allanheron's reviews
681 reviews

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis

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4.0

I bought this book having enjoyed the movie. As someone who's not familiar with the language of baseball this proved a bit of a hurdle, but the statistical element was right up my street.

I was particularly taken with the descriptions of the Baseball insiders who were somewhere between derogatory and ignorant in their response to what was happening. A real inbred establishment for whom the author clearly holds in considerable contempt.

Beane himself makes for an utterly captivating character.
Bowie In Berlin: A New Career In A New Town by Thomas Jerome Seabrook

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4.0

I'm an avid reader of music related books and whilst biographies have their place they often strike an uneasy balance between describing the life and the art. As such, books which focus on one either in whole or in part can be of greater value.

This is one such book which describes the path to Bowie's Berlin Trilogy of albums (Low, "Heroes" and Lodger) which have been, and remain, immensely influential both for the music itself and the way it was constructed. It also includes Iggy Pop's albums The Idiot and Lust For Live which came out of the same creative explosion.

This is not a book for the casual fan and certainly not one for those whose appreciation of Bowie starts and stops with the Ziggy period. But it's a terrific read for those who love their Bowie a bit left-field and who want to find out more about the music was created.

And I'm betting Thomas Jerome Seabrook isn't the author's name on his birth certificate