Rating: 
Summary: A Story of Bonding
Review: "Seabiscuit" is a wonderful account of how people can bond together to become a family. Further it shows how dysfunctional people can cope and conquer their demons. A powerful story in my mind for this very reason. That is not to say it is for everyone's taste. These people are damaged. To me that is what makes them so interesting. The best way to judge if you'll like "Seabiscuit" is if you like stories like "The Way The Crow Flies", "Running With Scissors" and "My Fractured Life". Seabiscuit follows that same type of writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Just The Beginning
Review: At the young age of 26, Charles Howard travelled to San Francisco. He left his wife and two sons behind while he searched for work. After time he eventually opened a small bicycle shop in the heart of San Francisco. As he began fixing bikes, "automobiles" were just arriving.
In 1905 Charles brought his family to San Francisco. Charles by then had been trying to sell cars, he wasn't successful at all in doing so. After a year or so of selling cars an earthquake devastated San Francisco. The earthquake helped and made Charles a very rich man. His vehicles sold quick as ambulances and vehicles which could cope with the turned up roads.
Charled started with a tiny bicycle shop and now he was one the largest distributors of automobiles. He made so much money he was able to buy his dream ranch of 17,000 acres in Northern California.
After one of his sons died his marriage fell apart. He then got a divorce from his wife. After time passed he met a girl named Marcela and fell in love with her. Marcela grew up with horses for most of her life and wanted to introduce thorughbred racing to Charles.
Charles bought a horse who noone else wanted. Charles bought Seabiscuit for $8,000 from Ogden Mills. After a few words were exchanged, a simple handshake made the deal final. This horse walked and galloped oddly. This horse was only three years old and ran as much as a normal horse would in its whole career. This horses name was Seabiscuit. Seabiscuit was very small compared to most race horses. Most looked at him as if he was a pony.
Rating:
Summary: an overall good book
Review: The book, Seabiscuit, is a very well written account about the best racehorse in the world. The author Laura Hillenbrand, does a very good job describing the characters and events included in the story. Most of the book is the events leading up to the big race at the end- the Santa Anita Handicap. It describes how each of the character is changed through the events that take place, and how they all grow in their relationships with each other and with the horse.
In a review written in Florida in August of 2003, the reviewer says that the book is 'excellent, excellent.' Everything the reviewer said was positive. She summed up the book by talking about the main characters and how each of them were so very different but came together to form an amazing team. I agree with everything that she said because they all seemed like total opposites at first and none of them hd any future. Seabiscuit had 'knobby knees and a lazy disposition,' Tom Smith wouldnt ever say a word and lived in the wilderness for a long time, Pollard was having bad luck as a jockey, and Howard was depressed after the loss of his son. Buit they came together and a wonderful story came out of it.
I would recommend this book to anyone, especially people that love horses. It was a little hard to get interested in it at first, but after a few chapters, its hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST MUST-READ
Review: As I first approached Laura Hillenbrand's "Seabiscuit," my knowledge of horseracing was limited at best. I had been to the local horsetrack a few times, and knew enough to be excited only when the horse I had chosen, usually due to a unique name or an unidentifiable lucky feeling, stuck its nose out in front of the pack and my payout flashed on the infield scoreboard. Though my knowledge of the sport of kings was definitely limited, Hillenbrand's account of the knobby-kneed horse-that-could engrossed me as few other books have. "Seabiscuit" is, to put it bluntly, an absurdly entertaining novel. I expected to read a dry account of the minutae of horseracing, punctuated by a few entertaining descriptions of races. Instead, I found the account to be written like a novel, offering fascinating characters and an absorbing narrative. I was drawn in by the end of the first chapter, in which we are introduced to the first of the story's players, Charles Howard. The book is written in an effortless, engaging tone. Hillenbrand's words tapdance on the page. Her love for the sport of horseracing, not merely the attraction of mint julips and longshot payoffs, is contagious. She allows each character to become the real people they were. Her love for the people (and horses) she writes of is obvious, yet she still presents a fair and honest account of Seabiscuit and the people surrounding him. Aside from her stunning characterizations and meticulous, insightful research, her gift for describing the races rivals the best sportswriters in the business. "Seabiscuit" is the most entertaining book I have read in years. Whether a racing novice or a regular at the track, this is a must-read book. Another Amazon quick-pick, for younger readers, is The Losers Club by Richard Perez
