No comments about Follow the Roar: Tailing Tiger for All 604 Holes of His Most Spectacular Season.

5 comments about I Remember My Teacher.

1. A former student of mine sent me this book with an inscription that made my day -- make that, my year! After reading the personalized inscription a dozen times, I started reading Mr. Shribman's book. What a delight. The book made me remember why I became a teacher.



2. I picked up I REMEMBER MY TEACHER because I liked the cover. I bought two copies because once I started reading it, I had to send copies to the college professor and the high school coach who inspired me. This book was the perfect opportunity to thank them after more than 15 years for the support and advice that still means so much to me.



3. Part anecdote, part declaration, "I Remember My Teacher: 365 Reminiscences of the Teachers Who Changed Our Lives" will bring back the memory of your own teachers: what they said, what they did and who they are.

   It caused me to remember back to my own fifth grade teacher, who, upon completing the year, wrote me a quick note which encourages me to this day. You, too, will think about your kindergarten teachers and learning your letters, or the guy who taught you the software used in your job.

   Shribman uses examples from celebs galore, but the important part is learning about the teachers who helped mold the leaders of today. Tomorrow's leaders are sitting in a third grade classroom across the world, and a great teacher is guiding him or her.

   Teachers can read this and be encouraged and excited that what they do does matters. Students will read this and see that their teacher's unorthodox ways and persistence in teaching makes a difference.

   I fully recommend "I Remember My Teacher: 365 Reminiscences of the Teachers Who Changed Our Lives" by David M. Shribman.

   Anthony Trendl




4. Perfect book to make teachers feel good--and to make students remember why they loved their best teachers. There is something here for everyone--from the A student to the less successful, from college mentors to grade school inspirers. The famous and the more common former students share their reminisces with humor, with pride, but mostly with thanks. A great gift and a great read.



5. The only reason I don't give it 5 stars is because I thought it contained full stories (like the ones in the Chicken Soup series)and not simply quotes, which by the way are sometimes moving. I liked to read how famous people remembered their teachers, we don't usually get to know that information.

5 comments about First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers, and Cheaters from Taft to Bush.

1. Interesting angle. Using the sport and game
   of golf as the foundation to add insights and discuss the Presidents who played it. Author Van Natta Jr. brought forth an original avenue to bring a topic that is commonly written about (presidents) to light. Golf, the ever-increasing mainstream sport to the American public, is no longer stereotyped (falsely) that it's an elitist sport to play. In "First Off The Tee," there are many interesting facts about the habits of some of the commanders-in-chiefs that hit the greens.

   Bill Clinton took so many mulligan's the author called
   them "Billigans." He scored himself in the low 80s, similar to his idol JFK, but he literally took over 200 swings. Clinton played loosely with the rules, at times bending them to conform to his ends. Can the phenomena of how a person plays golf be taken and applied to political and administrative behaviour? Psycho-social analysis? Perhaps a dissertation has started somewhere regarding this.

   One President drank booze while golfing during prohibition. He also gambled on a every game.

   John F. Kennedy was an avid golpher, and fairly decent one at that,
   getting scores in the low 80s. But he did keep the fact that he
   played the game secret from the public.

   Gerald Ford played amateur tourneys and pinged the
   bystanders in the crowd from time to time.

   The author played with the likes of Clinton and George W.
   Bush. G. W. Bush could play through 18 holes in an hour

   and a half, while Clinton took six hours. (He liked
   to talk a lot more.)

   In the past, Presidents didnt' want to be
   photographed on the greens. Today it's acceptable, and
   perhaps even expected.

   14 mini-biographies highlighting the lighter side of the Execs as men and the sport of golf. Very interesting.




2. I'm a classic golf widow who happened to pick this book up in the bookstore for my husband. He loved it. But, to my surprise, I loved it, too. I wound up learning a lot more about presidents, and what makes them tick, than I ever expected. It's a breezy, fun read, full of quirky surprises and amusing anecdotes. Rather than bore you with too much golf lingo, the book actually brings the game and the presidents to life without tumbling into cliches. I highly recommend it.



3. Author Van Natta, a New York Times correspondent and 100+ golfer, believes (like most golf-lovers everywhere) that you can learn everything you ever wanted to know about someone by watching him/her play golf. He takes it one step further, however, finding golf particularly revealing of a President's personality and values. "Nearly every person in a president's privileged life says yes...Only the golf course says no."

