Players Books

Having been a Rams fan since the early 70's, this book took me behind the scenes of one of my favorite teams. Youngblood was not only a great player, but a student of the game. The "thugs" they call football players today in no way compare with the players of the 60's and 70's. Money, greed, and arrogance are the spotlight of today's players. The football players of the past had a common goal---to win the Super Bowl. A fan lived and died depending on how their team did every week. With loyalty not being with the players or owners, all of today's players are over-paid jerks. We can't bring back football from the '70's, but our memories are well worth cherishing.

I love it when you get a jock this honest and thi good. He did hi best, hoped it ewas good enough to meet the mare creda, even by playing a football game with a cracked leg.

Is cool times, with being trtite Egle makes jack Youngblood into a stud guy, playing with pain and willng to do anything to play. Bkoken leg or not

This book covers the 14 year career of one of the best DEs of all-time. Included are his struggles and triumphs. The psyche of a perfectonist and the courage of one who would play football with a fracture in his leg. Got this one, it's good

This is probably the most enjoyable book I have read regarding hockey or hockey players. Brett provides a light-hearted look at his life that is neither boastful nor "preachy". He is surprisingly modest given the extraordinary career he has had. I particularly enjoyed hearing of his days growing up in the shadow of his legendary dad and how he overcame his own personal obstacles. This book could easily have been two or three times as thick but I am guessing Brett would not have enjoyed writing a lengthy tome - and clearly Brett is motivated by fun more than anything else! A great lesson for anyone!

Brett Hull was a great hockey player. He worked very hard to become a star player. It was very hard growing up the son of a famous hockey player,especailly after his parents divorced. I think Brett Hull will be remembered and admired for his goal scoring and records he set on the ice. After reading this book I will remember him for how hard he works and how he never gave up his dream. I would recommend this book top everyone that is a hockey lover. I enjoyed the book and was happy I chose it.

THIS IS THE STORY OF BRETT HULL IN HIS OWN WORDS. I REALLY LIKED THIS BOOK. BRETT DOES A NICE JOB DESCRIBING HIS CAREER, RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS DIVORCED PARENTS, AND HIS THOUGHTS ON BEING HIMSELF. BRETT FINALLY PLAYED ON A STANLEY CUP WINNER IN 1999. HE TELLS OF ALL THE PLAYOFF DEFEATS AND THE FRUSTRATIONS DURING HIS CAREER. HE ADDS HUMOR, HONESTY, AND ALOT OF INSIGHTS ON THE GAME OF HOCKEY. I RECOMMEND THIS TO ALL HOCKEY FANS AS A GOOD READ.

This is a great book, all of you brett hull fans or not, should go and get this book, it is definetily the best book i've ever read in a long time

The Bridge Book is a solid and highly readable introduction to playing bridge. The strengths of the book include its low price, clear lessons, and many quizzes that allow you to test your comprehension of the material. This is one of the most accessible bridge books I've ever seen. The flaws, however, include a rather clumsy organization of chapters, a small number of less than clear explanations, and a somewhat out-of-date approach. The book was written almost two decades ago and still recommends opening 1 NT with 16-18 points, as opposed to the more modern (but not universally accepted) 15-17 points. These are minor flaws though, and if you tend to play with people who learned the game a number of years ago, The Bridge Book would be a good place to start learning.

I recommend this to all beginning bridge players and will recommend to all my students. Frank presents the material in a logical fashion along with a thought process that will get you going in the right direction. Bridge is more than memorizing the basics. Learn how to "think"bridge from Frank's easy to follow explanations. IngridH at OKbridge

This book clearly explains the basics of contract bridge defense, and it does so in entertaining fashion. The book has two great strengths: (1) its presentation of the various lines of defense and their signposts, and (2) the numerous quizzes that help the reader to solidify understanding of the material. Novice to intermediate players should find it useful. Beginners should read Volume 1 first.

I lost my copy, and I would love to read it again!

The most fantastic book possible for beginners and learners who want to be GOOD PLAYERS, fast!

I was lucky to get a nice, clean copy early on, and refer to it often. Highly recommended, even as a nice thoughtful gift for other new players and friends.

