Playing in the Zone

Rating:
Summary: advance praise
Review: "A great book! PLAYING IN THE ZONE is full of creative insights and unexpected discoveries, reminding us that athletics are spiritual as well as physical."-Bill Bradley, former U.S. senator and inductee in the Basketball Hall of Fame

"PLAYING IN THE ZONE is a fine essay on the spiritual dimensions of sport, filled with both wonder and discernment. Cooper's love of his subject is tempered by his clarity about various excesses, confusions, and pathologies associated with athletic endeavor, including facile equations of sport with religious practice. Sport cannot equal the sacred traditions as a means of cultivating the inner life. But, as this book makes clear, sport does possess its own unique genius for revealing and opening to people the spirit's 'gem-like flame.' "-Michael Murphy, author of GOLF IN THE KINGDOM

"PLAYING IN THE ZONE is a marvelous overview that melds the physical aspects of sports with the metaphysical. It is required reading for all serious athletes." -Rick Wolff, sports psychology columnist for SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

"Sports can be as much an exercise of the spirit as of the body. Andrew Cooper's PLAYING IN THE ZONE acknowledges this added dimension and expands our knowledge of the role the spirit can play in sports. His thoughtful exploration of this topic never comes off as superfluous or excessive. Instead, he delivers wisdom and insight to an area of study that too often has been the province of mere anecdotal knowledge. PLAYING IN THE ZONE points the way to understanding." -Glenn Stout, series editor of THE BEST AMERICAN SPORTS WRITING

"In PLAYING IN THE ZONE, Andrew Cooper articulates perfectly why we are so captivated by sports. It's not just the excitement and beauty of athletic competitions that draws us but something deeper. Cooper shows, through sports, what is best in ourselves."-Joan Ryan, columnist at the SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"More than any other book on the spiritual aspects of sport, PLAYING IN THE ZONE puts it all together: science, myth, history, and the personal experiences of athletes of all stripes and levels. Beautifully written, with a critical eye and a keen wit, the book reveals what sports can mean to the inner life and why they can mean so much."-David Meggyesy, former NFL linebacker, author of OUT OF THEIR LEAGUE

"This book lifts sports into the realm usually reserved for art or religion, revealing the many ways in which it can both test and feed the human spirit. I am extremely grateful to Mr. Cooper for giving me a new appreciation for the great games and for those who play them."-Wes Nisker, news commentator at Pacifica Radio and author of CRAZY WISDOM

"Superbly crafted and beautifully conceived, PLAYING IN THE ZONE is fascinating, provocative, and a pleasure to read. The author demonstrates that, despite all that is wrong in our athletic culture, sports are at their heart a matter of deep and joyous spiritual significance."-Pat Toomay, former Dallas Cowboy and Oakland Raider and author of THE CRUNCH

"PLAYING IN THE ZONE is that rarity: a work of real intellectual substance that is also a great read. Andrew Cooper has pulled this off with grace, humor, and originality. He challenges us to see past our cultural assumptions and into sport's deepest layers of meaning. But his approach is so personable that one feels altogether at ease with the material, as though he is simply articulating what one already knows."-Carl E. Prince, Professor of History, New York University, author of BROOKLYN'S DODGERS

"Skillfully and eloquently, Andrew Cooper explores what it is about sports that allows them to exert so great a 'purchase on the soul.' In doing so, he shows how they can open to us a selfless awareness that expresses our deepest nature. This is a delightful, wise, and compelling book."-Tenshin Reb Anderson, Roshi, senior dharma teacher, San Francisco Zen Center and author of WARM SMILES FROM COLD MOUNTAINS

Rating:
Summary: An excellent primer for mind-body integration
Review: I picked up Playing in the Zone expecting a Inner Game knockoff, but sat down to read the introduction anyway. When I looked up I had finished three chapters. The author involves the reader from the start by, first eloquently explaining what he believes sport to be, then builds on that base to develop a model for sport appreciation. He uses anecdotes sparingly, but with purpose. Quotes are used for impact and add insight to the text. They did not appear to be included as an afterthought. This book is not about playing in the Zone of any specific sport, but rather seeking "mindlessness," or "flow" through any sport as the individual defines it.

