The Ducati Story 4th Edition: Racing and Production models from 1945 to present day
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • The Duke
  • Another excellent Ducati book by Falloon.
  • One of his best, pairing eye-catching color motorcycle photos with business and design facts.
The Ducati Story 4th Edition: Racing and Production models from 1945 to present day
Ian Falloon
Manufacturer: Haynes Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

GeneralGeneral | Motorcycles | Automotive | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
HistoryHistory | Motorcycles | Automotive | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
PictorialPictorial | Motorcycles | Automotive | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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  1. Ducati: Design and Emotion Ducati: Design and Emotion
  2. Standard Catalog Of Ducati Motorcycles 1946-2005 Standard Catalog Of Ducati Motorcycles 1946-2005
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  4. Ducati: The Official Racing History Ducati: The Official Racing History
  5. The Ducati 750 Bible The Ducati 750 Bible

ASIN: 1844253228

Book Description

Celebrating the 60th anniversary of this famous Italian marque, Ian Falloon's authoritative history - updated, expanded and reformatted in full color. It covers every Ducati racing and production motorcycle from the cheap post-war Cucciolo to the 2006 world-beating production Desmosedici.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars The Duke.......2007-08-26

I bought this as a gift so I am not really in a position to review it, however my friend was delighted, so I assume it has to be a half decent read as he knows his Ducatis.

5 out of 5 stars Another excellent Ducati book by Falloon........2007-06-11

Ian does his normal excellent job of providing the history of Ducati, with a mixture of facts and passion. Unlike so many other books, Ian gives a thorough treatment of Ducatis past with only the last chapter devoted to the current bikes which we can read about in magazines.

A lot of behind the scenes information is provided that I didn't know about.

If you are a true Ducatisti, then this is a Must Have book.

5 out of 5 stars One of his best, pairing eye-catching color motorcycle photos with business and design facts........2006-11-07

Ducati is known for its motorcycles among transportation buffs today, but it switched from electronics to motorcycle manufacturing after a bombing during the second world war - and thus made its name in the industry. What is less well known is the stormy path that led to this reputation, chronicled here in The Ducati Story, now in its 4th edition. Ducati experienced a number of rises and falls due to questionable managerial decision-making processes. This book portrays some of its most famous designers and designs but also charts a company history behind the scenes. Falloon has written over 20 books on motorcycles, including eight on Ducati, but this in-depth survey is one of his best, pairing eye-catching color motorcycle photos with business and design facts.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
The Six-Day Bicycle Races: America's Jazz-age Sport
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Six-Day Heaven!
  • Essential reading for any cycling fan
  • Long Over Due Effort - Thanks!
  • Words, Photos Work Hand-in-Glove
  • A must read!
The Six-Day Bicycle Races: America's Jazz-age Sport
Peter Nye , Jeff Groman , and Mark Tyson
Manufacturer: Cycle Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 189249549X

Product Description

Six-Day bicycle racing was once the biggest spectator sport in America: In the 1920s and 1930s, those envents held at indoor tracks around the country attracted bigger crowds and paid bigger purses than baseball, football, or hockey. This highly pictorial books tells the story of six-day racing in America from its beginning in the last decase of the 19th century up to attempts at revival in the 1970s. A lively text by Peter Joffre Nye and an amazing collection of duotone photographs allows the reader to relive this exciting period, this almost forgotten era of American sports history.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Six-Day Heaven!.......2007-03-10

This book captures the essence of track racing in America in it's glory days. It is informative and fun to read. The illustrations are great also!
My father raced in Chicago in this era and had many tales to tell, and Nye's book captures that same essence.

5 out of 5 stars Essential reading for any cycling fan.......2007-02-05

"The Six-Day Races: America's Jazz-Age Sport" (Cycle Publishing, May 2006) paints a complete and engaging picture of six-day bicycle racing from its origins to the height of the sport's popularity in the `20s and `30s. Author Peter Joffre Nye (with Jeff Groman and Mark Tyson) has produced an amazing and genuinely passionate preservation of this era of professional cycling in the U.S., when the sport was more popular with spectators than football or baseball.

