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The Game- Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists

5 stars (An interesting, and mechanical way to approach meeting with the opposite sex) - This book is absolutely filled with interesting theories on the art of social interaction and meeting women for dating and sex. 1/2 autobiography of the author Neil Strauss's social life for the last two years, and 1/2 story of the dark side of "The Game" in which a group of "Pick Up Artists" move in a house together, and it eventually collapses on itself. Looking at the book, you wonder just what exactly is "The Game" and when does one stop looking at life and meeting people not as a "set" or group, drop the "routines" and play in the real world instead. 5 stars (Trust REAL reviews.) - Please note that the review below, and most if not all reviews with 1-2 star reviews, especially those calling members of the community described in this book are all by one man who i shall not name, as he is merely a disgruntled man with a vendetta against this community of individuals who's goals is self-improvement, please take a look at reviews done by the top 50 and real name reviewers. 1 stars (Wait for the Movie) - If you like to watch the TV shows "Friends", "Coupling", "How I met your mother", "Sex in the City", "The Single Guy" or "Nova" and you're looking for a story to read, than this book is for you. If you haven't read a book for pleasure for a long time but your looking for a "How To" book, then this book isn't for you. Read the book "The Sensuous Man" instead. I listened to Neil Strauss at a book signing. He "tours" with self proclaimed losers who call them themselves former losers who sell "How To Pickup Women" services. They sell nothing but air --- and that's free. If you're looking for a story but not a book reader, wait for the movie coming to theaters in 2008. ...
Regan Books :: Sociology Of Men :: Sexuality :: Sex Roles (Sociological Aspects) :: Personal Memoirs :: Men's Studies - General :: Love & Sex & Marriage :: Health&Fitness :: Healt :: The Game- Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists

 

Dry - A Memoir

5 stars (Not So Dry After All) - Perhaps the most astonishing thing about this powerful memoir is its essential kindness and good feeling for humankind, an attitude sustained through a series of dizzying life experiences which could have soured the Dalai Lama. Burroughs' cheerily ironic point of view encompasses his terrifying childhood,his surreal career in advertising, and, most powerfully, his experiences in rehab. While on this journey with him, you experience his growth through a process of discovery, as layer upon layer of denial is peeled back and his true history and true self are revealed to him and to us. The dryness of the wit lies entirely in his refusal to feel sorry for himself; and the final phase of his recovery begins when he is at last willing to open that hardest of all human doors, love. Once I started this book, I couldn't put it down, and read entranced on the bus, at the lunch counter, and through one very dull concert. It will certainly offer you several of the more entertaining hours of your life. 4 stars (Excellently written) - Mr. Burroughs has done an excellent job in communicating his experiences of alcoholism and the struggle of rehab and the 12 step programs. He has been able to share the reality of his experiences and at the same time show a great deal of humor and sophisticated irony. A very good book and one that I will read again. 4 stars (Very Good) - I started this book yesterday and read about 3/4 of it in one sitting. It's an interesting read - and the subject matter is a little less uncomfortable than "Running with Scissors". I can't help but compare this to "A Million Little Pieces", which also deals with someone going to rehab. I feel that James Frey's book was more upsetting but geniune. There were times that I had to put the book down because it was so graphic and heart rending. Anyway, "Dry" is a good read, and if you liked "Running with Scissors" or books in the vein a la David Sedaris, read it. ...
Picador :: Reading Group Guide :: Biography & Autobiography & General :: United States :: Personal Memoirs :: Novelists :: American :: New York (State) :: New York :: Literary :: :: Dry - A Memoir

 

