The Athlete's Bookstore
The Athlete's Bookstore __ _ _______________________________________ _ __
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__| | | | | THE ATHLETE'S BOOKSTORE BOOKNOTES | | | | |__
/ /| | | | | January 97 | | | | |\ \
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/ / | | | | | http://www.stevenscreek.com/books | | | | | \ \
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IN THIS ISSUE:
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o The Ultimate Guide To Marathons by Dennis Craythorn and Rich Hanna
o Two Wheels: a Cycling Murder Mystery by Greg Moody
o The Front Runner and Harlan's Race by Patricia Nell Warren
o The Athlete's Diary: Latest Review
HOT OFF THE PRESS
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THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO MARATHONS by Dennis Craythorn and Rich Hanna
($19.95)
If you're a marathoner or would-be marathoner who travels to races,
this brand-new book is just the thing you're looking for - a
treasure-trove of information about the 180 top marathons in North
America. The authors, both of whom are runners (Hanna is a
national-class marathoner and ultrarunner), provide ratings and
extensive details on all the marathons you're likely to be considering.
For the top-rated 100, the information you'll find includes:
o Ratings on:
o Course beauty
o Course difficulty
o Appropriateness for first timers
o Race organization
o Crowds
o Highlights
o Course descriptions (with some pictures)
o Elevation profiles (for 43 of the courses)
o Full race information
o Date (for '97 and '98)
o Contact information
o Start time and course closing time
o Number of participants
o Course records
o Cost
o Typical temperatures
o Crowd/runner support
o Race logistics
o Activities
o Awards
o Accomodations
o Related events/races
o Area attractions (not a substitute for a local guidebook, of course)
o Local running stores
o And more!
As you can see it's pretty much everything you need to know about North
American marathons. True, you can find similar information about some of
these races on the Web (although usually provided by a biased source,
i.e., the race organizers). But nowhere else can you find all this
information in one place, in an attractively designed 344-page book.
There's even a contest to win a trip to the Maui Marathon in 1998. In
principle there's "no purchase necessary," but we're sworn to secrecy
about where to mail your entry so you'll have to buy the book :-) .
We do have a few quibbles with the book. Race management ratings are
compressed in the scale of 6-10, with the vast majority being 8-10, so
there's not much discrimination between really well-organized races and
ones which are less so. Disney World, for example, a race which has been
criticized by many people, is rated "10-". The reader will be left
wondering if this goes hand-in-hand with the fact that scattered
throughout the book are a half-dozen full page ads for different
marathons, one of which is Disney World.
Also, the order of the races is puzzling at first, until you realize
it's chronological (sort of - Big Sur on April 27 is listed before
Boston on April 21!). This is fine if you're looking for a good fall
marathon, but if you're looking for a particular race, you'll have to
turn to the Index. Fortunately the authors do provide a good Index,
listing all the races both in alphabetical order, as well as by state
or province.
But these are minor quibbles. If you're looking for the right first
marathon, or looking to qualify for Boston, or just planning a vacation
(or two or three) around marathons, this book is a great new resource.
NEW IN THE BOOKSTORE
--------------------
TWO WHEELS: A CYCLING MURDER MYSTERY by Greg Moody ($12.95)
This cycling novel came out last year but we've just gotten around to
reading it. Very enjoyable! It's subtitled "A Cycling Murder Mystery"
but for those of you familiar with Columbo it's really like that - the
lead detective even thinks of himself as Columbo. The mystery isn't so
much whodunit, or why, but when and how will they be caught, and what
other evil deeds will they have done before then.
As with the Columbo example, American cultural influences in France
figure throughout the book - Melrose Place, Beavis and Butthead, and
many others make an appearance. But the big issue is the influence of
American sports and American sports marketing on the place of cycling
in the European sports world. Concerns for "return on investment" are
causing the sponsor of one of the leading cycling teams in Europe to
contemplate killing off the team. Unfortunately someone seems to be
taking that term too literally.
Will Ross, a recently retired American cyclist, is hired to fill an
empty spot on the team; no one really expects him to do much. But Will
becomes the central figure in the action, as the team fights to retain
its honor on the road, and to find out who wants it stopped. You'll go
along with Will as he trains through the cold, wet French winter, and
rides in legendary races like the Ruta del Sol, Het Volk, and the Tour
of Flanders, all the way though the climax on the track at Roubaix at
the end of a "Sunday in Hell."