The book utilizes a incredible collection photographs, posters, and images of race programs. Amazing details, including colorful anecdotes from the riders, make reading the book as vivid and exciting as watching any video or DVD. You can practically hear the clang of the "prime" (preem) bell, smell the tobacco smoke, and hear the rumble of the boards as the riders thunder around the track. The book is a virtual time machine.

Every aspect of the sport is chronicled, from track construction, to the riders, the tactics, what can loosely called "sports medicine", the effects of politics and war, the managers and race promoters, the rise and fall of public interest, the abrupt end of careers and finally the emergence of a new generation of American track stars in recent decades.

Today, doping scandals and controversy threaten to kill fan enthusiasm for the sport of cycling. In this book, we can rediscover forgotten heroes and we can honor the sport's pioneers. Their athletic feats and the times they lived in will be forever preserved for future fans. This book is a must read for any cycling enthusiast and an essential part of any bike shop library.

5 out of 5 stars Long Over Due Effort - Thanks!.......2006-11-05

Jeff, Peter and Mark have done a fine job of bring this almost forgotten part of American Sports history back to life with their very nicely done effort. Great pictures and great stories. Thank goodness Jeff saved all of those items, bikes and stories so they could be enjoyed by all. If you ever get to Bainbridge Island, WA visit Jeff's shop Classic Cycle on the main street of town and view his wonderful cycling museum. Thanks Jeff for a job very well done!

5 out of 5 stars Words, Photos Work Hand-in-Glove.......2006-11-03

An outstanding reotrospective of a not-so-long-ago sport now lost to time. The packaging and photos work hand-in-glove with the words to make the reader feel as if he were a part of the cycling frenzy of this era. In today's pop-culture mindeset where things are forgotten and discarded in a flash, this book does justice to a unique aspect of "Americana" that should be, and now is preserved.

5 out of 5 stars A must read!.......2006-07-11

This excellent book reveals a forgotten era when six-day racing was the most exciting and captivating sport in the Unites States. Whether you're a fan of cycling or just enjoy sports history, this book is a treasure. The photos are incredible!
-Andrew Homan
Dirt Tracks to Glory: The Early Days of Stock Car Racing As Told by the Participants
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Legends of Early Nascar
Dirt Tracks to Glory: The Early Days of Stock Car Racing As Told by the Participants
Sylvia Wilkinson
Manufacturer: Algonquin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

RacingRacing | Automotive | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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  1. Driving with the Devil: Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels, and the Birth of NASCAR Driving with the Devil: Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels, and the Birth of NASCAR

ASIN: 0912697040

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Legends of Early Nascar.......2007-08-21

This is the classic oldie, published in 1983, when many of the early participants of what became Nascar were sill alive and racing. Racing didn't always mean driving, but legends of design, mechanics, pit crew men, and promotion; all the people who made it to the tracks.
The cars were different, any Tom, Dick and Harry could purchase them off the show room floor. It was what these magicians of speed did to their stock cars in their garage that changed the stocker forever.
Some like Junior Johnson and the late Wendall Scott admitted to acquiring their skills running 'shine in the southern hills, while others became respectable and pretended it never happen, each has his story.
While there are a few copies still available make this classic a permanent addition to your racing dream shelf.
Nash Black, author of "Qualifying Laps" and "Sins of the Fathers."
Training the Three-day Event Horse and Rider
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • The Eventer's Bible
  • Jim Wofford is a god
  • Love it, love it, love it!
  • Great Concepts and lots of details
  • Clinics and the Book
Training the Three-day Event Horse and Rider
James C. Wofford
Manufacturer: Derrydale Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

GeneralGeneral | Horses | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
EquestrianEquestrian | Horses | Individual Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1564161773

Book Description

Using the same down-to-earth style that has made his eventing clinics so popular, Wofford uses his book to instruct on what to look for when selecting a mount and when choosing the right tack and equipment.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars The Eventer's Bible.......2006-11-27

This book is excellent, I can't tell you how many times I've referred back to it. Contains tips for training horse and rider in all three phases, and common problems that most riders will certainly face sometime in their career. Lots of great photographs to show you the right (and sometimes not so right) way to do things. Advice on conditioning (which I've found to be very helpful) and gymnastics at the back of the book. If you event, get this book.

