Product Description
The author of The Jordan Rules chronicles the sequence of events that brought Michael Jordan back to the NBA and to his present position as the Bulls's most valuable and demanding player. Reprint. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A very revealing book
I agree with back and forth. People who slam the book are biased. MJ has a good and bad side, and the people who whine are probably his fans or have shares in his company. The problem is players from different eras can't be compared. How do you compare Oscar Robertson to Earvin Johnson? You can't...but you can compare them relative to the players in their era, to players they played against, and compare their relative greatness to the relative greatness to the players from other eras. Compare Michael to others relative to his contribution of others...don't just compare scoring, or Dominique Wilkins would be surely better than Bill Russell...only a misinformed or ignorant NBA basketball fan would think something as preposterous as that. Kudos for Sam Smith and taking off the kid gloves. If the book is all trash journalism, why didn't Michael sue for slander or defamation of character? There must be some truth to it.

back and forth
I have mixed feelings about Michael Jordan.On the one hand, he is a great athlete.I respect his work ethic.He has turned in a number of great performances and is no doubt one of the greatest to have ever played the game of basketball.

There is a flipside.Michael Jordan got allkinds of special treatment while he was in the NBA.He was the firstplayer I noticed who was granted all kinds of trips to the charity stripebecause of unbelievably, ticky tack calls.He scored at least ten points agame at the free throw line from bogus calls.It was great when there wasa picture session for 'greats of the game' with Larry Bird, Magic Johnson,and Michael Jordan.Magic told Larry not to stand too close to Michael orthey might call a foul.In front of reporters and television viewers, thatwas a classic comment by Magic.I believe Mike got 99% of all calls in hisfavor because he was such a cash cow for the NBA.Dominique Wilkins wasrobbed of a slam dunk championship when Mike scored a perfect 50 doing thesame dunk Dr. J did years before.I doubt Dr. J ever received a perfect 50for it.Dominique's dunk was much more impressive, and he received a 49.5. Please.Mike got in a fight with Reggie Miller, and only Miller gotsuspended at first.Only after there was an outcry did Mike get suspended. How are Mike's punches different?Mike elbowed Kevin Johnson to theground for all to see, and Kevin was called for blocking!

I am not tooimpressed that the bulls beat the lakers in the NBA finals.Magic wasdouble teamed every game every minute he was in.On top of that, JamesWorthy and Byron Scott were injured.Magic and Larry never won threechampionships in a row because the competition, teams, and players in the80s were much better than the nineties.Luc Longley, Will Perdue, BillCartwright, or Bill Wennington stopping Kareem?Ha!

Sport Magazinerecently had a piece on the ten greatest moments and ten greatest playersever in the NBA.Mike was ranked number one all time player.Kudos toMike for mentioning in 'For the love of the game' that to pick a"greatest ever" is impossible because of all the different erasand evolutions of basketball.The nineties bulls were given three of theten greatest moments in NBA history.This is just more Mike bias.Give mea break.There are hundreds of classic and amazing moments in NBA history. One of the moments picked was Mike beating the Jazz in the final minutesof his last game.He put his hand on Bryon Russel's backside and shovedhim out of the way.Then Mike made the game winnig shot.All eyes were onMike, but the ref did not make the obvious call.

There is also Mike'sarrogance.According to him, Wilt Chamberlain was a fluke eventhough Wiltwas a great all around player.He made a comment about Magic and Larryreaching a 'certain level of greatness' and that the two were not good ondefense.What?Are we talking about the same Larry Bird?Shaquille Onealis also much better and much improved than Mike gives him credit for.Shaqhas turned into a solid defender, passer, and he works hard at both ends ofthe floor.

Mike's corporate poster boy behavior is laughable.He didads for AT&T and then MCI.The Wayans family is also split between thetwo companies.Mike talked about the enviroment in Rayovac ads and thenpitches hot dogs?Mike is not the only athlete who will pitch anything andeverything to make millions.I wonder if Mike has checked into Nike'slabor practices.

