Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

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Author :
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393066231
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by : Michael Lewis

Download or read book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game written by Michael Lewis and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2004-03-17 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michael Lewis’s instant classic may be “the most influential book on sports ever written” (People), but “you need know absolutely nothing about baseball to appreciate the wit, snap, economy and incisiveness of [Lewis’s] thoughts about it” (Janet Maslin, New York Times). One of GQ's 50 Best Books of Literary Journalism of the 21st Century Just before the 2002 season opens, the Oakland Athletics must relinquish its three most prominent (and expensive) players and is written off by just about everyone—but then comes roaring back to challenge the American League record for consecutive wins. How did one of the poorest teams in baseball win so many games? In a quest to discover the answer, Michael Lewis delivers not only “the single most influential baseball book ever” (Rob Neyer, Slate) but also what “may be the best book ever written on business” (Weekly Standard). Lewis first looks to all the logical places—the front offices of major league teams, the coaches, the minds of brilliant players—but discovers the real jackpot is a cache of numbers?numbers!?collected over the years by a strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts: software engineers, statisticians, Wall Street analysts, lawyers, and physics professors. What these numbers prove is that the traditional yardsticks of success for players and teams are fatally flawed. Even the box score misleads us by ignoring the crucial importance of the humble base-on-balls. This information had been around for years, and nobody inside Major League Baseball paid it any mind. And then came Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics. He paid attention to those numbers?with the second-lowest payroll in baseball at his disposal he had to?to conduct an astonishing experiment in finding and fielding a team that nobody else wanted. In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Michael Lewis shows us how and why the new baseball knowledge works. He also sets up a sly and hilarious morality tale: Big Money, like Goliath, is always supposed to win . . . how can we not cheer for David?

How Life Imitates the World Series

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Author :
Publisher : Doubleday Books
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (321 download)

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Book Synopsis How Life Imitates the World Series by : Thomas Boswell

Download or read book How Life Imitates the World Series written by Thomas Boswell and published by Doubleday Books. This book was released on 1982 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Bushville Wins!

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Author :
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 1250015146
Total Pages : 354 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis Bushville Wins! by : John Klima

Download or read book Bushville Wins! written by John Klima and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2012-07-03 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rip-roaring story of baseball's most unlikely champions, featuring interviews with Henry Aaron, Bob Uecker and other members of the Milwaukee Braves, Bushville Wins! takes you to a time and place baseball and the Heartland will never forget. "Bushville hits the sweet spot of my childhood, the year my family moved to Wisconsin and the Braves won the World Series against the Yankees, a team my Brooklyn-raised dad taught us to hate. Thanks to John Klima for bringing it all back to life with such vivid detail and energetic writing." -- David Maraniss, New York Times bestselling author of Clemente and When Pride Still Mattered In the early 1950s, the New York Yankees were the biggest bullies on the block. They were invincible: they led the New York City baseball dynasty, which for eight consecutive years held an iron grip on the World Series championship. Then the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1953, becoming surprise revolutionaries. Led by visionary owner Lou Perini, the Braves formed a powerful relationship with the Miller Brewing Company and foreshadowed the Dodgers and Giants moving west, sparking continental expansion and the ballpark boom. But the rest of the country wasn't sold. Why would a major league team move to a minor league town? In big cities like New York, Milwaukee was thought to be a podunk train station stop-off where the fans were always drunk and wouldn't know a baseball from a beer. They called Milwaukee Bushville. The Braves were no bushers! Eddie Mathews was a handsome home run hitter with a rugged edge. Warren Spahn was the craftiest pitcher in the business. Lew Burdette was a sharky spitball artist. Taken together, the Braves reveled in the High Life and made Milwaukee famous, while Wisconsin fans showed the rest of the country how to crack a cold one and throw a tailgate party. And in 1954, a solemn and skinny slugger came from Mobile to Milwaukee. Henry Aaron began his march to history. With a cast of screwballs, sluggers and beer swiggers, the Braves proved the guys at the corner bar could do the impossible - topple Casey Stengel's New York baseball dynasty in a World Series for the ages.

