Rating: 
Summary: A Great Read Even If You Don't Follow Horses
Review: I am very aware, but not exactly proud, of the fact that virtually all of my horseplay these days consists of watching numbers and then making wager involving more numbers based on the results of the first numbers. Most of the time it's a result of what a computer has number crunched, or from what I've garnered from staring at toteboards while on the Internet. This routine almost never involves seeing, touching, or smelling a live horse. Which is why I was delighted when I came across the book "Seabiscuit An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand. I was aware that there was a famous horse a long time ago named Seabiscuit, but that's about it. Since the average age of today's race player is about 102 years old, many of you race fans should read the book to relive this period of time. For the rest of us young punks that follow racing (by that I mean those over forty), it's a valuable history lesson. If you don't follow racing at all, pick it up anyway. Yes, the book completely covers the life of the horse named Seabiscuit. It traces the horses lineage, birthplace, entire career, and life after racing. But it also presents a story that is much more than a collection of statistics. I "absorb" a lot of books, mostly by listening to unabridged recordings of them while at work. Among them are a lot of mysteries. In many of these I end up not really caring if the butler or transvestite senator did the killing. What gets me to like a story is how it creates the world it visits, be it historical period, such as the Depression, or a particular profession, like say, horseracing. "Seabiscuit" does both very well, and intermixes both of them seamlessly. With the Depression , it sets the tone for what peoples' lives were in those days. While unemployment was the primary concern, it's the uncertainty of when good times, if ever, are going to return. While "heroes" is a very overused term, it shows how this uncertainty leads to people to look for stories with good endings, and the participants of those good endings. Replace the word "hero" with the one you deem appropriate for the characters of this story. On the other hand, maybe "hero" is not such a bad term here. No, we're not talking about saving the world, only winning a few horse races. And nobody put a gun to anybody's head to proceed on the path both horse and jockey followed (a great horse usually loves to run). But both here made sacrifices, where a perfect lack of execution could have been fatal to either or both of them, to try and accomplish something that not only they, but millions of people considered important. It lets you know how racing was in the 1930's, and who were the players. For example, Bing Crosby spent a fortune on racing. He put a lot of money into his own stable, which the book states, sadly never produced personal financial reward for his efforts. But he also had a lot to do with the building of Santa Anita and the establishment of the Santa Anita Handicap. Besides the Depression, the book also gives a colorful look into the world of the owner, trainer, jockey, and horse. It brings you into a world that somehow doesn't translate into the Daily Racing Form. You can look at all the numbers you want, and logically conclude that your horse SHOULD be the choice. But the form can't tell you that it was a lousy trip to a new track, or it got bit by a horsefly in the wrong place that morning, or the horse just plain doesn't like the new horse in the next stall. This book brings you into that world. Of the majors players listed above, it does paint an eye-opening picture of what a jockey has to go through to have any chance of success. Like any other professional athlete, the odds are slim of making it big. But the jockey has the added pressure of getting his/her weight down to unhealthy levels. And with these low weight levels, enough strength and stamina have to be built up to not only maneuver a horse, but avoid serious injury every time they go to work. Being a jockey is one of the most dangerous professions in the world. But, of course, the book centers around the life of one horse. A horse that showed early promise, then bombed spectacularly and was given up on. A horse that by sheer luck, crossed paths with exactly the right owner, then exactly the right trainer, then exactly the right jockey to make a spectacular comeback and capture that hero need in America we talked about earlier. When life-threatening events seemingly put both horse and jockey out of the picture for good, they both regroup to give a shot at yet one more miracle. I'll leave it to your reading to find out what happened.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Story and Great Writing -- The Perfect Combo!
Review: This book is truly one of the best I've read in years. Laura Hillenbrand's writing style is vivid and engrossing, and Seabiscuit's story is the stuff movies are made of, except it all really happened. You don't have to be a horseracing fan to enjoy this book. In fact, you don't need to know one thing about the sport to thoroughly enjoy reading it. I grew up near the legendary Santa Anita racetrack in Southern California, and on the few times I went to the races, I somehow knew it was a special place where legendary horses once ran. Santa Anita has an intense feeling of history, and if you are ever in the area during racing season, you must go visit it. After reading "Seabiscuit: An American Legend," you'll go armed with knowledge of some of that amazing history and appreciate the experience all the more. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: What more can I say?
Review: What a wonderful book! Sorry I didn't find it sooner. I was thrilled and inspired.