Players like Mike and Charles Barkley soured me ontheNBA.Charles played like a thug and got away with it because he was astar.Plus, Charles insisted on wearing number 34 at Philadelphiaeventhough it was retired for NBA great Billy Cunningham.The startreatment and inflated egos has grown old, and that has turned a lot ofpeople off to sports.I miss the Lakers and Celtics match ups of the1980s.

Michael Jordan book review
"Second Coming:The Strange Odyssey of Michael Jordan - from Courtside to Home Plate and Back Again," by Sam Smith, is a biogarphy about Michael Jordan.It starts out a little before he won his first NBAchampionship with the Chicago Bulls.It tells about the seasons leading upto his retirement in October of 1993.Through that time, the author talksabout the next two seasons.It talks about Jordans' personality at thetime, and some of the problems he was having to deal with.It profilesJordans' gambling troubles and the troubles he was having with the media. This book is similar to the book "Tiger Woods:The Makings of aChampion."These two books are very similar because of their genre. They are both biographies about famous sports stars.The only differencebetween the two is that the Tiger Woods book talks more about his childhoodthan the Michael Jordan book does.I thought that this book was very good. I liked it because I really liked the structure of it.I thought that itwas really easy to read because it goes in a logical order.I think thatsince it has good order, this serves as a good model for writing.Therereally is not much imagery in the book because it is a biography.Ithought that this book was very good because it tells a lot of good stuffabout Michael Jordan'sprofessional career.I think that one thing thatthis book lacked was information on his personal life.I think that Icould have realated better to the story had there been more personal infoon him.I think that anybody who likes to follow Michael Jordan wouldenjoy this book very much.Overall I liked this book a lot and I hope toread more books by this author.

Tabloid trash disguised as sports journalism

There is a type of sports fan endemic to Chicago: guys whose formative years spanned decades of losing seasons, guys who never learned the ups of fandom, just the downs, until the only joy they could take from professional sports was the cynic's pleasure of having their low expectations fulfilled.Guys, I admit it, like me.When a winner does finally appear in a city like Chicago, these fans react like albino fish brought up into the sun from the lightless depths, blinking uncomprehendingly: they know something is happening, but nothing in their experience tellsthem how to react.The good news is that most of us recover from the shock after a year or two, and that most of us don't become professional sportswriters.Then again, there's Sam Smith.

Smith's "Second Coming" purports to be a hard-nosed examination of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls during Jordan's "retirement" from the NBA following the death of his father, Jordan's travails as a minor-league baseball player and subsequent return to basketball, with (at first) less-than spectacular results.A sequel to "The Jordan Rules", Smith's first uncensored-behind-the-scenes look at the Bulls during their early-'90's title runs, this book is both less shocking -- you only have to open any week's sports pages to realize that today's pro atheletes are not choirboys -- and more mean-spirited than its predecessor.

If Sam Smith were an NBA player, he'd be Bill Laimbeer:moderately talented, but cursed with a congenital inability to pass up a cheap shot (Smith takes gratuitous aim at everyone from the Bulls' TV announcers to Madonna) and the obnoxious habit of feigning bafflement that anyone would take offense (Smith is shocked, *shocked* that Jordan and others had less-than positive reactions to "The Jordan Rules").

There's no doubt that many aspects of professional sports are open to criticism, and Michael Jordan is no exception.But "Second Coming" provides little criticism and lots of tabloid-style dirt-dishing.Smith reports the facts of Jordan's gambling sprees (by far the most legitimate fan concern covered), but then sabotages his own credibility by mentioning every scurrilous rumor, most of them proven to be false, that followed those events and the shooting of James Jordan.I held on as Smith hammered away at his theme -- that Jordan was too old, too selfish, and too poor a leader for his comeback to be successful -- waiting for the "bonus chapter" (added to the paperback edition) on the Bulls' historic '95-'96 season.How would Smith explain his remarkable lack of predictive skills?He wouldn't, preferring instead to concentrate on the antics of Dennis Rodman.