Astroball

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Author :
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 : 0525576657
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (255 download)

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Book Synopsis Astroball by : Ben Reiter

Download or read book Astroball written by Ben Reiter and published by Crown. This book was released on 2019-03-26 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The inside story of the Houston Astros, whose relentless innovation took them from the worst team in baseball to the World Series in 2017 and 2019 “Reiter’s superb narrative of how the team got there provides powerful insights into how organizations—not just baseball clubs—work best.”—The Wall Street Journal Astroball picks up where Michael Lewis’s acclaimed Moneyball leaves off, telling the thrilling story of a championship team that pushed both the sport and business of baseball to the next level. In 2014, the Astros were the worst baseball team in half a century, but just three years later they defied critics to win a stunning World Series. In this book, Ben Reiter shows how the Astros built a system that avoided the stats-versus-scouts divide by giving the human factor a key role in their decision-making. Sitting at the nexus of sports, business, and innovation, Astroball is the story of the next wave of thinking in baseball and beyond, at once a remarkable underdog tale and a fascinating look at the cutting edge of evaluating and optimizing human potential.

The Bullpen Gospels:

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Publisher : Kensington Publishing Corp.
ISBN 13 : 080653396X
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (65 download)

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Book Synopsis The Bullpen Gospels: by : Dirk Hayhurst

Download or read book The Bullpen Gospels: written by Dirk Hayhurst and published by Kensington Publishing Corp.. This book was released on 2010-04-01 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the humble heights of a Class-A pitcher's mound to the deflating lows of sleeping on his gun-toting grandmother's air mattress, veteran reliever Dirk Hayhurst steps out of the bullpen to deliver the best pitch of his career--a raw, unflinching and surprisingly moving account of his life in the minors. I enjoyed the visualizations, maybe a little too much, and would stop only when I felt I'd centered myself. . .or after one of my teammates hit me in the nuts with the rosin bag while my eyes were closed. Hilariously self-effacing and brutally honest, Hayhurst captures the absurdities, the grim realities, and the occasional nuggets of hard-won wisdom culled from four seasons in the minors. Whether training tarantulas to protect his room from thieving employees in a backwater hotel, watching the raging battles fought between his partially paralyzed father and his alcoholic brother, or absorbing the gentle mockery of some not-quite-starstruck schoolchildren, Dirk reveals a side of baseball, and life, rarely seen on ESPN. My career has crash-landed on the floor of my grandma's old sewing room. If this is a dream come true, then dreams smell a lot like mothballs and Bengay. Somewhere between Bull Durham and The Rookie, The Bullpen Gospels takes an unforgettable trot around the inglorious base paths of minor league baseball, where an inch separates a ball from a strike, and a razor-thin margin can be the difference between The Show or a long trip home. "It's not often that someone comes along who is a good pitcher and a good writer." --King Kaufman, Salon "After many minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years spent in the bullpen, I can verify that this is a true picture of baseball." --Tim McCarver "There are great truths within, of the kind usually unspoken. And as he expresses them, Dirk Hayhurst describes himself as 'a real person who moonlights as a baseball player.' In much the same manner, while The Bullpen Gospels chronicles how all of us face the impact when we learn reality is both far meaner and far richer than our dreams--it also moonlights as one of the best baseball books ever written." --Keith Olbermann "A bit of Jim Bouton, a bit of Jim Brosnan, a bit of Pat Jordan, a bit of crash Davis, and a whole lot of Dirk Hayhurst. Often hilarious, sometimes poignant. This is a really enjoyable baseball read." --Bob Costas "Fascinating. . .a perspective that fans rarely see." --Trevor Hoffman, pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers "The Bullpen Gospels is a rollicking good bus ride of a book. Hayhurst illuminates a baseball life not only with wit and humor, but also with thought-provoking introspection." --Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated "Dirk Hayhurst has written a fascinating, funny and honest account on life in the minor leagues. I loved it. Writers can't play baseball, but in this case, a player sure can write." --Tim Kurkjian, Senior Writer, ESPN The Magazine, analyst/reporter ESPN television "Bull Durham meets Ball Four in Dirk Hayhurst's hilarious and moving account of life in baseball's glamour-free bush leagues." --Rob Neyer, ESPN.com "If Holden Caulfield could dial up his fastball to 90 mph, he might have written this funny, touching memoir about a ballplayer at a career--and life--crossroads. He might have called it 'Pitcher in the Rye.' Instead, he left it to Dirk Hayhurst, the only writer in the business who can make you laugh, make you cry and strike out Ryan Howard." --King Kaufman, Salon "The Bullpen Gospels is a funny bone-tickling, tear duct-stimulating, feel-good story that will leave die-hard baseball fans--and die-hard human beings, for that matter--well, feeling good." --Bob Mitchell, author of Once Upon a Fastball

