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Summary: I have Testicular Cancer
Review: I was diagnosed with Testicular cancer in December 2001. I am still going through the treatment right now. I was given this book as a gift from some thoughtful friends. I gobbled it up.
Sadly, the Medical community provides little information about coping and dealing with this disease. Lance's book helped me to understand the disease from a survivors perspective and helped to comfort and motivate me during a time of great personal concern. In addition his website dedicated to the disease is extremely helpful and informative.Although having testicular cancer has made this book particularly personal, I found it to be an excellent read from a human interest perspective and would gladly recommend it to others (who could care less about the cancer aspect) just for the entertainment value of learning about this incredible person and his incredible life.
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Summary: not only inspirational, but important as well
Review: I simply could not put this book down. I stayed up until the wee hours following Lance's childhood adventures, his preliminary successes, his youthful brashness, his discovery and struggle with testicular cancer and his long road to recovery. Every part of the narrative is gripping -- his struggle with cancer (he was one of the most severe cases the doctors had ever seen) is brutally described from the chemo "poison" to the horrible catheter which practically became a part of his body. Although he doesn't lionize himself, his struggle and conquest has to be an inspiration for all who have suffered with the disease. I love biking too (although for me an hour is a long ride -- Lance says real bikers don't bother to take out there bikes if it's for under 5 hours) so I loved the descriptions of his training and races, particularly his focus on climbing mountain after mountain in the freezing rain to prepare for the Tour de France. In short, this book will give anyone an appreciation for athletic endeavors, but more important for the human spirit. We are spared no details of the medical horrors - a soberting account. Plus, I worship his wife Kik after reading how she dealt with all the various moves and life events. She's even more of a hero at times than Mr. Armstrong proving the maxim that behind every great man is a great woman.
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Summary: An Extraordinary Humanbeing
Review: This book written by Lance Armstrong with contributions from Sally Jenkins is wonderfully written. Lance Armstrong's autobiography is for all readers, it is not discriminatory to any walk of life. I would suggest this book to anyone, no matter the type of reader they are. The writing allows the reader to just flow through the entire book without even knowing that the hours are flying by, becuase that is exactly what happens-I picked up the book thinking that I would get a good start on it and before I knew it I had finished it. The Book is divided into eleven sections or chapters. Every chapter deals with a different perspective of Lance's life. The majority of it is devoted to cancer and it's effect on his life and the ones around him. This book is well written all of the way through especially the sections that deal with cancer. The detail that he goes into will make anyone realize the severity of cancer. At the same time, he never writes too graphic or too detailed, so as to keep the reader interested. Along with doing an excellent job describing his experiences with cancer he also describes cycling extremely well. Going into this book my knowledge on cycling was limited, after finishing this book I feel like I have a better grasp of the sport and find myself looking for anything that will tell me more about cycling. Lance Armstrong begins the book with a "Before and After" chapter that explains the diagnosis of his cancer. This is a wonderful explanation of his life changing experience with this death sentence of cancer. Following the introduction chapter Armstrong explains his cycling career and this is what allows the reader to really understand the kind of person he was,the hated American athlete with a huge ego in an European based sport, before the cancer and how he changed his ways into those of a wonderful humanbeing that anyone could consider their best friend following his diagnosis. My overall view of the book is that it is very well written and keeps the readers attention. Throughout reading it I felt as though I was watching a made for television movie based on a true story. This book will hook the unsuspecting athletic fan and turn them into a supporter of cancer patients. It will also hook the reader who picks it up to read about cancer and turn them into a cyclist fan. No matter who the reader, at the end you will be a Lance Armstrong fan.
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Summary: It helped me
Review: I have melanoma and bought this book with an eye toward my own issues. Unlike dozens of other books that have been given to me or purchased, this one "tells it like it is." It was great! Lance Armstrong has an amazing ability to capture the essence of the experience, whether bike riding or cancer. I found myself re-reading passages to help me clarify my own thinking. I am very grateful that this book exists.
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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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