Everybody's Favorite is a wonderful tale of adolescence and the experiences with friends. This book deals with accounts that the children of today can relate to. Not only does author Maureen Holohan send a message, but she also connects with the youth with her writing of sports. In this book Holohan stays with a subject she knows well. She played basketball at Northwestern University where she was a three time All - Big Ten selection. Also, in 1994 Holohan received the Randolph Hearst Journalim award for feature writing. Penny Harris is a 12-year-old girl who lives on Broadway Avenue with her friends. Penny and the rest of the Ballplayers receive the offer to go to soccer camp. Although all are in favor of the idea, they must raise the money for the camp in just one week. As the girls raise the money and attend the camp, they experience new friendships, tough decisions, trouble and fun. All this pressure is put upon one person, Penny. Holohan also relates to children when she tells of the real life decisions Penny faces at camp. The choices between friends and the choice between "crossing the line" or staying at the caibn are just a few she encounters. Holohan presents areal life problem with the peer pressure Penny has to face. When the game is winding down, everyone looks to Penny for the answer. Everybody's Favorite touches many important life lessons. Sports is a subject almost all children can relate with. In this book the characters play all different sports from soccer to basketball to baseball.

This is a kick to the sky book! I would recommend it to most girls that enjoy sports. I think that the girls in the book are very smart and would be fun to play sports with.

Everybody's Favorite by Maureen Holohan, the third book in the Broadway Ballplayers series is a third person account of Holohan's real life experiences. Making it a great book for readers young or old.The way she writes the books makes her readers feel like they're actually in the storyline. The way Holohan made main character Penny Harris into an exact replica of herself adds to the book's excitement. The storyline happens with a little foreshadowing that helps add drama. First off, the ballplayers are trying to raise money for a soccer camp that their principal Mr. Gordon informed them about. They enter a jump rope contest, have a bake sale, and a car wash in order to attend camp. After raising the money, Penny and her friends leave for camp, not knowing what would soon follow. Throughout the camp th ballplayers meet different types of children, and once again the spotlight is on Penny and her skills. Everyone at camp thinks that Penny is the best player and all want to be near her. One of the kids she meets is Kara, who many feel is just as good as Penny, who acts snotty the first day but becomes one of Penny's best friends. From the story's beginning to end Penny displays that she wants to be like everyone else and not in the limelight. All of the coaches and players treat her like a god, which embarrasses her. Penny also feels that the attention she gets makes her friends dislike her. When anything good happens. she does it, but if something bad happens. she's always innocent. Putting the entire book into true life perspective made the book exciting to read. Once someone begins reading Everybody's Favorite,he won't be able to put it down until the end.

This book is great even if you don't like soccer. Her other books are also fantastic.

A compelling and very well-written account of Jim Crow and minor league baseball in the American South. The book is a fascinating cultural and historical study. The author clearly devoted a great deal of time in researching this book. His presentation of the oral histories is fantastic.

This is a wonderful book, recounting a largely unknown story of American and baseball history - how the southern minors' integration was part of the larger civil rights movement. 20th century baseball integration began but did not end with Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby. Unitl now, no one had taken their legacy to the next step. Bruce Adelson now has in a powerful account of what it was like being on the front lines of baseball and civil rights in the Dixie of the 1950s and early 1960s.

The author does a great job of capturing both sides of the integration battlefields (ballparks) of the South. He effectively uses narratives of former players, both the famous (Felipe Alou, Billy Williams, etc.)and the not so famous (Joe Durham, Percy Miller Jr., etc.) to detail exactly what those pioneers had to endure. Those narratives are interwoven with clippings from various newspapers of the day to tie the intergration of minor league baseball in the South with the overall racial climate of those cities. This book, I believe, would prove to be an interesting and informative read, even for those who are not baseball fans. Adelson obviously did a lot of research and successfully shows how baseball "broke down the walls" for total integration in the South. Spend the money and the time on this book - it's worth it!

The author has done an excellent job documenting the experiences of Hank Aaron, Billy Williams, Felipe Alou and others who broke minor league baseball color lines down south in the years after Jackie Robinson opened up the major leagues. His book includes poignant and compelling interviews with these and other ballplayers who relate their painful experiences of enduring Jim Crow racial restrictions while playing baseball. The author also places their achievements within the historical context of the times, the 1950s and 1960s. These players were truly civil rights pioneers, helping to integrate a closed society. This is a must read!

As a big fan of details and facts, Winter is always for me. He`s the best chess historian by far, and this may be his best book to date. Even if you`re not a serious Capablanca fan, this book will keep you entertained with those little special events that make life so interesting (like including a section of an article by Sergei Prokofiev about his playing in a simul against Capbablanca). I also didn`t know until reading the Capablanca writings from articles included in this book that the World Champion really did have a nice sense of humour. Engrossing, filled with facts, all attributions in order... but by no means is it dry. Quite the contrary, this will also touch on your emotions.

Certainly one of the best books I`ve ever seen.

