Customer Reviews (19)

Poetic history of the world's game
Soccer in Sun and Shadow is a superb book covering the very early days of soccer to modern soccer's start in England to the world game that is played today, and all of it is superb. Even if you are not a huge soccer fan, Galeano's passionate writing will draw you into the fold and make you care for at least as long as the book is open.

Galeano recalls his childhood memories of goals scored and saves missed, the beautiful dance his heroes performed with the ball, and his pride in South American soccer. His writing is sublime and metaphoric, and Galeano never stumbles. By the time he examines the new phase of commercial soccer you'll want to cry at the tainting of a game that is (was?) so pure. The commercialization of soccer will help peolpe from the states relate to the rest of the world: after all, it was just a couple of decades ago when our four major sports were ruined by escalating salaries, corporate involvement and worthless expansion. Galeano wears his heart on his sleeve and creates a wonderful read that anyone, sports fan or not, should enjoy.

A passionate, perceptive, and poetic introduction to soccer
Media coverage of the World Cup makes it clear once again: when it comes to soccer, many Americans just don't get it. This little book could be the key for those who would like to figure out what makes for all the passion and excitement. Galeano writes about soccer with passion, with poetry, and with sensitivity to social realities (particularly in Latin America). His short vignettes describe players, matches, specific plays, the evolution of the game. They comment on the current style of play (he doesn't like it much) and on the glories of the past. He is particularly good at showing how deep the soccer passion runs in Latin American culture.

The ideal edition of this book would have an accompanying video with clips of at least some of the moments Galeano describes. Failing that, however, the book itself makes magic with words to describe the "beautiful game". Galeano's politics come through also, and they only help to give the right sort of "local color" to the text. The translation is very well done, so that one hardly ever wonders how much better things might have been said in the original.

All in all, a great little book!

beautiful, read it non--stop
I couldn't put the book down, being South American, much English language books are so heavily biased towards european teams and matches. Nothing against them, I love them as well, and who deosn't love a great game anywhere? But it was nice to read about the formation of modern soccer in England done the way only Galeano could. Followed by the entry of soccer in Buenos Aires and Galeano's soccer world from his childhood days in Uruguay.

I guess this defines me well but if I had to take a book to the beach for pleasure reading this would be it, why?

The prose, the language, this is THE guy who you'd want to do match-report, if you were the 'man-of-the-match' in the most important game of your life, why?

Galeano's word choice is like poetry, that only comes when one makes the sweetest kick ever. It definalty is as a magazine reviewer put it, 'like Pele in a field of second-stringers'. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Sports   2. Sports & Recreation   3. Soccer   

Subjects:  1. Sports   2. Biography / Autobiography   3. Biography & Autobiography   4. Sports - General   5. Soccer   6. Sports & Recreation   

Customer Reviews (8)

A little disappointed
I had read "A Better Place" first and I totally enjoyed it, Mark Roeder has definetly improved since Soccer Field. I was a little disturbed by the violence in this book, it is a little unbelievable since this had taken place in 1980. Its hard to swallow that an entire school turned their backs on these 2 youths. No one intervened, not even the police, the mother's coldness towards her son who was literally half dead in the hospital was a bit hard to believe. Nothing was ever mentioned about the fact that it was the father's fault that all of this homophobia started in the first place. How many fathers do you know would call up the school coach and tell him that his Son is gay??? The storyline is good, yes I did get a bit emotional at the ending but it was very hard to get to like Taylor and Mark since we never really delved into who they are and what they were all about. This could have been an excellent book if it had been thought out in a better way. You must read it though in order to move on to the other books.

I know [alternate lifestyle] books can be cheesy, but this is downright awful.
This book is bad even for [alternate lifestyle] book standards. ...save your money for some real quality material by quality authors like Patricia Nell Warren. Mark and Taylor act like basically the same person (despite the author's descriptions of Taylor as the "sensitive" one and Mark as the "jock" one - which he repeats over and over and over again). The dialogue is flat and unrealistic. It doesn't sound anything like kids talk in real life. I also was very disturbed by the messages the author is sending kids: Taylor and Mark have [physical activity] without any protection, and Mark says something like, "I know violence shouldn't be the answer, but sometimes it just is!"