The other cycling novel we sell, THE YELLOW JERSEY, was written 25
years ago. It was described by Bicycling Magazine as "the greatest
cycling novel ever written." We can't compare the two yet, not having
read THE YELLOW JERSEY, but for sure the fact that TWO WHEELS was
published last year and is set in the present will add to its relevance
and enjoyment for today's readers.
If you're a bike racer, you'll love TWO WHEELS. Even if you're not,
chances are you will too. Some of the plot twists toward the end of the
book are a bit implausible, but they won't detract from your enjoyment,
and we pretty much guarantee this is a book you won't put down.
THE FRONT RUNNER and HARLAN'S RACE by Patricia Nell Warren ($12.95 @)
THE FRONT RUNNER is possibly the best-selling running novel of all time
- over ten million copies have been sold since it was written in 1974.
Of course, "pure" running novels don't sell that many copies - THE
FRONT RUNNER is also a gay novel, reflecting the pre-AIDS, Gay Pride
era in which it was written. Billy Sive is gay, proud, and an Olympic
hopeful in the 5000 and 10000 meter run. He and two other gay runners
are thrown out of the University of Oregon, and end up at tiny Prescott
College, where track coach Harlan Brown is tough, conservative, and
hiding from his past. It won't be spilling any great secret to let you
know that he and Billy become lovers.
THE FRONT RUNNER is the story of how Billy trains for the Olympics,
and, more centrally, the story of his relationship with his coach and
their relationship with society. For runners, there's lots of great
running, both training and racing. There's also quite a bit of "running
politics" - the book was written in the era when issues of "amateurism"
and control of athletes by the AAU was a central issue. Also central to
the book is the gay lifestyle and activities of the protagonists, and
their confrontations as openly gay people and athletes with the rest of
the world.
The book does contains a fair amount of fairly explicit descriptions of
gay (male) sex, which will make the book not suited to every reader's
taste. If that doesn't bother you (or if it interests you), however,
then you'll love this book. It's a classic.
HARLAN'S RACE is the sequel, written twenty years later in 1994. It
tells the story of Harlan Brown after Billy Sive is no longer part of
his life. Running is part of the novel, and figures centrally in the
climax, but it's much more in the background than in THE FRONT RUNNER.
This is really more of a murder mystery novel, and again very much a
gay novel, i.e., a novel about gay lives through the seventies and
eighties. As in THE FRONT RUNNER, there are some fairly explicit
descriptions of sexual activities, although as a "post-AIDS" novel, the
sex in HARLAN'S RACE is not nearly as extensive.
Our suggestion - read THE FRONT RUNNER first. If you enjoy that, or if
you've already read it, then HARLAN'S RACE is a must-read. They're both
well-written "page turners." For another gay-themed novel, you might
want to look into Jenifer Levin's WATER DANCER. WATER DANCER is a novel
about a long-distance swimmer who happens to be gay. Gay readers will
certainly get a special enjoyment out of it, but unlike Nell Warren's
books, it is not primarily about being gay.
THE ATHLETE'S DIARY: SHAMELESS PLUG
-----------------------------------
Some of you are users of our software, THE ATHLETE'S DIARY; others are
not. Although TAD is a software log you can start any day of the year,
it is still true that most people start their logs on January 1, so
now's the time to consider switching to a computer-based log if you
haven't already. We won't fill this newsletter with all the reasons why
it's great software, since at our Web site http://www.stevenscreek.com
you can find complete details about the software, excerpts from dozens
of published reviews and letters and e-mails we've received from our
users, and a fully-functional trial copy of the software (limited only
in that you can only enter 25 workouts into the log) - Macintosh,
Windows, and even DOS versions are available.
We will, however, quote the very latest review (VeloNews, January 13,
1997), because it so accurately reflects our own concept of why THE
ATHLETE'S DIARY is so popular with our users:
"The most important characteristic of any diary - paper or
electronic - is that it gets used. No matter how many bells
and whistles come with a program, if it is simply too much
hassle to use then it's worthless. Try to determine what
features you need and try to ignore those you are not likely
to use. After trying several, the one we ended up using the
most was the smallest and simplest. "The Athlete's Diary," by
Stevens Creek Software, takes up a scant 350k of disk space
and can work on even the most outdated machine. But more
importantly, the program allows you to record relevant
information quickly and be done with it. Data are recorded
in straight ASCII text so the files can be accessed by
virtually any computer and program - a point to consider if
you plan on storing years of data electronically in an age
when processors and operating systems change with some
frequency." - Charles Pelkey
Remember that users of THE ATHLETE'S DIARY get a 10% discount on books
purchased from The Athlete's Bookstore.