Cardboard Gods

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Publisher : Seven Footer Press
ISBN 13 : 9781934734162
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (341 download)

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Book Synopsis Cardboard Gods by : Josh Wilker

Download or read book Cardboard Gods written by Josh Wilker and published by Seven Footer Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wilker marks the stages of his life through the baseball cards he collected as a child. He captures the experience of growing up obsessed with baseball cards and explores what it means to be a fan of the game.

Mind Gym

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Publisher : McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN 13 : 0071504648
Total Pages : 238 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (715 download)

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Book Synopsis Mind Gym by : Gary Mack

Download or read book Mind Gym written by Gary Mack and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2002-06-24 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praise for Mind Gym "Believing in yourself is paramount to success for any athlete. Gary's lessons and David's writing provide examples of the importance of the mental game." --Ben Crenshaw, two-time Masters champion and former Ryder Cup captain "Mind Gym hits a home run. If you want to build mental muscle for the major leagues, read this book." --Ken Griffey Jr., Major League Baseball MVP "I read Mind Gym on my way to the Sydney Olympics and really got a lot out of it. Gary has important lessons to teach, and you'll find the exercises fun and beneficial." --Jason Kidd, NBA All-Star and Olympic gold-medal winner In Mind Gym, noted sports psychology consultant Gary Mack explains how your mind influences your performance on the field or on the court as much as your physical skill does, if not more so. Through forty accessible lessons and inspirational anecdotes from prominent athletes--many of whom he has worked with--you will learn the same techniques and exercises Mack uses to help elite athletes build mental "muscle." Mind Gym will give you the "head edge" over the competition.

Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

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Author :
Publisher : Chronicle Books
ISBN 13 : 1452174261
Total Pages : 161 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (521 download)

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Book Synopsis Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League by : Anika Orrock

Download or read book Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League written by Anika Orrock and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2020-03-10 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book chronicles the history of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and the stories of the first women to play professional baseball in a league of their own. In 1941, the world was at war, and with able-bodied American men fighting overseas, professional baseball was in danger of becoming a quaint relic—until women stepped up to the plate. In this heartwarming illustrated history, the League's story is told by the ones who know it best: the players. Author Anika Orrock collects a variety of funny, charming, wince-worthy, and powerful vignettes told by the players themselves about their time playing the American pastime. • Features stories of grit and perseverance against all odds, told by the players themselves • Filled with player statistics, historical beats, headlines, and more; and fully illustrated in Anika's vibrant style • A visually engaging, readable women-led history book Written in an approachable manner and beautifully illustrated, The Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League is a one-of-a-kind story told through the women's own voices and their own perspectives. This book ultimately proves that the incredible women of the AAGPBL truly were in a league of their own. • A unique celebration of a specific moment in women's and sports history • A great read for experienced and new sports fans alike, readers young and old, baseball fans • Perfect accompaniment to books like Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World by Rachel Ignotofsky, Strong is the New Pretty by Kate T. Parker, and Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future! by Kate Schatz

Stillness Is the Key

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Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0525538585
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (255 download)

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Book Synopsis Stillness Is the Key by : Ryan Holiday

