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The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game |  | Author: Michael Lewis
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $8.36
as of 11/22/2009 03:27 MST details
You Save: $5.59 (40%)
New (29) Used (23) from $7.74
Seller: mediathrill
Rating:  183 reviews
Sales Rank: 74
Media: Paperback
Edition: First Edition
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.4 x 1
ISBN: 0393330478
Dewey Decimal Number: 921
EAN: 9780393330472
ASIN: 0393330478
Publication Date: September 17, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
"Lewis has such a gift for storytelling...he writes as lucidly for sports fans as for those who read him for other reasons."—Janet Maslin, New York Times One day Michael Oher will be among the most highly paid athletes in the National Football League. When we first meet him, he is one of thirteen children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or how to read or write. He takes up football, and school, after a rich, white, evangelical family plucks him from the streets. Then two great forces alter Oher: the family's love and the evolution of professional football itself into a game in which the quarterback must be protected at any cost. Our protagonist becomes the priceless package of size, speed, and agility necessary to guard the quarterback's greatest vulnerability: his blind side. This paperback edition contains a brand-new 2007 afterword. .
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 183
 If You Think This Is Only About Football, Think Again November 18, 2009
C. Bridner
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Not just a book about football, a book about the extraordinary life of an underprivileged individual whose life changed based upon the kindness and determination of others. I want to laugh, cry, and cheer all at the same time while reading this. I read all 339 pages in less than 24 hours, something I never do even when I love a book, I simply COULD NOT put this down. I don't care if you're a man or woman, football fan or not, you will find a reason to fall in love with this story.
Football book for a non-fan November 15, 2009
Inveterate reader (Nashville, TN)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was one of the best-written, most moving books I have read in a long time. It is a truly compelling story. The football angle, while important, is almost tangential to the most significant aspects of the book -- the characters themselves. Although this would appeal to a sports enthusiast, it is also a must-read for bibliophiles like me.
For Those Who Want to Read About the Good in the World ... October 26, 2009
TSabonis (Sioux City, IA, USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Michael Lewis has hit two home runs ... or scored two touchdowns, pick your sports analogy. Blind Side is two books in one. First it is a analytical look at the evolution of NFL football. With Bill Walsh perfecting the west coast offense, basically a timing based system where the QB drops back and throws to a predefined location, stretching the field laterally. The makes the QB in his offense ineffective if his timing is disrupted. Along comes Lawrence Taylor who hit quarterbacks behind the line of scrimmage so often they had to create the sack! So with the timing based system and nuts like LT bursting around the Blind Side a premium was placed on the guy blocking that side. The bar is set so high for Blindside tackles are the second highest paid position in the NFL.
Interspersed through the book you get to meet Michael Oher and hear his story. It is the best feelgood sports story, and possibly most life affirming tale I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Michael was essentially homeless in the ghetto of Memphis when through determination and luck he enrolls in Briar Crest, a nearly all white affluent christian high school on the other side of town. Fate shine on him in the early going when a student and her mother see Michael walking down the street in shorts and a T shirt on a cold day. Mrs. Touhy(?) saw the need and took upon herself to offer a hand. What resulted was the rebuilding of a life destroyed by ambivalence.
This is a fantastic read, i recommend it to all who enjoy reading about the good in the world.
 I didn't really like this book even though I loved it. October 22, 2009
Dave Goldberg (40 miles north of NYC)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I know. The Title makes no sense.
That's because it's about 60 percent of a book: the story of Michael Oher, the Tuohys and the marketing of high school football players. That's the part I loved.
What I didn't like: Lewis's rather patronizing treatise on football ("the Evolution of the Game''), invented by Bill Walsh and Bill Parcells (yes, I'm sure they told him that because I knew Walsh and know Parcells and modesty was/is not one of either man's virtues.) Lewis makes it sound as if Michael Oher, who entered the NFL in 2009, arrived just in time to get a $13 million contract. Yes, he points out that in 1993, when free agency started, that left tackles were paid more than right tackles. But he suggests that Lawrence Taylor was the first pass rusher to endanger quarterbacks from the blind side. I don't think Deacon Jones or Doug Atkins or Gino Marchetti would think that. Nor would any of the quarterbacks they hit in the pre-Oher paleozoic era.
I guess what I'm saying is that the football section of the book is much too patronizing. A friend agreed,pointing out that it shouldn't be read by people who know the game from the inside because it's far too simplistic about football. There also are annoying little mistakes _ Sid Gillman spelled his name that way, not "Gilman,'' as Lewis has it.
I didn't really like "Moneyball'' either. I don't like sports books that push pat theories about events that by their nature are unpredictable. Billy Beane's teams haven't fared too well lately, have they? But I believe in the stolen base that Billy so disdains.
Excellent! October 21, 2009
John B. Goode (Earth)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A great story of Michael Oher. I love sports bios especially football ones. And actually it is rare to read a bio of a rookie NFL player because most bios are of NFL stars, but this bio is something special because it charts the life story of Michael Oher and how to he got to the NFL. The story of Oher is mostly about his life and not about his football story at Ole Miss. But, the book also talks about football strategy. Specifically it touches on Lawrence Taylor and how his exceptional performance led to a completely new evaluation of the left tackle position. That in itself is worth reading too.
It's a well written book and easy to read. Sometimes you wonder about what some of these football players had to go though in their lives in order to get to the NFL and this is one of those stories. Without giving out more away, I'll just say it's highly recommended.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 183
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