5 comments about A Champion's Mind: Lessons from a Life in Tennis.

1. This is an interesting book that outlines the attitude and demonstrates the thought process of a champion. I read many biographies about different standouts in their own fields. They all have that cocky, confident approach to the turf that they belong. I don't believe there's any other way to excel in the very sport you compete unless you let your adversaries know that they are about to face "the champion." Pete Sampras gets that point across throughout the entire book. I also noticed that he doesn't talk about any of his past girlfriends in the book. It must be out of respect to his wife Bridgette which is understandable.



2. 
   I read this book back-to-back with the Agassi autobiography and the two don't even compare. Of course, Agassi had an unfair advantage working with J.R. Moeringher rather than Peter Bodo (who I read a lot on ESPN, but is not a professional memoirist), but while reading the book you just don't get a sense of the pain and trials Sampras must have gone through to stay dominant. He never goes into his training regiment and rarely talks about his planning and strategy. These had to be major parts of his life and by leaving them out he does a disservice to his own struggle and story. The only issues he seems to face are his dispassionate image and the media. Even his two years of difficulty before that last US Open come of as flat (perhaps the exact spot where Moeringher would have been better than Bodo). In the end, they help the book reinforce rather than deflate that robotic image.
   
   I don't think I'd have liked the book at all if I wasn't a tennis fan, but since I do I give it 2.5 to 3 stars.



3. This book did what a sports autobiography should do! While it lacked "sensationalism," it really reflected Pete's tennis journey. His insights on other players were helpful as well.



4. I enjoyed taking the time to get to 'know' Pete a little bit. I always loved his game, his class and his committment to excellence. It was nice to get a behind the scenes feel of the mindset that Sampras had through certain matches, off time - and through his entire career.
   
   Peter Bodo has always been a greatly overrated writer in my book. The editing is a bit sloppy - but otherwise - this is a pretty easy read, and nice to get a feel for a guy who, in my opinion, is the hands-down best player I've ever seen.



5. I thought it was a honest narration of a great champion's quest for excellence. He does not show his greatness by pulling others down as Agassi has done in his book.

5 comments about Drop Shot (Myron Bolitar).

1. Harlan Coben certainly likes to churn out his Myron Bolitar mysteries. Thankfully 'Drop Shot' is among the more sane and enjoyable entries. In it we have our sport agent cum private investigator trying to sort out seemingly interrelated murders connected to his star tennis player, all taking place during the US Open. There is sex, violence and lots of flippant dialogue. Yes, there are plot twists in the end. But compared to other works of Harlan Coben I found the ending to 'Drop Shot' to at least be rational, although hardly believable.
   
   
   Bottom line: a fast-paced, funny thriller. Recommended.



2. This is my sixth book by Mr. Coben, second in the Myron Bolitar series and all have been more than three stars. Myron the protagonist is a man of much experience - a former basketball star, federal agent, attorney, turned sports agent.
   
   His latest client, Duane Richwood, was on the verge of winning his first Grand Slam match when Myron's cell phone rang. It was his wrestler-turned office assistant, Esperanza, calling to say that Valerie Simpson had called for the third time. Valerie was a top tennis star that burned out six years ago when she was only eighteen.
   
   A gunshot sounded and Myron and his slightly psycho pal, Win Lockwood, pushed through the crowd and found the girl lying facedown. He recognized that it was Valerie even before he turned her over.
   
   This story did not have a lot of suspense but I didn't want to put it down. I have read four of the books in the Myron Bolitar series so it was funny when I got to where Myron's dear friend was going to get raped and probably killed. I stopped, smiled and said Win will somehow show up and save her.
   
   Author al-Qaeda Strikes Again



3. I enjoyed this book very much. I will buy more books written by Harlan Coben



4. I enjoy his writing style and sense of humor. Light reading good for relaxation,



5. The second in the Myron Bolitar series. He is a sports agent that will remind you of Spenser, sharp witty and sharp tongued, not a detective but you would never know it. This one is not as good as the first but I will continue to read the series, a very enjoyable, easy read. Hey its fun. HIGH RECOMMENDED

5 comments about Skeleton Key (Alex Rider Adventure).

