I purchased Personal Foul a few months back after reading the excerpts that were leaked on the internet. At first I was surprised by some of the allegations posted and was in need for more. However, my hopes were crushed when I read that the publisher pulled out in the last minute..

But to the rescue came along another publisher who had the balls and chose to publish the book. In my opinion this is a good thing, because the book is more than just allegations.

Personal Foul is the memoir and story of Tim Donaghy – the former NBA referee who, got himself caught up in a betting scandal. The book tells the story of a young boy growing up who looked up to his father, had dreams and aspirations to play or referee in the NBA some day. Well, he didn’t get to play in the NBA, but he did become a referee.

We are told of a happily married man with kids and a successful career, refereeing in the NBA – who wouldn’t want that job? mingling with all the superstars of basketball and other celebrities. Eventually Tim is introduced to childhood friends who became involved in organised crime and inevitably, that’s where things began. He began living a life as a ‘double agent’ so to speak, providing people insider information about NBA games, who was most likely to win out of the match ups and other advantageous information.

He eventually became a gambling addict himself, betting on anything and everything, daily. From here, we begin to see a decline in his own personal life, increased lies, paranoia and everything that he loved and cherished eventually falling to bits.

I found this book an enjoyable read and an insight of how certain addictions can get you into terrible situations. Recommended.

Tim Donaghy’s website

The Art of a Beautiful Game: The Thinking Fan’s Tour of the NBA by Chris Ballard is a definite read for any fan of the NBA. It is a great insight to the game, far beyond what you just see on TV.

It’s actually taken me a few days and I’m still not really sure how to review this book.. it has a lot of good elements to it, I think too many to explain really. I kind of wasn’t sure what to initially expect when I purchased the book, as I haven’t read a basketball related book in a while, but lets just say it’s quite engaging and I had many late nights.

Chris Ballard who is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated takes us behind what we see the players do on TV. In his book, he breaks down and provides analysis of the games fundamental components. From shooting to dunking, blocking and even facets many people may not really care about; rebounding, assists. Sure, players in the NBA are they’re for a reason; they’re skilled. However, skill can only take you so far. Chris also goes as far as explaining the conditioning and training players go through to maintain they’re high level of skill and fitness.

The book also looks to provide analysis of certain players traits, such as Kobe Bryant’s ‘Killer Instinct’ (which I hope gives all the haters some insight), LeBron James’ ‘Athletic abilities’ (which are quite crazy absurd) and Steve Nash’s ‘unselfishness on the court’ to name some.

After finally finishing the book, whilst watching games I actually found myself looking for what was written about, and traits of certain mentioned players were quite evident. I guess if the book actually makes you think and pay attention to details whilst watching a game, it succeeds right?

We Were One: Shoulder to Shoulder with the Marines Who Took Fallujah is a first hand account of Lima Company, 1st Platoon (Marines) who were deployed to Fallujah, Iraq in 2004. It is written by Patrick K. O’Donnell, a military historian and author who was on the front line with these very soldiers and went through almost everything they did.

Upon reading the first chapter or two, I had flashbacks of another book I read, 3 Para → – which was written in a similar style and confusing the say the least. However, I continued to read on and my initial assumption was put to rest. This book delivered. I would have to put the written detail and fighting witnessed very close to another book, House To House →. I felt the same level drama, horror, emotion and bravery involved in the “house clearing” process.

One of the most disheartening things was the loss of marines as each one in the company had a friend, so almost all of them lost at least one. This book certainly displays the true bonds and friendships made by soldiers that the average person may not even understand or see. We were one is easy to follow and it kept me up late at nights, it was hard to put down at times. Recommended.

House To House by author David Bellavia is probably one of the best memoirs of war in Iraq I have read to date. This book kept forcing me to read chapter upon chapter when it was way past time to go to sleep, it is that well written.

