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It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life (平装)
by Lance Armstrong, Sally Jenkins
| Category:
Motivation, Sports, Biography, Personal Success |
| Market price: ¥ 170.00
MSL price:
¥ 148.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
An awesomely inspirational tale of faith and persistence, this is a book not only about bike, but about being a winner in life. |
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AllReviews |
  1 2 Total 2 pages 14 items |
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Don Spencer (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
As someone dealing with a cancer diagnosis myself, my motivation in reading this book is obvious. I wasn't disappointed. Lance, as a cancer survivor, delivers a story which inspires both admiration and emulation.
From his first descriptions of his tenacious and spirited mother to the account of the birth of his son Luke, Armstrong provides the requisite insight into the aspects of his character which drove him to become one of the world's most impressive and honorable athletes. Central to the climactic winning of the 1999 Tour de France (and the follow-up encore of 2000) is his battle with testicular cancer, his recovery, the loss and eventual recovery of love of his sport, his indefatigable will to win, and the amazing loyalty of his friends and family.
His survival story, like his early wins of the Tour de France, is as much about the team surrounding him as the intensity of his own personal efforts.
If there is anything about the book which bothered me at all, it was the nagging curiosity about the role of his co-writer, Sally Jenkins. When I read autobiography, I assume the imagery, metaphors, plot development, and narrative structure come directly from the author, not the co-author or ghost writer. I couldn't help but wonder how much of what I was reading was the product of Sally Jenkin's creativity and how much was owing directly to Lance.
But whatever the answer to that question might be, this book remains one of the best choices available for anyone whose life has been touched by cancer. |
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A. Kane (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
This is a fantastic book, much more than just a biography of the world's best (and most famous) cyclist. Lance Armstrong provides a heartfelt look at his amazing life, including his cycling feats (of course), growing up without a father, his illness, treatment, and recovery from cancer, his struggles to have a child (wife's vitro fertilization), and more. He outlines his triumphs and challenges, setbacks and victories in a compelling and interesting manner. I'm a martial artist not a cyclist and frankly have very little interest in the sport. Regardless, I could not help but be inspired by this fascinating book. |
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Andrew Johns (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
This was much better written than many celebrity autobiographies, and provides a compelling view into the struggle required to overcome cancer. We begin with Lance's somewhat troubled childhood and his early successes on the bicycle before we delve into the real meat of this book, his fight against the cancer that almost took his life. Armstrong is quite candid about personality flaws and early bad behavior, which provides an air of honesty that makes this book all the more powerful. His comeback to the pinnacle of the bicycle racing world is truly remarkable, but given his personality, perhaps it shouldn't surprise us as much as it does. Here is a remarkable athlete, and a man who appreciates the second chance he's been given. A truly inspirational and enlightening book. |
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A kid's review (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
How would you like to be stuck in a hospital bed, vomiting for three months? Lace Armstrong led a normal life as a kid. He never knew his real birth father, he just knew his name. His mother remarried twice, becoming single in the end. Her first husband was mean to Lance for the worst reasons. If Lance left a sock hanging out of his drawer, he would meet the paddle. From elementary to middle school Lance was not athletic. He never excelled in any of the sports that involve a ball. In high school he finally discovered swimming. He wasn't very good, but he hired a coach that made him the best in the state. There was a running race at school. His Mom gave him a silver dollar for good luck, and told him he was racing the clock, not the people. Lance won first place in that. There was a bike shop on his block, where he got his first bike. Amazingly, he was a natural. When other kids challenged him for a race, he wouldn't just beat them, he would whoop them. Later on, he decided to enter a triathlon. He won against people in their 30's, he was in high school. Lance entered in Triathlons all around the States, he was soon the best… After he was diagnosed with cancer, he went to three hospitals. He decided to take kemo at the Valpo University Hospital in Indiana. They were the only people who changed the operation so he could get back on the bike. The cancer had spread from his lungs to his brain. First they preformed surgery on his brain, removing the non-spreading tumors. Then through a period of 3 months he under-went massive kemo. When it was over he married a woman named Kristen (Kik). After that he proceeded to France where he entered in a bike race to make a come-back. Very soon he dropped out of the race not sure if he really wanted to cycle for the rest of his life. After lots of encouragement, and training, he finally entered in the Tour de France. He obviously won with flying colors. Not soon after, Kik was pregnant with their first child Luke. After he was born, Lance entered in yet another Tour de France, winning again. He now decided to train for the Olympics. Unfortunately, while training he broke his neck. While it was healing he still trained, but he wasn't strong enough to win the Olympics...he took home the bronze. This was an educational, entertaining, and inspiring book to read, and I would recommend it to anyone.
This book had a lot of action in it. Lance was training so intensely, that sometimes it was more action filled to read about him training than it was to read about him in the race. During his second Tour de France there was a man that called himself "Pirate" that was always hot on Lance's tail. On one race to the finish line (for a stage) Lance said that he would let him beat him, but the man thought he said something else. They ended up sprinting to the finish, each insulting the other horribly. When Lance was a young rider, he wasn't very polite. During races, you would read about him cussing people out then zipping past him. Actually, that happened in all of his young races.
This book also made me worry a lot. I worried about if Lance would make it, or if he'd die. One time during the Tour de France, a spectator stepped out. Lance barely missed him almost costing him a few seconds. Or when Lance broke his neck, not many people live after breaking their neck.
This book was also fun to read. As I said before Lance did a lot of cussing before he had cancer. Like in the Tour of the Mediterranean, Lance cussed out a greatly known Italian biker Moreno Argentin. It was fun to read about the times when the doctor came in to say "Our last ex-ray shows there is no more cancer left in your body." Or when Lance finally got back on his bike after surviving cancer. He went through a trauma after cancer, and he wanted to retire, but when he went on a bike ride one day and realized that he loved biking it was very cool.
I enjoyed this book so much, it was funny, I learned things from it, and it made me want to do things I never thought I would or could do. |
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1 2 Total 2 pages 14 items |
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