This is as honest a portrayal as we are likely to see about any sport. Exposing the dark side of the basketball business -- and most of it's participants -- at first left me yearning for a more wholesome, less complicated (and more naive) view of the game. Soon the story hooked me and I was able to look at the ugly, and alongside it the excitement and beauty as well.

It is a human triumph that one's love for the game, and for one's teammates, survives assaults of all kinds. Charley's love shines through. If you love hoops, this is one of a handful of books I'd call, "must read."

It also includes 3 full-blown adventure scenarios and 3 adventure seeds. I've only run one of the adventures, Lost and Found, twice at conventions. This adventure has always run beautifully with both those familiar with the Disc (even those more familiar with it than I) and those who are not. Warning, though, the laughter that erupts from time to time at the table tends to distract those at the surrounding tables who opted (silly people that they are) to play something else!

This book is a joy to read, even if you're not planning on running a game in the Discworld setting, but is, of course, primarily intended for those interested in running a game in the setting. I would note that you really need to own GURPS Discworld (or the Discworld Roleplaying Game, as it's now being called) to use it.

Mark Bender, excellent job. I will insist that my fellow NBA-junkie friends and family read your book.

But, please correct a major factual error for the paperback. On page 285, you said, "The Raptors beat the Bulls for the first time ever" during the abbreviated 1999 season. That's not true.

The Raptors beat the Bulls twice during the Jordan-era. Once on 3-24-96, and a second time on 12-8-96.

In fact, you make mention on page 242 about Dennis Rodman getting suspended for "two games for excessive profanity during a live postgame interview - a game in which he had been ejected." That was a game in Toronto in which the Bulls had lost.

Otherwise, thank you for writing this wonderful biography about a basketball genius who deserves due credit for his lifetime achievements and also his significant contributions to the Bulls' dynasty of the 90's.

The pace is fast, and the anecdotes and behind-the-scenes tidbits entertain as we go with the teams through Winter's unprecedented 53 year professional career as a coach. From Kansas State, Washington, and the Houston Rockets to fourteen years with the Chicago Bulls, and the current LA Lakers, we travel the backroads of behind the scene basketball. Bender gives us the inside story on the conflicts, the joys, and the frustrations of coaching mega-stars with mega-egos while trying to teach them values of character and integrity.

This book would be a perfct gift for any high school athlete. Bender gives the reader deep insights into not only the sports psychology that Winter uses, but into the secrets of what it really takes to be able to uphold personal values in the rip-roaring jungle of professional sports.

I loved every minute of this great ride, and if you love basketball, you will too!

But Jackson is not focused solely on success for the sake of success. He recounts his fundamentalist upbringing, his forays into Zen Buddhism and Lakota spirituality, and his efforts to bring ideas of oneness and attunement and selfless play into an NBA dominated by ego, money, cynicism, and media hype. He describes the esoteric "triangle offense" that was based on those philosophical principles.

I was very impressed by this book. It takes many of the principles I've learned in other places and applies it directly to something that I would normally not think of as spiritual. Moreover, Jackson and his Bulls are a powerful and very prevalent example of how spiritual principles can be applied in the real world and made into a success.

Plus, there's a foreword by ex-Senator and ex-Knick Bill Bradley, and numerous stories about Jackson playing with the Knicks and coaching basketball greats. Though I'm not a basketball fan, the magnetism of personalities still fascinates me, and these personal anecdotes only add depth to the lessons Jackson conveys.

Whether you work primarily with individuals or with organizations, Bill Bradley's new book can be a great source of inspiration and enlightenment. Ostensibly this book is merely a set of ten essays on the values the former US Senator and Rhodes Scholar lived by when he was a star professional basketball player for the New York Knicks. However, Values of the Game can be read on another level: as an allegory on how one can balance ethics and the desire for achievement.

Bradley's ten values are the following: Passion, Discipline, Selflessness, Respect, Perspective, Courage, Leadership, Responsibility, Resilience, and Imagination. Each of these is presented through a series of personal anecdotes from Bradley's career on the court, surrounded by terrific photos of the sport's many legendary super-stars, both male and female.

One of the most moving photos is in the "Courage" essay, in which Michael Jordan is pictured at the end of the fifth game of the 1997 NBA Finals, when he led his team to victory despite playing with a high fever. Bradley weaves his text around this theme by telling stories of how players--including himself--learned perseverance and inner calm in the face of tremendous pressure and challenge.

Just having completed a year of study and reflection at Stanford's prestigious think tank, the Hoover Institute, Bradley's comments on leadership are eloquent and quotable: "Leadership means getting people to think, believe, see, and do what they might not have without you. It means possessing the vision to set the right goal and the decisiveness to pursue it single-mindedly. It means being aware of the fears and anxieties felt by those you lead even as you urge them to overcome those fears. It can appear in a speech before hundreds of people or in a dialogue with one other person--or simply by example."

Although Bradley has been mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in the 2000 election, he steers clear of partisanship and political grandstanding. Instead, we find a book that delivers a calm, consistent message on values through the lenses of an assertive, convincing and sensitive man. As such it can be valuable tool for one's self-development as well as for coaching others. Positive but not overly idealistic, packaged in a beautiful format, Values of the Game provides practical tools for right living.

I really enjoyed this book because of it's easy readability and the wonderful pictures. There were many interesting anecdotes about basketball. Bill Bradley talks about his development as a player, and about the values of the game. The importance of teamwork and hard work is stressed. I found Bill Bradley's story fascinating, because of how the values of the game helped him win. This book related the values to many contemporary and old players, like Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, Steve Kerr, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and many others. If you are a basketball fan, I strongly suggest this book.

In describing ideals that have helped him and other champions to succeed both on and off the court, he encourages us all to pursue excellence in our own lives- whatever our life circumstances may be.

He names ten core values that he has found meaningful in his development as a player and a person. They are: passion, discipline, selflessness, respect, perspective, courage, leadership, responsibility, resilience and imagination.

Bill Bradley has demonstrated here that he is truly a man of the people. He wants to encourage every American to celebrate the gifts, abilities and values that give them meaning and hope in their lives.

I highly recommend this book to everyone with the courage to reach beyond their grasp and strive for excellence in their lives. The pictures and stories are great, and the essays are even better. Pick it up today, and also, be sure to make your vote count in November- your opinion matters and deserves to be heard!