5 out of 5 stars Jim Wofford is a god.......2005-02-23

I have had the incredible opporunity to work with this man in person. He is THE most informative, patient, helpful trainer I have ever worked with. Both of his books, "Training the Three-Day Event Horse and Rider" and "Gymnastics", are must-reads for any equestrian. I can only hope he writes more!!

5 out of 5 stars Love it, love it, love it!.......2002-08-01

I am just a beginner, but this book inspired me to try hard to event. I loved the gymnastics in the back!

5 out of 5 stars Great Concepts and lots of details.......2000-09-06

I was SO happy to finally read a book involving cross country with so much emphasis on good basics and snaffle bits. I am so sick of hearing trainers advocating bigger bits to control your horse. Mr. Wofford advocates better TRAINING to control your horse - what a concept. This book covers quite a range of topics; from choosing an event horse, dressage, how the horse sees jumps vs. how we see jumps, cross country, jumping, conditioning, cross country position and more. I think this is a great book!

5 out of 5 stars Clinics and the Book.......2000-06-25

In 1984 I began riding in Jimmy's clinics and have accumulated numerous hours riding, watching and listening. During this time I took copious notes on his comments; measurements of his gymnastics; watched other riders and listened to Jimmy's critiques. "Training-the-Three-Day Event Horse" IS Jimmy Wofford. His concise, straitforward teaching comes through in his book just as though you are there listening to him. If I could only have one book, it would be this one. I recommend it to my students, I give it as gifts and I wouldn't leave home without it.
Race Day: A Spot on the Rail
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Addicted to Horse Racing? You will be after this
Race Day: A Spot on the Rail
Maxwell Watman
Manufacturer: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

SportsSports | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1566636086

Book Description

Take a spot on the rail with Max Watman as he tours the great American racetracks, relating their histories and describing the giant personalities, the great horses, and the classic races for which they are best remembered. The elements come marvelously together in Race Day

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Addicted to Horse Racing? You will be after this.......2005-09-20

So, I grew up in Texas, but not around horses. Horse racing didn't hold much appeal. I moved to Virginia and I'd gone to a few point-to-points with my wife's family, but that was mostly about the bourbon and the cigars.

But in the past few years, there have been three events that have started what I suspect will be my eventual decline into horse racing madness.

The first was watching thoroughbreds train near Middleburg, Virginia. No crowds, no noise, no gambling. Just standing on the rail, feeling the ground shake, watching these beasts run, their breathing almost as loud as their hooves on the turf. I can only compare it to seeing a low-altitude flyby of an F-16 on afterburner.

The next event was visiting Churchill Downs and watching the movie "The Greatest Race" at the Kentucky Derby Museum. It's a spectacular 360-degree wrap-around movie that damn near choked me up with the raw emotion of the Derby. Don't go to Louisville without seeing this.

And finally, reading Max Watman's book. "Race Day" captures the mythology, the emotion, and the history of horse racing better than anything I've ever read.

The book is broken into bite-size pieces, each one describing an historic race. Watman gives us the history of the track and talks about the characters involved, often exposing the seedier side of horse racing's history. The buildup to each race gives the reader context and heightens the anticipation. By the time the horses line up at the gate, you'll have a vested interest in the outcome. His description of the races themselves will leave you breathless. This is edge-of-your-seat reading and at the end of each chapter, you'll have to remind yourself that you're actually sitting on the couch, or laying in bed with a book in your hand.

Watman is one of those rare authors who can paint a complex, vivid scene using a handful of words and put the reader right in the middle of the action. I devoured "Race Day" in a couple of sittings. I only wish that I had managed to stretch it out a bit. Maybe I should have poured myself a bourbon and lit a cigar between chapters.

