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Lance Armstrong's War: One Man's Battle Against Fate, Fame, Love, Death, Scandal, and a Few Other Rivals on the Road to the Tour de France (平装)
by Daniel Coyle
| Category:
Biography, Personal improvement, Success, Inspiration |
| Market price: ¥ 168.00
MSL price:
¥ 138.00
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| Stock:
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
A superb and laudatory portrait of a driven man who has become perhaps the greatest of the many great champions of the Tour. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 8 items |
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Tom Bruno (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
I've managed to read most all of the recent books written by or about Lance. I found this to be the most compelling read of any of them - the one book you should read if anything about the Tour de France, bike racing or Lance Armstrong interests you.
This book is the most up-to-date one - it refers to the 04 Tour - his sixth victory. More importantly it gives insight into the Sheryl Crow affect, tangentially addresses the divorce and touches a bit upon Lance's pending (post 7th win) decision to leave the sport.
More importantly, this book is well written. It has a logical order (some are missing this such as the Barry book), it reads briskly (similar to 23 Days), offers insight into the man (though not as in depth as Lance's own missives).
Better still - it paints a very realistic, believable picture of what Lance is and isn't. This isn't a "rah rah Lance" book - there are times when it becomes VERY apparent that Lance isn't just "hard to work for" but just HOW HARD he is to work for (and with, and near, and against, and at all...).
Coyle had a lot of access to Lance's world apparently. He was looked at in a somewhat guarded manner and had to earn real access over time. He shared everything with Lance's folks before publication so they could comment (too cozy?) but I got a sense they didn't get him to pull out all the stuff they might have wanted him to have left out. For instance, some of the footnotes contain info that is pointed and directed at Lance's less-than-hero like qualities.
All in all I found this to be the best book written about Lance as it seems to be the most balanced, well-written, recent account of the man.
Lance asks Coyle during one of their last interviews, presumably after Coyle had done all of the digging and fact checking... "so how do you feel about me now". In some ways I think Coyle includes that (relatively early in the book itself) as a "challenge" to the reader - he is almost asking you to consider that same question yourself as you read along.
Myself? I was a fan of Lance the athlete and the cancer survivor/advocate but not a loony who would camp out at his door in hopes he'd touch my head or hand and I'd be saved.
I now respect Lance for what he really is... a human being with the same character flaws as many of us, the same feelings and fears that drive us to some measure of success/failure. Lance may be a lot of things (super athlete, physiolocial anamoly who is capable of things 99.9999% of the rest of the world isn't, a devoted father, a divorcee, a survivor of his parents and their issues,..). Above all he is one of us - he makes mistakes, he is insecure, he is normal.
And that is what makes him all the more admirable. After this book I like Lance just the same but for different, more compelling reasons. I also like Daniel Coyle - I'm off to read his other books. |
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Earls (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
This is the almost perfect little summer read.
Coyle's investigations into Lance Inc and the sport of cycling are insightful and ring true as a bell - at least to this fanatic follower of European cycling for the past 20 years. Engagingly written, bright, witty - keeps you turning the pages.
Coyle captures the sport and some of its outsized characters perfectly. This is a great book for those who find the sport confusing - which most Americans should (and do).
That said, there is good investigative reporting and good event reporting, and Coyle falls down on the reporting of the 2004 Tour de France. Perhaps he should have read some of the old great race reports and perspectives (Sam Abt, for example) and reported as they did, with a sense of perspective for the day's event. Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen are the current owners of great daily race reporting in English, and Coyle doesn't do well by comparison. Fewer details about the 2004 would have made the book better, because, Surprise! when this one is published we already know who has won and how he's won it. |
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Andy Orrock (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
Daniel Coyle is a former editor at Outside magazine and a two-time National Magazine Award finalist, and that pedigree shows itself in spades in his riveting book Lance Armstrong's War. The book reads like one of one of those tightly written magazine articles that catches your interest and locks you in for the duration...except that this 'article' happens to extend for 325 pages. Never once do you say to yourself "okay, this part is boring, let's move on." Chapter after chapter fascinates, whether it’s about Armstrong, his mother and latest husband (archly referred to as Mr. Four/Five by the clever Mr. Coyle), "the nicest guy Tyler Hamilton," "the notorious Dr. Michele Ferrari," Floyd Landis, Sheryl Crow, etc., etc... it's all here in can't-put-it-down, exquisitely observed, juicy detail.
