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What book are you currently reading, or recommend?



Just sayin: I read this book about a month ago and really got a new appreciation for "the man in the hat":

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1) Good book, I didn't realize that CC Sabathia was addicted to alcohol as bad as he was. Addiction and heart problems ran in his family. Overall it was probably even worse than he let on in the book too. It did appear that he left a lot of (even more potentially) bad stuff out. He knew sports was his only chance in life and fortunately he caught the brass ring when it went by, and didn't let go or have it taken away. He also was fortunate to have met Amber who he eventually married. She stuck with him through a lot of rough times.

2) Great wrestling book. He just wanted to be a professional wrestler all his life. Tells about his life and a lot about what went on behind the scenes in professional wrestling.

3) OK, book. Lightening stuck and the back up QB won a SuperBowl and was the MVP. Unfortunately his NFL career was always primarily a backup QB. However, eventually he accepted that fate. He does bring as lot of his religion into the book. It's almost more of an "accept Jesus as your savoir" book than a football player's biography.
 
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Both are good books. Year Of The Rocket was probably better tough. The CFL doesn't get a lot of press in the US so it was interesting to read what actually went on with Raghib "The Rocket" Ismail. I liked Serena's book; I gained a new respect for her "Daddy". It was just amazing what he accomplished in developing 2 of his 5 daughters into the world's #1 female tennis player, etc. The competition/relationship between her and Venus was interesting too. I do feel that the book was "kind of incomplete". She skipped over a lot of material and hardly ever mentioned anything that would have a "negative reflection" on her or her family, etc. (however, that is typical of most of the athlete's bios that I have read).
 
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Both are good books. Year Of The Rocket was probably better tough. The CFL doesn't get a lot of press in the US so it was interesting to read what actually went on with Raghib "The Rocket" Ismail. I liked Serena's book; I gained a new respect for her "Daddy". It was just amazing what he accomplished in developing 2 of his 5 daughters into the world's #1 female tennis player, etc. The competition/relationship between her and Venus was interesting too. I do feel that the book was "kind of incomplete". She skipped over a lot of material and hardly ever mentioned anything that would have a "negative reflection" on her or her family, etc. (however, that is typical of most of the athlete's bios that I have read).
I remember what a HUGE deal it was when Ismail signed with the Argonauts. People may not remember just how big of a deal Rocket Ismail was. This was back when ND was the biggest thing going in CFB and the full force of their NBC media machine was behind him. He was widely regarded as the potential #1 overall pick in that 1991 draft. A star that big passing on the NFL to go play in Canada was a monumental story.
 
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Finished this one. Terrifying read, mostly because it does not feel like fiction.
 
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Just read "Challenger" the story of the space shuttle program including obviously the Challenger disaster. If you don't like reading, I would recommend the Netflix series.

I remember as a kid hearing about cold weather + O-rings = BAD.

But I had no idea that the engineers for the company that made the solid rocket boosters voted against launching as they were worried about cold temperatures and the effect it would have on the O-rings. But NASA and management pressed ahead because they were sick of continued delays with shuttle launches and they wanted to prove they could launch 20-30 times per year. Literally management told the lead engineer - you need to take off your engineering hat, and put on your management hat. And he caved. And the astronauts died.
 
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Just read "Challenger" the story of the space shuttle program including obviously the Challenger disaster. If you don't like reading, I would recommend the Netflix series.

I remember as a kid hearing about cold weather + O-rings = BAD.

But I had no idea that the engineers for the company that made the solid rocket boosters voted against launching as they were worried about cold temperatures and the effect it would have on the O-rings. But NASA and management pressed ahead because they were sick of continued delays with shuttle launches and they wanted to prove they could launch 20-30 times per year. Literally management told the lead engineer - you need to take off your engineering hat, and put on your management hat. And he caved. And the astronauts died.
Morton-Thiokol from Utah correct?

They knew what would happen.
 
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Morton-Thiokol from Utah correct?

They knew what would happen.

Yes. The boosters are reusable and engineers from M-T could see when they examined the boosters that fell to the ocean that there was unexpectedly damage to the O-rings. And the flight the previous year which was launched under the coldest temperatures to date had the most damage which led them to worry that cold temperatures had something to do with it.

The crazy thing is that after the explosion when the US government organized a commission / hearings to investigate, executives from M-T deliberately lied about the concerns of the engineers. One guy was even asked if there any internal discussions about not to launch and he said nope. At which point Allan McDonald who was in the room raised his hand and said there was:

 
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I'd rank the books in this order:
1. Ricky Henderson: Interesting bio, he's undoubtedly the all time greatest lead off batter in MLB. He always played with a "I'm not paid enough" chip on his shoulder which is one reason he played on so many differents team during his MLB career. His career stats were "legendary". A guy famously said that you could cut him in half and have 2 HOF players. Apparently he could have been even better as he was accused of "slacking off" at times. He was born a decade or two too early. His "swagger" wasn't appreciated back then and just after his career peaked the baseball salaries really escalated with free agency. He did make $44M over 25 years; but just think how much a player with his ability would be making today.
2. Tony Stewart: His bio, all he ever wanted to be was a race car diver.
3. Dale Earnhardt, Jr: This book just give an honest account of his concussion issues.
4. Carlos Boozer: He has no regrets on how he screwed over the Cavaliers. Interesting that (like Serans William's parents see book in earlier post) his parents scarified a lot to develop his basketball skills at a very young age.
 
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