Product Description
Harper's Magazine has been America's preeminent monthly periodical for more than 150 years. Rules of the Game: The Best Sports Writing from Harper's Magazine takes a look into this storied magazine's unparalleled archive and uncovers funny, touching, exciting, intriguing stories of the sporting life, both professional and amateur, and what it means to us. These essays show that how we play and write about sports not only reflect our nation's character, but challenge it. Including stories from Mark Twain and James B. Connolly at the turn of the twentieth century, visiting with George Plimpton, Tom Wolfe, Bill Cardoso, and A. Bartlett Giamatti along the way, and continuing with Lewis Lapham, Rich Cohen, and Pat Jordan today, this collection is the definitive voice on sports-writing through the last hundred years. Edited by Matthew Stevenson and Michael Martin, with a humorous, insightful preface by Roy Blount Jr.(Fifth in the American Retrospective Series.) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Terrific Collection of Sports Writing
If you are a sports fan with literary inclinations, this book will satisfy your yearnings to read about sports and to be edified by good writing.The essays cover everything from baseball, to boxing, to tennis and the Olympics.Coming from Harper's, the expectation were high and all but one of the essays did not disappoint.Authors included are Pete Axthelm, George Plimpton, Tom Wolfe and Wilfrid Sheed, names from the world of writing with whom I was familiar.I was happily introduced to other writers whose works, based on my dipping into their writing in this volume, I am now eager to more thoroughly dive into - Rich Cohen, John Chamberlain and Guy Lawson, for example.The essays are all rich in their portrayals of times and people, like the treatments of Muhammad Ali and his charismatic personality, or the descriptions and insights about places like Flin Flon, Manitoba, where hockey is not just a way of life, but life itself, or the ineptitude of the Chicago Cubs and the attachment of their fans to that ineptitude, or Jim Bouton's struggle to save a minor league ballpark from the misguided and politically driven efforts to build a new stadium in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.This book leaves the reader with that inimitable feeling one gets when completing a good book - that you have entered worlds previously inaccessible and unimaginable and have become intimately entangled in them; that you have become privy to insights and observations that absolutely and correctly categorize and capture a phenomenon; that you are somehow a littler richer, a little more knowledgable and perhaps even a little wiser than before you turned the first page.Read it and enjoy.

A Treasury of Sports History
I have been a fan of Harper's for a number of years. This collection brings together a couple dozen sports stories from the past 100 years or so, written by some of the best writers out there. I bought it as a "filler" book because it can be read in snippets at a time, but found it hard to put down. A wonderful collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Its Sports Illustrated!
Issue arrived in excellent shape and it was what I ordered. What more can I say? Women in bathing suits and less.... :)

All is forgiven!!
I waited a 35 days and still never recieved this item. Of course I was very disappointed BUT after contacting the vendor and explained how I never recieved the item, he gave me a full refund asap. No item but excellent customer service!

Swimsuit Mania
This issue of Sports Illustrated, Swimsuit 2009, was not as good as previous ones.I love Bar Refaeli.She is my new favorite Super Model.I have her on my cell phone, but not on speed dial, if you know what I mean.There are more foreign models than ever before.I would rather see more American Women on foreign beaches.Some of them I would not consider a perfect 10, which should be a requirement for this issue of this magazine.More Americans, More Tens!!!

This is the worst SI swimsuit issue in years!!
As a perennial fan of the SI Swimsuit issue I am sorry to report this issue is not worth the $7 I paid for it! The cover shot is good but it is the best photo in the entire magazine.What is going on at SI?Are you you going through a budget crunch and not getting the top talent any more?There is no sizzle here!There is no adventure here!

If you want a good bikini mag, get a Maxim.