Download or read book Stillness Is the Key written by Ryan Holiday and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller & Wall Street Journal Bestseller In The Obstacle Is the Way and Ego Is the Enemy, bestselling author Ryan Holiday made ancient wisdom wildly popular with a new generation of leaders in sports, politics, and technology. In his new book, Stillness Is the Key, Holiday draws on timeless Stoic and Buddhist philosophy to show why slowing down is the secret weapon for those charging ahead. All great leaders, thinkers, artists, athletes, and visionaries share one indelible quality. It enables them to conquer their tempers. To avoid distraction and discover great insights. To achieve happiness and do the right thing. Ryan Holiday calls it stillness--to be steady while the world spins around you. In this book, he outlines a path for achieving this ancient, but urgently necessary way of living. Drawing on a wide range of history's greatest thinkers, from Confucius to Seneca, Marcus Aurelius to Thich Nhat Hanh, John Stuart Mill to Nietzsche, he argues that stillness is not mere inactivity, but the doorway to self-mastery, discipline, and focus. Holiday also examines figures who exemplified the power of stillness: baseball player Sadaharu Oh, whose study of Zen made him the greatest home run hitter of all time; Winston Churchill, who in balancing his busy public life with time spent laying bricks and painting at his Chartwell estate managed to save the world from annihilation in the process; Fred Rogers, who taught generations of children to see what was invisible to the eye; Anne Frank, whose journaling and love of nature guided her through unimaginable adversity. More than ever, people are overwhelmed. They face obstacles and egos and competition. Stillness Is the Key offers a simple but inspiring antidote to the stress of 24/7 news and social media. The stillness that we all seek is the path to meaning, contentment, and excellence in a world that needs more of it than ever.

Oscarmetrics

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781629334400
Total Pages : 284 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (344 download)

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Book Synopsis Oscarmetrics by : Ben Zauzmer

Download or read book Oscarmetrics written by Ben Zauzmer and published by . This book was released on 2019-11-02 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What are the hidden biases of Academy Awards voters? Do films that are more popular with audiences win more often? What are the biggest upsets in Oscar history and how can they be explained?

The Original Mr. Met Remembers

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780595700820
Total Pages : 140 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis The Original Mr. Met Remembers by : Dan Reilly

Download or read book The Original Mr. Met Remembers written by Dan Reilly and published by . This book was released on 2007-11 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1964, Dan Reilly landed the dream job of every New York Mets fan. Pulled from his humble position in Shea Stadium's ticket office to become the Mets' mascot-and Major League Baseball's first official mascot-Reilly donned the baseball-shaped, papier-mâché head of Mr. Met and began a career rubbing elbows with some of the game's most illustrious players.The Original Mr. Met Remembers is packed with never-before-told anecdotes, detailed team history, and intimate glimpses of players on and off the field. With a cast of characters that include the inimitable Casey Stengel, the bumbling Marv Throneberry, and Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn, Reilly delivers a rollicking ride from the Mets' celebrated first season in 1962 to their unexpected and thrilling 1969 World Series victory. A must-read for baseball fans and sports historians alike, The Original Mr. Met Remembers recalls America's favorite pastime in all its glory, and is a devoted fan's personal tribute to one of New York's most celebrated teams.

Cheated

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Publisher : Anchor
ISBN 13 : 0593311434
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (933 download)

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Book Synopsis Cheated by : Andy Martino

Download or read book Cheated written by Andy Martino and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2022-03-29 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A baseball book that reads like a spy novel—a story about cheaters and the cheated that has the power to forever change how we feel about the game.” —Brian Williams, MSNBC anchor and host of The 11th Hour The definitive insider story of one of the biggest cheating scandals to ever rock Major League Baseball, bringing down high-profile coaches and players, and exposing a long-rumored "sign-stealing" dark side of baseball By the fall of 2019, most teams in Major League Baseball suspected that the Houston Astros, winners of the 2017 World Series, had been stealing signs for several years. Deconstructing exactly what happened in this explosive story, award-winning sports reporter and analyst Andy Martino reveals how otherwise good people like Astros manager A. J. Hinch, bench coach Alex Cora, and veteran leader Carlos Beltrán found themselves on the wrong side of clear ethical lines. Along the way, Martino explores the colorful history of cheating in baseball, from notorious episodes like the 1919 “Black Sox” fiasco all the way to the modern steroid era. But as Martino deftly shows, the Astros scandal became one of the most significant that the game has ever seen—its fallout ensnaring many other teams, as victims, alleged cheaters, or both. Like a riveting true sports whodunit, Cheated is an electrifying, behind-the-scenes look into the heart of a scandal that shocked the baseball world.

