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Summary: Every Second Counts
Review: Every Second Counts is an autobiography about Lance Armstrong after recovering from cancer. It involves getting his life back on track and cancer making him realize how precious ever second is to his life. Prior to his sickness Lance was a cocky, arrogant, American cyclist who was out to conquer the world of cycling. After being diagnosed with testicular and brain cancer he learned what life was worth to him through the struggles and hardships during his treatments. After his bout with cancer, Lance finds himself to be a new man with a new outlook on life, a new sense of motivation for living, and determination for fulfilling his cycling career. He goes onto win his 1st tour de France only two years after his diagnosis of cancer and has completed a miracle no person thought possible. Many suspected he was victorious solely because of the drugs he had taken for his cancer treatment. He realized the only way to prove to the public that he wasn't "doping" was to take the tour de France for a second time, then a third, fourth and finally a fifth time while coming up clean on every drug test. While the book talks much on his cycling experiences it also focuses on he pushed himself to lead his life to the fullest. How to find motivation for some thing you might consider a lost cause, or to endure massive amounts of pain and keep telling yourself, "pain is temporary," and also how to live a well-balanced life of work and family. Every Second Counts is by far the best book I have ever read. Although I haven't picked up, never mind finished many books this one pulled me in and I would find myself reading for hours. It was so interesting to read about human struggle and how they possibly overcame the burden and living to talk about it. Along with the countless tips on how to lead a well-balanced life it kept me tuned in. After reading this book it makes me feel like a born again reader. I am really pleased with the way it was written and all the points that were discussed. There is no way the book could have been written better and nothing seemed to be missing. I am hoping for a third book to be written soon so I can keep reading about Lance Armstrong.
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Summary: No goose-bumps this time.
Review: Let me start off by saying that I worship Lance Armstrong and think that It's Not About the Bike is one of the best books I have ever read (and I've read a few). I remember getting goose-bumps several times just reading It's Not About the Bike. I worship Armstrong as an athlete, as a father, as a human-being and forgive him almost anything. As a part-time triathlete, father, and someone whose father died of lung cancer, I can relate to and largely agree with many of the things he talks about in Every Second Counts. The book iteself, however, is a huge disappointment. It is poorly written, with some wierd nouns used as verbs that I can only imagine must be American slang, and little sense of progression which Its Not About......has. It's all over the place. The narrative is repetitive and frankly boring. Armstrong goes on and on about his recovery from cancer and how is will never really be 'cured'. We know what you mean Lance, and we feel for you, but you don't have to say it a hundred times. The only good bits are the bits about the Tour de France. No goose-bumps this time but I will still be watching the Tour de France hoping you win a record sixth time!
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Summary: Maturing Beyond The Bike
Review: I just read Lance's second book, "Every Second Counts" and it's left my head spinning!! I didn't know if this was the same person that wrote the book "It's Not About The Bike" I felt sad for him, because it seems the only thing he takes ownership for in his life is racing and being a cancer survivor. Both of which he is a GREAT role model for, but he does not see there is so much more to life than that. This book really tells the story of how Lance is a thrill seeker, nothing more, nothing less. I hope one day Lance develops the skills necessary to take a deep look inside himself and then takes a wider view of the world and people in his life. When he reaches this point he could write another book and call it "Maturing Beyond The Bike"
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Summary: More Sorprices!!!!
Review: If you like bikes and his first book, you gona love this one!!!
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Summary: every second only "counts" if you use them wisely
Review: i gave my brother a copy of "it's not about the bike" when he was 25 and suffering from testicular cancer. i read the book and really enjoyed it. though it did seem to me that the title was a little off considering a great deal of the book dealt with lance's life ON THE BIKE. my question would be if it's "not about the bike" why does it always seem to be? if "every second counts" why not count your blessings (wife, kids you thought you might never have) and spend your "seconds" with them, instead of pondering over how lucky you are to be able to ride and win X amount of tours? in this book he says one of his few indulgences is to grow a goatee and drink a few beers. one would think that a man with a second chance at life would indulge in his children's life, and spend as much time being grateful for having them as he is grateful to ride in the tour. how about spending as much time working on your marriage and taking care of your kids as you do climbing mountains and sending e-mail data from the climbs to your friends. lance learned nothing from his 9-11 trip. he said he saw the posters with pictures and letters underneath that said "daddy we miss you, please come home." he reflects on how he never thought he would see something like that and never wanted to again. but in the book when his own son says "daddy, no more airplane, stay home with me now." lance responds with "ok." but then tells floyd he needs to "forget" about everything including his FAMILY. after reading this book i'm surprised that somewhere in texas luke and the girls haven't hung out posters with lance's picture on it, just like the families who were victimized on 9-11. i'm glad he has enough lack of ego in the book to admit that he's no kind of hero. in my book he's just a zero.
