I bought "Willie" years ago (and I like the old cover with the flag..don't know why they changed that) It's a big, thick book that's just crammed with proof that real life - if it's Willie's - is a whole lot better than any fiction novel. I loaned my copy out one too many times and it came up missing, so was glad to see it on here so I could get another one...only I had my old one so dog-earred, highlighted, etc...I hate having to go buy all those markers again, to do over;) When you get your copy, go to the index and ck it out....grab that highlighter pen before you even get started, here. I'm a truck driver, so I read this and that and here and there, before having a chance to read cover to cover. Then it turned into a reference book of Willie's Wisdom and all sorts of good stuff to good to forget. I kept it handy just to re-read some parts over and over. It's more than one book, somehow or other...yes, it's his autobiography - an All-American tale of rags to riches and all that; but, it's a whole lot more than that, too. If you like Willie, buy it. If you don't, I don't know why you're in here looking at it...but, if you like a dynamite story, or to read real-life accounts at all - you won't put this down, easily. What leaves me amazed is how anyone could cram that much living into the time period that book covers...he's lived nearly 20 more years since then...so I bought his new one, "Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes", to see what he's been up to since the "Willie" book. It's a hoot..sort of a grass-roots type of wisdom, interjected with lots of "mind-f.r.ts" and takes on his varied accumulation of friends and family, to date. Better buy it too, while you're at it...for dessert.

not only do I dig&respect Willie Nelson as a Artist but also His Down to Earth Vibe.this Book Reflects on that&so much more.He has a Mellow but to the point way of saying stuff like He did in this Book.He is a song within a Song in this Book.

Like Outlaw Willie himself this book does not stick to conventional writing; rather it is structured like a song, with the "melody" supplied by Willie and the "chorus" by his friends. May the publisher see fit to put it back on the shelves someday soon

This just might be the best single book a serious player should own, regardless if your handicap is 3 or 30. The insights into the game and the simple techniques Penick suggests are just plain right most of the time. If Penick is good enough for Crenshaw and Kite, it's worth the time - it's quick anyway.

For us average golfers the tips are worth 5 strokes a game. I now understand more about the mechanics of the game after reading Harvey's books, than from all the instruction tips in monthly golf magazines. An entertaining and helpful book for weekend golfers. A must read for young and new golfers. Great for both men and women.

This book provides the best of Penick's great anecdotes. He has so many golf related stories from his days of teaching, coaching, and assisting, and each one sheds a new perspective on this timeless game. His best contribution to golf writing is his ability to provide clear visuals in association with sound golfing principles. He doesn't leave the reading wondering how to implement an idea, but puts it in concrete terms by providing examples from his own life as well as the people he coached. Apart from the wonderful golf tips, this is just a plain good read, which borders on an autobiography. If you love the sport and you love life, you will truly enjoy this book.

McGill is an inspiring hero, immensely capable, with a huge zest for life. He packs incredible adventures into his short life, yet tells his story in a delightfully laid back style. He combines an interest and tolerance of all ideas, religions and philosophies, with a violent intolerance of certain purveyors of them. McGill is a warrior/philosopher, born, raised and ideally suited to this harsh land. His story is one of violence, love, sin and redemption, but it is often hard to distinguish which is which.

This book is a "must read" for all lovers of powerfully written adventure stories, but may make all other westerns dull and unimaginative in comparison.

This is an incredible tale from beginning to end. Shrake has developed a character that is the first person born on the American Continent to achieve sainthood, and until the last pages of the book the reader is kept guessing how he could deserve such an honor. The book reads as a memoir written by McGill as he tells the story of his life while awaiting his death. He lives the life of an indian scalper, buffalo hunter, and gold miner in 19th century Texas from the time of the Texas War of Independence until after the US Civil War. The more you read of this man's account of his life, the less you can believe he could ever desert to be Sainted.

This book has long been out of print, and its re-printing is an excellent opportunity for new readers to discover a classic western. Any fan of Larry McMurty's books in the "Lonesome Dove" will love "Blessed McGill" and recognize that McMurty has probably gotten some of his writting style from reading this book.

I was given this book by my dad when I made my high school golf team and I can honestly say it's the one thing that got my game on track. From the minute I read the first page, I was hooked. His lessons make so much sense, and his love for the game enlightens you as you read it. From the greenside bunker shots, to the "waggle" before a swing, this book has it all. The choice of words Penick uses and his approach to teaching are very unique, yet beautiful. He teaches the person, not the swing. I reccommend this book to anyone who wants to better their game as well as their life. A MUSTREAD FOR GOLFERS!