Hot Magazine
This is the best swimsuit issue that sports illustrated came out with. The models are sexy and hotter than ever. It is almost like looking at a "Playboy Wet and Wild issue". I really enjoyed the magazine! ... Read more

Product Description
If every picture tells a story, every slide tells an even deeper one. Tucked away in Sports Illustrated's photo archive sits 50 years worth of film, a frame-by-frame depiction of the history of sports over the last half a century. The stickers and scribbles along a single slide's border are like tags on a streamer trunk, telling the story of that photo's journey from the playing field to the magazine. This book selects the most colorful of these slides and presents the mounts as objects of art in an oversized 176-page collection, complete with behind-the-scenes vignettes of how the shots came to be. Some slides capture classic SI cover images (Dwight Clark's catch in the 1982 NFC Championship Game or Brandi Chastain ripping her shirt off at the 1999 World Cup) while others are simply great photos (Pete Rose running at full speed or Joe Namath lounging poolside before Super Bowl III). The images themselves are iconic, but by seeing them as slides you get that extra step back. You can see the history that has been made from these flashes of an instant. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Not as cool as it sounds
I am not much of a picturebook or coffee table book guy so this was a slight departure for me to pick this up. I was excited because I know how great some of the SI sports photography is.

Upon opening this book, I was immediately dissapointed. Each image is just a photo of the actual slide. The images are all smallish and dont pop. The images try telling more of a story behind some of the great sports moments but I just didnt get into it.I guess I was expecting typical big-format photography. I should have read the details of the book better before ordering. I like the concept behind the book, but it probably would be better as a small format or glosssy paperback.

To top off my dissapointment with the content, the binding of the book tore off from the page glue after scanning through this exactly one time. The book probably deserves 2 or 2 1/2 stars for the true diehards, but the bad publishing quality takes it to one.

Overall, it seemed like poor execution on this one. I returned the product.

A Unique and Fascinating Look Look Behind the Shots
There has never been a book like this one: a chance to examine the process of selecting and displaying the final images in Sports Illustrated, the fan bible of sports. Many, of not all, of these images have become classics, engraved in our collective imaginations. But how did they attain iconic status? This big (and beautifully designed and produced) collectible volume has a unique conceit: it enlarges the original transparency and its marked-up slide mount to gigantic size, describes what those markings on the mount represent, then shows (and explains) how the image was used on the cover or inside the magazine. Significantly, this book documents a now almost-vanished era; most photographers are now shooting digitally, so there will no longer be a "paper trail" of documentation, with all of its handwritten charm, following a slide's editorial evolution. A great concept, and well-done; this book has provided me with many hours of enjoyment.

fascinating look at sports history
A lot of info to digest, but a good book to curl up with and peruse slowly.Lots of good sports history, especially if you are a long-time reader of SI like I am.Also fun to look at how photo-journalism was done in the past, before all of the technology blossomed. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of writings and articles from the pages of Sports Afield features a century of work by such distinguished authors as Thomas McGuane, Erle Stanley Gardner, Jim Harrison, P. J. O'Rourke, Gordon Macquarrie, and many others. ... Read more

Product Description
The Sports Forecaster hockey Yearbook is the must-have magazine for hockey fans. Published for the first time in 1995, Canada's best-selling magazine is also the ultimate tool for Fantasy Draft Day!Reader-friendly, colorful, analytical and insightful, The Sports Forecaster bursts at the bindings with facts, figures and an unsurpassed forecasts section laid out in a handy, tear-out section. Reputed for its depth of team and player previews and analysis -- all the way down to a team's fourth-liners and reserve players -- it's the most complete hockey annual on the market today, bar none!Simply, it's a one-stop shop for all hockey fans. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

2010-11 NHL Preview & Fantasy Hockey Yearbook
Essential magazine for hockey fans and fantasy hockey fanatics. A must have every year for Fantasy Hockey.

15 year roto league uses this book
it's the best of what's out there.
missing the articles this year.
i think they should list the sources for each team or player for the predicition or player review.
be nice if they listed other league stats such as ohl, ahl, khl echl, ncaa.
overall it's good. the positions are very important to roto leagues not just forward and def but centre and wings.