   Accumulating fascinating anecdotes from his research into the golf games of the Presidents, and combining these with his own experience as a reporter, which includes more than two years spent covering President Clinton, he shows how a President's golf game reflects the inner man. Fourteen of the last seventeen Presidents were golfers to one degree or another, and no reader, whether a golfer or not, will be disappointed in the unique insights and revealing anecdotes the author gives us of Presidents at leisure. What makes this book different from so many others, is that Van Natta is a real writer, carefully choosing his quotations (including on-course remarks), narrating anecdotes so that they have real climaxes, and emphasizing details that are so telling that no reader will fail to see parallels between the man's golf and his Presidential administration.

   Though JFK is adjudged the best player of the fourteen, with an "effortless swing," few citizens knew how addicted he was to the game, something he kept secret because, after Eisenhower's administration, golf was considered a political liability. (Ike left cleat marks in the floor leading from the Oval Office to the practice green outside his window.) Ike, JFK, FDR (who was a passionate golfer until he was stricken with polio at age 39), and Gerald Ford are considered the purists of the game, and none of them were ever caught lying about a score, using mulligans (extra shots off the tee), or tossing the ball out of the woods. Not surprisingly, Bill Clinton is considered among the White House's "most polished and prolific golf cheats." As one observer noted, "You don't have to subpoena Whitewater documents. Just watch him on the golf course." He elevated the mulligan to such a new level that it was referred to as a "billigan." Nixon, LBJ, and Warren G. Harding, were also considered cheats.

   With a final section devoted to the Bushes, father and son, Van Natta closes his analysis of Presidential golf games with particular panache, since the Bushes so often play together. The book is pure delight, providing a unique take on Presidents, who, on the golf course, face the same challenges as the rest of us, with some of them responding more gracefully to the challenges than others. Mary Whipple




4. I don't golf. Never did. Never will. I think golf is borrrring.... but, I bought this book for a guy who loves golfing. Absolutely loves it. He claims to be good at it. Well, he loved the book. He was laughing when he told me about how much he enjoyed it. I think he really appreciated getting the book, especially getting it from someone who doesn't know a thing about golf! I recommend this as a gift for anyone who golfs. Especially someone who would enjoy the history of the presidential golfers.



5. I bought this book for my father-in-law but I enjoyed reading it when I visited him. Good for any golfer that likes to read, or for someone who enjoys presidential history. Most of the anecdotes have no quoted source, so who knows if they've been embellished, but that doesn't spoil the book.

No comments about Tiger Woods: In Black and White.

5 comments about To the Linksland: A Golfing Adventure.

1. This is a solid book for the hardcore golf reader. The author takes a leave of absence from his regular journalism job to "search for the primal heart of golf," combining the two common "golf road book" genera in one slim volume: (1) my life as a pro tour caddy; and (2) how I found religion playing the links courses of Scotland. Fortunately, Bamberger is an excellent writer and storyteller, and the pages fly by.



2. I am a woman and a beginning golfer, but I am married to someone who has played since he was ten. We just returned from a trip to Scotland. I took this book to read since I saw that it had chapters on several courses that my husband planned to play.
   I was quite literally swept away by the beautiful writing, something I had not expected in such a book. I found myself reading passages aloud to my husband because I wanted to share Bamberger's insights. He touches on the psychological, and, dare I say, mystical underpinnings of golf. He yearns to find lessons for living a more fulfilling life through the search for excellence. I found myself rooting for Michael as he leaves his caddy job on the European tour to pursue his dream.
   Who hasn't yearned to follow a dream? Bamberger does just that for seven months and he lets us tag along.
   This is a book for anyone who aspires to improve, whether it be a golf swing or a craft. It uses golf to show us a way to approach life.
   Highly recommended.



3. Go ESPN, Golfweek, Golfdigest, Golf Channel website and see for yourself what this slimy so-called reporter did to 16 years old kid.



4. The best book I've ever read -- not just the best golf book. If you're a hardcore golfer, this book will touch your soul and give you the chills -- and leave you burning to play more golf.



5. Before he undertook the real world of work and marriage, Michael Bamberger embarked on his own golfing journey, first signing on as caddy for an idiosyncratic European Tour journeyman, then pursuing his own golfing muse in Scotland. In a relatively slim volume, Bamberger captures and conveys the feel of the European Tour and its personalities, from the literate caddy's point of view; and his own experience with a legendary teacher is no less than a love letter to the birthplace of golf. You will reread it often to remind yourself why golf is a wonderful game, like any love affair equal measures of rapture and despair. And you will make gifts of it to your friends, because Bamberger says it all as we wish we could.

