers, even though they pitch for three different teams now. Urban did a great job.

This book was a delight to read as I love to see inside the world of the players, and Urban does it with a breezy and fun style that is worth reading out loud (as I often did to my boyfriend, or whoever was nearby if they knew about baseball). The "big three" in Mulder, Hudson and Zito provide a study in contrasts that illuminates everything from what goes on inside a pitcher's head (or doesn't) while he's on the mound, to the importance of pitching coaches. I found myself wanting to copy out various sentences from the book to make sig quotes out of, sometimes from what the players said, sometimes from Urban's pithy and hip take on modern major league life.

The book's only possible drawback is that I wanted more! There are some great personal moments (that also give insight into baseball), as with Zito using his guitar case as an illustration of Gary Sheffield's 'hitting zone', but I wanted more of them. The book was designed to cover just one season, but honestly I could have used a little bit less of a chronicle of the A's ups and downs in a season that wasn't that memorable and more of the pitchers talking pitching. Perhaps Urban will write another book that will satisfy me on that score later--I would buy it in a second. He's definitely one of the up an coming baseball scribes worth watching.

This book is awesome. It goes deep into the minds of these "Big Three", as pitchers and people. Through early season bullpen woes, to the dogdays of summer, to their slim loss of the division lead in the end of the season. The pitchers minds are dissected, from Zito's quirkiness and tendency to get too deep into his thoughts, to Mulder's calmness, to Hudson's aggressive "bulldog" mentality. This book is for anyone who loves sports, espessialy baseball, and anyone who respects the A's dominant run through the early 2000's. It is masterfully written, and a beautiful recount of, not only the "big three" we have grown to love, but the 2005 season, and the A's playoff hopes. It shows the breakdown off a pitchers mind before his start, and the other 4 days in between, and how these supposed "super humans" are just people. Mychael Urban's quick wit, and smooth style of writing make this memoir much more than just the report on each game's happenings, and make it into something special to share and read.

I found this DVD very helpful. I was able to create a 6 hour CE class for massage therapy.

As a massage therapist I often work with muscle injuries. This book is a must have for both therapeutic technique and for client education. I highly reccommend it.

As a runner and horseback rider, I have always subscribed to the theory that stretching is critical for performance. However, finding an effective stretching system has been a long and arduous search. Some books are difficult for the lay person to understand. Some books do not have a fundamental theory underpinning their exercises. And some books promote stretches that are actually harmful. I have found Facilitated Stretching to be the best of the bunch. The illustrations are clear, well-organized and large enough to follow. The text is written clearly and concisely: I can figure out what to do the first time I read it. The cd is excellent: slow, well-narrated and easy to follow. Best of all, the results are immediate. My partially frozen shoulders are starting to move in response to a combination of massage therapy and facilitated stretching (as advocated in the book). My hamstrings have finally let go so now I know what it feels like to walk as normal people do! In short, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It has met all my stringent requirements. This new edition is even better than the second edition which I studied before buying this book.

This 3rd edition is a wonderful upgrade from the 2nd. The DVD does an exceptional job of visualizing spiral diagonal patterns and demonstrating the facilitated stretching technique. The book is upgraded as well as the information on specific body locations is easlier to find and readily accessable for use in my bodywork. I use both frequently.

As a Personal Trainer, I was looking for a book that was practical with stretches that I could teach my clients that were beyond the normal static stretches. After some weeks with a flexibility program designed with stretches from this book, there is a noticible difference in positive range of motion. It is well written and easy to follow. For my purposes, I found it to be an excellent book.

i got this book because I have some experience lifting weights, but I wanted a program to follow. this book is very good - it has programs that you can use and you can start working out very quickly. If someone is very, very experienced, then this is not the book you are looking for. however, for most people out there who aren't semi-pros, this book will be fine.

This book is only good if you have never stepped foot in a gym. More than half the exercises are longer than 60 min and no mention of diet.