If you want to know more about the dark side of professional sports, and maybe even do something about it, read Mike Lupica's scorching fan manifesto "Mad as Hell".If you want to read about Jordan and the Bulls, buy Bob Greene's sublime "Hang Time" and its sequel "Rebound".Lupica may be a bit overinflated and Greene a little too uncritical of his subject, but at least neither of them have forgotten the reasons why we started watching the game in the first place ... Read more

Product Description
In a materialist culture where the safest defense is apathy, ignorance, or surrender, Sam Smith offers a gleam of hope. Drawing from sources ranging from philosophy and anthropology to the Internet and rock zines, from Kierkegaard to Humphrey Bogart to Rage Against the Machine, the veteran journalist confronts despair and alienation and suggests an alternative path of integrity, passion, and personal rebellion. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

My response to reading Sam Smith's book, "Why Bother"
We live in difficult times for citizens who take seriously our responsibilities of active involvement with the policies and directions of "our" government. More and more it is clear that we are in a phase where the corporate interests own and direct the directions and programs undertaken in out name. Ordinary people have little or no power to influence policy. Likewise, the flow of information allowed to filter down through the mass media is more and more limited and controlled by the same forces, thus effectively silencing public debate of the most important issues. In "Why Bother" author, Sam Smith, honestly addresses this condition, dangerous to the very foundations of our democratic way of life, and he offers a variety of active responses enabling the citizen to envision a "life in a locked-down land".
This is not a pleasant book. It confronts the readers with a stark vision of where we are and describes ways of living in the face of that reality- in paths fashioned to maintain personal integrity and perhaps eventually engender social change as well. Smith offers no easy or quick solutions. The book is clear about the danger and destructiveness of the present path our institutionsare embarked upon and about the power ranked against genuine efforts of reform. Yet, for myself, I value my own and Sam Smith's effort to see social and political "reality" for what it is. It is refreshing to live with a clear and coherent vision of what the issues are, even if they be difficult and unpleasant ones. To live in a world of lies and ingenuineness, to be a helpless, witless target of government and media propaganda is not to be fully alive. For those who prefer to live in the light of this difficult truth, I highly recommend this book!

My response to reading Sam Smith's book, Why Bother
We live in difficult times to for citizens who take seriously the responsibilities of active involvement with the policies and directions of "our" government. More and more it is clear that we are in a phase where the corporate interests own and direct the directions and programs undertaken. Ordinary people have little or no power to influence policy. Likewise, the flow of information allowed to filter down through the mass media is more and more limited and controlled by the same forces thus effectively silencing the range of public debate. In Why Bother Sam Smith honestly addresses this condition, dangerous to the very foundations of our democratic way of life and offers a variety of active responses enabling one to envisiion "a life in a locked-down land".
This is not a pleasant book. It confronts its readers with a stark vision of where we are and the ways of living in the face of that reality- in paths fashioned to maintain integrity and eventually engender change are neither easy nor promising of quick solutions. It is clear about the danger and distructiveness of the present path our institutions are taking and about the power ranked against genuine efforts of reform. Yet, for myself, I value my own and Sam Smith's effort to see social and political "reality" for what it is. It is refreshing to live with a clear and coherent vision of what the issues are, even if they be difficult and unpleasant ones. To live in a world of lies and ingenuineness, to be a helpless witless target of government and media propaganda is not not be fully alive. For those who prefer to live in the light of this difficult truth, I highly recommend this book!

disturbing and confusing, but ultimately inspirational
After reading Sam Smith's online "Undernews" newsletter for some time, and being impressed with his analysis of current events, I bought this book.After two complete readings of the book I think I understand the gist of Smith's message -- but only after struggling with Smith's complex (and dismal) view of the current US political/social situation.I come away from my reading inspired to "bother" and to get involved in some of the ways that Smith suggests.

The following paragraph from the book's Introduction captures his theme well:

"Why bother?Only to be alive.Only to be real, to be made not just of what we acquire or do under instruction, but of what we think and do of our own free will.Only, Winston Churchill said, to fight while there is still a small chance so that we don't have to fight when there is none.Only to climb the rock face of risk and doubt in order to engage in the most extreme sport of all -- that of being a free and conscious human.Free and conscious even in a society that seems determined to reduce our lives to a barren pair of mandatory functions:consumption and compliance." ... Read more