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Summary: Lance's sloppy second effort
Review: Cycling champion and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong starts out Every Second Counts by explaining that in his mind, one of the hardest things in the world is to do something twice. He was talking, of course, about repeating as champion of the Tour de France after his stunning victory in 1999. But he could have just as well been apologizing in advance for this rushed and poorly organized effort, Mr. Armstrong's second autobiography after the inspiring and hugely popular volume It's Not About the Bike. I am puzzled by the sloppiness of this book, unless it was hurried along in order to have it in bookstores in time for the holidays. Whatever the reason, readers who found this book in their stockings were treated to two spellings for the name of Mr. Armstrong's colorful teammate, Floyd Landis/Landes, and were told twice within the span of one paragraph that riders would not leave the mountains until the final three days of the 2002 Tour. More importantly, the narrative drifts wildly in terms of what it is trying to do. At points the aim seems to be telling Mr. Armstrong's side of his failed marriage or the constant drug testing he must undergo. Sometimes Mr. Armstrong tells us that just finishing an grueling event like the Tour de France is an accomplishment, and later he says that he'll quit the moment he realizes that he can't win. He tries to take ammunition away from critics who think he's a hothead or too self centered. A few times, Mr. Armstrong even puts on his philosopher's cap and opines about politics, love, Sept, 11, the duties of public figures like himself, or the notion that everyone ought to adopt a cause. By trying to be almost everything, Every Second Counts risks being about nothing. It's the same problem that befalls many singers who have big hits on their first records, or championship teams that disappoint a year later. Luckily for cycling fans, the same thing didn't happen to Mr. Armstrong on the bike, where, through 2003 at least, he maintained the hunger and strength necessary to overcome what must have been an enormous and growing temptation to rest on his laurels and enjoy what he accomplished. And that brings us to one of the two main things that are right about this book. Every Second Counts is clearly at its best where Mr. Armstrong is most passionate: the parts dealing with riding and racing, and those dealing with his own recovery from cancer and his work with other cancer victims. Even with the help of an accomplished journalist like Sally Jenkins, Mr. Armstrong has never come across as much of a writer, but when his passion shines through that hardly matters. He would have been much better off if he had simply stayed with what he knows best and cares most about. Oh, yes, and found a better copy editor.
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Summary: Second place book
Review: First of all, I loved the first book "It's not about the bike." I received a copy of "Every Second Counts" for Christmas and finally got to reading it this week.
This book is the reciprocal of the first. The first book kept its somewhat episodic development well grounded in a central theme: I got sick, I got better and the experience changed me profoundly. This book doesn't have that creative gravity. It's episodic, period. Perhaps this non-focused style is intentionally or unintentionally reflective of Lance's real life. If a central theme runs through it at all, it is how someone can try to squeeze so much from every second of his entire life that he misses the forest for the leaves. One gets the impression from this book that it's all about the bike and cancer, that without the Tour and the team and friends who get sick, he would have no focus.
If you are interested in Lance, the rider, the book is a little thin in that department. The biking stories are moderately interesting, but underdeveloped.
Aesthetically, the book is lacking; emotionally, it left this reader less than inspired. Save the money; donate it to the LAF instead.
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Summary: This is a Great Book!
Review: The book by Lance Armstrong "Every Second Counts" is a very inspiring book. It told how Lance Armstrong won 4 Tour de Frances.With the help of Sally Jenkin's, Lance Armstrong wrote a great book about his life.I recommend this book to any serious bike riders and racers.If you like learning different ways to a race, you should read this book.The book is a great non-fiction book. Everyone and everything in the book really happened to him. Armstrong's biggest and best rivel is Urlich from Germany. They are always neck and neck so who will win the Touris always a mystery.It is a 5 star book to any bike racer.
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Summary: It IS about the bike
Review: Having read this book twice and 49 preceeding reviews once, it would seem that true cycling afficianados didn't find enough detail about Lance's training and racing. Maybe the book wasn't intended to be about those details. I think the book does a splendid job of explaining to the unitiated what a team does for their best cyclist during a race. This book delineates what a team does in an "individual sport" as well as anything I have ever read.
If this book contained nothing more than quote, "if you burn my house down, I have a better view of the sky" from the 50 year old breast cancer survivor I would have counted my money well spent. This book contains much more. It is the best account I've read about what professional athletes go through regarding drug testing. Young people would be well served to see what it takes to succeed at this level. "You ridin' or you hidin'?" is a question each young athlete needs to confront on a daily basis. I fear that many readers can't get past the profanity this book contains (which is heard on every school bus in the nation) in order to find the inspiration that leaps from these pages.
Is a single minded devotion to a task hard on a family? Yes, and I think Armstrong acknowledges that again and again. He writes with more respect about his now former wife than many married people display on a daily basis. In my job as a family physician I hear what people have to say about their former spouses on a daily basis and most cannot keep their comments on the high plain that Lance has. I'm a fellow cancer survivor. Mr Armstrong's willingness to accept officership in the club we would all prefer not to belong to is admirable. He is right that he gains from what he gives to those struggling with cancer--but they gain as well. The admonition "never take away someone's hope, it is all some people have" is one that Lance knows and respects. To see him alive and racing is an inspiration to many with cancer. I have given his first book to two young men with testicular cancer and would not hesitate to give them this book. To all those reviewers who label him as self-centered, please show me a Tour de France winner who isn't. This professional athlete seems to have a better perspective on "team" than most.
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Summary: I Try to be Fair
Review: I try and be fair and free of bias in looking at a book, and not take into consideration whether or not the person in the book is a good fellow or not - but just do a book review. Clearly Armtrong is a hero. That is not in question. But this book is a bit of a dud. It is "Armstrong Light". One feels a bit short changed with the book and it is not much of a book. My high opinion of Armstrong has not changed, but the book is just two stars, waste of money. My humble opinion. Jack in Toronto
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