This is the most helpful book I have found for advice on locating or constructing a weight lifting program to meet your goals. The authors are obviously experts because their advice is backed with reason and covers a wide spectrum of needs - just what you expect from consultants who know both theory and practice of their field. Whether you are a beginner or advanced lifter, young or old, this book will put you on a progression of good programs for a very long time.

The book helps you assess your current readiness for weight lifting, and encourages you to think about your goals as being in one of three areas: muscle toning, body shaping, or strength building. Of course there is overlap between these since any program will accomplish some of these elements, but it is a matter of emphasis in the program you will follow. Then the book has nice color coded charts for 6 different zones which are basically your starting experience level for any one of the three goals. There are also alternate week and month ideas to really help you get the most time out of these plans. The recommended programs usually last one month and then encourage you to switch to another for continued progress. Most programs introduce slight variations at week 3 as well. There are 2, 3 and 4 day a week programs depending upon your goal and experience (color zone).

There are lots of charts and helpful calendars, etc. You can copy the charts to track your progress. By using these tools you can learn more about how to design your own programs and the authors talk you through that as well.

It is important to know what this book is not. It is not a detailed exercise manual showing lots of different exercises and their variations. There is an exercise appendix so if this were your only book, you could do the programs, but exercise details are not the emphasis of this book. Nor is nutrition, or detailed anatomy diagrams - both are mentioned briefly.

This is a great book of sound weight lifting programs for most of us. I say most of us, because expert body builders will probably find most of this book too easy or obvious for their needs. But for most of us it represents a tremendously helpful set of programs and ideas to get us from wherever we are to being more advanced lifters.

This book has a decent amount of basic material and is worth the ten dollar price tag. A good chunk of the book is filled with mostly repetitious tables about color coded training 'zones', information which could have been compressed into a few pages. I was looking for more details about diet and fat loss which I didn't find.

Apart from that, the binding quality is poor and the pages are coming out of my book after only a couple of months of use.

This book is superb for anyone who is considering weight training for fitness. The different spectrum levels guide you through workouts geared to the level of YOUR athletic ability, from absolute beginner to seasoned athlete. The book offers clear instructions on how to perform the suggested exercises without becoming overly technical. It gives you what you need to know, and not too much more. The section on designing your own workout is worth the price of the book.

This book is great for logging your training and has great quotes in it to keep you motivated weekly.

This was okay. I wish there was a little more room for comments on each day. However, I LOVE the tips and the quotes of the day! I would recommend this product to anyone...

I HAVE BEEN USING THIS JOURNAL FOR YEARS AND HAVE GROWN ACCOSTUMED TO LOGING MY ENTRIES IN A CERTAIN MANNER. THE EDITORS HAVE SEEN FIT TO CHANGE THE ENTRY FORMAT MAKING IT DIFFICULT TO ENTER THE SAME INFORMATION IN A MANNER THAT IS MEANINGFUL TO ME. NOT A PROBLEM TO SOMEONE STARTING OUT. THIS JOURNAL IS AN INVALUABLE AID IN THE FUTURE FOR VIEWING HOW FAR YOU'VE PROGRESSED OVER THE YEARS. A MUST FOR ALL SERIOUS AND COMPETATIVE RUNNERS.

I LOVE this training log. This log is perfect for the busy runner. It has just enough room for all you need to record, but the only drawback (to me) is that there is not a section for the weather. I do, however, like the shoe history and Rave Run sections. I have owned at least 10 of these journals from Runner's World, and I have never been disappointed. The advice that is given in the journal can be found in their magazine, but for the casual runner, they aid in performance and additional information. I highly recommend this log to runners in place of a simple notebook or calendar. It includes so much information that you may forget before you have the time to record it.

I agree with other reviewers about the lack of space to write notes in this edition. The previous edition was a joy to use.

This is really a fine histury of the 1936 Olympics in addition to a review of Jesse Owens career leading to the Olympics. This should be required reading for all of the current sports writers and editors. it should be read especially by those that thought that Clay was even close to being the outstanding athlete of the century. It would be a five star book if the author hadn't inserted some of his personal biasis.