5 comments about Afternoons with Mr. Hogan: A Boy, A Golfing Legend and the Lessons of a Lifetime.

1. Not much here that hasn't already been written about Hogan. The so-called "Secret" is nothing more than a rehash of old swing tips that the author (a scratch golfer) apparently never thought was significant enough to incorporate in his own swing, but now after 37 years, believes is "book material". In my opinion, there isn't much to this book and it wasn't very interesting. I watched Hogan hit shag balls and that was a lot more interesting than reading this book.



2. Not much here that hasn't already been written about Hogan, including the ?Secret? which is nothing more than a rehash of some old swing tips from years ago. I thought it was interesting that the author (a scratch golfer) never thought the ?Secret? was important enough to incorporate in his own swing, but now after 37 years he thinks it is ?book material?. In my opinion there isn't much to this book at all and it wasn?t very interesting. I watched Hogan hit shag balls and that was a lot more interesting than reading this book.



3. Do not believe the low ratings on this book. I am a Hogan "Nut" and this was a great little book to get a refreshing glimpse of "The Man". I cannot remember the last time I laghed out loud when reading a book, but I did in several places while reading "Afternoons with Mr. Hogan". This book is written by a person who saw Ben Hogan in a very different setting, ie. as a caddie and ball shagger. Mr. Vasquez treats his subject with respect but not with the blind hero worship that sometimes accompany stories or books about Hogan.
   Buy this book and enjoy a refreshing and unique look at the man, Ben Hogan!!!



4. The 1 star reviews were written by a pitiful little man who has a personal vendetta against the author. If you read the review you understand it is an attack and not a reflection of the book material. The stories in the book are personal experience stories telling of the human side of Hogan. These stories have never appeared in print before. The reviewer is simply jealous of the experience as everyone in Ft. Worth, Texas well knows....sad that jealousy plays here...To see real reviews...go to WWW.JODYVASQUEZ.COM



5. Any novice golfer interested in developing a good swing eventually finds his way to Ben Hogan's "Five Lessons." That book, however terrific, provides little information about Hogan's life as a golfer and raises curiosity about a man that some have called "the Garbo of golf." "Afternoons with Mr. Hogan" provides insight into a golf legend from the point of view of a young man who worked for him for several years.
   
   This is indeed a "small" book - it doesn't pretend to be anything else - but the stories are interesting, unusually personal, and quite revealing. The author clearly has great respect and even love for Mr. Hogan, and presents vignettes that provide windows into the personality of an extraordinarily talented, driven, highly secretive man. Even the "secret" of Mr. Hogan's swing is presented as an interesting story, rather than as a crucial tip that will unleash the latent PGA champ in all of us. (I suspect the "wrist cup" tip will be helpful primarily to those who have trouble controlling a hook, which was Mr. Hogan's main golfing issue for many years).
   
   In sum, Mr. Vasquez offers his book as no more and no less than a series of stories that might be of interest -- and most students of golf will find the stories interesting, educational, and touching in their sincerity. An enjoyable and rewarding read.

5 comments about Sam: The One And Only Sam Snead.

1. I believe that, on balance, Sam Snead is the greatest golfer of them all. "He played longer, better, than anyone in the history of the game," to paraphrase Bob Toski. For the most part, Al Barkow lays it all out quite well in "Sam." Those who are Snead fans won't uncover any surprises in the book. But it's definitely a book worth having. Because even if you know the story, your kids might not, and I think they will learn from it.



2. Wonderful photos of Sam, many I had never seen before. Barkow is a great writer and if you haven't already, read everything he has written about golf. You can't go wrong. This book offered insights into Sam's personal life - his marriage and the tragic circumstance of his developmentally disabled son Terrance - that were a revelation to me, and I have been reading golf biographies and histories for 30 years. A great book. You will learn more about Sam than you had known before, which is something you can't say about many books.



3. Sam Snead was a legend in every sense of that much-overused word and veteran golf writer Al Barkow has fashioned a biography that anyone will enjoy. However, if you're a serious student of The Slammer's career (that is, if you've already read 1962's "The Education of a Golfer" and 1996's "The Game I Love"), you'll find "Sam - The One and Only Sam Snead" absolutely invaluable for filling in gaps that have existed for years. In this book, you'll learn about the family relationships that motivated (and sometimes hindered) Sam Snead, including several quite poignant passages concerning his disabled son. You'll also learn about the only golf lesson Sam Snead ever had, the reasons he was viewed with some disdain by the golfing "establishment", and the heretofore unmentioned reasons that he never won the U. S. Open (including a possible conspiracy by longtime USGA director Joe Dey). You'll also learn for the first time EXACTLY how many U. S. Opens Sam Snead would have won if he could have shot 69 in the final round every time. An amusing bonus consists of a short chapter that "reconstructs" what he was thinking as he made that fateful 8 on the 72nd hole to lose the 1939 U. S. Open. If you're looking for an exceptionally informative course of "graduate studies" concerning the career of Sam Snead, this is the book you've been waiting for!