Product Description

A SUPER TEAM...A SUPERSTAR...A SUPER EGO

The most gifted athlete ever to play the game, Michael Jordan rose to heights no basketball player had ever reached before. What drove Michael Jordan? The pursuit of team success...or of his own personal glory? The pursuit of excellence...or of his next multimillion-dollar endorsement? The flight of the man they call Air Jordan had been rocked by controversy. In The Jordan Rules, which chronicles the Chicago Bulls' first championship season, Sam Smith takes the #1 Bull by the horns to reveal the team behind the man...and the man behind the Madison Avenue smile. Here is the inside game, both on and off the court, including:

Product Description
How to rebuild our country so its politics aren't broken and its politicians aren't fixed. "Neither right nor left but ahead" is the only political course for maverick journalist Sam Smith in this entertaining, myth-busting guide to a new American crossover politics. Witty and profound, opinionated and informative, Smith has important things to say to politically disaffected Americans of all stripes. This primer gives hope that the coughing engines and stripped gears of American democracy can be made to work again if we can recover our can-do spirit and practice a politics of common sense and common decency combined with a search for common ground. In chapters such as "How to figure out why you need this book a diagnostic test for political deficit disorder," "How to stay alive a poker player's guide to the environment," "How to find things out despite the media and other obstacles," and "How to get along with other Americans living next to 250 million people who aren't quite like you," Smith conjoins hilarity and wisdom, education and provocation, giving us what we need to fix America and have a good time while we're at it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Wonderful take on modern society and politics
While you may not agree with Sam Smith's views or solutions, he does a wonderful job of showing what is wrong with the system in America.His book is full of great quotes and wonderful humor and offers hordes of ideasthat will make you optimistic about the future despite the large number ofdepressing points Smith brings up.He shows how America has worked in manyareas and how it has failed - most importantly though he offers loads ofsolutions on how to fix what's broken.A must-read for people on all sidesof the political spectrum, and especially for people apathetic about thepromise of politics.

Important reading for activists and ordinary Americans
Sam Smith's Great American Political Repair Manual talks a lot about lateral thinking. Lateral thinking is solving problems by coming up with non-traditional alternatives. Specifically, Sam Smith talks about political problems and lateral solutions. Smith gives both liberals and conservatives something to think about in this fascinating book.

I use it in introductory political science classes because it is a simple read and explains complex topics (like voting systems) lucidly.

Smith encourages looking beyond political correctness and beyond corporate media spin to search for real solutions to American problems which, as Smith admits, may not work, but promise to move us beyond stalemate over broken programs and failed solutions. ... Read more

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A biography of tennis star Stan Smith, who ranked number one in 1972. ... Read more

Product Description
More of America's most respected authorities in the trade show industry reveal a goldmine of powerful strategies, tips and insights to help improve a company's exhibiting success. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

More Secrets, More Success
This book was a valuable resource.Many tid bits of info that can really make a big difference for your success.

Save your money.
You know, typically people don't make you pay to read their advertisements. This is an exception. Each of the self-serving articles in this book is followed by a 1-2 page advertisement for the author that, not surprising, offers a service to solve the problem outlined in the article. How convenient! This book is a glorified collection of vendor-sponsored white papers. ... Read more

Product Description
There are criminals ... and there are criminals!

Where sit the guilty? Around your dinner table? Grubbing for pennies on a street corner? Where does poor innocence cross the line? When does ‘middle-class’ become sordid?


In this sprint-paced, intriguing book of words, Sam Smith poses these questions.

He suggests there is a difference between good and bad ... depending only from which standpoint you examine the scene of the crime.

Like a master crossword-puzzle compiler ... he lays a trail of clues to your own private stance and leaves you to find the only fitting answer for yourself.

A luckless young couple with a baby on the way stumble onto a treasure-trove drug dump when they joy-ride an expensive car to the maternity hospital ... in desperation.

A rich, middle-aged yuppie couple with a private yacht, a home in the country and their very own drugs ring count their money ... in their own kind of innocence.

Porlock Counterpoint explores the descant between the two couples and explodes the myth of attraction of opposites. Each couple detests the morals and social status of the other.

The earthy detectives on their trail despise them both ... they even despise each other!

They all play in counterpoint.

Sam Smith is the skilled questionmaster. The reader decides who’s on the side of the angels.


