Category: General

OK,  and this is the book I read before the Froome-doggery. Here’s an article from entertainment weekly entertainingly enough

http://www.ew.com/article/1996/06/07/hit-run-how-jon-peters-and-peter-guber-took-sony-ride-hollywood

about this. I was looking at a Don Simpson biography but went with this on the recommendation of the Internet.

The recounting of how the two players reached the top is all too believable, it’s the sums of money involved which aren’t. This is however a bit of a chore to read at points and enviably dissolves into a review of dysfunctional boardroom dynamics. Which anyone who works in an office will reluctantly recognise.

The latest book read. For a real review see the excellent inrng

http://inrng.com/2014/06/book-review-the-climb-chris-froome/

which comprehensively covers how the book develops. It does run out of steam by the time we get to the 100th tour which is dealt with via a daily run down of each day. What struck a chord with me is that he is aware that he wouldn’t have got to where he was if he hadn’t taken a chance in his life.

It’s a book by the sports journalist Richard Moore who predominantly writes about, what’s that, cycling, you don’t say.  But wait, what, this is about Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis, 1988 and all that.

To save my typing a run down, here’s one

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/aug/03/dirtiest-race-in-history-richard-moore-review

Did I enjoy it.  yes I did.  I’m an avid listener of Richard Moore’s cycling podcast, http://thecyclingpodcast.com/ to save you googling it, so read the book in Richard’s own voice which was not unpleasant.  The man has an engaging voice fit for radio.  Ben Johnson came across as a nice enough bloke who took a few steroids to get to the very top and lied consistently until made to confess.   Then tried to come back and took some more drugs.  My sympathies definitely sat with Johnson.  Lewis, and his mystery man in the dope room, come across as a bit of a  prat who got on the drugs to keep up and was caught anyway but couldn’t leave it at that.  Basically he was lucky and appeared to engineer a situation where Johnson was set up for a fall.  A solid 7.5 out of 10.