4. I ordered this book hoping it would be to Sam Snead what "Ben Hogan: An American Life" was to Ben Hogan and "Grand Slam" was to Bobby Jones. Unfortunately, it's clearly not in the same flight as those two exceptional biographies. While there are some spectacular photos that capture the brilliance of Snead's wondrous swing, the quality of the writing and scholarship does not quite make the cut.



5. Check the table of contents, because the only reason i don`t give this book all the 5 stars is that i think there should have been a "ben hogan and byron nelson" chapter.

5 comments about One Magical Sunday: (But Winning Isn't Everything).

1. If you are a golf fan, this is a must read. My wife read it too and she doesn't even like golf but she loved it too. Great insights into Phil's personal life, family, and values. Definitely worth the read.



2. It was so good I got a audio copy for my husband.



3. This was a very personal book that brought you very close to the life of Phil Mickelson. When he describes his final round at the 04' Masters you feel like you were there with him every step of the way.



4. i find this book very good , iam a golf player and i think that every golf player will enjoyed to read this book , phil mickelson biography is very interesting for a golfer , phil teach : thinks can do when you work hard .



5. Excellent book. I am not a golfer, but admire Phil Mickelson because it has always seemed to me that he has his priorities straight. His wife and his children are uppermost in his list of what life means to him. Must confess that I merely skimmed the details of the hole to hole play in the Masters tournament being described since I had purchased the book to read about his personal life. However, my husband, who IS a golfer, very much enjoyed the "play by play" in addition to more information on the personal side of Phil. This is an athlete children can look up to and admire without parents fearing an ugly, hidden side. That simply doesn't exist in this athlete. I have always enjoyed watching him play; now I will enjoy those tournaments even more.

5 comments about King of Clubs: Grow Rich in More Than Money.

1. The lives of every person who reads this book will be enriched regardless of their age!!!!! The book is informative, interesting and entertaining! Great gift for anyone in your life! If flows as you read it and you won't want to put it down! Treat yourself to a wonderful experience!!!!!



2. This book is a wildly self-indulgent extension of every cliche in other people's books. It's truly banal. I agree, however, with the reviewer who said it could be worthwhile "for those who do not read a lot."



3. Miss DeLoach truly got into the head of a truly remarkable man! The book has everything, facts, figures, sad and happy times - all laced with humor. Couldn't put it down!



4. The book was bought for my son-in-law, but I couldn't resist reading it first. I am truly glad that I did as it is sure to improve my skills with dealing with people as it will yours when you read it!



5. Reading this captivating book was a pleasure!!!!! I feel as though I personally know this wonderful man now. SUCH AN AUTHOR to capture him!!!!!

2 comments about Jack Nicklaus: Memories and Mementos from Golf's Golden Bear.

1. It sounds "trite" and simple to say it, but this book is a "must" for those who love golf and admire the qualities Jack Nicklaus brought to the game, talent, work ethic, competitiveness, success, and class. The epitome of what the game is meant to be.
   
   There are other, more indepth, books on Jack Nicklaus, but this one has it all, enough to appreciate the man, who is, what he stands for and his journey, a journey that has been a credit to the game of golf and has inspired many of us who have followed his career and the values and principles he has demonstrated so effectivly.
   
   There are many replica mementos, a letter from Tiger Woods, copies of his scorecards, Masters invitations and such that give this book a nice touch, a nice feel. Overall it is a comprehensive keepsake album of Jack, his career and the game of golf in his day.
   
   Simply put: "A must" for those who love golf and admire the Golden Bear.



2. If you are at all interested in Jack Nicklaus and can't, by time or distance, visit his museum in Columbus, Ohio (on the campus of Ohio State University), then this book will be a nice visual replacement. Well organized, this book follows Jack's entire career as well as his relationships with his teacher, Jack Grout, his parents Charlie and Helen Nicklaus and his wife Barbara. Especially nice are several pages of reproduced "mementos" in cellophaned envelopes for easy retrival and review.
   
   I would recommend this book highly to all golfers who have any admiration for the Golden Bear.