This book is basically a biography via the subject's own writings and papers. Winter does, in fact, include plenty of his own (excellent) prose, but the meat of the book is Capablanca's own writing, much of it new to me, and I've read quite a bit on Capa through the years.

Especially interesting are Capa's thoughts on contemporary players and his early game annotations when he was writing for various chess magazines early in his career. For example, he annotated every game of the epic Lasker-Schlechter match, and they are all included here.

Although Capa is infamous for writing less than virtually any other World Champion, he still penned quite a number of articles, all of them of interest, and all, or nearly all, of which are collected here.

Winter is known for being a stickler about documentation, so you will not find a lot of unfounded gossip or apochryphal stories or legend here. This is a refreshing dfference from the large majority of chess biographies, including other books on Capa. Capablanca's career is full of enough true mindboggling stories to need to make anything up.

This book is a splendid achievement by Winter, and I had a difficult time putting it down. I plan on going back to it again and again as a reference, and, of course, to play over the games which Capablanca had annotated.

Winter has researched an enormous amount of material on Capablanca, and documented his sources thoroughly. He has a commendable distaste for unsubstantiated anecdotes. It includes both significant biographical material as well as many fine games not usually found in the main game collections (which are highly recommended by the way), and often with Capa's own notes.

Winter has also unearthed some very interesting game annotations by Capa, including the Lasker-Schlechter match, a famous Spielmann loss to Tarrasch, a Janowski brilliancy, etc. There are also fascinating reports by Capa on tournaments such as his greatest victory, New York 1927, and the Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires, 1939, where Capa made the best score on top board.

The chapters on his World Championship negotiations and matches with both Lasker and Alekhine make fascinating reading.

There also clear B&W photos of Capa at all stages of life.

BRILLIANT. WELL WORTH THE MONEY. IT HAS HELPED ME TO IMPROVE MY CHESS ENORMOUSLY.

Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, and Sparky Anderson are names of baseball greatness. The Big Red Machine is a part of baseball history.

Johnny tells his story just the way he talks,down to earth.No mommie dearest here. He has nothing but praise for his teammates.He is honest in how he played both on the field and off.He really brings home the price of fame and how much it can cost you. He is honest about his fans andhow he reacts with them.He is honest about Sparky both good and well what else can you say about Sparky? I really recommend this book to anyone interested in baseball.I really think it should be required reading to all the rookies out there who want to be the next superstar.

I first received this book for Christmas from my grandparents in either 1979 or 1980. I was only 15 years old when I read it for the first time back then, but I enjoyed reading what it was like playing for the Big Red Machine, my all time favorite team.

Bench was very candid about his career, his past, family, teammates and women. He does talk about some of his liasons with females (which was eye opening to a young teenager :)). But I still have this book and occasionally will look through it. To me, Johnny is the greatest catcher ever. Any fan of Bench or the Reds of the '70s would enjoy this book, of you can find it!

From growing up in small town Binger, OK to becoming one of the most popular baseball players of his time, Catch You Later provides insight into the joys and struggles of achieving ones dream. Bench, who enjoyed a career that landed him in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989 speaks about his troubled marriage and divorce, his up's and down's in his career (at least through the time of publishing 1979) and his closeness with his family. The best part of his story is what it was like to be a key member of the Cincinnati Reds' Big Red Machine. From playing American Legion ball in Oklahoma to being the 1976 World Series MVP and saving the Reds from elimanation in the 1972 National League Championship Series against Pittsburgh with a bottom of the 9th game tying home run, Catch You Later makes you feel like you accompanied Bench on his travels.

This book teaches you tactics as well as combinations. It manages to teach you in a way that will keep your attention. It gives you plenty of puzzles to practice your newly learned skills and improve your ability to read the board.

Are you studying tactics till they come out of your ears, but you're still a patzer? That is probably because you do not know what the signs of "there might be a winning tactic here!" are in a real game, when, unlike in books, you don't know in advance that there *is* a tactic. Or else you are so excited once you actually *do* notice a tactic in a real game (once in a blue moon) that you play it instantly, without taking into account all of the opponent's defensive resources, or without noticing your "brilliant queen sacrifice" is just exchanging queens into a lost pawn ending, or that you had a better tactic that would win the game outright, not just gain a pawn.

The author of this book understands your pain. First, as one expects in competent books, the author gives only examples from real master games, and each of his "tests" is arranged by difficulty. That each "test" is six positions with the solutions on the other side of the page is a nice feature that saves you from going to the back of the book all the time, and also allows for many puzzles per page--there are over 30 tests, not counting the "practice" ones, or about 220+ positions all told, very good for a 130-page book. A praiseworthy feature is that there are many *drawing* combinations (usually by stalemate)--a common way to save the draw in amateur games, that is usually neglected in such books.