1. All of a sudden Alex hears gunfire going on in the back round. Alex gets shot at a lot in Skeleton Key By:Anthony Horowitz. Skeleton Key is a fast pace action book. It keeps your attention extremely well. This book is for anyone who wants to read an action book. In the beginning Alex works for the CIA to help them get into Skeleton Key an island. Alex gets to relax and have a good time. The only thing is that the 2 CIA agents get killed and Alex gets captured. The person that is behind it is trying to blow up Russia. Can Alex save the world? Can he stop him? Read the book to find out.



2. this is one of the best books i have read in my 11 years i picked this book up and read it with all my free time. it was filled with everything kid likes to read. its was scary, adventure filled and best of all it was action and crazy. i reccomed this book to people who are 11 and older.



3. I'm breaking a taboo in this first paragraph to say how much I am enjoying this series for "children" (10 and up). Actually, anyone who enjoys a great spy thriller and very little outright graphic violence would absolutely LOVE this series. Not since Harry Potter have I had such fun!
   
   "Skeleton Key" is the third in the series about Alex Rider, a 14-year-old English school boy, who works as a spy for M16, the U.S.'s equivalent of the CIA. Not that he wants to work as a spy--oh no, he does not, but M16 manages to entangle him every time in a new episode in which, bottom line, he saves the world. That's three times now that he has done so.
   
   The first time was "Stormbreaker," set in the Cornish coast of England, involving a computer scheme unlike any you have heard of. Alex triumphs spectacularly! The second time was "Point Blank," set in an elite school for highly privileged and troubled youth. The school is set on Point Blank in Switzerland. Another, no, make that two spectacular endings in this book!
   
   Let me say that what Anthony Horowitz creates for Alex to know and do are truly preposterous--if you logically examine the plot, but, I'm telling you also truthfully, that Horowitz's skill at writing is such that the reader believes these things CAN happen. Example: Alex must board a departing yacht and does so on skateboard by ramping up a plank, hurtling through air, just barely grasping the handrail, and pulling himself up and over. Allow me to explain: In book one, Horowitz laid the back story to show that Alex was trained in many areas by his uncle, who was a M16 spy, unbeknownst to Alex.
   
   In Book Three, "Skeleton Key," Alex's new assignment is working with two agents from the CIA to explore a mansion on the tip of an island, Skeleton Key, owned by a retired Soviet general, who has serious hanky-panky in mind. It involves uranium and an atomic bomb.
   
   The yacht-leaping takes place in this story. However, Alex is thwarted several times in this adventure, showing the reader that Alex cannot elude every case of danger.
   
   An atomic bomb, world domination, a mad general, and one more put-together Frankenstein assistant. Can a 14-year-old boy handle those? That is absolutely the fun of reading this series--you know he will, but you don't know how!
   
   Highly recommended!!
   
   This is a series that needs to be read in order for the back story, which builds with each book. To begin:
   
   1. Alex Rider: Stormbreaker tie-in novel (Alex Rider Movie)
   2. Point Blank (Alex Rider Adventures)
   There are currently eight books in the series. Horowitz plans a total of ten.



4. You have got to wonder what this guy has going on is head. He creates so much feeling abd thought into his writing making you crave more of his books when you finish. This is my favorite of his books of what I have already read and I can not wait to read his next epic novel.



5. Horowitz has done it again- this is one of the best Alex Rider books yet!!

5 comments about Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff.

1. I could have saved over $1500 in doctor and physical therapy bills had I read this book after the first Dr visit. If you have shoulder pain, please don't hesitate, buy this book! I now have an immense respect for Jim Johnson.
   
   After 5 months of little progress, I finally found this book and about 6 weeks later I'm back to all my normal sports, full tilt.
   
   The research on strength building and stretching in general was mind blowing! Wow, how could this information be so hidden? Unfortunately, too many people profit from non-health.
   
   JJ will show you the absolute fastest and most efficient way to fix your shoulder. By all means, get several opinions before getting surgery. Both doctors left surgery on the table when my tear was very minor.
   
   Yes, they do not want you to read this book!
   
   Jim, if you're reading this, thank you from the bottom of my heart! You are a great man.
   
   P.S. Even if you never had any back issues, buy his back book. After you build up core strength in your back (2 minutes, 3 times a week, yes, really) then you only need to do it once a week to maintain that strength. And no stretching needed. A small price to pay to avoid back pain.