Horse racing can become addictive (and I'm not even talking about the gambling and drinking.) If you're already addicted, buy this book. You're going to love it. If you're not addicted yet, I have to warn you. This book may be the beginning of your downfall.
Derby Day: A Pop-up Celebration of the Kentucky Derby
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • A Great Pop-Up Book for all Ages
Derby Day: A Pop-up Celebration of the Kentucky Derby
Pamela Pease
Manufacturer: Paintbox Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

RacingRacing | Horses | Individual Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 096694335X
Release Date: 2005-05-01

Book Description

An entertaining and informative book for both children and adults. Eight colorful pop-up scenes tell the story of a thoroughbred from horse farm to race track and highlight Derby history and traditions. A great keepsake of the Kentucky Derby for horse lovers and racing fans.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars A Great Pop-Up Book for all Ages.......2005-08-28

This book is excellent for children of all ages. It brings to life the excitement of the Kentucky Derby. The book adds fun with it's colorful and imaginative pop-ups and tells the complete story of the race. Includes well researched historical background and photos of past Kentucky Derby's. I loved how the author included a recording of the "Call to the Post".

If you enjoy this book, you will also enjoy "Macy's on Parade".
Motorcycle Track Day Handbook
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Excellent
  • not a handbook,
  • This book is excellent!!
Motorcycle Track Day Handbook
Kent Larson
Manufacturer: Motorbooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

GeneralGeneral | Motorcycles | Automotive | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0760317615

Book Description

For years track days have been popular activities for European motorcyclists. In recent years it has become a very popular activity in the U.S. as well. As traffic laws become increasingly draconian, roads become increasingly congested, and motorcycles become increasingly capable, more people are taking their bikes to race tracks. Currently there are a number of organizations catering to people who attend track days. But many people who want to ride on racetracks don't attend track days because they don't know how to prepare themselves or their motorcycles for the racetrack. This book will provide tell them everything they need to know to hit the racetrack: how to prepare their motorcycles, how to find organizations that sponsor track days, where to attend track days, specific information for the major racetracks in the United States, information on track schools around the country, and much, much more.About the AuthorKent Larson, an accomplished racer and a control rider for NESBA, one of the country's leading track day organizations, contributed the chapter on track days to our high performance riding book Total Control. Larson lives in Woodbury, Minnesota.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Excellent.......2007-09-03

I found this book to be a great help with preparing to ride on the track. It goes over all of the basics (safety wire, suspension, protective equipment, etc.). Also, the author's writing style was humorous and kept me entertained.

My only complaint was the section on entering roadracing on a small budget. He talked of so many add-ons that, in my opinion, it was not low budget. He did say that you can race a stock bike, but did not discuss what you would need to do to prepare the bike for racing.

The author's level of riding also seemed pretty high before he started riding on the track. This gave him higher expectations of his abilities than I believe most people should have.

Again, I thought this book was excellent.

2 out of 5 stars not a handbook,.......2006-11-10

From the title of this book I expected a coherent, step by step guide to track days. What you get instead is a personal journal of his riding experiences with some VERY BASIC, guide to track days. This book is only for the true beginning rider, anyone with any experience will find little new or useful.

5 out of 5 stars This book is excellent!!.......2005-07-16

I'm a WERA racer and also put on a couple track days for our local club, The Floribama Riders, at Barber and Talladega GP. This book is excellent for guys wanting to do their first track day all the way to the beginning racer. Covers prep, suspension, gear, etc. This book has been needed for a long time.
Saratoga Days
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • The Next Best Thing to Being At Saratoga
  • Superior sports writing
  • Saratoga wherever you are...
  • The best book I've ever read about Saratoga!
Saratoga Days
Sean Clancy
Manufacturer: Steeple Chase Times Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

SportsSports | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
RacingRacing | Horses | Individual Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books
GeneralGeneral | Sports | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0970256000

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars The Next Best Thing to Being At Saratoga.......2002-08-19

Sean Clancy's Saratoga Days is a must read for horse people, and anyone interested in the beauty and history of Saratoga Race Course and Saratoga Springs, New York. Sean takes the reader into the rewarding and unpredictable world of horse racing, as well as the magical town that is so difficult to describe. Sean does this extremely well. The book is truly insightful, realistic and an absolute pleasure to read. Sean, please document additional years.