Second, after a few "practice" tests where the *general* theme is given ("target king" or "dealing with defenders", but NOT "knight fork" or "skewer with the bishop"), he gives the tests with *no* instructions--just like you'll see them on the board. This is very important--you don't get someone to whisper to you, "look for a knight fork NOW!" in a real game.

Third--and this is what really sets this book apart from others--the solutions do not merely give you the wining line. A typical solution tells you:

(a) the important points about the starting / ending positions. This divides into both tactical issues (did you notice the black queen is loose? That the back rank is undefended? That a piece is overloaded?) and to no-less important "strategic" ones: did you notice you are a rook down, so a tactic that wins a bishop is pointless? Did you notice your opponents is about to queen a pawn or mate you on the back rank, so "regular" strong moves on your part will not do?

(b) all the possible tactics available, and, especially, why you should always look for a better tactic: yes, you get partial credit for noting you can win the rook, but did you notice you could give mate--or did you stop thinking the moment you found a good move? This is especially important since very often if you find *one* tactic, even if it doesn't win, it means there are others available that *do* win, since tactics are generally based on some weakness in the enemy position, and there's often more than one way to exploit it, some better than others.

(c) being throughout: yes, you gain partial credit for finding the right move by "feel" and noting your bishop sacrifices forces the king to go on a walk. But can you actually calculate the king hunt to mate? If not, how do you know the king will not escape, leaving you a piece down?

To sum up, the book teaches you to be throrough in evaluating the position, both before and after the tactic itself. It improves your ability to spot the possibilty of tactics, to look for different tactics, to note opponents' counterchances, and to evaluate what the tactics are worth. This book isn't a "database dump" like so many other tactical training books; you really learn real-world tactics from it.

Thought provoking puzzles with explanations. An excellent book for the Intermediate to Advanced Player.

Great for introducing and reviewing tactical chess, this book provides numerous practical examples. The author outlines the themes and motifs of the standard tactical tricks that every player must be aware of if he intends to improve. I appreciated the author's combination of explanations and testing. I think that any player wishing to review their tactical abilities should consider this book.

I thought that a comprehensive book explaining all basic stuff in a lively way would be an impossible task. But Mr. Eade has really made it!

Firstly, I love the 3-D diagrams, the layout of book is more visual as in usual chess books and I must admit it really works! There are first of all all the elementary stuff, rules etc but after that you get ao overview of opening principles, not forgetting the hypermodern approach. There's a section describing openings and their general ideas, there's a section for tactics and strategy.

I'm just overwhelmed of this superb book. James Eade explains some fundamental pawn structures which are typical for specific openings - that's something most beginner books don't do. There's some nice guide for essential endgame stuff, this book is simply the best beginner book availible I think players up to 1800 can benefit most of this book.

I'm about a USCF 1600 (Class B player) and I'm improving from this book because it is suitable for me.

This is why l like this James Eade chess book.
1. This book relies on the chess diagrams, not the chess notation, so learning from this book is easier because it's less confusing. Easy to follow diagrams!
2. I love the spiral form because the book holds flat by itself on a table! It is much better than paper back and hard back form!
3. There are 3D diagrams on key positions on almost every page, so I can easily follow through learning new strategy.
4. This book covers all aspects of the game clearly, TACTICS such as the fork, deflection, pin, overloading, discovery etc, endgame such as opposition, triangulation, basic king pawn endgames, queen vs rook endgame etc. , MIDDLEGAME/ STRATEGY such as making a luft, bad bishop, good bishop, how to make use of your rooks, knights, outposts, pawn islands, pawn chains etc. OPENING it shows you different kinds of opening such as the Silican, Ruy Lopez, French Defense, Queen Pawn opening, how to play the opening such as development, timing, etc.) so I can improve my all around game!

This is why I don't like this book.
1. There are no chess excercises/problems to test your knowledge in the book. This is key to improve and I hope James Eade can add chess excercises/problems to another edition of this book if he writes another edition of this book.
2. There are no 'winning game pointers', such in the other book, The Idiot's Guide for Chess. (Patrick Pointer's) I hope James Eade can add 'winning game pointers' in an another edition if he writes one.


Overall, This book is good.
Why?
1. It has helped me gain about 100 points, (1500 to 1600) in about 4 months.

"The Chess Players Bible" -James Eade

Author James Eade seems to be distancing himself from his earlier standard, "Chess For Dummies" and I'm very pleased to see him introduce another beginner's chess book. This one is better by far.