If you enjoyed Harvey's other books, you'll also enjoy this one. My wife ordered it for my birthday, and I couldn't put it down. There are more interesting anecdotes and golf wisdoms from golf's greatest all-time teacher. Like his other books, you feel as if you're sitting with him in his golf cart under the shade of a big old pecan tree at his beloved Austin Country Club. It's a quick read, and the stories he tells will stay with you on the golf course forever. Thanks, Harvey.

As a rabid Nebraska football fan, I was given this book as a gag gift. It sat, unread, for months until I opened it up this Summer. In the course of reading the book, I have gone from loathing Barry Switzer, to respecting and even liking him.

Most important is the way he describes the crazy recruiting regulations of the NCAA. What college alum wouldn't give a kid a ride home in the pouring rain, or tell a kid that his alma mater is a great school and that he, too, should go there? Yet these seemingly innocent actions could become a recruiting violation for the school. Every college football fan should read this book, if only for that reason...so they avoid accidentally hurting their favorite team. Do what you can to get a hold of a copy, even though it is out-of-print.

This book is something to be revered by Sooner fans. Barry's recounts of the great games and great people around OU's glorious runs in the 70s and 80s bears reading. I just re-read the book after keeping it down for a few years, and it just gets better with time. If any of you out there need ammo for those Barry bashers, you need this book. Barry Switzer is a great man, and every Sooner fan should remember that.

Barry covers his childhood, personal struggles, and his years at Arkansas. He then talks about those great 70s teams that we know get to see on ESPN Classic.

Probably the most interesting part is his line item by line item response to every NCAA violation that OU was found guilty of. Barry pulls no punches and is not afraid to admit guilt where he saw it. His candidness is something special.

You might find this book hard to find, but try your hardest and hit the auction sites, etc, you should be able to turn it up, and you won't be sorry.

As a Sooner alumnus and rabidly devoted Dallas Cowboys fan, I have seen many good and bad sides of "Uncle Barry" (as he is known affectionately in these parts) for a couple of decades. Granted, it was written before he coached in Dallas. But it is because I had already read this book -- and as a result, felt a strong understanding of him -- that I was able to hold Switzer largely blameless for many of the problems which befell the Cowboys during their late-90s fade. [Perhaps most other Cowboys fans should read this before they mindlessly ridicule him, too. It is enlightening!] Switzer is funny, smart and refreshingly devoted to his kids, as he shows here; but as an animated and sometimes overbearingly profane public person, he makes a much easier target for media ridicule than he deserves. Read this book and understand why he astutely asserts that the NCAA is an archaic clique of aging Great White Fathers (my term, hot his) who are clueless about the realities of today's athletes' lives. Read and understand why Switzer can make some of the dumb mistakes he has, but nonetheless possesses a keen intellect and sense of fairness. And finally, read it for its shocking tales of the wild life of this surprisingly complex man.

There are reasons why golf is described as 90 percent mental. It's primarily to sell golf literature like Shrake's novel. Ever read an intriguing golf book about swing plane and hip rotation?

Shrake's book is one in a long line like it. The main character, Billy, loses both his parents in a matter of weeks, and it is up to him to make it on his own. Set in Texas during the 1950s, two of Texas' golfing "Gods" guide Billy from being a caddie to beating the upstart young club champion. This book has all the cliched elements, including John Bredemus' role as a guardian angel, who unveils the mental elements of game, and Hogan, who teaches Billy "the secret" of the swing.

Had Sharke not written such a wonderful story, I would have cast it in the lot with all the other bad golf novels out there. There are life lessons more than golf lessons inside, including the drive to gain independence and what it means to honor yourself and family.

I just wish a golf novel could written without all those "Gods" watching down.

A terrific book for both golfers and dreamers. Read it, then keep it in your golf bag next to your 7-iron for good luck.

thoughtful,fun,somewhat inspirational.just an all around good read even for a non golfer.

Hey, a Jenkins book that doesn't involve golf! What this is is a semi-tender love story about a Texan network exec and a pretty lady writer from NYC. Secondary plots involve his vapid ex-wife, his trailer-trash driver and the more trashy folks that encrust the TV business. Should've been made into a movie.

Copyright 1976. Dan Jenkins and Bud Shrake write about the ultimate reality TV show, "Just Up The Street," showing four families *LIVE* for three prime-time hours. 25 years before Survivor, Big Brother, Fear Factor, and the rest of the wannabes, Jenkins and Shrake produced my personal pick for funniest book I've ever read.