The Glass Castle - A Memoir

5 stars (Excellent) - This book was excellent. Recently i have started to get into "memoirs" and Jeannette Walls memoirs was one of the best! Her parents...they give new definition to the word crazy! Jeanette cooked her own hotdogs at the tender age of 3 she was also caught fire by cooking those very same hotdogs at the age of 3...her family was always doing the "ske-daddle" from bill collectors so they were constantly on the move. Jeannete has two sisters and one brother. Her mom is a very eccentric woman who loves to paint and teaches her children to always be "self-sufficient" her father is a drunk but she loves him deeply. They move from town to town all over the mid-west to the west coast. They go from rats being on their kitchen counters and in their sugar bowls to eating "lard sandwiches" at her grandmother Erma's house. This is a book that will keep you interested from start to finish. Never a dull moment. I highly recommend it. 5 stars (Shocking Yet Truly Charming) - I loved this book. The author writes in such a style that enables the reader to absorb the harshness of her tale - without being angry. Her childhood was what it was. As adults, we cannot do anything about a tough or neglectful childhood. I applaud the author for telling it like she remembers it. Best book I have read in a while. 3 stars (Horrifying if True) - There seems to be some doubt as to the veracity of Walls's memoir. It does seem as though certain situations are far too detailed to be credible rememberances of a 3-year-old or even a slightly older child. However, the book is an absorbing read, which is why I gave it three stars. No stars, even as birthday gifts, for the self-absorbed, sick parents who brought their children up in such a lazy, dangerous way (if Walls's account is true). A mother who hides candy from her starving children? Refuses treatment for her burned, blistered daughter? A father who throws the family cat out of a moving car but protests when a mountain lion is...
Scribner :: Biography & Autobiography & Literary :: West Virginia :: Welch :: Walls :: Jeannette :: United States :: Problem families :: Personal Memoirs :: Literary :: Family Deve :: The Glass Castle - A Memoir

 

A Child Called -It-- One Child-s Courage to Survive

4 stars (Wonderful Insight into Resilence and Protective Factors) - I had been wanting to purchase this book for quite some time, but never got around to it until it was assigned for a psychology course I was enrolled in. True, it is a short text, and true, the grammar is not perfect - but it is not meant to be. Pelzer wrote the book as an adult, but tried to write it from his perspective when he was a child (the time period when he actually experienced the events detailed in the book). If this book had been written from a purely adult, grammatically "proper" perspective, it would have gained a more "distant" tone and thereby lost some of it's power to really grip and touch the reader. The text can be read in awe of what Pelzer experienced as a child, certainly. But that is not all one can gather from it. The trianglization, power struggles, and family dynamics which play out throughout the story are not only dramatic, but very clinically realistic. The potential effects of alcohol use on family structure are an eye-opener. And most of all, one should note the protective factors David found in his life which enabled him to survive his mother's horrendous patterns of abuse - while they are not nearly so dramatic as all the "punishment" he endured, they are just as significant. This would be a good book particularly for anyone who works with children (or plans to), whether they are a psychologist, counselor, educator, social worker, mentor, or even a parent. Too often adults see only the negative things that have happened to a child, and fear the effects that those things may have on the child's behavior or personality... it is just as important to be able to recognize what strengths, talents, and interests are in children which allow them to cope with or overcome negative factors. 1 stars (laundry list with no context) - If the abuse was real, or if even part of it was, my sympathy goes out to the author and my praise for rising above it. Ho...
HCI :: Self-Help & General :: Specific Groups - Special Needs :: Personal Memoirs :: Pelzer :: David J :: General :: Family relationships :: Daly City :: Children of alcohol :: A Child Called -It-- One Child-s Courage to Survive

 

The Dance of the Dissident Daughter

5 stars (Realizing Possibilities) - Having read "The Secret Life of Bees" I bought " The Dance of the Dissident Daughter " without reading what it was about, but only because I liked the author's other book. Amazingly, the book was not fiction, but of the authors journey to her own feminine divine. Ironicly a journey that I am currently on myself. The book came to me at a time when I was not sure what my next step should be and revealed to me that I am not the only woman that has gone on this journey. I think every young woman should read this book before they go out in the world. It is an awesome book that teaches a woman that it is okay to stand up and be heard and not allow the world of men to silence women. And it shows how one woman found faith in something that worked for her and made her feel more in touch with the divine then she had ever been in her life. I recommend this book to all women. 5 stars (Changed my life) - Before 9/11, but especially after I have been having problems with religion and the fact that so often wars are committeed in the name of some faith. I was also raised Southern Baptish so I identified with her feelings about religion being written to control us and especially women. She has started me on my own awaking and a new spiriual walk. I am so blessed to have read this book. I just wish I had someone to discuss it with. 4 stars (Looking forward to more) - When an author such as this shows up, it is necessary to have a copy of everything written by that author. This new book does not disappoint, and this author can look forward to selling at least one copy of any future work. ...
HarperSanFrancisco :: Religion & Spirituality :: Women :: United States :: Spirituality - General :: Spiritual biography :: Religious aspects :: Religion :: Personal Memoirs :: Kidd :: Sue M :: The Dance of the Dissident Daughter