What comes out is a balanced picture of Armstrong, who lords over the proceedings as a dominating force. By all accounts, this is a very, very complicated man, someone with this "huge life" (aptly put by close observers) who not only doesn't get steamrolled by this swirling mass around him but, rather, directs it, pushes it and elevates it. The essence of the Armstrong persona is captured perfectly by an early training partner who - once on the outs like so many others - says (talking of the relationship between Armstrong and mother) "It's the anger they have, that's the bad thing and the good thing, because it's what created the whole package." That's the theme Coyle adroitly mines over and over: you can't be Lance Armstrong and have a soft-edge, can't we all get along personality. You're going to break some crockery. Or, in Armstrong's case, a lot of crockery.
If you've got even a casual interest in what made and drives Lance Armstrong, Daniel Coyle's book is something you cannot skip. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
Lance Armstrong's War, by Daniel Coyle, provides interesting insights into the seven-time Tour de France champion, his team mates and competitors, and many aspects of the sport that he has so thoroughly dominated in recent years.
This wealth of information is delivered in the context of the story of Armstrong's sixth Tour victory (in 2004) and the events leading up to it. The current edition also includes an Afterword touching on the 2005 season and Lance's ultimate victory.
The picture of Armstrong that emerges is one of limitless talent, relentless dedication, and compulsive attention to detail. It is a profile of greatness; larger than life in every respect. It is interesting to see the many ways in which Lance's leadership and drive positioned the entire US Postal team at a level beyond that of the competition.
Coyle does a good job conveying the intense vibe and pageantry of the Tour de France. An event poorly understood by most Americans comes to life through the reading of this book.
Unfortunately, however, at times the author seems to forget that this is a book about sports, as he lapses into flowery and grandiloquent prose. Here is an example:
"Each morning, even in winter, the European continent looks as if it is simmering over a cookfire. Not one big fire, but a thousand tiny blazes exhaling threads of smoke and steam until everything is bathed in a white-gray haze. The haze rolls over the countryside, filling hollows, flowing over the steeples of the thousand sleepy villages that float in and out of view like so many ghost towns, half dissolved in the heat of the modern world."
And then, on occasion, he goes totally over the top, for instance as he describes Jan Ulrich's pursuit of Armstrong in Stage 10 of the 2004 Tour:
"Ullrich took up his usual post on Armstrong's wheel, cruising with an aquatic stillness, his mouth open. He did not seem to breathe as much as filter-feed, the pink mollusk of tongue stirring sleepily."
Any idea what "an aquatic stillness" looks like? Beats me. And do we really need to know that Ulrich's tongue looks like a pink mollusk?
But, these literary lapses aside, Lance Armstrong's War makes for enjoyable and informative reading, worthy of a solid four star recommendation. |
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M. Fletcher (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
This is such a great read! Daniel Coyle had extremely good access to Lance Armstrong and his teammates during the 2005 Tour de France and yet he has written a book that doesn't seem like a toadying recollection but rather a sincere examination of the team's dynamics and the star around whom they all orbit. And it is absolutely packed to the seams with little telling stories and vignettes, not just about the Discovery Team, but about the competitors and the cast of thousands who support the teams and the Tour.
The friendships are nearly as intense as the rivalries and the fortunes of both sway throughout the years, making an interesting patchwork of relationships as teams are formed and revised. In a sport that requires these folks to be both solitary and social, there is an acute awareness of the other participants and psychological games are tactical.