2. Unlike another critical reviewer here, I think that there is great benefit to understanding how your rotator cuff works before detailing exercises for strengthening it. To this aim, Wikipedia can help greatly. If you can't seem to grasp the information on Wikipedia, maybe this book would be a good bet.
   
   However, I, for one, didn't care for having to sort through pages substance-anemic content to cherry-pick the useful bits; it took me a day to review what I should have been able to glean in one hour.
   
   For example, do I need, in my book on rotator cuffs, to read three pages about how a randomized controlled trial works? IF I don't already know, then I can look it up. Or put it in a glossary; that's what glossaries are for. Do I need to read wordy, precise details of each study? Cite the study, describe the outcome, and be done with it. _Maybe_ put the details in an appendix; either way, I can look it up later if I like. Do I need constant repetition, reminding, and teaching that appears to be geared toward a child? If you read each of these critiques thinking, "that's exactly what I need!" then you won't be disappointed.
   
   "Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff" is not a cheap book, and there honestly isn't a whole lot of content. It _does_ contain some useful information, but getting to this information with the limited table of contents, without section references, with no table of diagrams, with random pointless tangents, and with NO INDEX, can be frustrating.



3. I BOUGHT THIS TO HELP ME WITH SHOULDER PAIN FROM TOO MUCH SQUASH THE BOOK IS FULL OF GREAT EXERCISES AND I WAS ENCOUAGED TO USE IT MORE AND MORE WITH THE EXERCISES AND SOME MASSAGE THERAPY I WAS BACK ON THE SQUASH COURT WITHIN 8 WEEKS I FOUND IT EASY TO READ AND VERY HELPFUL I SUGGEST ANYONE WHO USES IT WITH MASSAGE THERAPY WILL HAVE POSITIVE RESULTS



4. This book gives great insight as to the working of the shoulder,as well as all of the connecting tissues. This is not written on such a level that you will not understand the text, it is clear cut with direct ideas, that will save you having to go to a rehab center and pay big bucks to learn. I would suggest buying this book if you ever had a shoulder injury.



5. A thousand thank yous to Mr. Johnson for being one of the very few self-help-book authors to base all of his recommendations on well-designed scientific studies. On this point alone, Mr. Johnson's book stands head-and-shoulders above nearly all others of its ilk. A job very-well done!
   The next reason that I really like this book is that it only takes a few minutes per day to do the exercises. Yes, folks, rehabilitating your shoulders can really be done without needing to place the rest of your life on hold to make time for endless physical-therapy visits and countless mind-numbingly-boring exercises. While the exercises are still mind-numbingly-boring, you can finish them up well before your favorite news program has finished its coverage of the war in Afghanistan and moved on to the war in Iraq!
   And are the exercises in the book effective? I have to admit that as soon as I realized that they were based on actual scientific evidence, my placebo response went into full swing, and my shoulders felt better before I had even started the exercises!
   However, I've now been doing the exercises for around three months, long-enough for the placebo response to wear off, and my shoulders have definitely improved. The trick for me is to be consistent and do the exercises as specified. I found that it helped to read the book a second time, because I had missed and forgotten important details.
   I highly recommend this book!

5 comments about The Tennis Partner.

1. I am currently a training physician at Texas Tech Univeristy in El Paso, where this story took place, and it really hits close to home. I picked it up and couldnt put it down. Really an amazing and heartbreaking story. Dr Verghese came to lecture recently and that was what motivated me to read his book. He is truly a scholar who is a master in the arts and sciences, a very compassionate physician and a great teacher.



2. I read this many years ago and was reminded of it when I saw Verghese had a new book coming out. If you get a chance, read this book because it is one of the best, most heart-breaking stories you will ever find. The only thing better would be to meet this man in person.



3. 
   This book was not what I expected, but so much more!
   With the drug problem we are experiencing in the world today, this novel opened my eyes as to how pervasive and devasting addictions are and how far reaching the effects spread.
   Beautifully written and the characters were so well developed as to come alive and stay with me long after I finished reading it.
   Looking forward to reading his newest novel, CUTTING FOR STONE as this author is a master storyteller!



