|
Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael Lewis
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $11.95
Buy Used: $3.36
You Save: $8.59 (72%)
New (27) Used (16) from $3.36
Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 25890
Media: Paperback
Pages: 96
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 6.5 x 4.4 x 0.4
ISBN: 039333113X
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.357092
EAN: 9780393331134
Publication Date: April 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Minor Corner and Cover Wear. Clean Pages No Markings!Expedited Shipping Recommended, Standard May Take 2-3 weeks. We Ship Every Business Day. Your purchase benefits global literacy and the environment!
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
"[Lewis] has such a gift for storytelling."—New York Times
There was a turning point in Michael Lewis's life, in a baseball game when he was fourteen years old. The irascible and often terrifying Coach Fitz put the ball in his hand with the game on the line and managed to convey such confident trust in Lewis's ability that the boy had no choice but to live up to it. "I didn't have words for it then, but I do now: I am about to show the world, and myself, what I can do."
The coach's message was not simply about winning, but about self-respect, sacrifice, courage, and endurance. In some ways, and even now, thirty years later, Lewis still finds himself trying to measure up to what Coach Fitz expected of him.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 35 more reviews...
 Lessons On Society Losing Its Way March 13, 2006
Thomas M. Loarie (Danville, CA USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Best selling author (Moneyball, Liar's Poker, and the New New Thing), Michael Lewis has written a little (90 pages) jewel with "Coach." Lewis reflects on his life at Isidore Newman School and the impact that his baseball coach and teacher, Billy "Fitz" Fitzgerald, had in shaping his life.
Fitz entered Lewis's mind at age 12 and has stayed there ever since. Think about that rare teacher or coach that has stayed with you into your adult life; reminisce with Lewis as he rediscovers the attributes of this relationship and its impact on his life.
Lewis's learning that a former player was organizing an effort to remodel the old gym and have it named after Fitz served as the catalyst for the book. While the cash was pouring in from former players and the parents of former players, current players and their parents were doing all that they could to persuade the headmaster to get rid of him.
This conflict allows Lewis to contrast a time when Fitz worked tirelessly to give boys a sense that their lives could be something other than ordinary to what is happening today. Fitz effectiveness had ended as he had run up against the culture of "kids being bestowed with a sense of self-esteem at birth."
The system of values he attempted to instill is no longer in alignment and was now more difficult than those of the parents and of the greater society. They are not in sync; they are no longer tolerated.
"Coach" transcends the events surrounding Fitz and the gym revealing the dark side of a society that has lost its way with honorable values and meaning.
A wonderful book! December 18, 2006
Duke (Midwest, US)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
While the parents of the children being coached by Fitz want something else, I hope my kids have a coach like Fitz as they grow up. I know from personal experience how as a kid I often hated my coaches. Now that I am an adult, I look back on the important lessons they taught me, and the abilities I learned from them. I feel sorry for the kids that are coddled by their parents. They do them more harm than good.
Great book May 11, 2005
D. Smolarek (Chicago, IL USA)
20 out of 29 found this review helpful
Author Michael Lewis does a great job showing how perseverence and determination leads to success. With illustrations and an easy to read approach, this book conveys a message of hope and stresses the importance of one's formative years. Highly recommend.
Profound lesson with an economy of words June 26, 2005
Barry Sosnick (New York)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Lewis makes a remarkable statement: a person is not born with selfrespect, but earns it. A struggle to overcome fear and failure is necessary. There are those that try to instill these beliefs on children, even though the lesson is not appreciated immediately in their youth and the profoundly positive impact is not understood until later in life. This is what the book is about.
Lewis' high school coach drives them hard. The kids don't understand why initially. Over time, they learn that through hard work they can achieve their goals--not just in athletics.
Casual readers, based on earlier reviews, seem to think that the coach is obsessed with winning; they miss the point (just as Lewis did when he was in 7th grade). Lewis talks about a season when the team was 1-12: The coaches frustration is not with the win-loss record, but that they kids possess the drive to improve and compete. He is not preparing them to win baseball games, but obtain their goals for years to come in life.
The book is a criticism of a growing opinion among parents that kids are born with respect, instead of needing to develop it. Achievement builds selfrespect, not conception. Parents should be exposing their children to fear and failure to allow them to overcome these obstacles instead of protecting them from it.
The touching element is that a successful author living comfortably in the Bay area champions someone that people no longer believe in, because this person championed him when nobody, including Lewis, believed in himself. It is the ultimate strength of character that Lewis' coach successfully cultivated in Lewis and others.
As a subscriber to the New York Times, I get the magazine. Unfortunately I did not see this article when it was published. To say a book that is a reprint of an article does not have merit is to foolishly presume that everyone gets the Times and has the time every Sunday to devour it. A reprint of an article takes a concept from a select few to the masses. Shame on those who do not appreciate this.
I know the coach May 18, 2005
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
I have recently began to train with Coach Fitz. Yes he is intimidating but i dont see why the parents would be mad at him. I understand why he pushes his players. His ace pitcher this year has already signed with Stanford but will probably go high in the draft. His pitcher wouldnt be what he is today if it wasn't for Coach Fitz. I am goin to pick up my copy of this book as soon as I can.
|
|
|
| |