 

The Big House - A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home

4 stars (Great reading) - Owning a summer home that has been purchased from an extended family, the story is so familiar, but I could never tell it as George Colt has told it. I gave it four stars because I think you have to have lived the experience to appreciate the subtle touches in the story. 5 stars (The Big House - A Bigger Book) - If you have ever had a "summer place" - large or not so large - and people to take there whom you love, this is your book, assuming you are still able to read. Rich and sensitive, loving and intelligent, it takes you back to re-savor those days when the world was younger, better and hopeful. 3 stars (House is Interesting. WASPS: not so much.) - Both of my parents are from New England, and I've spent some time in both Cape Cod and Connecticut. I expected to enjoy this much more than I did. It's written well and impeccably researched. But the forward motion really meanders, with only the question "will the house stay in the family or be sold?" to keep you reading. It makes sense that the author then tries to describe his family, to keep you invested. But, though the author clearly adores his extended family, they never became vivid to me. He keeps telling us how charming and "attractive" (the highest WASP compliment) they are, but I keep saying people who are cold, antisemitic (a section where a mother refuses to let a duaghter who's married a Jewish man stay at the house is glossed over as if the genteel antisemitism is just another trait of a vanishing society). The house itself does fascinate. Colt is most interesting when he writes about himself-- my favorite section was the section where he describes the books in the house. I think the book will mean a lot more to you if you either are from that area (try as he might Colt never succeeded in making Wings Neck sound appealing to me-- full of rocks, poison ivy, weeds, and inscrutable people)... or know the world he's writing about. Somehow Colt does NOT succeed in evo...
Scribner :: Biography & Autobiography & General :: United States - State & Local - New England :: Sociology :: Social Science :: Reference :: Personal Memoirs :: Customs & Tr :: The Big House - A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home

 

Swimming to Antarctica - Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer

4 stars (Amazing story) - The only reason I am giving this 4 instead of 5 stars is that it didn't include any pictures. I would have liked seeing some pictures taken during the author's many amazing swims. This book tells the story of a girl who didn't fit the typical athletic profile - she is chunky and doesn't appear to be an athlete. This couldn't be further from the truth. Her unique body makeup (she is the same density as sea water and her temperature is different from most people) allow her to withstand immersion and exertion in mind numbingly cold water. The reader learns about Lynne Co'xs many accomplishments - English Channel records (as a teenager!), swimming in heavily polluted rivers (she punched through a dog carcass as she swam), and most of all swimming in seemingly deadly cold waters (the crowning achievement of her carreer). I was left completely awestruck by this story. 5 stars (Lance Armstrong's Peer as an Endurance Athlete...) - ...May be Lynn Cox. As detailed in her gripping 2004 autobiography, Swimming to Antartica. In 1972, at age 14, yes, 14, she broke the record for swimming the English Channel - male or female. Then when someone broke her mark, possibly by cheating, she came back the next year and broke it again. She was the first human to swim the Strait of Magellan - the wild waters off Chili that have sunk hundreds of ships -- and the Bering Strait, the latter while dodging icebergs: without a wetsuit. During the swim from the Atlantic to the Indian oceans around South Africa's Cape, her frogman speared a tiger shark as it attacked her. And yes, she swam to Antarctica - going just a mile, but in dense, 32-degree water that felt like plastic to swim through, and caused short-term damage to the skin's nerve endings. These adventures all get their own chapter, in clear, direct, detailed prose that puts you right next to the athlete doing these very dangerous feats. Lynn has some Lance-like, superhuman physical traits. Afte...
Harvest Books :: Biography & Autobiography & Sports :: United States :: Swimming :: Swimmers :: Sports - General :: Personal Memoirs :: Long distance swimming :: Cox :: Lynne :: :: Bi :: Swimming to Antarctica - Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer

 

Juiced - Wild Times- Rampant -Roids- Smash Hits- and How Baseball Got Big

4 stars (Thoughtful and Important) - Conseco begins by stating that he believes inteligent use of steroids, combined with human growth hormone, will one day be accepted and standard practice. (Add genetic engineering to the list - my opinion.) Conseco was a fair-to-middling minor-league player until he vowed to his dying mother that he was "Going to be the best athlete in the world." Shortly after that he began using steriods after reading up on the topic and considerable discussion with a "regular." Initially it was scary - he wasn't certain what would happen, or even if anything would change. After about two weeks he began to see and feel changes. At the same time, Conseco also undertook a strenuous program of exercise - particularly exercises that emphasized speed, not muscle mass. A third enhancement came from intense studying of pitchers to better guess their next pitch, rather than just reacting. Eventually Conseco added about 70 lbs. of muscle, and increased his running and swinging speeds. An additional benefit was building endurance - he no longer lost energy as the season wore on - like most players. Mark McGwire soon became a pupil and followedd a similar regimen - adding 50 lbs to his frame. Both McGwire and Conseco had great swings at the start, and Conseco stresses that steroids will not make a great athlete out of someone lacking talent. Conseco is sensitive to possible damage from steroid use, and credits his avoidance to careful attention to amounts and types used. He also believes that baseball players have an advantage over football players when it comes to steroid use because they are not so inclined to overdo it in an effort to reach 300+ lbs. Conseco eventually became well-known for steroid use - probably because he taught so many other players and trainers about it. Conseco, however, also thought it was due to racial bias - he was from Cuba. Clearly Conseco, McGwire and others reached great success via steroids, and do not appear t...
Regan Books :: Biography & Autobiography & Sports :: United States :: Sports - General :: Sports - Baseball :: Sports (Specific Aspects) :: Salaries :: etc :: Personal Memoirs :: D :: Juiced - Wild Times- Rampant -Roids- Smash Hits- and How Baseball Got Big

 

Embedded Balls - Adventures On and Off the Tour with Golf-s Premier Storyteller

5 stars (Great writing team) - Once again Jacobsen and Sheehan have outdone themselves writing a book about their love of the game and the great stories that have ensued from the fairways worldwide... I laughed until I cried and am going to pass the book on to my friends in the dental society (and huge golf fans) in golf course mecca in Central Oregon.. 5 stars (Jake does it again) - Peter Jacobsen returns from a decade-plus absence with a book that is better than his first effort - and that's saying something. "Embedded Balls" includes a look at what is wrong with the Tour today and how to fix it. Along the way, you will laugh out loud and get an insiders look at many characters on the Tour. ...
Putnam Adult :: Biography & Autobiography & General :: Tournaments :: Sports - General :: Sports & Recreation :: Sports :: Personal Memoirs :: Humor :: Golf - General :: Golf :: Biogra :: Embedded Balls - Adventures On and Off the Tour with Golf-s Premier Storyteller

 