For those of us who have followed the Tour for years, Lance Armstrong comes off pretty much as expected. He is a driven character but not particularly complex or deeply reflective, yet he is quite likeable in a sort of self-centered teenage boy sort of way. And there is simply no diminishing his accomplishments, which are staggering.
The person who makes out best in this book, oddly enough, is Armstrong's "arch-nemesis" (at least in the American media), Jan Ullrich. He comes from a past every bit as daunting as anyone in sport today and he seems quite human, flawed, multidimensional and sympathetic.
Lest this sound like Lance Armstrong's War is just a gossipy "tell all", which it really isn't, I need to also mention that it gives a detailed account of the methods of training, the metrics, and the science of international bike racing. It is an enormous business and this book does a great job of examining both the sport and the people at its heart. |
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Chad Davies (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
In Daniel Coyle's book, Lance Armstrong's War, we get a set of moving pictures of the sport and culture of cycling as well as of the man who may well have redefined his sport for a generation.
As other reviewers have noted, Coyle moved to Girona Spain to get a better sense of the cycling culture that has grown up around the ever increasing presence of American cyclists and how Armstrong fits into this culture. This, to me, was the real strength of the book. Coyle looks deeply into the psychology of a demanding and oftentimes brutal sport by centering around the preparation for and racing of the Tour de France. He looks at the race's top contenders and shows how they prepare for what may be the most difficult sporting event contested.
What is very interesting is how hard it seems to be to pin down the subject of the book. We get a sense of Armstrong but what we begin to see through the eyes of those around him is that besides being an intensely competitive man, he's a very complex individual who is hard to get a handle on. We get a sense of his life but we don't always see what leads to it from an internal perspective.
Of all the books about cycling, this one probably gives the best insider view of the sport to date. For this reason I recommend the book. I just don't think you can get a better sense of the sport at the highest levels. |
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Mike (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
This book takes you behind the scenes and lets you see what the bike racing world was like for the top racer of our time. I'm sure Armstrong regrets giving Coyle access because the book is honest but not a puff piece. He shows Armstrong, warts, and all. His courage, his work ethic, but also the darker side where he is merciless towards those he feels have crossed him (no doubt including Coyle after the book). Armstrong is amazing, but all too human and not a g*d. I bet the book ruffled a few feathers in Armstrong's entourage because it showed the dismissive way they treated him mom's latest husband. And it was prescient because it was written last summer and yet predicted the relationship with Sheryl Crow wouldn't last, and sure enough it cratered last week. |
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Kevin Lynds (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
I am not a cyclist enthusiast, but became kind of a fan of Armstrong after reading It's Not About the Bike. This is a different type of book. Where that one focused on his upbringing, his passion for the sport and of course his battle with cancer, this book focuses on one tour year. Mr. Coyle was the embedded and welcomed author traveling around with Armstrong's team, which gave him access to much of his life during the tour. A lot of the book focused on the competition Lance faced and it was very interesting how each rider's style was broken down, what his strengths and weaknesses were and most interesting, what their "tells" were (the small, sometimes imperceivable hints that show others that he is starting to break down in a race). This ultimately is when he is "attacked". The best part of the book was the physiology part regarding Lance, his body type and the attributes he has that has allowed him to repeatedly win the Tour. It was this scientific look at the kilowatts he generates per stroke of the pedal, the fact that his body does not produce lactic acid on the scale of the normal person, how his lungs are more efficient as well as his heart, etc, that I personally found to me the most interesting. The author also deals with the steroid controversy, its authors and how Lance deals with it and the repeated testing he is subjected too.
Again, even if you have a minor interest in what it takes to win the Tour, or life on the Tour, or Lance himself, you will most likely enjoy this book. It is not as moving as "Not About the Bike", or as strong of a story, but it is a different story that is both entertaining and educational. |
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1 Total 1 pages 8 items |
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