4. I was one of many individuals to have the privilege of knowing Dr. Verghese and David Smith through my association with Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at El Paso. The story relating to David's tragic life and death hit me like it happened only yesterday. David was a person that everyone liked. He had a promising career as a physician who wanted to specialize in Emergency Medicine. Unfortunately, his drug addiction brought about his tragic end. This book should be read by anyone that has or is suffering from a drug addiction. From Dr. Verghese's story, one will be drawn into the promise and the darkness that overtook a young man before he could visualize and follow his dream.



5. I really enjoyed this book. It dived headlong into the story and kept drawing me back in when I began to get a little bored with the tennis narratives. His discussion of, and obvious affection for, El Paso was intriguing. Can't wait to read his next book.

5 comments about Backyard Ballistics: Build Potato Cannons, Paper Match Rockets, Cincinnati Fire Kites, Tennis Ball Mortars, and More Dynamite Devices.

1. kept my 11 yo science boy to the core busy all year. Fantastic! He did almost everything in the book on his own - I didn't do a thing but buy him things (and take him to the ER once or twice). Be careful of chemicals.



2. This book is largely limited to outdoor science projects involving adult supervision and assistance. Of course, there is some danger involved.
   
   This work shows how to make PVC pipes into launchers through cutting, and use of PVC cement. Some of the devices featured in this book are the pipe-barrel potato cannon, the small-match rocket, the carbide cannon, the tennis-ball mortar (that uses potato-chip cans as the barrel), various pneumatic rockets (analogues to the blow darts used by natives), etc. This work also features the application of trigonometry for the study of the rocket-flight paths.



3. The most impressive book I've seen of it's type. The projects in it are mostly inexpensive to put together and require few special skills for great results. Caution is recommended when building projectile weapons of course, but if you've got a teen or a husband who loves these sort of things, they will find something they want to try in here. My favorite projects are the tennis ball mortars and the paper match rockets. The mortars because the section explains the difference between mortars and cannons and the project itself is a wonderful hands-on experiment for trajectory and how gravity effects it. The paper match rocket is minimal supplies and easy to put together and shows how a struck match creates energy in the form of heat which launches the miniature rocket.
   The science behind each project is well explained, and there is a lot of history about the scientists who came up with some of the most pivotal theories about physics and how they tested them.
   Recommended with adult supervision for middle school and high school children. It's not deeply technical and it's very accessible even for teens who aren't really interested in science.
   Also recommended for husbands who like to build things that go boom and are interested in science.



4. I read most of this book, but didn't actually build anything yet. It seems pretty well thought out, and I believe I will make some good projects from this book.



5. I found this book very interesting and so did my son. He plans on doing some of the projects in the book for 4H.

5 comments about Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis--Lessons from a Master.

1. Very helpful book.. Especially for younger players who probably never thought of the mental part of the game. My 14 year old was definately somebody who just "showed up" for the game. After reading your book he started winning again..Great!
   
   Charles



2. This is a fun book written in a very laid back style. It inspired me to track down a Sampras vs. Gilbert match so I could view his style of play. He definitely practiced most of what he preaches in this book. I've also read "I've Got Your Back" and the books have merged in to one in my mind though this one is clearly better. The best part of this book is the strategy section. He covers facing most styles of play including serve & volleyers, pushers, baseliners, and lefties. He's refreshingly direct and honest. He stresses to never to donate free points to your opponent, play within your skill level and step it up on "setup points". There's one point I do disagree with and have proof it doesn't work. I played a 3.5 match and my opponent had obviously just read this book as he was doing the Gilbert pre-match warm up --running circles backwards & forwards. He won the spin and elected that I should serve first. Well, I held and never looked back. Nowadays 3.5s can get their serves in and usually hold. Perhaps the book is designed more for 2.5s but I think it would be useful to anyone up to 4.0 USTA rating (actually James Blake would do well to read this several times). I don't play the pusher style but I ABSOLUTELY HATE DONATING POINTS and that alone allowed me to go undefeated and get a trophy in a weekend warrior league. Brad Gilbert took some nice athleticism and pretty ugly looking strokes to #4 in the world and a million dollar pay day in Germany because of strategy. Thumbs up.