Rating:
Summary: ¿It¿s one of the best books I¿ve ever read¿
Review: "It's one of the best books I've ever read" this is what my father said about SEABISCUT. I was actually thanked for buying the book. The information that is provided is truely rivoting as well as entertains and as with any movie that has it's origins from a book it adds more details and ties up loose endings concerning each person that created this legend. The book was a winner by a furlong no photo finished needed.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most impressive books
Review: This is one of the most impressive books I've read recently. What grabbed me most can be summarized by a paragraph in the preface:
"They had come from nowhere. The horse, a smallish, mud-colored animal with forelegs that didn't straighten all the way, spent nearly two seasons floundering in the lowest ranks of racing, misunderstood and mishandled. His jockey, Red Pollard, was a tragic-faced young man who had been abandoned as a boy at a makeshift racetrack cut through a Montana hey field. He came to his partnership with Seabiscuit after years as a part-time prizefighter and failing jockey, lugging his saddle through myriad places, getting punched bloody in cow-town boxing rings, sleeping on stall floors. Seabiscuit's trainer, a mysterious, virtually mute mustang breaker named Tom Smith, was a refuge from the vanishing frontier, bearing with him generations of lost wisdom about the secrets of horses. Seabiscuit's owner, a broad, beaming former cavalryman named Charles Howard, had begun his career as a bicycle mechanic before parlaying 21 cents into an automotive empire." I think this is a fantastic book because the characters are so interesting and likeable. In my opinion, the author has created a fiction out of a non-fiction (in author's words: to recreate history with the texture of a novel). She is an exceptionally talented writer. ("His eyes were wide and shining with the shock of it"-her description of War Admiral's owner, just after losing the race. One of the ending scenes of the book (after the Santa Anita race): "Red Pollard sipped his scotch and reminisced about Seabiscuit and quietly slipped out of history. The smoke from his cigarette curled up from his fingers and slowly faded away.") No wonder why this story has grabbed her so much, who has been suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Rating:
Summary: what a great read
Review: This is one of the best non-fiction books I have read. I really enjoed the story immensely. Each time there was a race, I was biting my nails, glued to my seat wondering who won. Hillenbrand has such great descriptions of the characters. She really brang them to life. If only Seabiscuit was still alive. I am sure those who saw him feel truly special.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Engrossing
Review: I saw the movie Seabiscuit before I read the book and I left the theatre with the feeling that I'd just seen what in 20 years would be a classic. My heart was beating in time with Seabiscuit's hooves, my brain was full of the scenes that had made it a masterpiece: I was overwhelmed. Then I read the book. It was wonderful! I hadn't thought anything could be better than the movie - and yet it was worlds better. Hillenbrand had a rare talent for writing nonfiction as though it were prose and reminding you that in a world of "Reality" TV and fantasy everything, some times real life, without the commercial breaks adn the weekly installments, really does exceed the creations of our imagination. The only book I found that I could compare this to was Sebastien Junger's The Perfect Storm, yet it was even better than Junger's work, which also was adapted to film. After reading Seabiscuit, I went back and watched the movie again - and couldn't believe that I had been satisfied with it. Another statement this makes: yes, even today, the book is always better than the movie :)
Rating:
Summary: Kudos to Laura Hillenbrand!
Review: I read this book after seeing a review of and a bio of the author in an in-flight magazine almost 3 years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and her detailed telling of the history of horse racing in this country in the last century.
Beyond the critical main story Ms. Hillenbrand has done a magnificent job. It is rare that a work of non-fiction is written with the calibur of language that Seabiscuit is.
Her words flow so smoothly- this is a must for any reading list.
I am a sucker for well researched material written with style- Seabiscuit exceeded all of my expectations by far. Charles Howard the owner of Seabiscuit by the way is the Howard that Howard St in San Francisco is named after.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book Ever!
Review: I agree with the others-did not want this book to end!
Very well written and so interesting! Loved the characters and loved learning about Seabiscuit! I sure became a fan of this little horse!
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