This could have been a really good book because it had a great premise. And, because the basic storyline was stolen straight from Shakespeare, it also had a great basic storyline. But Roeder just didn't know what to do with the it all. He repeats himself constantly, grammatical and spelling errors run rampant (which I've found is usually to be expected from iUniverse authors), and the characters are all cardboard cutouts. These kids' parents barely even exist until they "discover" Mark and Taylor.

What else can I say? Plain, lackluster prose. Unnecessary scenes that just drag the book's momentum down. And repetition. I've pointed out the author's repetition three times in this review, just to give you an idea of what reading this book is like. He ran his vampire analogy ... into the ground. And he showed almost every scene in the book from both Mark and Taylor's perspectives - even the scenes in which both of them had the same opinion of what happened! It's ridiculous and totally unneeded. If you're going to [use] Shakespeare's plot, at least make it passable.

A Better Book than a Better Place...and more
Praise the gods, Mark Roeder or his publisher finally hired a proofreader. This means that the 2002 version of this story is free of the annoying typos and spelling mistakes of all of the other works of this author (at least that I've read) and of the other stuff coming out of iUniverse. This particular story is an update of Roeder's first publication, which I have not read, but it shows superior advances in creativity and writing ability especially compared to the depressing "A Better Place" and the totally implausible "Do You Know That I Love You" which are all inter-connected in obscure and non-important ways. There are anachronisms in this book, set in 1980. Perhaps Mark does have a computer in his room, but, if so, it has to be connected to a Univac mainframe in the basement. Maybe people in rurual Indiana refer to "dudes", maybe not. The character names are a problem for the era, as well. If these guys are sixteen in 1980, it would be well ahead of the curve for their parents to name them Taylor, Devon, Brandon, et al, in 1964. Graymoor Mansion, itself a distraction, could not possibly stand for 100+ years with apparent unrestricted access with contents intact. Lastly as a criticism, Mark and Taylor, at 16, fall instantly and passionately in love on their first meeting, literally within seconds. . We wish! Still, Roeder delivers a moving, emotional, loving story. The tragic ending, while regretful, is part of that story. Having read some, but not all, of Roeder's youth chronicles, I sense that he is getting better, much, much, better, with each new work or update of his previous writing. This book is highly recommended. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction   2. Gay   3. Fiction - Romance   4. Romance - General   

Customer Reviews (3)

not very good
this book was written by an author well known for writting about the NHL, hockey. soccer and hockey are worlds apart, the book seems aimed at american audiences who do not know much about soccer, actually do not know anything about soccer.
the book contains no real facts, it is like a summary of ronaldo's life, news i could get off tabloids.
what really frustrated me though is how the author keeps calling a shot a punch! if you strike the ball it can be called many things, shot, kick, fired, scored even blasted, but for gods sake not "Punched" punched emplies using your hand, nobody used their hands in soccer..............except ofcourse the goalkeeper, which by the way is called goal tender in this book (its the hockey thing i tell you)
overall i think i've wasted my money, the book is a disgrace to one of the worlds best strikers, it is written in a horrid way as well, and worse off really has no solid facts, no why, where when. just a brief summary.

Wonderful book!
this is a great buy for soccer lovers everywhere! It leaves you feeling like you really know Ronaldo! GET IT! YOU WILL BE BEGGING FOR MORE!

RONALDO, AFTER PELÉ, THE BEST SOCCER PLAYER OF THE WORLD
A great book!! RONALDO IS FAR MORE BETTER THAN maradona ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business/Economics   2. Children's 12-Up - Biography / Autobiography   3. Juvenile Nonfiction   4. Biography & Autobiography - Sports & Recreation   5. Sports & Recreation - Soccer   6. Sports - General   7. Biography & Autobiography   

Customer Reviews (9)

Insightful, but unfocused and overlong
There are some good insights in this book (and some really nice pictures). However, I was put off by the author's tone, which is pedantic and mildly condescending, and I was unimpressed by his grocery-list application of the insights to the game. The Sun Tzu quotes were appropriate but gratuitous, and the author does not apply the simplicity which has made "Art of War" such a classic. Where "The Art of War" is about fifty pages (including third-party commentary), "The Art of Soccer" is about four times that length.