Cooper sees sport as a theater in which players and spectators participate in their own drama. He writes, "In the theater of sport, the totality of our nature is given dramatic form. Sport displays the range of our experience in all its multiplicity, conflict, and contradiction. Human experience cannot be reduced to a single purpose or principle, and so neither can sport. In sport, as in life, appreciating complexity is a source of endless delight."

My only complaint is that the book seemed to end rather abruptly. Perhaps a summery or wrapping-up chapter would have eased the transition to completion. But for the insight it bestowes and the model it presents, Playing in the Zone is certainly worth the read.

Rating:
Summary: Playing in the Zone
Review: Maybe the best thing you can say about a book is that you can't hold on to it. That has certainly been my experience with this one. Each time I buy a new copy for myself, I remember a friend or relative or writing student who I know must have it. And not just jocks and fans. I sent a copy to my baseball-loving step dad and got a call raving about it from my sports-hating, arts-loving mom. As in much of the best nonfiction writing, by delving deeply into a particular subject the author hits upon themes and insights that are universal. Cooper's appreciation of athletic craft also tells much about spiritual experience, the mythic mind, the nature of the self, and other matters of primary concern. This is not a how-to, inner game, or Zen-of-sports book. It is an exploration of meaning in something so near at hand that we take it for granted. You'll be surprised at what you find.

Rating:
Summary: If you only have time to read one book, don't pick this one
Review: Playing in the Zone : Exploring the Spiritual Dimensions of Sports by Andrew Cooper is a mediocre book about an excellent topic. Throughout the book I kept wondering whether Mr. Cooper was worthy of his topic. He identifies the zone and justifies its worthiness. His notes on his zen experiences are unexpectedly insightful. But overall he appears to be on the outside of his topic, looking in. His book may prepare you better to be a spectator than to maximize your personal zone activites. This book is good for folks who are not quite true believers in the title I guess. But for those of us looking for advanced classes, we might as well keep on looking because Mr. Cooper offers very little beyond the basics. If he writes another book to expand on his further studies of the zone, I would be willing to give the first couple chapters a try.

Rating:
Summary: If you only have time to read one book, don't pick this one
Review: Playing in the Zone : Exploring the Spiritual Dimensions of Sports by Andrew Cooper is a mediocre book about an excellent topic. Throughout the book I kept wondering whether Mr. Cooper was worthy of his topic. He identifies the zone and justifies its worthiness. His notes on his zen experiences are unexpectedly insightful. But overall he appears to be on the outside of his topic, looking in. His book may prepare you better to be a spectator than to maximize your personal zone activites. This book is good for folks who are not quite true believers in the title I guess. But for those of us looking for advanced classes, we might as well keep on looking because Mr. Cooper offers very little beyond the basics. If he writes another book to expand on his further studies of the zone, I would be willing to give the first couple chapters a try.

Rating:
Summary: The book is empty!
Review: The whole book is just an introduction to the subject of the "zone." Someone that read the book will not learn anything other then there is something called the "zone." And also, I was amazed that there was no reference to Dr John Douillard's book: "Body, mind and sport." Although at the time I read Dr Douillard's book I thought it did have too many testimonies and not enough references to research works. Despite it, people interested in the "zone" (for example experiencing it) would be better off reading Dr Douillard's book.

Rating:
Summary: The book is empty!
Review: The whole book is just an introduction to the subject of the "zone." Someone that read the book will not learn anything other then there is something called the "zone." And also, I was amazed that there was no reference to Dr John Douillard's book: "Body, mind and sport." Although at the time I read Dr Douillard's book I thought it did have too many testimonies and not enough references to research works. Despite it, people interested in the "zone" (for example experiencing it) would be better off reading Dr Douillard's book.