Rating: 
Summary: I can't believe I'm the first person to review this book
Review: This is one of the pioneering books that brought about the field known as sports psychology.A great self-help book, in my opinion, because it has an action plan you can follow. Basically, it will help you achieve total self-confidence if you don't already have it. The author talks about each person having a self1 and a self2. The former is your conscious ego and the latter is your potential. Self-confidence comes when we suppress self1 and allow the excellence in self2 to come out. We should trust ourselves to do what we want to do because everything we need is in self2. It is when we allow self1 to judge, we doubt ourselves. An important concept in getting rid of self1 is the art of being able to focus. If we focus on the here and now, this place and time, self2 will have a better chance to perform. How many times have we start to wonder about our cat or our past mistakes or day-dream how nice it is for something to happen when what we should be doing is to focus on the task at hand. In a way, self1 and self2 are similar to the conscious and subconscious mind. Whichever way you choose to believe is not what's important. What is important is that by conceptualizing this way, the complexity is reduced, and results can be produced quickly. How else can humans conceptualize confidence? Confidence without doubt, is nothing. Just like you cannot have hot without cold or fast without slow. Lastly, we should cherish competition and our opponents. Our opponents are not our enemies but can be viewed as obstacles that allow us to grow and become better at what we do. Humans love to accomplish great things because they like to test their limits. Although this is fine, those who set out to overcome an obstacle should find out if the result they get is what they really want before they go about trying to overcome the obstacle.
Rating:
Summary: The Zen book of tennis
Review: This is really a nice book that enables you to approach pretty much everything (not just tennis) with a Zenlike approach. It reminds us all of the importance of being mindful in everything we do, every moment of our lives. It helps us remember that our ability to trust ourselves is the most important ability of all. When we trust ourselves, we can stay in the moment and we naturally maximize our present abilities. We all know this somewhere inside but tend to lose perspective and perform below our potential many times. Whether you are a tennis player or not, I think there is something in this book for everybody. If you'd like a book that explains how and why these experiences occur, read "The Ever-Transcending Spirit" by Toru Sato. It is just a superb book discussing many of our important inner experiences in life in a way that everyone can understand!
Rating: 
Summary: GURU
Review: When I began reading this, I was somewhat dubious due to Mr. Galwey's long time involvement with Prem Rawat the notorious cult leader who once was known as Guru Maharaj Ji of Malibu, CA. However, as a long time tennis player and golfer, I could not deny some of the basic views he put forward. Read it but note cult thinking as well.
Rating:
Summary: ZEN thinking not only for Tennis
Review: When I read the book the first time many years ago, I got hooked although I didn't now the principles behind the Zen thinking. Now I am starting to understand and love it. To me, it's all about the interplay between conciousness and sub-conciousness (self 1 and 2 in the book). Everyone interested in the field will gain from it, not only the tennis players.
Rating: 
Summary: This Book is Pretty Out There
Review: While I strongly believe that the mental side of tennis plays a huge role in one's performance, I found this book to be too theoretical without much practical application. Mr Gallwey starts the book by explaining Self-1 verses Self-2 and how Self-1 must allow Self-2 to play the game. While I found this form of existentialism interesting, I found very little that I could use in my tennis matches. I prefer a book with more practical applications for maintaining a strong postive attitude with direct discussion of how to flow with the game so I can hit the ball both accurately and smoothly without over thinking. If you're looking for a book like this, I would recommend 'The Mental Edge' by Ken Baum instead.
| 