Brevity would have greatly improved this book. The real insights (primarily regarding the importance of using space in effective soccer) were covered fully in the first chapter or two; the details in the later part are covered more eloquently and carefully in other works (see "Coaching Soccer Successfully," by Roy Rees et al ...

For an intermediate coach or player this book could be quite helpful, but I suggest skimming rather than reading it.

Simply the best and greatest soccer coaching manual!
I have played soccer for many years and this book would enable many coaches and players to better understand each others roles so much better. This level of understanding takes many years to develope. This book could really help to simplify that process. This book takes sun tzu's principles and applies them to soccer.In the business and martial arts communities,it has always been said that these principles are applicable to all times and places where people compete against each other.Thus this interpretation can be made applicable to basketball, hockey ,etc - ALL SPORTS.

Buy this book before it goes out of print
If you are involved with a team which has the basics of feinting, dribbling, and passing, then this book will take you to the next level of understanding of how and why positioning should work. As the author points out early, 10 minutes after a game starts you can't tell whether the team is using a 5-3-2 or a 3-4-3 because the game is really about space and how to set up spaces, manipulate it, and work into it. Really a great understanding of the game as it is played and not as a bunch of X's and O's. You MUST read this book if you coach or play U-12 or above. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Sports   2. Sports & Recreation   3. Soccer   

Subjects:  1. Scurry, Briana,   2. 1971-   3. Juvenile literature   4. Soccer players   5. United States   6. Children's 9-12 - Biography / Autobiography   7. Juvenile Nonfiction   8. Biography & Autobiography - Sports & Recreation   9. Sports & Recreation - Soccer   

Subjects:  1. Soccer (Association football)   2. Violence in society   3. England   

Subjects:  1. Soccer   2. History   3. Juvenile literature   4. Children's 9-12 - Sports / Recreation / Outdoors   5. Juvenile Nonfiction   6. Sports & Recreation - Soccer   7. History - Other   8. Sports & Recreation - Track & Field   

Features

• Download: Adobe Reade

Subjects:  1. Sports & Recreation   2. Soccer   

Subjects:  1. Soccer for women   2. Fair, Lorrie   3. Soccer   4. Women And Sports   5. General   6. Sports & Recreation   

Subjects:  1. Mass media   2. Moral and ethical aspects   3. Mass Communication Media And Society   4. Professional Ethics   5. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy   6. Language Arts & Disciplines   7. Journalism   8. Communication   9. Mass Media - General   10. Performing Arts   11. Ethics & Moral Philosophy   12. Philosophy   

Subjects:  1. Hamm, Mia,   2. 1972-   3. Juvenile literature   4. Soccer players   5. United States   6. Children's 9-12   7. Juvenile Nonfiction   8. Sports & Recreation - Soccer   9. Biography & Autobiography - Sports & Recreation   10. Sports & Recreation - Track & Field   

Subjects:  1. Soccer (Association football)   2. Sporting events & tours   3. Japan   4. Korea   5. 21st century   

Subjects:  1. Sports   2. Sports & Recreation   3. Soccer   

Subjects:  1. Soccer   2. Sports sciences   3. Sports & Recreation   

Customer Reviews (1)

This is a GREAT book for any fan of Tony Meola!
I'm a HUGE fan of Tony's and I have never found a book totally dedicated to him.....until this one! This is a GREAT book full of A LOT of infor about my favorite soccer player, and yours. Its got sooo many pictures (including ones from his childhood). I would now like to personally thank Mr. Stewart for writing this book! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Meola, Tony,   2. 1969-   3. Juvenile literature   4. Soccer goalkeepers   5. United States   6. Children's 9-12 - Biography / Autobiography   7. Juvenile Nonfiction   8. Biography & Autobiography - Sports & Recreation   9. Sports & Recreation - Soccer   

Subjects:  1. Soccer (Association football)   2. Biography: sport   

Subjects:  1. Soccer (Association football)   2. Philosophy   3. Humour   

Subjects:  1. Sports & Recreation   2. Soccer   

Subjects:  1. Soccer   2. Fiction   3. Teamwork (Sports)   4. Sportsmanship   5. Children's 4-8 - Picturebooks   6. Juvenile Fiction   7. Sports & Recreation - Soccer   8. Social Situations - General   9. Family - Siblings   10. General