The book is a recollection of accounts by Staff Sergeant David Bellavia who led Third Platoon, Alpha Company into Fallujah, Iraq in 2004 on house clearing missions. What they faced was an enemy who was well prepared, high on adrenaline and would not cease to quit. It is filled with drama, intensity and displays of heroics, it is simply hard to put this one down.

This book a must read if you’re into reading military books because the author makes you feel like you are actually there with him, in his squad, fighting the same fight. Some of the war memoir books that I have read fail to achieve this important aspect or make a poor attempt at it which ultimately makes it a rather average read. This book is definitely one of the shelf.

I finished reading this book some weeks ago, but I’m not quite sure how to exactly review it.. so this post most likely will be quite brief.

3 Para → is a look into the accounts of the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment’s deployment in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. Rather than trying to explain the book in-depth like I have with previous reviews, I found a comment on Amazon → by someone else who also purchased and read it. To be honest, it pretty much sums up my thoughts on the book as well..

“I expected it to be a first hand account where you feel like you are there with the actual soldiers, but this is nothing like that at all. It is all a sort of mix up of whats going on in different places at different times, and is altogether quite confusing to be honest.”

In saying that, it was a reasonably good read. But unfortunately not a must have for the bookshelf.

I finally finished reading Desert of Death last night which I picked up quite cheaply at a bookstore. I think this has been one of the most enjoyable military books I’ve read so far as the writing style feels a bit more personal and is quite easy to follow compared to some of the other books I’ve read.

The book is a recollection of first-hand events and time spent in the Helmand Province, Afghanistan by Captain Leo Docherty who was deployed there in 2006. At the start of this book, you are introduced to a solider who is full of passion, confidence, is excited to experience the culture and people and is eager to make a difference in Afghanistan with the British campaign. But when you starting getting towards the middle of the book, you begin to see that the actual campaigns purpose is very vague, there is no clear indication when International aid will begin, or how the improvement of life for the local people will happen. The author writes in such a way that you can clearly feel his frustration and see that he is confused as to why they are even there and what the actual purpose of the campaign is when soldiers eventually start getting shot at, severely injured or even killed.

I find books written from a soldier’s accounts show the type of life over in countries such as Afghanistan. There is a specific town structure, where the elders make decisions for the town in meetings called Shura’s. Police are generally corrupt, the rob, assault and sometimes even kill locals. The local people themselves are often quite poor, are forced to work and harvest in poppy fields for opium distribution. Afghanistan is one of, if not the largest source of opium distribution in the world and apparently 46% of it comes from the Helmand Province (2006/2007) where the author was situated.

What made this book interesting was the fact the author actually publicly spoke out about his experiences to the media, which is a big no-no if you are in the military.
To be honest, if I was as frustrated as he was – I probably would of done the same thing. To his surprise, his comments and opinion reached an international audience making headlines everywhere. For example, the Asia Times, but mainly in local news. As he was exiting the Army, his punishment wasn’t as severe as it could of been if he was to remain in his unit.

The epilogue of the book went through a brief rundown of what happened after the author finished his tour. How the fighting in Helmand suddenly became rampant, brief statistics of ‘collateral’ damage inflicted to civilians and the fact nothing really had improved for the people.

Overall, I found this book a more down to earth read and quite enjoyable. If you can find it on the shelf, it is worth a read.

Well, this is not exactly about the way I am, more so about Eminem and his latest book. Love him or hate him, Eminem has made his mark on Hip Hop and Rap indefinitely. I guess the reason he is so popular is because he reaches out to middle America, and to be honest he does have decent lyrical skills. Also attributing to his success is probably the fact he is one of very few white rappers who have made it in that form of entertainment, as well all know it’s predominantly black males.

The book contains Eminem’s reflections on his own life and things that have happened to him, shares some of his own drawings (I didn’t know he was that skilled with a pencil), handwritten lyrics (I couldn’t read half!), and a fair few photographs. I think it is quite a personal book, it is interesting to read some of his experiences and to see that he is also a normal human being like the rest of us. Well, I knew this but apparently half of America didn’t.

