Customer Reviews

Gymnastics

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

 

 

As a former gymnast of fourteen years and an avid fan of the sport, I must say that this is the worst book on gymnastics I have ever read in my life. The author seems to have little in-depth knowledge of the sport and certain sections of the book, e.g., the sections on Bela Karolyi and the risks of gymnastics, seem suspiciously similar to two other books, Bela Karolyi's "Feel No Fear" and Joan Ryan's "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes." It's as if he summarized their work to make chapters for his book! Also, he fails to present the whole story when speaking of certain events that have taken place in gymnastics over the years, which may be misleading to the uneducated reader. In discussing Julissa Gomez, he tells you that she fell on her head doing the vault, fell into a coma, and died three years later. What he failed to tell you was that she wasn't in a coma following the vault; injured, yes, but in a coma, no. While in the hospital her breathing tube fell out and she was unable to get any oxygen; this led to the coma.

All in all, this is not a great book. If you want to know about the sport, try "Feel No Fear: The Passion, Power, and Politics of a Life in Gymanstics" by Bela Karolyi; "A History of Women's Gymnastics" by Minot Simons II; or, for a look at the darker side of the sport, "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes" by Joan Ryan.

At the end of the book, the author said that someone asked him what qualifications he has to write a book on gymnastics. He said none. Well, he should have stopped right there!

Well, when I think about it, this book did have some good points. It mentioned things like which gymnasts were hopefuls for the Atlanta Olympics, and which gymnasts have had moves named after them. But there were also a lot of things that the author left out or got innacturate sources on. By 1994, Shannon Miller and Amy Chow both had moves named after them,(Amy had 2), and there was no mention of it. The gymnasts that were World and National Champions got the most attention, and the information was either outdated -- something that I read and thought "Everyone knows that", or just slightly off. I was also not impressed with the section that resembled "Little Girls In Pretty Boxes" by Joan Ryan. If the author was going to criticize the sport, I feel that he could have at least found his own sources and wording to do so. I felt it was unfair to the sport of gymnastics that the author had to devote a whole chapter to the eating disorders and life- threatening injuries of the sport, which made it seem like it happens to everyone in gymnastics. Before writing this book, the author should have considered the fact that a lot of the content could give gymnastics a bad image.... He also could have checked his records to give the reader accurate information, and included facts about the gymnasts that gymnastics fans didn't actually know about before reading the book. Overall, I'd be fair and give this book 2 stars because there was some positively interesting and original information..... but not much.

This was an okay book, though it probably could have been better. The book includes a history of the sport, its first superstars, the gymnastics events, judging and scoring, a day in the life of a gymnast, superstars of the 1990s, a chapter about the dangers of the sport, (more on that later) a timeline of important gymnastics dates, and trivia and facts. The book is a little dated and could use some updating, and the chapter that dissapointed me a lot was the chapter about "the price of success". Dan Gutman fails to mention that these things don't happen in every sport. He also fails to point out that he is talking about the ELITE level of gymnastics. Anyone who has read "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes" will see that Gutman's source for the ENTIRE chapter was based upon that book! Dan Gutmnan used the same exact information just with different wording! That chapter clearly does not fit in with the rest of the book, which says nothing of the dark side of these sports. If you want to buy this book, I would say save your money and buy a different book- this one isn't the best.

I thought that the book was excellent! It was very well written and it covered a lot of important and interesting things. I would've rated this book at 5 star, but I heard that in a short story about a girl that died because her head slammed into the vault and her neck snapped, then she went into a coma and died, the author didn't mention that when she was in the hospitol her air tube came out and they couldn't put it back in, and that's what made her go into a coma ( and as a result die) that made me angry because I expect the REAL facts when I read a book.

This was the first gymnastics book I owned and I loved it. Great for any new fan to the sport of gymnastics. Informational and educational with interesting stories. especially if you are a fan of '90's gymnastics.

wow I thought the book thoughlly explained
this graceful and dynamic sport> I recommend this
book to any fan or gymnast.Some people may not agree
with my comments or rating but hey, thats
there opoinion!I am a competitive gymnast and that is
probably why I enjoyed the book so much!

A great book about gymnastics. Everything you want to know about gymnastics is there. Biographies, gymnastics terms, how gymnastics was started, a time line, everything! If I could I would give it 10 stars! I have already read it 3 times! And I'm not even a gymnast!

I thought that this gymnastic book was a very good one in the sense that some one who has never really learned about the sport wrote a book on it with his opinion and that says a lot to me that people are willing to try to give gymnastics a chance.