The Rest of the Iceberg: An Insider's View on the World of Sport and Celebrity

Rating:
Summary: From the author-everyone's got an opinion
Review: I've been reading these reviews and I find them very interesting. There's a very personal nature to some of the attacks, but I'm used to that by now. First of all, I wrote the book myself but did have an outside editor. There are some mistakes in the initial print, but if you look at the other editions available here, there is a newer, error-free paperback edition that also ships faster. I do appreciate all of you that take the time to read the book and attempt to see my side of these various issues. Secondly, despite what some of the reviewers say, I don't consider myself to be more intelligent than everyone else ( And it was Jim Rome that called me the "smartest man in the NFL"- it was not a self-made moniker ). I just hope that my perspective is helpful to you. We all have a right to our opinions and I certainly don't feel that mine are more important than anyone else's just because I was a professional athlete.

The best approach in all aspects of life is to take what others say into account but to not always accept what they say as absolute truth. So please take the time to read the book and evaluate it yourself. I'm sure the people at Amazon wouldn't like me saying it, but you can always go to your local library and read it for free as well!
Thank you,
Robert Smith

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat Interesting....Not Very Intelligent guy
Review: A great RB, who explains why he quit the game....he got hurt too much.
The book takes us through his amazing career as an athlete...
Its not that the book is interesting. It is that, for a self-proclaimed "the smartest man in the NFL" there sure are alot of grammatical mistakes. Basic stuff like "My mom and me".
And when he writes the essays on society at the end of the book, I had to put the book down. His thoughts travel from one subject to the next....mid-sentence.
Don Banks of SI wrote an article about this book on 7/23/2004, that Robert Smith was a thoughtful, complex and an intelligent man off the field as he was intuitive on it."
Unfortunately, the book simply does not backup that opinion.

Rating:
Summary: 2 books in 1
Review: After hearing Robert speak on a local radio show, I found his opinions interesting and the fact that he was obviously articulate made me curious about the book. I asked for and received it for Christmas and was not disappointed. As a huge football fan, and someone who had him on his fantasy football team both good and bad years, I enjoyed the first part of the book for it's insider's look into the life of an NFL player. Although I didn't agree with some of his positions regarding player compensation, it is basically an autobiography and therefore we must expect that the writer will tell us his opinions. Whether we agree with them or not, you must feel that he is entitled to them or you should not be reading an autobiography. The 2nd part of the book is insightful and thought provoking. Maybe it helped that I happened to agree with most of his opinions, I don't know.

I guess my only real "complaint" about the book was where he tried to illustrate his point about player salaries by using analogies to more common work environments. The purpose of an analogy is usually to get the person to agree with something that they can more readily identify with and therefore agree with the original situation. But what if you do not agree with the analogy? Does that mean that you do not agree with the original statement, or does it just mean that it was a bad analogy? To me it just made him seem as out of touch to the common man as we are to the professional football player.

"What would you say if your boss hired you at the same position as one of your co-workers but said that he was going to pay you a salary 5 percent lower?"

Well, I just accepted a job in a field where I have 15 years experience and am working with a friend of mine who has 4 years experience. I'm making %15 less. I needed the job so I accepted it. That does not mean that I don't agree with him holding out for more money that season.

"Imagine if your boss asked you to come in a few hours early every day and said he was going to pay you 1 percent of your normal salary."

Many people are "salaried" employees (myself included) and are asked to come in early, stay late and work weekends with no extra pay, let alone 1 percent. I am a computer programmer in the healcare industry so I am quite sure that Robert's healthcare software company has salaried employees that this happens to all the time. Again, just because I don't agree with the analogy it doesn't necessarily mean that I agree with the practice.

Other than these and a few others, I still felt it was an interesting read about an interesting person.

Rating:
Summary: Robert Smith-Honest and True!
Review: I borrowed this book from my father about two months ago and couldn't put it down. I ended up reading about 20 pages then picked it back up yesterday. I read this book in two days. I could not put this terrific book down!

I noticed that there were others on this website that criticized Robert for gramatical errors and spelling errors. I didn't find a one, not that it really matters. If that's the only thing people look for when they read a book anyways, then they are reading for all the wrong reasons. I was always taught to read the book for the content, not how the content is delivered. Maybe others lived sheltered childhoods.

Robert's book is very honest and thought provoking. Robert puts together some great arguments for players salaries, religion and racial stereotypes. I admit, I did not agree with Robert's opinions regarding religion in schools etc, however he is still entitled to his opinion and I definitely respect that.

I absolutely believe that this world needs more Robert Smith's in it and the topics he writes about in his book are topics I hope to read more of in the future!

Rating:
Summary: Well Done, Robert
Review: I found the book to be insightful on a variety of topics that many professional athletes wouldn't dare to touch--simply because they don't have the wisdom to articulate a thoughtful opinion on the subjects. And any criticism heaped upon the author for self-promotion of his ego should be balanced against both his skill on the football field and with a comparison to many of the self-serving books written (or should I say ghost written) by many contemporary athletes.

The book is both frank and truthful. My only quibble is that I came away wanting more. Perhaps there will be a follow-up at some point.

And, for the record, Robert Smith simply had the most elegant running style that I have witnessed on the football field. That long, loping, knees-high stride was a thing of beauty to behold.

