Customer Reviews

Elway

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If I was going to rate my personal enjoyment of this book, I'd give it 5 stars, easily -- 6, if I could. However, the critic in me did notice some improprieties. The book reports a few minor factual mistakes. For example, the inner jacket flap mistakenly reports that Elway will be entering (in 1998) his 15th NFL season, when in fact it was his 16th. Elway himself at one point confuses the sequence of plays when recalling "The Drive" in the 1987 AFC Championship. He also claims to have been ahead at halftime in his first two Super Bowls, even when, a few lines later, he recalls that in his 2nd Super Bowl (against the Washington Redskins) the opposing team took the lead in the second quarter. The reason for these indiscretions is more due to the format of the book than a problem with Elway's or the editor's memories. This book is autobiography only in the loosest of senses; the text is very brief, and in it Elway offers his views on his own childhood, his career with the Broncos, the current state of the NFL, and a smattering of personal life philosophy as well. It is not presented as a comprehensive life story, but more like an extended interview/monologue, and no one but the "statistics hounds" (like me) will even notice the rare and incidental factual errors. Some of the text also appears to have been lifted from earlier interviews; at one point, while describing how he dodges defensive ends, Elway refers to a game he played "the other day" in Minnesota, yet at the publication date (early 1998) Elway had not played a game in Minnesota for a year and a half. This book is also very expensive, compared to corresponding books of its type. However, the aforementioned criticisms are very minor, and if you can get past the cover price, and are an Elway fan, you will love this book. Despite being brief, the text is written entirely by John Elway himself (making the book unique, in that no other book offers a wholly first-person perspective of Elway), and does cover his entire life up until the publishing date. The paucity of text in this oversized book also makes the numerous photographs stand out all the more, and the photographs are beautiful -- like the text, they range all the way from Elway's childhood to his triumph in Super Bowl XXXII. Despite the criticisms offered above, this is a very fun book to read and glance over for the Elway fan. As I said in the beginning, the "objective" side of me noticed a few improprieties in the book, but the "fan" side of me didn't care and loved reading it anyway. Highly recommended.

The name of the book is Elway because it is about him. This book is a good book because he tells about his whole life. There are a lot of good pictures in this book. This is a good book because John Elway wrote it. I like when he broke his leg. It shows you how much he loves the game. The only thing they should of had more of is touch down passes. This book is for all ages.

This book is simply excellent, combining amazing photographs with commentary from the great man himself.

SuperBowl XXXII is extensively covered and there are photos from Johns personal life, growing up and present, with his family and around his home. You get to hear John's views on things away from football also.

I just wish this book could have been bigger and with more photos from other key points in John's carear, especially the Denver-Cleveland AFC Champ series which are not given enough depth.

We purchased the book for it's beautiful photographs, but we thouroughly enjoyed the inspirational story. The book literally takes you from Elway's birth to present day. We enjoyed the photos and stories of his family and his off field life. We highly recommend this book. You'll love it if you are a Bronco fan or just an NFL fan.

Nice pictures. Good coffee table book for a guest to your home that might share a love for football or the Broncos. The quality pictures are what makes this book. If you are looking for an in-depth look into the life of Elway, you would need to look elsewhere.

For all you Elway fans out there, this book is a keeper. With great photos and words coming right from John himself, you'll love the book.

For Elway fans, this book provides insight on the athlete's personal philosophy, career, and family life. Unfortunately, many of the photos are grainy--they look like assorted 3x5s and wallet photos that have been enlarged to fit a coffee table size book. The sparse text has also been enlarged into huge bold font to justify the price and size of this book.

This book is filled with plenty of great photos, and the narrative is by Elway himself. It would have been even more personally valuable to me if he had retired, but I'll buy the next edition too! Living in California, I've never been able to get the kind of insight into his life that this book offers. The only bad thing is that I wish he had written more.