The book is set out nicely. The typography is laid out well in various sizes and formats. It’s either wrapped around an image or completely on a page of it’s own, there is a lot of variation to the way it’s set out. There is nice use of a significantly bigger font for emphasis on certain parts of a paragraph. The images are also laid out well, overall it feels like a diary with notes and images attached by paperclip.

While the book is a relatively short read, it was good none the less. If you’re an Eminem fan, check out the book here →

“If fate is against me and I’m killed, so be it, but make it quick and painless. If I’m wounded, don’t let me be crippled. But above all don’t let me fuck up the task.”

What a job to have, IEDD (Improvised Explosive Device Disposal) in Iraq. I picked this paperback up on a whim from Big W about two weeks ago and finished reading it last night. To be quite frank, I’ll pretty much read any military based book I can find providing it is a true account. I find I don’t get immersed in fiction.

When I saw this book on the shelf, the title seemed interesting so I walked over and grabbed it for a closer look. Eight Lives Down → is the day to day accounts of Major Chris Hunter →, an ATO (Ammunition Technical Officer) in the British Army who served several months in Iraq.

The book was quite interesting, informative, vivid, funny and upsetting at times. The informative side is written in such a style that the author gives you an indication of how a certain bomb is assembled, but at the same time explains just how dangerous it really is. Some vivid parts include the story of an Iraqi father slitting his own daughters throat as retaliation against soldier’s who beat him up for disciplining her previously.

While the thought is extremely off putting, closer to the end of the book the author recalls an account of a house search where the occupants offered the soldiers Baclava (a rich, sweet pastry). This goes to show how friendly and spirited people can be, that not all Iraqi people are ‘animals’.

I find reading any books written by British soldiers somehow turn out to be quite amusing at times as well, those guys certainly have a sense of humour. Always calling each other tossers, or wankers and generally taking the piss out of each other. One thing that is evident in each book I read is that the teams really become a family, a very tightly knit group and generally remain friends for life – it is like a given. So when reading in the second last chapter, that two members of the authors team were redeployed to an IEDD squad and both had their legs severed in IED attack, you could only feel the authors pain and helplessness.

Overall, I thought it was quite a gripping book and a great read. I tried to limit myself to 2-3 chapters a night but sometimes went overboard I became that immersed. The play on the title was also done well, I thought it would be about 8 members of his team dying, yet it was referring to the author having nine lives like a cat and having already used up eight of those, choosing making the most of his last.

Last night I finally finished reading a book I got for Christmas entitled Apache: Inside the Cockpit of the World’s Most Deadly Fighting Machine written by an ex-pilot for the British Army Air Corps, Ed Macy.

The start of the book introduces us to the author, a bit of his background and how he worked himself into the parachute regiment. One night, Ed was dealt a blow to his dream career after suffering severe injuries from a bike ride that prevented him from joining SAS. After recovering he is given a chance with the Army Air Corps and decides takes it.

We are then introduced to the Apache itself and details of the awesome machine, some of which I hadn’t read about previously. It was interesting to read how the British improved on the American design, leaving the Americans themselves rather jealous.

Ed then moves onto the selection process and associated details with becoming a AH64 pilot. 6 months of learning how to fly it, 6 months to learn how to fight in it and then another 6 months to be passed as ‘combat ready’. One thing that intrigued me was how Ed detailed some of the physical capabilities the pilots must have. One of these was the ability to use both of your eyes individually.

The book then moves onto the authors time in deployment and eventually onto the Jugroom Fort rescue of a soldier, which definitely was one of the more climatic parts of the book. The rescue led to the author, Ed Macy being awarded the Military Cross – one of the first in the Army Air Corps’ history.

After reading the book, I did a search on YouTube for Apaches and actually came across some real footage of the Jugroom Fort rescue, captured by a gun camera on board one of the Apaches. Seeing this footage certainly helped to visualise what was written about in the book a lot more.

Over all I found it a great read filled with drama, action and a bit of humour as well. I Recommended reading this one.