5 out of 5 stars Superior sports writing.......2000-11-07

Sean Clancy cites Red Smith as one of his literary heroes. Well, if writing were a horse race, Mr. Smith would have to look out. Sean Clancy's Saratoga Days is one of the most informative, engagingly written, literate, and absorbing books ever written on racing. Himself a steeplechase jockey, Clancy shows us the world of Saratoga as we've never before been shown in -- it's like having a private guided tour with a funny, humane, intelligent tour guide. There are stars here -- Beautiful Pleasure, More Than Ready, Lemon Drop Kid -- as well as names not known to the casual follower of racing -- Amarettitorun, Bourbon Belle, and of course, the great Succeed. Their stories are the fabric of Saratoga, and this book IS Saratoga in August.

5 out of 5 stars Saratoga wherever you are..........2000-10-03

Ever been to Saratoga? Well, even if you haven't, Sean Clancy's Saratoga Days will not only transport you there and give you a feel for the place, but it will also give you a guided tour from the perspective of a professional rider and writer.

The Saratoga Race Course meet may have ended Labor Day Weekend, but the spirit of the meet and the town lives on in the hearts of racing fans everywhere. Saratoga Days is the kind of book that can take you back to those magical August days at any time of the year. Read it after the meet to get that nostalgic feeling - then read it again come this spring to prepare yourself for next summer's adventures.

5 out of 5 stars The best book I've ever read about Saratoga!.......2000-08-29

If you want to get a sense of the place that is Saratoga, you need to read this book. You'll learn so much about the place and racing in general. As a porofessional jockey/journalist Sean writes with a perspective that most racing writers would kill for. This is my favorite book about racing since William Murray's THE WRONG HORSE.
Dog Days: A Novel
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Too much fun
  • Not much here.
  • I insist you borrow this terrible book
  • I enjoyed the insight into the computer culture.
  • Microserfs meets the Godfather
Dog Days: A Novel
Daniel Lyons
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

United StatesUnited States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | African American | Asian American | Classics | Collections & Readers | Drama | General | Hispanic | History & Criticism | Humor | Jewish American | Letters & Correspondence | Native American | Poetry | Short Stories | Women Writers
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ASIN: 0684840006

Amazon.com

Reading Dog Days will give many readers a strange sense of déjà vu: characters and lines seem oddly familiar, conjuring up thoughts of a book just read or a TV show watched last week. This is no coincidence. As Evan, a software developer, Star Trek fanatic, and the protagonist's sidekick, notes, "Nostalgia used to have a twenty-year lag. In the seventies everyone was into the fifties. But then in the eighties everyone was into the seventies. Now, in the nineties, we're into the nineties. What's left? Nothing. Time folds in on itself, like a black hole. It's the millennium, the collapse of culture." While Dog Days may not embody "the collapse of culture," it certainly employs the technique of folding in on itself, and Daniel Lyons uses this approach to its fullest extent. Combing pop culture, he amalgamates the mobsters of Elmore Leonard, Wired jargon, and the Gen-X characters of Douglas Coupland, all the while throwing in sly references to everything from Planet of the Apes to Starsky and Hutch to Pulp Fiction. The result is a clever romp through the software industry with a wide detour into the workings of the Mafia.

Reilly and his business partner-roommate, Evan, are creating a program to allow shopping on the Web at Ionic, the fifth largest software design firm in the world. At 24, Reilly is the luckiest guy around--he has a beautiful girlfriend, a job he loves, a vintage BMW. But, as he points out, you can't think that you deserve what you have, because the minute you do, everything will vanish. Which, of course, is just what happens. His girlfriend dumps him for a VP in marketing, his project is slated to be canceled, and when he parks in the wrong part of his Boston neighborhood, his car is sabotaged by the local Mafioso. Reilly has had enough. When the opportunity presents itself, he kidnaps the mobster's prized greyhound. The prank, though, escalates into serious crime, and Reilly finds he has taken on way more than he expected.