Joe DiMaggio

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Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 0684865475
Total Pages : 566 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (848 download)

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Book Synopsis Joe DiMaggio by : Richard Ben Cramer

Download or read book Joe DiMaggio written by Richard Ben Cramer and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2001-09-04 with total page 566 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the life story of Joe DiMaggio, including his first game with the New York Yankees in the 1930s, his marriage to Marilyn Monroe & his rise to hero status. Richard Ben Cramer tells of the ways in which fame can both build & destroy.

New York Yankees 2021 Official Media Guide and Record Book

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781732011236
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (112 download)

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Book Synopsis New York Yankees 2021 Official Media Guide and Record Book by : New York Yankees Media Relations Department

Download or read book New York Yankees 2021 Official Media Guide and Record Book written by New York Yankees Media Relations Department and published by . This book was released on 2021-03 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Typically available only to sportswriters, broadcasters and Yankees front office staff, the New York Yankees 2021 Official Media Guide and Record Book is the ultimate insider's resource and collectible. It contains stats and biographies of every player in the Yankees organization, hundreds of photos of Yankees past and present, and the definitive history of the club since its inception in 1903. The experts agree that the Yankees 2020 Official Media Guide and Record Book is the best and most comprehensive book about the Yankees anywhere

Stealing Home

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Publisher : Public Affairs
ISBN 13 : 9781541742222
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (422 download)

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Book Synopsis Stealing Home by : Eric Nusbaum

Download or read book Stealing Home written by Eric Nusbaum and published by Public Affairs. This book was released on 2021-03-16 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A story about baseball, family, the American Dream, and the fight to turn Los Angeles into a big league city. Dodger Stadium is an American icon. But the story of how it came to be goes far beyond baseball. The hills that cradle the stadium were once home to three vibrant Mexican American communities. In the early 1950s, those communities were condemned to make way for a utopian public housing project. Then, in a remarkable turn, public housing in the city was defeated amidst a Red Scare conspiracy. Instead of getting their homes back, the remaining residents saw the city sell their land to Walter O'Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Now LA would be getting a different sort of utopian fantasy -- a glittering, ultra-modern stadium. But before Dodger Stadium could be built, the city would have to face down the neighborhood's families -- including one, the Aréchigas, who refused to yield their home. The ensuing confrontation captivated the nation - and the divisive outcome still echoes through Los Angeles today.

Flashback

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Publisher : Reagan Arthur Books
ISBN 13 : 0316132772
Total Pages : 531 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (161 download)

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Book Synopsis Flashback by : Dan Simmons

Download or read book Flashback written by Dan Simmons and published by Reagan Arthur Books. This book was released on 2011-07-01 with total page 531 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative dystopian thriller set in a future that seems scarily possible, Flashback proves why Dan Simmons is one of our most exciting and versatile writers. The United States is near total collapse. But 87% of the population doesn't care: they're addicted to flashback, a drug that allows its users to re-experience the best moments of their lives. After ex-detective Nick Bottom's wife died in a car accident, he went under the flash to be with her; he's lost his job, his teenage son, and his livelihood as a result. Nick may be a lost soul but he's still a good cop, so he is hired to investigate the murder of a top governmental advisor's son. This flashback-addict becomes the one man who may be able to change the course of an entire nation turning away from the future to live in the past.

Billy Martin

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Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN 13 : 0544022092
Total Pages : 565 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (44 download)

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Book Synopsis Billy Martin by : Bill Pennington

Download or read book Billy Martin written by Bill Pennington and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2015 with total page 565 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From an award-winning New York Times sports columnist, the definitive biography of one of baseball's most celebrated, mercurial, and misunderstood figures--legendary manager and baseball genius, Billy Martin