Seabiscuit: An American Legend

Rating:
Summary: wow
Review: I had now idea that I am in a class with the daughter of the author of this book. Cool!!! My dad read the book loved it my sis watched the movie liked it to go read or watch.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling Story-Telling for Any Audience
Review: This is not just a great "sports" book, but a great book period. After completing the book, I did something out of character, and e-mailed all my friends telling them that they must read this book. I have given it as a gift more than once. I think its that good. You don't have to be a sports fan to love the book, but it does help to have some affection for horses or horse racing. The building climax to the race with War Admiral provides the tension and momentum as we learn about the principal characters, and inevitably begin to care about their fates. Like most great books, this one provides so much information on so many levels; we learn about America during the depression, we learn about the early days of the bay area, the beginning of the automobile era, the taming of the American west, and of course, the inside of the horse racing industry. And the author ultimately succeeds in the most important task, making the reader care about Seabiscuit. He becomes a real character, just as real as the human characters. You pull for Seabiscuit to succeed, as an underdog, as a forgotten cast-aside, and finally as a titan of the sport. This was the best book I read in 2002, and I read a lot. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: One of the top 5 Books I have read
Review: Not even a horse racing fan, I could not put this book down - I can in all honesty suggest you purchase this book and tell your friends - It is that good

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Summary: Makes you want to cheer!
Review: This story takes us back in time to the 1930's, a time of much turbulence in the world. This work, however, focuses on one horse and his important people. Together with owner Charles Howard, trainer Tom Smith, and jockey Red Pollard, Seabiscuit makes sports page history. The story reveals it just as it happened. We get to know the people and Seabiscuit first, and then we follow this horse's training and racing days. The story is written in such a way that the races seem like actual play-by-plays. It's often hard not to jump up and yell "Go, Seabiscuit!" as the races are run on the pages of this book! Well researched and lots of fun, this book is delightful reading for any animal lover or fan of sports history.

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Summary: Scary, but true
Review: The story of Red and Seabiscuit brought tears to my eyes. The violent nature of horseracing during the Depression was somewhat disconcerting, though. The violent injuries to Red and Seabiscuit were sad and kind of scary, but I guess they really happened so it's accurate I guess. I kind of wanted to know what happened to the characters at the end, but I guess I'll just be in the dark. Oh well.

Rating:
Summary: An unexpected joy
Review: When I first picked up this book at the library, I never expected it to be as good as it is. While I have always loved horses and history, I don't care too much for horse racing as such. However, the book held my interest from beginning to end and I was breathless with anticipation as every chapter unfolded. I hope that everyone will read it - you will learn something about people as well as horses. Also, don't miss the movie - this film moved the audience in a way that I have not ever seen before. They clapped and cheered when Seabiscuit won his race as if they were really in the stands and not just in the theater. A wonderful book and movie and an unforgetable experience. Do yourself a favor - read and see Seabiscuit!

Rating:
Summary: Well researched, even better written
Review: Seabiscuit is the story not only of a horse but of a small group of people whose lives intertwined primarily because of that horse. The author creates richly vivid biographical portrayals of each of these people, crafting one story at a time a series of vignettes that mesh to comprise a mosaic of real people in a real world usually overlooked and obscure. She not only illuminates that world but brings it energetically to life. It is so inspiring and well written that it is difficult to put down this book. Even the acknowledgements, which I invariably skip, is full of poignant revelations. And the centerpiece of the story is a magnificent racehorse, who became, once molded by the people who loved him, one of the greatest of any era. Read this book! It is uplifting and will leave a lump in your throat when you finish. It is one of the rare tomes that the reader wishes would go on longer than it does.

Rating:
Summary: An absolute winner
Review: Undoubtably the best book I've read this year. I'm not a race fan and had almost no prior knowledge of the horse. In fact had the book not been loaned to me, to read, by a friend who loves horses and has her own named Charley I would not have read the book. Sometimes wonders explode from within the pages of books. This was one of those times. I sat entranced, enthralled with Laura Hillenbrand's narrative. I could hardly bear to put it down. An exciting history of the horse, the players, the sport and the emotional background of the time.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't finish it
Review: A nonfiction history of horseracing. Reads like a textbook. If you like that sort of thing...

Rating:
Summary: Gallops along to a stand-in-the-saddle conclusion
Review: I saw ads for this and thought, nah, I'm not gonna bother with this one. Hey, I don't even like horses and don't understand those who do. But then I read a piece in the New Yorker by the author - took me reading halfway into the piece to realize she was Seabiscuit's author, and I was HOOKED - not on the book and the horse so much as on this Hillenbrand's personal courage (battling a crippling case of chronic fatigue syndrome for I forget, maybe like 2 decades?) and perseverance - and the sheer beauty of her writing.
So. Okay. I read the book. And boy, am I ever glad I did, as it's stellar. Hillenbrand dives into the world of thoroughbred horse racing in this incredible story of Seabiscuit, who, I've gotta admit, I'd never heard of before. Apparently he wasn't a very promising-looking horse, and that's putting it mildly. Nor were the horse's owner, trainer, or jockey very promising. But somehow out of this sure-to-court-disaster scenario, they instead came up with a stupendous and heartwarming winner.
And Hillenbrand has written a stupendous and heartwarming book about it.
Don't miss it - even if you don't know a horse from a camel designed by a committee.