3. [I'm an intermediate/avid tennis player.] This is a GREAT book. Gilbert is very matter-of-fact about how he was not a #1 player, but how by utilizing little tricks/techniques in both summing up his opponents and in being realistic about his own strengths/weaknesses -- he was able to make his own mark on the world of professional tennis. He does have specific examples of his matches with some of the greats, which are interesting to read -- but they're not so much used as "the story of Gilbert" -- but more as references for his suggestions on how to approach similar situations in the readers' own personal matches. In this book, Gilbert talks about how one needs to take advantage of a myriad of smaller elements -- which in sum, can actually give you the edge in the game. I read this book initially, but now will still pick it up regularly, just to read a chapter here and there, to remind myself of some of his strategies. I think about Gilbert's advice regularly when I play -- and I believe that it really can make a difference when utilized.



4. Great book. Lots of useful tips to make your tennis game better. Entertaining as well, since the book is peppered with personal anecdotes to illustrate his point. The only thing is that I was not following tennis during his professional career, so I only know the players of his era superficially.



5. Brad Gilbert is an admitted long-time sports nut and analytical strategist, and he brings his unique, analytical perspective to tennis. After having read his book (I'm on the second go-round), I'm finding myself much more observant of both my own game and that of my opponent. The book is more of a left brained Inner Guide to Tennis, and is well worth the reading time. Plus, Gilbert has a kind of sardonic, self-depreciating sense of humor which makes it fun to read.

5 comments about Mind Gym : An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence.

1. This book includes many of the basic mental concepts discussed in sports: staying positive, etc. Although there were some helpful tips, it was a task to sort through the excessive name dropping. As an athlete, I don't need to know the names of everyone the author has ever helped. I assume, since I am buying and reading the book, that I will at least somewhat trust what is being said and that I will be willing to try it myself. If you need the 150/224 pages of professional athlete anecdotes, then this book is for you. If, like most athletes, you don't have time to sit and read fluff, find another book.



2. I am an 1,90 and 120kg marathon runner. When I announced that I intend to run a marathon the reactions varied from amusement to worry that I will not survive. That might have been the case if I wouldn't have had THIS book. It made all the difference in the world. Maybe half of the training time was "mind gym".
   The result? Not only I have finished alive but I made quite a good time (3h44). This performance changed not my weight (I am still 120kg) but my self-image. I know now that the only limits are in my head. I changed. A lot. From the introvertit obese to the cocky, confident obese :) I fired my boss. Actually, the company fired him for mobbing. I got a fat settlement. I switched careers. I took one sabbatical year and focused on learning trading. Here, again, the "Mind gym" made a huge difference. I become profitable and then ... very profitable. I don't own a Porsche but I am free (of worries, schedules, bosses)
   
   If you intend to buy only one book for the next year: BUY THIS ONE !!



3. Pretty good book if you need some general motivation... The author knows the topic and gives some good examples, but doesn't really get into specific actions to help resolve issues. Also, alot of baseball and golf examples, I found it hard to relate it to the sports I am involved in. Tons of great quotes, etc to get you amped.



4. This book is tough to review because people have different expectations with sport psychology books. If you are looking for a neatly organized system of beliefs, principles, and exercises to begin applying to your game tomorrow this might not be the book for you. Maybe you should check out With Winning In Mind or 10-Minute Mental Toughness? With that said, I loved this book. Once you start it you might not be able to put it down. Its a motivational book that weaves sports psychology principles into stories to illustrate the importance of each principle. This book inspired me to write down an effective system of beliefs and checklists I can go through before a game. The important part is the system and beliefs are mine.



5. This book was recommended to me get over issues I had playing racquetball. I kept making mental mistakes and things got worse as the match progressed. This book has taught me how to stay focus and keep moving forward. My game has improved quite a bit and I have beaten players that I have never beaten before. When things go wrong I use the techniques in this book. I highly recommend this book for anyone who needs to take the next step. This is one of those books that you will read more than once and make notes of certain chapters.

5 comments about The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance.

1. This is a good book worth to read many times. I don't read many tennis technique books but I like this one.



2. good ideas and concepts. Helps to get your head in the right fram of mind for peak performance--- assuming you have the skills to go with it.



3. Excellent tennis book - explores the mental side of tennis. Have already improved my game after reading.
   Recommend very highly for anyone who gets down on themselves when not playing at the level they want too.