Rating:
Summary: A Six Star Book
Review: I wish I could add another star or two to rate this book. It is the best non-fiction book that I have ever read. It held me from the first page but shortly thereafter it was nearly impossible to put down. As I am not a person who goes to the tracks or bets on races I was surprised at how much I lived the story. What a wonderful horse and the people who took care of and rode him were so special. Seabiscuit is a name I remembered but as I was a teenager at the time of his racing I paid little attention. How glad I am that this book was so highly recommended that I decided to purchase it.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting equine biography
Review: Laura Hillenbrand caringly wrote a thorough and uplifting biography of the champion racehorse Seabiscuit. The life of Seabiscuit is immortalized through the eyes of his owner Charles Howard, his trainer Tom Smith and his jockeys Red Pollard and George Woolf. Each member of Seabiscuit entourage is also given a biographic chapter in the novel. Seabiscuit's story is somewhat of a rags to riches story. He was a short ugly duckling thoroughbreed who most thought would be a bust as a money winning racehorse. Under the tender nurturing and training of his handlers, he would develope into one of the most successful and beloved horses of all time. Seabiscuit became an important distraction from the Great Depression of the late 30's. He actually was more newsworthy in his heyday than either FDR, Hitler or Mussolini. His wide appeal was based on his solid determination and iron will which raised his somewhat modest physical attributes into championship caliber. The book read as sort of an equine version of the movie "Rocky".
Rating:
Summary: Inspirational
Review: My first experience with horse racing was when Nashua won the Preakness and the Belmont in 1955. He finished second to Swaps in the Kentucky Derby. As I recall, he was a beautiful, black stallion who looked like something out of the Arabian nights. I've loved horse racing ever since, although I'm too chicken to place a bet.
And so I decided to read Laura Hillenbrand's SEABISCUIT. I'd heard of the horse before, but I hadn't known he was a grandson of Man o' War. I had known, however, that War Admiral, Seabisbuit's nemesis, was Man o' War's son. I also didn't know that Seabiscuit was almost overlooked. "He was a rough-hewn, undersized horse with a sad little tail and knees that wouldn't straighten all the way. He lost his first sixteen races. Sonny Jim Fitzsimmons, his first trainer, thought the talent was there but that Seabiscuit was lazy. But that didn't stop him from racing the little horse thirty-five times as a two-year-old.
Three men salvaged Seabiscuit's career. Red Pollard, his jockey, who'd been sleeping in a stall. Tom Smith, the trainer known as "The Lone Plainsman", and Charles Howard, his owner, who introduced the automobile to the West. Ultimately, in the year 1938, Seabiscuit received more newspaper coverage than FDR or Hitler.
The story builds to a match race between Seabiscuit and War Admiral, who won the triple crown, but the true merit of the book is the inspiration this little animal provides. Nobody's ever really down and out. It's never too late. I also loved the little sidelights Hillenbrand reveals about racing. How Pollard won Seabiscuit's affection with a sugar cube, how all sorts of animals from German shepherds to three-legged cats were used as stablemates for horses, what a hard-scrabble existence jockeys lived during the Depression. Hillenbrand's been writing about thoroughbred racing since 1988. She really, really knows her stuff.
Rating:
Summary: How can a story about a horse be this compelling?
Review: When I saw this book listed on the New York Times bestseller list, I laughed. When I asked my wife for this book for Christmas, she laughed. How can a book about a horse be an interesting read? Once I got into it, I found myself thinking that you could do a book just on Seabiscuit, another book just on his owner, another just on the trainer, and another on the jockey. This horse, as well as all the significant personalities around him, have an incredibly rich and multi-layered story to tell. The bicycle repairman who becomes a millionaire, the jockey with a blind eye, the trainer that broke mustangs on the prairie, and the ugly little horse that the best trainer in America couldn't do anything with. Their stories are so big and sometimes so outrageous that it's hard to remember it's not fiction. Read this book for the hilarious side stories. Read it for the wild successes. Read it for the shattering setbacks. And read about the horse that was an embodiment of our most noble human traits.
Rating:
Summary: STUNNER!!
Review: If you haven't figured it out by now, this book is a winner. It's a page turner, not because every event has you on the edge of your seat (which they often do), but because you become so invested in the ebb and flow of the lives so well illustrated in this book. One of the truly rare books that honestly captivates you. You'll end up wishing you were there in the Thirties rooting Seabiscuit on from the grandstands. Who hasn't heard of Seabiscuit? Now, you'll know the rest of the story...
Rating:
Summary: What a great book!
Review: Full of history and the most endearing people. I never knew that Bing Crosby was so involved in the world of horse racing. Laura did a wonderful job of describing the country in the middle of a depression and how an unlikely horse became the champion of a nation and uplifted spirits. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
Rating:
Summary: This book will convert fiction readers to non-fiction
Review: What can I add to previous reviews? A professional book reviewer for National Public Radio said this was the best non-fiction book of 2001. To that I add, if this book does NOT win the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in History, I hope there will be rioting in the streets! This is a book for everybody, even diehard fiction readers. I'm old enough to remember that people were still talking about this horse in the 1950s. "Come on, Seabiscuit!" was a common saying whenever you wanted anything (even something mechanical) to go faster. If YOU have not read it, you owe yourself a great read!
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