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Summary: Inspiring Book
Review: This is a excellent book. I read it while training to ride my first century bike ride in Claxton, Georgia. What a incrediable man Lance is. What a inspiration for me to keep riding, keep training. This was a book I could not put down. A friend who is a speed reader read the book on our flight from California to Flordia. It is worth the read.
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Summary: Entertaining while inciteful
Review: For not being a cyclist, father (or a man for that matter), or cancer survivor, it was remarkable how involved I was in this story. It is an excellent display of human courage and strength. I am now definitly a huge fan of Lance's. It is an excelent story!!
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Summary: The best Bio I have ever read
Review: Lance Armstrong's biography is one of the best told stories, and most exciting, that I have ever read. It starts out with the chapter "before and After", this chapter tells about the basis of his life as a star athlete and how he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He then goes on to tell about his childhood and his gimped family. He grew up without a father, and with a young, not so wealthy mom. He tells about his struggles as a kid and how his mom was always there for him. He also tells how he came by his first racing bike and the triathlons he was in with it. He talks about his first races and how inexprienced he was. When he became more exprienced, he started to win some races then he started to win almost all of his races.
His career was very successful, although he was very young. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 25, on October the second. His testicular cancer wasn't just in his testicle, it had spread into his lungs and his brain. While reading about the Chemotherapy treatments he had to undergo, I felt as if though I could relate to him. He told about how scary it was to go through with his brain and testicle surgeries, and how hard it was to be sterile. After he was done with his treatments, he met and married a girl named "Kik". She was there when he was planning to race in the "Tour De France". He wrote about his training and his struggle to get on a team. It was very exciting to read about him winning the tour. Lance Armstrong then had a son with Kik, and proceeded to race in the next years Tour De France, which he won again. He then took the Bronze in the 2000 summer olympics.
Lance Armstrong tells his story so well, I could imagine every situation he was writing about. He describes things in a way that readers can really understand him. And he doesn't describe anything too much so that the reader would get bored. He writes with inspiration for those who ever were against odds. If the reader has cancer, I believe this book is perfect for them. Even if the reader is a normal everyday person this book shows us how to appreciate and live life to the fullest. If I learned one thing from this book its to never give up. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever been against the odds.
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Summary: Not just a bike story
Review: Lance Armstrong and Sally Jenkins hold nothing back in telling this story about cancer survival. This is also a compelling story about an athlete who had his life transformed by an illness. Armstrong is outside the religious mainstream and tells the story of his return to cycling with admirable candor. Armstrong is a role model for taking control and achieving your destiny.
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Summary: great story, great book.
Review: This book really engaged me the whole way through. Some people mention the graphic telling of his medical procedures, but I didn't think it was that graphic. he loses a testical and freezes some sperm which later becomes his son, that's about it. It's just plain good writing, and he's someone you'd like to read about. he tells about his life all the way from childhood to the time of writing.. there's no boring spots, no blank spots, it's all proportionate, parts are dramatic but nothings exagerated.. (except perhaps how great his wife is, it's hard to imagine a woman that great, you might fall in love with her by proxy, or the closeness of his friends, it's hard to imagine that many people being that involved with ones life, but I guess that's what it is to be famous).. there's no big ego seeping through.. my resolution is that he's a fairly ordinary guy and that extreme successes become that by being extreme.. and that we should proceed in the direction of our natural abilities.
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Summary: alan evans
Review: just finished the book. i could not put it down. i am a cycling fan and the in depth portrayal blew away my romanticism about the tour de france. i am also striving like most people to be a decent human being. lance's s
book does not hold out on the truth. he is honest and factual about life and the struggle we all endure. i am sure i am not alone in feeling humbled by this amazing man's survival against the odds. i feel i have a duty much to the publishers horror, to pass this book on to the next needy soul i meet. we all need a lance armstrong in this world. he is an extraordinary human being with an extraordinary story.
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Summary: It motivates you to be better
Review: This past holiday I was looking for a real life story. I wanted to read a true story on drugs, AIDS, drinking, smoking, or some other issue that is current. But when I found Lance Armstrong's biography entitled "It's Not About the Bike, My Journey Back to Life" by Sally Jenkins, I had found what I was looking for. From the first sentence of the book, to the last one I couldn't stop reading. In the end of every chapter I wanted to keep on reading, until I finishing it. This is a book for all ages and genders. No matter who or what you like, you'll relate to his life. It'll inspire you to make your dreams come true, let your inhibitions out and not care about anyone else. Although these terms are overused, I have three other people I know that have read this book and can agree with me. This book is a flashback starting when Lance Armstrong was born, taking us through his beginnings, through his battle with cancer, to when his baby is born. It narrates every detail, every thought or feeling of him, how he started riding the bicycle, about cancer, his wife, his mother, his friends, and his life. He explains how his life changed after cancer, how everybody turned their backs at him, and had to prove to them and to him how much stronger, and valuable he was now. If you really want to read a book about a soul survivor, and his amazing life, this is the book you have to read.
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Summary: Admirable
Review: Have you ever seen a miracle before? Do you want to see another one? In this admirable book written by Lance Armstrong and Sally Jenkins you will read the most interesting and amazing story of fighting against odds. It is about the Lance's courageous life: his survival of cancer. You will see how the devastation of cancer changes Lance's life physically and emotionally. The disease itself brings his ego from 100% to 0%. During his disease he gets to a point of not moving because of the effects of chemo, riding another bike again wasn't important for him, he just wants to live. He goes from having everything he desires to having less material things and to really valuing the things he has. His personality also changes. He goes from being a bully in the racetrack to being a real gentleman and respecting everyone on it. During his cancer, to make matters worse, Cofidis, his main sponsor, retires and his family finds out that he doesn't have a health insurance.
One day, after his five cycles of chemotherapy are done, LaTrice Haney phones him and gives him the good news "You are clear, cancer free" but the risk of still coming back was there. Lance gets strength and starts training to compete at a professional level and he does. He finishes 14th and in another similar positions in some tours. When he was riding the Vuelta (a race) he decides no to compete again he was done.
With this mentality, he moves back to his home in Austin with his wife (they were living in Nice) and doesn't ride on a bike in some time. A coach, Chris Carmichael convinces him to try the bike again. He trains hard and all his training pays off when he swept the 1999 Tour de France. Training for the 2000 Tour De France wasn't a walk in the park. He had several crashes in the Pyrenees and hurt his head, but he recovered. In the 2000 Tour, he proves that he is the best cyclist when he beats his closer competitor, Jan Ullrich in a time trial in Metz.
In my opinion, this is a must read book for every athlete or for everyone who would like to see how a man can change. The two main themes are: love and survival. This is not another biography; this is a life changing one.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring
Review: Inspiring book for anyone living with cancer or as a gift for anyone that is. I Have Recurrent malignant brain cancer and this book was given to me by the parents of one of my best friends who himself is a cancer survivor. I will treasure this book always!
Buy it today! everyone could use a new hero to look up to!
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Summary: A tour de force
Review: This book is a tour de France, I mean, a tour de force. While reading, it was like he was right there talking to me. I enjoyed the book so much that when it ended I felt sad that I would no longer be able to listen to Lance speaking to me. His last sentence was like poetry: "I keep riding, into the highest peering hills..." I know nothing about biking, but his descriptions made it fascinating. And his description of his battle with cancer held me glued to the book. What a nice experience to be able to spend time with this great man! Thank you, Gutenberg.
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