The Best
Comprehensive! Quite simply the best hockey preview magazine on the market, year it and year out. ... Read more

Product Description
Longtime readers of Golf Magazine know that the Private Lessons feature is the place to go for tips, tricks, and instructions that will get even the lowliest duffer swinging like a pro. Now the magazine's editors have compiled the best of these lessons into one indispensable volume. Easy-to-follow instructions, accompanied by more than 750 full-color illustrations, illuminate every aspect of the game, from approaching the tee to hitting out of trouble to improving a suspect short game. Best of all, this is the rare instructional golf book that anyone can use; women, seniors, and high and low handicappers alike will benefit from having golf's eternal verities broken down into readily digestible bites. It's the perfect gift for the links lover, and just in time for Father's Day. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Useful format
This book uses hand drawn colored illustrations rather than photographs to present a large number of bite sized short golf lessons. This means that key points can be emphasised in the drawing and not lost in the overall detail of a photograph.

It's a book for dipping into rather than reading cover to cover like a novel but I like it and it repays scanning through after each golf round to see if some aspect of my game could be improved.

A great reference and great for learning
Bought this book as a beginner golfer and was able to learn so much from it, including pitching. The tips and drills make it very easy to implement changes into your golf game. It is a great reference for experienced golfers too. Any time your game needs a tune-up, you can find the answer in this book.

awesome
this is a great seller. product arrived exactly as advertised and in great condition. fantastic seller....use with confidence

I don't play golf, but my dad does, and he loved it.
This book was my Christmas present to my dad who has been playing golf for 55 or so years, and he wrote the review that follows (I did, however, appreciate the illustrations in the book):"I am greatly impressed by the overall completeness of the book, as it seems to have a solid set of instructions for all possible shots and situations. Even more so, I was impressed with the lessons that are geared to the 'modern' swing methods of core rotation and elimination of any and all lateral movement. As an aspiring golf instructor working on certification, I think Private Lessons will become my manual, used for constant reference and reinforcement. My compliments." And I give myself a 5 for choosing such a good Christmas gift; it's April and he's still raving about it. ... Read more

Product Description

Inside, the best of the first fifteen years of Outside

Cartwheeling down a Himalayan river. Climbing America's unfriendliest mountain. Dousing fires in the oil fields of Kuwait. Chasing African killer bees. For twenty years, Outside magazine has devoted itself to original and engaging reports on travel, adventure, sports, and the environment. This collection of the best of the stories from the first fifteen years features many of the country's finest writers, in a single volume:

EDWARD ABBEY
RICK BASS
JOHN BRANT
CHIP BROWN
BILL BRYSON
TIN CAHILL
E. JEAN CARROLL
PHIL GARLINGTON
JIM HARRISON
DONALD KATZ
WILLIAM KITTREDGE
JON KRAKAUER
BARRY LOPEZ
THOMAS MCGUANE
BILL MCKIBBEN
MICHAEL MCRAE
PETER MATTHIESSEN
PETER NELSON
GEOFFREY NORMAN
DAVID QUAMMEN
BOB REISS
DAVID ROBERTS
ROB SCHULTHEIS
BOB SHACOCHIS
LAURENCE SHAMES
GRANT SINS
ANNICK SMITH
RICK TELANDER
BILL VAUGHN
CRAIG VETTER
RANDY WAYNE WHITE
ED ZUCKERMAN

Whether you're an armchair adventurer or a true-life trekker, you'll be at once entranced and exhilarated as you go Out of the Noösphere. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

vacation read
Amazing story about a dog named Gator.Buy the book for this story alone

Fascinating mix of adventure, introspection & enlightenment.
I am a long time admirer of Tim Cahill's work and picked up "Out of the Noosphere" on that basis.I was delighted to find so many other authors equally as adventurous and thoughtful.Anyone who loves travellingfor the pure joy of meeting different people, seeing new vistas, and havinghis/her world view challenged will love this book.The writing is superb,each story/article is a good length for commuter readers.I particularlylike the way each author brings you personally into the action...you haveto think about what you would do in a similar situation.And thesituations are mind expanding -- from killer bee research, to losingfriends in mountain climbing accidents.I couldn't recommend it morehighly!

Get into the noosphere of reality.
"Withdraw to your cell," the Desert Fathers used to say, "and your cell will teach you everything" - at least all you need to know for the fullness of life.So said Thomas Merton in his "Notes for a Philosophy ofSolitude."

"Get out and about," say the editors of Outside magazine -away from the mind- and soul-destroying homogenization of urban living.