This is a different format from the majority of chess books, for a couple of different reasons. (1) It is spiral bound, so that once you fold the book open, it stays open, and will fold flat for easy study. (2) It is ILLUSTRATED throughout with clear, concise images of the chess board and piece positions, and in COLOR too!

The coverage of OPENINGS is excellent, from the Romantic Openings to the Queeen's Pawn games, etc This is really great material, in its presentation, for easy assimilation by beginners. Because of the novelty of the splendid illustrations, this book receives a special recommendation.

TACTICS: Eade gives good, basic coverage of tactics, and I believe his illustrations help clarify these for beginners.

***About the Author: James Eade***

James Eade is a very STAND UP guy, taking on the entire chess establishment in the USA with charges that the U.S. Chess Federation was being mismanaged and driven to bankruptcy (which it was at the time!). Notwithstanding, EADE was one of three individuals to bail out the USCF when, near financial ruin, USCF could not afford to send a chess team to the OLYMPIADS. EADE is a strong advocate for chess in the Olympics. By any standard, this is a STAND UP guy.

***The Price***

The price is fair, and not excessive, because AMAZON reduces the full retail to $14.95. Even the full retail price of $21.95 is not necessarily excessive, because spiral-bound books are more expensive to produce. In my opinion, most beginner books priced over $20.00, are a rip-off, but that is for 2 specific reasons. Paperbound books are not that expensive to make, so that $21.95 is a "padded" price for a plain paperback. That is not the case here. The second reason a $20.00 book is a rip-off generally, is that paperbacks that are EXCELLENT beginning instruction have been around for years, and often sell for around $9.95, so that many new books are merely endless and mindless REPETITIONS of the same teachings that have been around for over a hundred years.

However, I am recommending Eade's "Chess-Player's Bible" as a fine book, if you are waiting for the next edition. The reason you should wait is that there are some obvious PROOFREADING errors that require correction; for example, this crazy mix up on the endgame study from page 190 where White is supposed to promote the rearward pawn to a Queen:

White K at f4, white pawns at f3 & f2
Black K at f6, WHITE TO MOVE:

1.Ke4 Ke6
2.f4 Kg6??? (only if Black's K moves 2 squares at a time!?)
3.f5 Kf7
4.Ke5 Ke7
5.f6+ Kf7
6.Ke6??? (violates the Rule that says KINGS must stay one square apart. Here, the White K moves right next to Black K, an obvious ILLEGAL move!)
continuing, Black King plays 6. ...Kf8

I don't know the solution to the problem, but the 2 major errors here indicate that the proofreader did not do his work. Please do not mistake the criticism here, because the book is still worth having. Even some of the great classics of chess literature, such as REUBEN FINE's books, contain errors.


The ILLUSTRATIONS are a superb feature, far exceeding most paperbacks, and Eade may be setting a new standard. This book is highly recommended. ---Bruce R. Bain, President, Denver Chess Club

A very informative book on how to play chess and well illustrated. Two Thumbs Up!

Clyde Drexler was always my favorite player not only for his on the court play but for his off the court demeanor. He was always friendly and a perfect gentlemen. This book just reenforces those attributes and shows a man who is content and proud of his career.

Clyde the Glide was One of My Favorites when I was a Kid. he was always on point from Phi slamma Jamma to His days with Portland to Houston. He was a champion a Winner on the Court&Off the Court. this Book is cool because it gives his takes on various stages of his career also it has former players,coaches,etc.. who speak on what they thought of his Great career. Clyde Drexler is One of the Greatest Players Ever.

This was a great book about one of the nicest, classiest players the NBA has produced. Very insiteful, lots of good comments from family, friends, former coaches and players. I also have always loved reading anything that Kerry Eggers writes -- one of Oregon's best sports writers of all time.

The only one little thing that was missing for me -- being an absolute sports junky -- were the lack of season-by-season stats that any great biography has at the end of the book. There's nothing better than looking over regular season and playoff stats about the individual you're reading about like in so many other great sports books.

The copy I purchased also had a DVD included with an interview of Clyde. I was hoping to pop it in and see some highlight material from his playing days, but all that you see is Clyde sitting in a chair the entire DVD saying basically the same things he said in the book. Kind of a downer also.

All-in-all, I rate it a five for just a solid sports book (minus stats, mind you). This coming from a Blazer fan you loved the teams of the 80s and early 90s when Clyde, Porter, Kersey, Buck, Duck and Uncle Cliffy were lighting up the NBA!

Once again Clyde shows why he was one of the most classiest players and person in the NBA. He is one true Hall of Famer. I highly recommend this book for the true Sports fan!!!!!