We ordered this work for our grandson who was doing a school project on Owens. The text captured his interest and proved a helpful source for his sixth grade research project.

Here we have a mostly victorious investigation into Jesse Owens' historic performance at the 1936 Olympics in Hitler's Germany. The story is hugely inspiring and all readers will become fans of Owens for both his athletic prowess and his personal qualities. Jeremy Schaap untangles the pervasive racial politics surrounding this historical episode, as both the Americans and Germans badly over-interpreted and exploited (in many different ways) the presence of Owens and his black teammates at the Olympic games that Hitler tried to turn into a showcase for his regime's hateful ideas of Aryan superiority. Schaap also untangles the legends of Hitler's apparent refusal to personally meet with Owens, which may have been a more complex situation than the simplistic racial snub that historians have assumed in the decades since.

But despite the inspiration offered by Owens and the exciting coverage of his many victories, this book suffers from some serious underlying problems. Most important is Schaap's use of invented dialogue and fanciful constructions of inner thoughts. The Notes section proves Schaap's diligent and frequent use of authentic sources for real historical events and occasional direct quotes, but citations are suspiciously rare for conversations between the persons covered and their supposed inner decision making. One especially worrisome example is the episode in which Owens decided not to show his coach a telegram he had received from the NAACP, in which Schaap gives no sources for Jesse's internal thoughts as presented in the book. Meanwhile, Schaap apparently couldn't decide if the book should be a biography of Owens or a historical account of the 1936 Olympics, leading to an inconsistent timeline, tiresome tangents into related events (like the petty parliamentary struggles surrounding an American movement to boycott the Games), and gaps in the thematic explorations of Owens' true influence on the issues of his day and on the future of sports. Regardless, Jesse Owens shines through for the reader, but Schaap's inability to avoid some of the weaknesses of standard sports reporting leaves the reader wanting more of the man who made history. [~doomsdayer520~]

Take a trip back to the days of World War II in this historical account of Jesse Owens and his trip to the Berlin Olympics.

Very good history lesson. The book flows well and gives a good account of what America and the world was like during Mr. Owen's life. Would encourage the reading of Triumph

This book, if you really read and reflect on it in depth, will deepen and enhance the way you look at the world fundamentally, not only in sports but in all areas of life. There are hundreds of insights here into all types, strengths and weaknesses, preferences, tendencies. *Note: Readers should realize many insights and tips are spread over the various sports' sections, so one should read the commentaries on *all* the different sports, i.e. read the golf and diving sections even if you don't play golf or dive, because there are likely major tips that apply to every aspect of life. I've read this book up and down and continue to refer to it again and again. I find myself watching sports on TV and identifying all the players' types pretty easily.

This is a fascinating book. Jonathan attempts to tie physiology to principles that have been discussed for years as being psychological. It can be liberating to know that people are not being difficult, but they are the way they are because of their "hard wiring" which causes them to see the world differently. One problem is the self testing for brain typing. It can be tricky to pick the correct type even when you've been as honest as you can with the questions. It can also influence your expectations for children's development. This is a seminal work that needs to be developed further by the scientific community.

Jon's book and research, have proven, time and time again, that determining and understanding a person's brain type gives you a great advantage in understanding your own behavior, and the behavior of others. Instead of always wondering why people are the way they are, or, as many do, trying to change the basic behavior of another person, you gain insight on how that person's mind and view of life work. And as you coach, manage and work with others, you can encourage them in area's of strength, or preference, base on their unique braintype.

There is a great deal of misunderstanding and misinformation in the understanding, and utilization, of the Myers-Briggs model. Jon's braintype model helps to clarify, scientifically, what is really going on, inside that mind.

I am a student of this book; and have used it extensively in my coaching and business career. It is one of the best investments a person can make in helping them understand themselves; and others....

Daniel Dyk, ISTJ

Although Mr. Niednagel wants us to believe that the product he is pitching, Brain Typing, is scientifically based, it is really nothing more than just another weary entry from the productive and fertile field of pseudoscience. He uses anecdotes and testimonials to pitch his product with absolutely zero controlled studies that even hint at its effectiveness. The irony of using athletes to promote his product is the common knowledge of athletic superstition.