I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. We hardly knew ye'.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I trudged through the book hoping there would be some kernels of stimulating thought. But I never really found any. The same themes -- sometimes nearly the same sentences -- appeared over and over and over. Smith seems to want to capitalize on his football status as well as the idea that he's "articulate for an athlete."

Rating:
Summary: ML
Review: I was a fan of Robert's since his days at Ohio State. I admired him for his stance he took then by skipping football for a year. Although, I missed watching him on the field, I respected him more for doing that. I also respect him for the work he does today with kids. However, I found the book to be mediocre. He has some interesting opinions (most I don't agree with), but he usually doesn't go into enough detail when supporting them. He talks about football for 85% of the book, then crams all kind of issues in the final 15%. He probably would be better off either writing a longer book or another book altogether.

I am curious as to why most every review touches on his intelligence. I found that to be irrelevant. Some people attacked him because of some grammatical issues early on in the book. While I noticed these, I thought it was more important on what he was trying to say. If you are that put off on these minute details, I have some of the most boring books on the planet I can send you that are grammatically correct and you can spend the next 5 years reading them. I really don't think Robert cares if you believe him to be intelligent or not. I know I wouldn't.

Overall, I thought there were some interesting stories and I appreciated his honesty. However, I found the book to average at best and it's overall layout didn't seem to make much sense.

Rating:
Summary: Please, next time, hire an editor
Review: I was eager to read this book, but after reading it I was left completely flat. The rest of the iceberg? Hardly.

Smith barely gives us more than what we could get from reading Sports Illustrated, or any Minnesota sports page. He admits he's not a fan of football, but for the majority of the book leisurely describes the most basic parts of his football career.

This book is touted as: his full and complete story. So we learned he was watching Ren & Stimpy during his NFL Draft. Wow, are these the types of meaty stories that we want to read?

How about telling us more of the inside details... How did Smith deal with people who wanted to be his friends or girlfriends only because he was a star football player? Who were his friends that he could trust, and when did he need that trust? What thoughts enter your mind as you look to hire an agent? What was he doing when he was "goofing off and missing class all summer" which led to one of the most covered stories of his time at Ohio State? When, and why did he begin using pot? If football is not "smart" enough for him, why doesn't he study and break down some of the coaching process that is more mentally challenging? What happened to plans for medical school? We know the stories of football; those are the parts of the iceberg that have already been documented.

I also felt Smith wrote this book as if he is defending himself from all of America. Who is attacking him? Why does he feel the need to explain why he was paid so much? Highly paid athlete stories are, sorry for the pun, a dime a dozen. He tries to compare his sitting out for more money to a scenario for the average guy. The truth is, many people will take a job for 5% less than a co-worker because yes, they value things other than money, and yes, they are happy to have a job.

Leaving the grammatical errors to the other reviewers, it felt like I was reading an average high school creative writing project. 'I did this, I did that, I went to bed, next day.' Half of his quotes are from the wellspring of deep philosophy: pop music. Smith notes "less than 50 percent of Americans read at a 10th-grade level". Well, this book certainly won't tax the reading ability of too many people.

One lesson from this book is that Smith had opportunities to swallow his pride, take some coaching, and come up with a better solution. This book is another one of those times. He should have hired an editor or writing consultant who could give guidance. Build the characters; help us feel their stories. Instead, Smith felt it necessary to go alone to get to the raw emotions. Sorry, but compared to other autobiographies, this was not an emotional book.

I'm sure Smith is all the things that Mike Gutter says he is, such as: thoughtful, honest, trustworthy, dependable, passionate... but I felt that some of the best stories that would demonstrate these characteristics were left out of this book.

Instead, we are still looking for the rest of the iceberg.


Rating:
Summary: Never believe a guy who tells you he's intelligent
Review: In my experience, people who talk about how intelligent they are do so because they like to hear it, and no one else is saying it. I want to join the club of fans who are not impressed with Smith's intellect. I bought the book (used, thankfully) hoping for some insights from a differenct kind of athlete. He's different, all right: more self-absorbed in his perceived intelligence than any athlete I've read about.

The first three-quarters of the book is nothing more than your typical sophomoric sports narrative: "The call came into me, and I took the handoff and shot into the Giant's secondary". Good stuff, eh? Throw in some locker room profanity, and now you've got a great sports book, right?

The last quarter of the book is where Smith pontificates on many of the the current social and political issues of the day. I didn't read an original thought in any of it, and I found no reason to find interest in his very brief trains of thought. He jumps from one criticism of our society to the next, without offering any solutions.

Robert Smith had a beautiful stride, in the style of many of the all-time great running backs. Style, not substance, however, since Smith's body failed him too many times to ever approach the level of the top-tier of players. Substance is totally lacking in this book, also, and as for the style, let's just say he's not mine.

Rating:
Summary: ROBERT SMITH'S BOOK IS AN AMAZING BOOK!!!
Review: This book is so incredible I can't wait to finish it so I can read it again. I was going to wait until I finished it to write my review, but within reading the first chapter I knew it was a book I could read again and again. I've never been able to get so involved in a book like this. Robert Smith is amazing and this book proves that! There is so much I could say about the book and how great it is, but I think people should read it themselves and find out how wonderful it is! It's so interesting seeing the professionals point of view. Robert Smith ~ Thank you for sharing your thoughts with the world! Your mind amazes me and I hope you write another book in the years to come!