Honey- Let-s Get a Boat A Cruising Adventure of America-s Great Loop

5 stars (Terrific Read...Even If You Don't Own a Boat) - Honey, Let's Get a Boat" by Ron and Eva Stob Here is a must read for not only boating enthusiasts but all those who ever imagined themselves pulling up stakes and setting out on a year or more adventure of travel. Ron and Eva Stob do a wonderful job of recounting their year-long journey on a forty-foot trawler, which began in Florida and circled up along the intercoastal waterway to New York and then up the Hudson River to Lakes George and Champlain to the Saint Lawrence River in Canada and on to the Great Lakes and Chicago and then down the river systems to the Gulf of Mexico and back to Florida. This route, known as "America's Great Loop," took them through waterways, locks, scenery, history, and cultures as varied as one could find anywhere. Even though the book is written in the first person by Ron as the narrator, I can assure you, on the basis of having had the good fortune of meeting this delightful couple, Eva had a big part in helping relate the experiences encountered throughout their year of traveling these waterways. The book is a great read from start to finish and includes an appendix, which is a guidebook to anyone contemplating a similar venture. From the interesting and humorous aspects of just how this couple took the leap of quitting their jobs and finding and purchasing the trawler to their final encounter with the tropical storm Gordon,( becoming Hurricane Gordon,) as they returned to Florida after their year of cruising, the reader will be fascinated by vivid descriptions of places and cultures, as well as the difficulties and near disasters. Ron's "tongue in cheek" satire and humor and his honest self-criticism enhance the imagery of the book and bring alive the characters and places. The book relates as much about the history and culture of the places visited along the way as it does the process of navigating the waterways. Even though I had been to a number of place...
Raven Cove Publishing :: Travelers :: Travel - General :: Sports :: Sailing - Narratives :: Personal Memoirs :: Ron Stob :: :: Honey- Let-s Get a Boat A Cruising Adventure of America-s Great Loop

 

Juicy - Confessions of a Former Baseball Wife

1 stars (Oh, please) - You can put your clothes back on now, Jessica. Also, just wondering why you didn't retain your maiden name. Maybe you wouldn't have sold any books? 1 stars (how spouses of celebrities get even) - After the media coverage of Jose Canseco's whistle blowing on steroid users, I had to read his wife's tell all. Of course I wouldn't pay for it; it took me about an hour to read it in the bookstore. Jessica reveals herself to be the female version of her celebrity husband: egocentric, two-dimensional, silly cheerleader type who has nothing to offer but what's only on the outside. She has a penchant for using the "F" word and talks about their screaming sessions which I'm sure often took place in front of their daughter. What a good mom, what a good dad. This book should cause her nothing but shame and embarrassment, but laughably she says she is mentally well. Mentally well people don't live the shallow, meaningless life she did and then brag about most of it. What a dope. ...
Regan Books :: Biography & Autobiography & Rich & Famous :: Women :: United States :: Sports - Baseball :: Rich & Famous :: Personal Memoirs :: Family relationships :: Biography&A :: Juicy - Confessions of a Former Baseball Wife

 

The Sixteenth Round- From Number 1 Contender To -45472

4 stars (Brilliant and Touching) - Obviously no one can write his story better than Rubin himself. This story is both and inspiring story of a man who has never stopped fighting and a terrifying reality check into the American judicial system. This book is filled with an anger that is only kept in check by the author's own love and compassion. The reader whould of course keep in mind this is an autobiography and therefore is skewed to the writer's point of view and emotional state. 2 stars (The rounds go on and on...) - I purchased this book, after viewing the much celebrated movie, "The Hurricane." The book is mediocre. I found it difficult to believe much of the writer's exaggerated boasting regarding his many talents. I had erroneously gathered from the movie, that this was a self-effacing, self-made man, not so. The reader is ever searching for the "real meat" of the story, however, the bulk of the story is about the author as a "ghetto-bad boy." The last few chapters of the book are short and quickly race you through the actual murder and trial. Overall it is not well written and disappointing. 5 stars (A touching story inspires child.) - This story reached out and touched the lives of many people. It also made people realize not to be racist. I know that I used to be racist and this turned my life around. The fact that rubin was in jail for a crime he didnt commit just because he wasnt white isnt at all fair. His story inspired me not to be racist and to get others not to hate the non-white. It has touched many lives and i like that. I am one of Rubin's biggest fans. ...
Penguin Global :: Biography & Autobiography & General :: Sports - General :: Sports & Recreation :: Sports :: Prison Life :: Personal Memoirs :: People of Color :: Criminals & Outlaw :: The Sixteenth Round- From Number 1 Contender To -45472