He has every right to sell a product that relies on the expectations, dreams, and wishes of the buyer. This is what American commerce is all about. But, pleeeese!! Don't try to tell us it has any relationship to real science.

The author is, in my opinion, a lot better at self-promoting than he is at Typing celebrities. The guy made a splash by (in all likelihood) Typing two football players correctly, Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf, when there was tons of dollars on the line. Unfortunately, this single success is being parlayed into a non-scientific snake-oil salesmanship. Better yet: his line of reckless conjecturism is taking the once scientific field of MBTI into the realm of phrenology. Great. Nothing could discredit Isabel Myers-Briggs and David Keirsey's studies more quickly. (though, truth be told, the Keirseys have been getting a lot heavier into pure conjecture lately, and offer less and less empirical backing)
What is even more disturbing, if you check the author's website, is his alarming tendency towards an elitist (and often radically errant. IMO) Typing of US presidents. Apparently, this author maintains, on pure conjecture of course, that only ENTs can ascend to the presidency. Thus does he mis-Type (and now for my own conjectures, which i can back up at least as credibly as this author) ISFJ GW Bush as an ENTJ; thus does he mis-Type ESFP Bill Clinton as an ENTJ; thus does he mis-Type ENFP Ronald Reagan also as an ENTJ. You see a lot of "ENTJs" in his findings, right? (I am betting the author is an ENT himself. Naturally.) Anyway, such purely conjectural favoritism, in addition to resurrecting a kind of phrenology, is, I'm afraid, because the author is also putting forth a form of "Master Racism/Typism" agenda. Very worrisome, should some psychological Hitler ever come along. Think about it.
Of course, a lot of ENTs do indeed circulate in the halls of US leadership--they just should not be confused with the theatrical muppets we call presidents: indeed, those darned NT mystery men are often found hovering around our presidents, in the form of what may be called "The Establishment." You know, the Cheneys and the Rumsfelds and the Brzyzinskis--these guys may indeed be the braintrusts of NT power that the author thinks he is seeing when he looks at the bogus media image that the Establishment and the controlled major media gives to clear-cut Sensors like Bush and Clinton (clear cut when you study their previous actions and speeches, not just the scripted answers these Sensor presidents read to scripted questions by the major media). Anyway, if this guy who sells himself so well can be so duped by the media image of a man, I wouldn't trust much of any of his conjectures.

Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook: 1998-1999 by Chris Dortch braks down all the NCAA top level basketball teams, and looks at the year before. It gives information on positions for players, likely minutes, depth, possible performance and a lot of other information you wouldn't find anywhere else in one source. A top notch work.

I have been buying Blue Ribbon since it was first published. I have every issue and refer to them quite often. Blue Ribbon is by far the "best" college basketball reference guide available. I am a Kentuckian, by birth, an avid UK and college basketball fan!! This "reference" book is a "must have" item for all college basketball fanatics!!!! Go "Blue Ribbon" and go "Cats"!!

I have also bought this book for the last several years and was extremely disappointed that the TOP 44 high school profiles was deleted. That section was the major reason I enjoyed the book - to be able to know the stars of the future. I didn't buy the 2001-02 edition and probably will not in the future.

Blue Ribbon remains the best preview of college basketball in existence. It has comprehensive, well written reviews of every team in Division I, with detailed analysis on every player. However, it has gone downhill this year because it omits the section on high school players, which was always fascinating. In my case, it was often the first way I heard about the future stars of the game. In addition, Blue Ribbon appears to have eliminated its early season update and the NCAA tournament preview (written after Selection Sunday and delivered by Wednesday), both of which were excellent. Nonetheless, if I bought only one basketball publication per year, this would still be the one.

I have gotten this book every year for a while now, but this years edition was terrible because it did NOT have the recruiting profiles of the Top 44 as they have and years past and that they CLAIM they do now.