Reilly and Evan are two of the more engaging characters in pop fiction today. Though they are software geeks, they have enough depth and energy that--despite the full Trekkie costume Evan keeps in his closet--they make the stereotype believable. Lyons is at his best when describing Reilly at work and the politics of the software industry, but it's too bad he didn't mine this more. His writing, though, is compelling, and you can't help but root for the hapless antihero, even as he gets into more and more trouble. --Jenny Brown

Book Description

Love, sex, death, money, and dogs -- they're all here in Dan Lyons's debut novel, Dog Days. Lyons gives us a hip and hilarious tale of love (both canine and carnal) and a story of revenge gone wrong. Packing the same contemporary verve as Douglas Coupland's Microserfs and the criminally black humor of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen, Dog Days is a coming-of-age story that deftly deals with the confusion, hopes, and fears that go hand-in-hand with being smart, ambitious, and twenty-four years old.

Reilly is a software developer living in Boston's North End. He's a young guy in a young business where the speed of change guarantees that only the fast survive. But Reilly doesn't know how fast things can change until he starts playing vendetta with a local mafioso.

Before this fracas got started, Reilly thought he had it made. He had a beautiful girlfriend named Jeanie who had rowed at Harvard, and he and his roommate, Evan, were working on a project that was going to make them both rich. But for Reilly, the good times don't last long. First Jeanie leaves him for one of the suits in marketing, and then his big project falls to pieces. Then one summer night, Reilly decides to leave his vintage BMW in Davio Giaccalone's parking space. Naturally enough, the car ends up tireless. Reilly vows to get revenge, and he's angry enough to do just about anything to even the score.

With Evan's help, Reilly devises a plan to take an eye for an eye by abducting Giaccalone's most prized possession: a gorgeous jet-black champion racing grey-hound named Coco. When their little prank turns into serious blackmail with thirty thousand dollars on the line, Reilly and Evan are in way over their heads.

But with the help of their friend and neighbor, the beautiful Maria, they manage to return the dog and collect the money, only to have Coco lead Giaccalone and his goons right back to their doorstep. Taking Coco with them, the three flee as far and as fast as they can. Soon Reilly must face a showdown not only with the mobsters but also with himself, as he has to figure out what matters most, love or money.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Too much fun.......2005-03-24

This is most definitely a light book. Not anything intellectual but amazingly fun. I loved the descriptions of Boston, the computer culture and the absolute hilarity that ensues from one minor act. If you are looking for a lift and some laugh out loud moments, buy this book!

2 out of 5 stars Not much here........2003-01-20

While it was enjoyable to read about the different areas in the city I live in, I thought this was not a very well written book.

5 out of 5 stars I insist you borrow this terrible book.......2001-10-04

I know you love to read, and I think I have something you'll really, really dislike. I just finished this book called Dog Days, by Daniel Lyons, and it changed my life. I've never read anything that so perfectly captures the shallow things I think and feel every day. You absolutely must borrow it.

I know you're a busy person, but this book is just incredible. (To me, that is.) I mean, it blew my mind. I haven't read a book this meaningful since Catcher In The Rye back in high school, when I stopped reading books assigned to me by people with good taste. If you just give the first few cliche-ridden pages a try, I swear you'll be so put off, you'll want to throw it away. But I won't allow that, because I'll continue to hound you about it for weeks.

Look, I have it right here, and I think it's perfect for me. It's this incredibly trite story about a man who can't connect with people, so he creates a world where he talks to his pets. Then, after a while, they start to talk back to him, only you don't know if they're actually talking to him or if it's all in his imagination. I mean, like I said, you probably will be able to put it down after the first few pages. After that, it really doesn't pick up.

I really wish you'd read it, because I've been dying to discuss it with somebody. My mind has been reeling ever since I finished it. It's like a combination of William S. Burroughs' stream-of-consciousness and J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy sensibility. It's a little "out there," and the narrative is a total mess, but it kind of just barely makes sense once you've finished and digested it.