Publisher's note: As it says on the BeWrite website we try to give value for money and we have again with this book, if you care to take a look... ... Read more

Product Description
No matter how important your job ... would YOU turn up for work knowing that you and every living being on the planet will be dead before pay day?

A beautiful young woman is brutally murdered - just as governments around the world announce that the universe will end in five days' time.

The planet Earth's 6.5 billion human beings deal with their impending extinction in 6.5 billion ways. But amid global chaos, dedicated detective Herbie Watkins stays on the case, determined to discover the killer against a merciless clock that's ticking away his own final hours.

Is he insanely obsessed, or is he the last sane man in the history of the human race?

Sam Smith weaves a unique cop story of a unique cop against a unique backdrop in a unique page-turner of a book.

No count-down novel, no disaster book, no police saga has ever been written to thrill the reader and plumb the depths of the human soul as does The End of Science Fiction. It is the last word in SF and crime ... and much more.

You will read The End of Science Fiction over and over again, asking new and challenging questions of yourself and formulating new answers every time you re-open this outstanding work from the pen of an author who demands one-sitting novel reading.

Shortlisted for a Science Fiction EPPIE


Publisher's note: As it says on the BeWrite website we try to give value for money and we have again with this book, if you care to take a look... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Creative and haunting pre-apocalyptic novel
Two determined detectives proceed with a murder investigation while humanity reacts in varying ways to the expected end of the universe.Not giving anything away in this review! - much of the tension is engendered by whether, in fact, the predicted calamity will actually happen.Thought-provoking and very well-written. ... Read more

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towards the unMaking of Heaven, Not Now: Death, Dreams & Reasons for Living, is an sf exploration of desire, dreams and self-deceit. Okinwe Orbinson is recruited from his artificial city world - part of a moribund space civilisation - his mission is to save a rumoured hybrid-human race, Talkers, from self-extinction. Talkers are telepathic, and individual suicides among the Talkers are becoming epidemic. Left on one of their planets Okinwe is witness to 3 suicides in quick succession. Suspicious of all around him, doubting himself, not knowing if his thoughts are his own, he becomes friends with a Talker woman, worries for her safety and falls in love with her daughter. Their love affair is not easy. Nor is the solution to the suicides. It happens through a casual touch, through pregnancies, via the children and through paintings... ... Read more

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THE CARE VORTEX. SAM SMITH. BEWRITE BOOKS. Girls in a care institution struggle with their pasts and their futures. Facing establishment ineptitude and indifference, and the cynical opposition of the girls themselves, dedicated Barry Gresham confronts the child prostitution, domestic incest, the violence and drug abuse that has warped their lives. ... Read more

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A wealthy, grieving, ageing gangster -- vengeance having already proved no compensation -- wants only to isolate himself in his walled estate and confide his lifetime's woes and resentments to an imaginary companion: the twin sister he lost at birth. But when two blundering fathers from the local housing estate, in search of their delinquent sons, inadvertently violate the peace of his woodland sanctuary, the gangster's latent killer instinct raises its ugly head once more. One of the most shocking things about this unforgettable tale is how the criminal's private confessions manage to draw us into his bitter and twisted morality, making us a willing party to the inevitable murders. ... Read more

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Getting beyond the public persona to explore the personal side of Bill Clinton's background and political career, the author details the cultural issues and areas affected by the current presidency. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Nice take on Clinton, politics in general
Sam Smith has been one of the most vocal opponents of Clinton from the left, and this 1994 book explains what all is wrong with our president.Intelligent, well-written and well-argued, this is a fine early work onClintonism.Smith also does a nice job pointing out inherent flaws in ourpolitical system that make it rather antipopulist and lead to the likes ofReagan and Clinton.Not as many ideas for change or suggestions as his1997 Great American Political Repair Manual, but presents some finethoughts.Well worth reading for a view of American politics other thanthe one we see on TV, where the Democrats and Republicans are the solealternatives.I don't always agree with Smith, but he certainly inspiresthought. ... Read more

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General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1875Original Publisher: C. W. Gordon, PrinterSubjects: MinersCaliforniaHistory / United States / State ... Read more