About this title: Lance Armstrong won the 1999 Tour de France in spectacular style, taking four stages and both a mountain and a time trial. His story is even more remarkable because he was diagnosed with stage 4 testicular cancer in October 1996.
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Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Putnam
Date Published: 01/2000
ISBN-13:9780399146114ISBN:0399146113
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Good, In good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 288 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Penguin Putnam
Date Published: 01/2000
ISBN-13:9780399146114ISBN:0399146113
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Good, In good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 288 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Penguin Putnam
Date Published: 01/2000
ISBN-13:9780399146114ISBN:0399146113
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 288 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, NY
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780399146114ISBN:0399146113
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Gently read hardcover with dustjacket in very good condition. NO writing, highlighting, or dog eared pages. Spine lean noted. UNCLIPPED DJ shows light edge wear. read more
"A quick but inspiring read, Lance Armstrong discusses his childhood, his life pre-cancer, his battle with fighting the disease and eventually, his comeback to cycling, which eventually lead to his second win of the Tour de France. I think he is an incredible athlete and it was very interesting to learn how is body is suited for cycling and how the scars of childhood helped create his burning competitive intensity. It is very touching to see how cancer impacted Lance and shaped him in some ways. The medical stuff was pretty fascinating to read about, his cancer was much more severe than I ever realized. The book is raw and emotional and he shares some intimate moments (the birth of his son) and startling experiences (being dropped from his health insurance). I really enjoyed this and would definitely recommend it.
Favorite Quote: We are so much stronger than we imagine. And belief is one of the most valiant and long-lived human characteristics. To believe when all along we humans know that nothing can cure the briefness of this life, that there is no remedy for our basic mortality. That is a form of bravery.
Dispiritedness and disappointment, these were the real perils of life..."
"Books written by celebrities about themselves are not something I seek out. But the Tour de France is one of the few sporting events I will watch on T.V. if I don't have to go to any effort. So I was intrigued about a man who fought an extremely nasty type of cancer, and then went on to win the Tour de France seven times. A friend who bicycled across the United States and all around Scotland, not surprisingly, had a copy, so I borrowed it.
I don't feel that Mr. Armstrong glossed over anything about himself in order to make himself look good. I was impressed with a certain degree of deprecation about the shallowness of his pre-cancer self. And he makes no attempt to conceal how HARD he works! He does not try to make it sound like it was easy or no big deal. His tone was extremely appreciative of the people in his life, and very grateful for everything he has. As "inspiring stories" go, this is pretty good. And the writing is agreeable. Ms. Jenkins seems to have done a pretty good job with Mr. Armstrong's almost jerky descriptions of events and, what seems like, his bounding from topic to topic. I would not hesitate to recommend it to a friend in need of a pick-me-up. And I really enjoy his descriptions of the torture that is the Tour de France."
"This is a great book for guys to read. I'm not being sexist because I recommend the book for women to read as well, but males like the book much more than females.
I've always found Armstrong to be extremely arrogant and self centered, so I read this book to see if I could find another side to him. I still feel he is arrogant, but after reading this book, I feel that Armstrong does what he does more for himself than for the limelight (yet I do believe he does it for attention, too).
Armstrong is a driven man - that book shows this, and his single minded ambition (it is ambition!) nearly cost him his life because he couldn't take the time to stop biking to find out what was medically wrong with him until it was almost too late. I find it sad that he is so one dimensional (yes, he loves his family, but everything is so small to him in comparison to his passion for cycling).
There is a lot of medical jargon/descriptions in this story - not for the faint of heart!"
"Let's get one thing straight...one simply does not go into this book thinking Lance's writing and syntax is going to flow like Proust or Faulkner. So disregard reviews finding fault with this book on that point. However, one does go into this book expecting to read about how Lance beat cancer, blah blah blah, won the Tour de France, blah blah blah. And yes, to an extent, that is what this book is about.
However, it's about a lot more. It will scare you (I swear one of my boys started hurting while reading this book), it will kind of gross you out, and most importantly it will (should) make you want to get out their and bust your ass doing something physical and/or meaningful. Lance doesn't mince words when speaking of his freakish athletic ability, or the fact he thoroughly enjoys putting himself through physically strenuous workouts. I mean, hell, it's what the guy does for a living.
So ignore the reviews who whine and complain, "Lance is so cocky, Lance is so full of himself, Lance is so..." you get the point. You know what you're getting yourself into when you buy this book, and honestly, be glad you did...it's a damn good book."
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