Favorite bits include a drag race between a Rolls Royce and a Lincoln through midtown Manhattan at 11:45 a.m., the protagonists ex-wife's psychiatrist du jour trying to pick up his girlfriend-to-be, and a number of descriptions of top network executives that put Stanley Bing to shame.

And when you've picked yourself up off the floor as the screens go dark on Just Up the Street, remember when the book was written.

The Borderland is a compelling work of historical fiction which works well because of its plotting, richly drawn characters and historical accuracy. Its 400+ pages move briskly along, following several interrelated story-lines which lead to an ultimate showdown. The story has a cliff-hanger feel to it, setting up a confrontation in chapter 1, which does not come to a head until several chapters later and recurs throughout the book.

The characters are richly drawn both from the conventional myth of Texas and truly unique characters. Texas ranger Matthew Caldwell exemplifies the strong, silent Texan of myth. He has the courage to assert the "Ranger's perogative" to defer arresting a wrongly accused man in defiance of orders from the President of the Republic of Texas as well as the ruthlessness to leave his enemies to their death. There is also a pack of Texas scoundrels, such as Henry Longfellow, a psychotic land speculator and hanger-on to President Mirabeau Lamar and lawyer Ridgewood Bone, whose name takes on an irony after an encounter with the Commanches. Lawrence Kerr is a more likeable, but still conventional character, as the foppish New Yorker who goes native and returns home with tales to tell. However, the story draws much of its depth from its unconventional and unlikely characters. Central to the plot are Doc Swift and his sister Cullasaja. They are the product of a marriage between a Cherokee woman and a Scottish ship captain, living their lives in both worlds. Doc Swift is a medical doctor educated at the University of Edinburg whose command of the English language is far superior to that of the American colonists he encounters. He uses both his European and native American medical training to save countless lives and earn the respect of many who would otherwise reject him. His sister Cullasaja is a similarly educated and erudite young woman who seeks a native American version of the American dream--to live in peace with her people in the land promised to them by former President Sam Houston. Hannah Dahlman is another central character. She is a German mail order bride who comes to Texas seeking to escape the political repression of her native land and bring her family with her. There is just one catch--she is Jewish, a detail which matters only to the Catholic church. The wooing of Hannah Dahl between Ranger Caldwell and Doc Swift forms one of the central conflicts of the book. The portraits of the Commanche warriors and mystics are compelling as well. Edwin Shrake creates them to be worthy adversaries rather than two dimensional villains to be gunned down by the heroic Texians.

The attention to historical detail is refreshing as well. Shrake captures the feel of frontier Austin, established San Antonio and swampy Houston with great accuracy. This is neither an uncritical telling of the Texas myth nor a PC screed against the evil Anglos. Instead, the story tells the grim dance of death between the Anglos, the Mexicans and the Commanches. Each takes a turn as executioner of the others and each receives a dose of death as well. None of the parties escapes being a giver and recipient of bloodlust, although it is often the innocent within each group who suffer. The violence is contrasted with the ordinary day to day lives of the Texans and the Commanches. The violence and grittiness of much of the story is contrasted with the ending, which is a counterpoint to Edwin Shrake's earlier novel, Blessed McGill, which was pretty darn depressing.

When I love a book, I like to savor it, read it slowly and thoughtfully. That is what I did with The Borderland. This novel is richly textured and the characters finely wrought. This author loves Texas, and as a Texan myself, I appreciated the intricately woven historical detail. I could picture every scene as if I were there. I never thought I'd read a book that could compare to Lonesome Dove, but this one does. It is a fine work by a fine author. Read it and enjoy.

The Borderland is one of those rare novels which manages to draw you in so completely that you feel a hearty sense of loss after you turn the last page. It is rich and romantic, large and scathing, and funny and true. Though the book is a historic novel centered around the early days of Texas and the settlement of Austin, it's scope is much greater. It captures the spirit of men taking on the magnificent and the impossible and the persistence and heart which manage to propel them to success. The characters are unforgettable and the prose is vivid and engaging. If you want to read something which will make you laugh and cry and think, by all means, read The Borderland. And check out one of the author's earlier novels, Blessed McGill. Shrake's works rival Jim Harrison's and Larry McMurtry's.

Pleasant book, however not too informative. There are better women's golf books out there, for example "Golf is a Woman's Game" is really inspirational. However in all, "For all who Love the Game" makes a nice gift or an easy read, but you could do better.

Every chapter is a different lesson. It can be read and re-read. Mr. Penick has so many experiences to share. Funny, inspiring, a real joy! Great gift!

Practical look at the game of golf for women. A quick read. Very enjoyable yet sound advice.