In these 40 stories - 2 by women - we have diversity in unity, enhancingthe value of the anthology.The integrating principle is not so much astyle of writing - a certain outdoors "Outside" style - as an attitude ofgifted adventurers who report not only from interesting places and events"out there" but especially from the deeper depths of their own reflectivebeings.

"Get out of the noosphere," said author David Quammen.Hiscomment provided the title for the collection.But he misinterpreted whatJesuit evolutionist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin had in mind when he inventedthe "Noosphere" as a word and a concept in 1922.

For Teilhard wasundoubtedly an outdoors "Outside" person and rejoiced in the creativeconvergence of human beings in all their diversity."Union differentiates"was his constant theme, so well exemplified in these reports from writerslikewise familiar with "the wild country of the soul" (p.12).

With itsfoundations anchored to the genetic core of each participatingmember,Teilhard's noosphere enables us to communicate around the world andbeyond at the speed of light - mind-to-mind, heart-to-heart and evensoul-to-soul - providing a lifeline of care, concern and mutual respect toall who live not by bread alone, but dare to explore the farthest reachesof reality. ... Read more

Product Description
For more than twenty years, Thrasher magazine has been the leading authority on skateboarders and their culture. Packed with hundreds of the most intense skateboarding photographs ever printed, Insane Terrain offers a view through the skater's eye, while supplying the necessary images to incite the imaginations of skateboarders everywhere. The book starts with a historical overview of the lifestyle and an examination of the history of skateboarders past and present, including profiles of such well-known legends as Tony Hawk, Tony Alva, and Christian Hosoi. Finally, the book showcases some of the coolest places on earth to skate, from legendary underground fullpipes and renowned skateparks to popular street hangouts and cutting-edge terrain. Utilizing images from Thrasher's unparalleled photo archives as well as commentary form the Thrasher crew and friends, Insane Terrain is essential for skaters worldwide.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Great Pics,nearly spot on history of skating
A must have book for your living room coffee table collection.
I do not like how Jay Adams was thrown out there in this book,and the controversy over Dusto and the pipe Salba got busted in is bogus BS,but aside from that,this book is WELL worth the $20 bucks for a crisp,clean and new copy.

If you are a skater for life,you must own this.

Purchase this,and if you don't have the spending gitas,get your girlfriend or mom to buy it!
AWESOME BOOK!!!

BORING!
I hope the 25 year anniversary book is better, the cover of it looks promising enough with Jay Adams and the classic Skate & Destroy motto I live by across the front, but this one is b o r i n g.

Thrasher rocks!!!!!!!!1
Thrasher:Insane terrain is an awsome book with great pictures and information. To all skaters i recommend this book you will enjoy it. To all non-skaters play thrasher skate and destroy that is also awsome. Thrasher this book is truly a compliment to urselves as a pioneer of the skating revloution. GREAT BOOK!!!!
If u dont read it you are truly missing out it was worth every cent. ... Read more

Product Description
Originally published in 1904, this charming magazine is a fascinating read for any sports enthusiast or historian, comprising an absorbing collection of articles, short stories, fashion advice and advertisements on a sporting theme as well as a motor supplement. Articles include The Derby Course, Cheetah Hunting in India, Hand-reared Wild Ducks, Ladies Who Go Racing, On the Trail of the White Sea Bass and many many more. Its 700 pages are extensively illustrated with full page and text photographs. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. ... Read more

Product Description
From AC to Wolseley, this is the illustrated encyclopaedia of every make of British, European and American car sold in Britain during the 1930s. Some 1000 cars are illustrated and described in alphabetical order, by manufacturer. There are comprehensive notes on each model's production dates and numbers, recognition features, variants, strengths and weaknesses. ... Read more

Product Description
From AC to Zagato, this is the illustrated encyclopaedia of every make of British, European, American, Australian and Japanese car sold in Britain during the 1970s. Some 700 cars are illustrated and described in alphabetical order, by manufacturer (including many doomed enterprises). There are comprehensive notes on each model's production dates and numbers, recognition features, variants, strengths and weaknesses. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more