Yes, it is a "pointless pile of claptrap." But why would you say such a thing? That kind of cynicism is just the sort of thing this book talks about. It says that people like you mask your real feelings with sarcasm and are incapable of genuine human expression. If anyone really needs to avoid this, it's you. You won't change your tune once you get to the part about the kleptomaniac monkey in the candy store. Or the part where the protagonist tearfully confesses his failings to a cat he's dressed as his mother.

Well, okay, I'm just going to leave it here, and you can pick it up. Go ahead. I'll turn my back so you won't feel guilty or foolish. My back is turned. Do you have it? No? I can't believe you're so closed-minded! The predictable twist ending alone is worth the 572 pages you have to plod through. Actually, it's not, but it was to me.

Dog Days is so much more than an endless string of cliches with a gimmicky ending slapped on, seemingly from out of nowhere. The characters are forgettable, too, failing to leap to life off the page. Like Salty, the wizened sea captain whose life of loneliness parallels that of the nameless protagonist. Or the ghost of Eva Braun, who tempts him and tries to keep him from doing good. It's a rich tapestry of bizarre, poorly established characters, implausible plot developments, and thinly veiled autobiographical conversations that a dumb guy like me can't help but fall in love with.

Well, if you change your mind, I'd be happy to loan it to you. That is, if I haven't loaned it to someone else by then. Right now, I'm reading the new John Gray book, which you'll find every bit as bad as you expect. I'll have to get it to you when I'm done.

4 out of 5 stars I enjoyed the insight into the computer culture........2001-05-14

Dogs Days by Daniel Lyons was a unique book for me to explore. I work in the dot com world, own a retired greyhound and have spent many years in the past working in the field of waste management in New Jersey if you know what I mean, so I feel uniquely qualifed to review this book. I cracked up at the description of the techie hotshots because it was so right on the money. The arrogance and self centeredness of these kids was descriptive and precise. We know almost immediately that these geeks would get what they deserved and there was nobody better to complete the task than the goons from North Boston, two cultures intertwine that deserve eachother. I really felt sorry for the grey since I know how high maintenance they are and the poor dog had to put up with this high tech high jinx insanity. The first half of the book was great, describing the false promises the software industry offered these kids resulting in unbelievable work schedules and enthusiasm for their work. When the corporate powers that be finally nixed their project things get ugly as they often do. The kids were unable to see between the lines and through their bosses smoke and mirrors, something the older generation is more adept at which is why high tech hates greyhairs. The book was well done but falters during the second half when the focus is on the race track and gumbas in Florida.

3 out of 5 stars Microserfs meets the Godfather.......2000-03-28

Being a member of the growing techie field I picked up Dog Days based on the characters job titles. I was expecting a redoing of Microserfs and got it up until the the first quarter of the book. After that I gained tremendous respect for Daniel Lyons. His angst ridden, gen-xers (excuse the cliches) have more depth than other characters I have encountered in other novels. All the characters are passionate about things you wouldn't expect. Techies love cars and jazz and mobsters love comedy and dogs. The twists and turns of the story kept my interest. Just when you think Reilly is over his head the water gets deeper. All of the characters, except for Maria, have faults and are not totally likeable but I cheered the hero and hissed the bad guys. It was a fun read, a few parts are memorable and I'm looking forward to Lyons next book.
Track Day Driver's Guide
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Track Day Driver's Guide
    Art Markus
    Manufacturer: Motor Racing Publications
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

    RacingRacing | Automotive | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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    ASIN: 1899870598

    Book Description

    Today, owners and drivers of high-performance cars can no longer use their potential on public highways littered with speed limits, cameras, radar guns and congestion. Instead, many thousands of them are finding their driving enjoyment by taking their cars off the road and on to purpose-built race and test tracks. As a result, the track day has become a new leisure activity for the true driving enthusiast. Written by an experienced and successful race and test driver, this book is an essential instruction manual for increasing the enjoyment of track day driving.

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