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birdkeeperklink 's review for:
Secretariat: The Making of a Champion
by William Nack
Bill Nack is a self-important jerk, but he mostly managed to hide it in this book, amazingly enough. Some of his descriptions are a little overboard (I generally think of 'legs snapping' as meaning the legs are breaking, but he apparently likes to use it to describe running, which is a more fluid motion, to me...).
He does have an insider look, having pretty much stalked Secretariat during his career and haranguing the people around him into talking about 'Big Red'. The reader is the one who benefits, however, because we get to see Secretariat's playful side, and understand a lot of the behind-the-scenes activity during his career. We also come to understand why certain people were the way they were, or did the things they did. Penny Chenery's devotion to the Meadow, for example, is spelled out through a description of her father's devotion to it and to winning the Derby.
All in all, it's a very good book, especially for Secretariat devotees. Even if you feel the same way about Nack that I do, you can still freely enjoy this book, as he mostly manages to set his ego aside on this occasion.
He does have an insider look, having pretty much stalked Secretariat during his career and haranguing the people around him into talking about 'Big Red'. The reader is the one who benefits, however, because we get to see Secretariat's playful side, and understand a lot of the behind-the-scenes activity during his career. We also come to understand why certain people were the way they were, or did the things they did. Penny Chenery's devotion to the Meadow, for example, is spelled out through a description of her father's devotion to it and to winning the Derby.
All in all, it's a very good book, especially for Secretariat devotees. Even if you feel the same way about Nack that I do, you can still freely enjoy this book, as he mostly manages to set his ego aside on this occasion.