Look, A Sports Book!

12. Mind Game: How the Boston Red Sox Got Smart, Won a World Series, and Created a New Blueprint for Winning

A book by stat geeks and for stat geeks (somewhat), but with the numbers almost entirely ignored. How can this be?!

This book is a smooth flowing excursion through the 2004 World Championship season (ah, how sweet that is to say) of the Boston Red Sox. Rather than creating a focused look by a single author, this is a collection of essays on the smart (and not-so-smart) moves taken by team management during the course of the 2004 season. While it references some advanced statistical measures, it is kind enough to simplify them for understanding by the average baseball fan. The fact that I was familiar with the terms and measures involved slightly increased my enjoyment of the book, but it certainly wasn't required.

An interesting aspect of this being a collection of essays by disparate authors is the fact that certain facts are repeated (albeit in different manners) in multiple essays. This can be something of a downside for the type of person inclined to read their way through such a book, but is a bonus for someone who will read the different essays at different times, when in the mood for a little baseball. The central points of the essays are unique and different, of course, it is just some of the supporting facts and commentary that are repeated.

As a committed Red Sox/baseball fanatic, I enjoyed this book a great deal, even with the above shortcomings. However, I think the real target audience for this is a casual baseball fan who is somewhat interested in the learning how to measure trades and signings with more information than "Gee, he's a very famous player who everyone says is good!!!". It is easy to read, unintimidating and fun. I find it quite likely that I'll be buying additional copies for some of my friends...even ones that aren't specifically Red Sox fans.

Thanks to jetshade for the present. :D

The Justice League Without Pictures!

13. JLA: Exterminators

With this book, Christopher Golden has done an excellent job of translating comic book/cartoon characters to pure text. He has done this well enough that I like it nearly as much as Super Folks. It is a much more serious book than Robert Mayer's novel, but I think they both have strong archetypal and visual elements to the writing. Golden, of course, has the advantage of actually being allowed to use some of the most famous characters of all comicdom, where Mayer is pastiching them.

The real theme of this novel is responsibility. How much can a hero do? Where does (s)he draw the line? While it is clear that Spider-Man is right and great responsibility comes with great powers, where does it end? Do you sacrifice all chance of a normal life to come constantly to the rescue?

Golden does not hammer us with all the examples of this theme. Some of his incidental descriptions of Batman and Superman (for example) make clear their vastly differing decisions in respect to this. The one major new character, Ian Partington, who becomes friends with Flash and Green Lantern shows through his actions the difficulty of this decision. Overall, the idea is well done and mostly unobtrusive to a great disaster/adventure story. This is as it should be.

All the key JLA characters show up here: Flash, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Martian Manhunter, Batman, Green Lantern. Each one has some time in the spotlight, just long enough to be individuals and for the reader to get a little bit under their skin. In addition to this, half the cast of the DC Universe seems to show up to handle the major crisis in the second half of the book. This includes Firestorm, Steel, the JSA, Booster Gold & Blue Beetle (old favorites of mine), the Atom and many, many more. While few are given much more than a mention/description, the ones that we do visit with for longer are very true to themselves. (The plot could probably get away without ANY focus on the tertiary characters, but they are there for the fanboy's pleasure. And this fanboy enjoyed it.)

Overall, I highly recommend this book for any fan of the DC Universe. I also recommend it for anyone who is a fan of the concept of superheroes, whether or not they are DC fans. It is a damn good read.

Notes to Review

Must post: Into the Forge, Into the Fire.

Must write: Storm Warning, Storm Rising, Storm Breaking, Serenity, Wizard's Dilemma, The Shadow Laughs, Death Merchant: Operation Overkill, A Wizard Alone, The Drawing of the Three, Friday the 13th - The Final Chapter, El Mariachi, Street Fighter Alpha, The Golden Compass, The Amber Spyglass, The Subtle Knife, Cold Streets, The Stainless Steel Rat, The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge, The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World, The Timekeeper Conspiracy, The Pimpernel Plot, The Zenda Vendetta, Storm Front, Fool Moon, Grave Peril, Summer Knight, Death Masks, Blood Rites, Dead Beat, Sword-Sworn, Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin, Assassin's Quest, Fool's Errand, Golden Fool, Fool's Fate, Executioner: The Trial, Deathstalker Coda, In Conquest Born, War of the Flowers, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Spirited Away.

Must Get: off my butt and write some of these things before I forget the book/movie involved and have to re-read for a review. ;)