4. Easy to read, understand and apply. A great resource for anyone wanting to achieve peak performance...in any venue.



5. this book belongs to everyone who realises that God does not play favorites and that everyone is a giant within and is just waiting to be woken up.whether you are a professional in engineering,medicine,real estate,financial markets or sport or just an individual looking to be a better mother,parent,gurdian,spouse,then this book is for you

5 comments about Open: An Autobiography.

1. I do not have enough superlatives in my vocabulary to adequately describe this book. Just looking at the dust jacket tells you that this memoir is aptly named. On the front cover, Andre meets your gaze directly with eyes that tell you that he is vulnerable and wanting to hold nothing back. The photo on the back shows a sad little boy keeping his eye on the ball, perfecting his backhand but hating and fearing the sport into which his father drafted him. In the 388 pages in between, Andre bares his soul. It's all there--the drug and alcohol abuse, the wear and tear on his body, his lack of a high school education, his victories and defeats, the lie that he concocted when he tested positive for crystal meth, the story of his hair falling out, on and on, related with almost perfect recall. Andre was much more candid than you would expect a celebrity to be, if perhaps a little too hard on himself. I only sensed that he held back in talking about his romantic life, not wanting to dish out the dirt on Brooke Shields and describing his current wife Steffi Graf in nothing but glowing terms. But you can hardly fault him for that, right? (No pun intended.) Andre's story "ends" well, although at age 36 in this book he is still far from his final chapter. He is happily married, with the proverbial boy and girl to raise, retired from tennis, and founder of an educational foundation for underprivileged children that funds a school in his name. And not until the very end do we find out that Andre paired his eidetic memory with the elegant wordsmithing of a supremely talented ghostwriter, J.R. Moehringer. He begins the book with a phrase that could just as easily conclude it: "I open my eyes and don't know where I am or who I am." While Andre's identity crisis is very real and perhaps the dominant theme of Open, by the book's conclusion the reader senses that he is well on his way to finding out and this gives me hope that he has at least one more book in him for us to look forward to. Game, set , and match--Agassi.



2. On the day after I finished this 'brutally honest' book, I encountered the following passage from Robert Harris' The Ghost: A Novel. With some substitutions, it perfectly describes what makes 'Open' so compelling:
   
   -----------
   "Why don't we try to make this book unlike any other [sports] memoir that's ever been written? Why don't we try to tell the truth?"
   
   He laughed. "Now that would be a first."
   
   "I mean it. Let's tell people what it really feels like to be [Andre Agassi]. Not just the [sports] stuff -- any old bore can write about that. Let's stick to what no one except you knows - the day-to-day experience of actually [being the top-ranked tennis player in the world]. What do you feel like in the mornings? What are the strains? What's it like to be so cut off from ordinary life? What's it like to be hated?"
   
   "Thanks a lot."
   
   "What fascinates people isn't [sports] -- who cares about [sports]? What fascinates people is always people -- the detail of another person's life. But because the detail is naturally all so familiar to YOU, you can't sort out what it is the reader wants to know. It has to be drawn out of you. That's why you need [JR Moehringer]. This shouldn't be a book for [sports junkies]. This should be book for everyone."
   ------------
   
   That's this book. Even if you've never read a sports biography, read this book. Even if you don't care about tennis, read this book. Even if you think you didn't care about Andre Agassi, read this book.
   
   Andre Agassi looks at his life through collaborator JR Moehringer's Pulitzer Prize-winning lens and emerges with one of the finest memoirs on record.



3. I loved the kindle edition of this book. It discusses both the value and pitfalls of competition. Andre allowed us to see inside his soul. He explained the reasons behinnd many of his actions, both professional and personal.



4. Most tennis lovers thought they knew Agassi. His works prove that we knew nothing at all! This was one of the most powerful insights to a person's life that I have read. He told the true, raw story of what it was like growing up as a child and becoming a tennis player. All the times we thought he was a spoiled brat or high on his own ego maybe we didn't know him at all. Please read about his life and how he changed it around.



5. This is an amazing book that brings you into a journey of one of the greatest tennis player that ever played. This is something people can really relate to and understand how tough and lonely it can be as an athlete and famous celebrity. A very interesting book that you can't stop reading. Highly recommended and nothing beats amazon.