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  • 6 months later...

I just ordered and finished the eBook version of SECRETS OF THE OLYMPIC CEREMONIES. It’s entertaining and informative all the way. Ever since I saw my first Olympic ceremony in Calgary 1988, I was always fascinated by how they put these unique spectacles together. I may have missed some shows in-between, but this ebook does a great job of filling me in on the ceremonies that I missed. SECRETS is fun, knowledgeable and full of juicy gossip…and I have no reason to doubt the veracity of the backstage anecdotes. After all, even the unfulfilled production concepts are well-documented.

Just as I may not get to London, I have one regret about the eBook version of this book. It has a modicum of pictures that the print version has. There are barely a dozen photos whereas I know the print version is just overloaded with great photos of ceremonies past. Failing that, I am looking forward to the London ceremonies in July, fully armed with a lot of juicy background bits from this volume which is still a great value and keepsake. The 2012 edition (either version) features a good teasing preview of what to expect from London this July. Finally, it’s a good hard-on book. I was getting a hard-on at every mention of cauldron and torch!! Kidding aside, it’s a very comprehensive book, filled with all the strange and fascinating facts that would gladden the hearts of most Olympic geeks and gods.

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  • 2 years later...

Well I just sent (another) $40 on a potential suicide mission to Amazon...This had better be worth it!

Like anything, if you don't set your hopes and expectations too high, then you'll come out way ahead in the end. And if it's been awhile (say, one of the smaller 2010 editions) since you got one, then this will be a far more polished, updated version with some improved visuals and new, juicier behind-the-scene vignettes. Your business is not unappreciated.

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As promised, the updated 2014 edition (with a section on the Sochi 2014 ceremonies) is now available from amazon.com and CreateSpace. It also includes some great new images and a new behind-the-scenes vignettes.

Will be gone on vacation in a day or so.

Might have to pick this up as got the last edition

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  • 5 months later...

THE BOYS IN THE BOAT - by Daniel James Brown.

Just came across this clip on Utube accidentally...

Disclaimer: I have no stake in this book. But am making this post to promote another fellow author in what appears to be a great Olympic story. I don't know when I'll get to it -- but if anybody reads it w/in the next couple of months, would you post a review here? Thanks.

The book has already been optioned for a Hollywood treatment by The Weinstein Company (who did THE KING'S SPEECH).

Edited by baron-pierreIV
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  • 3 weeks later...

THE BOYS IN THE BOAT - by Daniel James Brown.

Disclaimer: I have no stake in this book. But am making this post to promote another fellow author in what appears to be a great Olympic story. I don't know when I'll get to it -- but if anybody reads it w/in the next couple of months, would you post a review here? Thanks.

I just finished this book a couple of days ago. It took me a while to get into it, but I ended up really liking it. The Olympic portion of the story is only the last 100 pages or so, but the author does a good job of painting the story of the boys in the boat and how it leads into the Olympics in Berlin.

I saw about the book being optioned for a movie as well, but it looks like it's been stuck in development for the last couple of years.

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I saw about the book being optioned for a movie as well, but it looks like it's been stuck in development for the last couple of years.

It's difficult to fashion a feature film telling the stories of NINE guys -- let alone getting nine fairly credible, bankable actors to fill the roles. Plus, in these very culturally-sensitive times, certain quarters would say: why cast nine WHITE guys again? It's only history but maybe they can make the coxswain a black female?? Quvenzhane Wallis perhaps? LOL!!

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  • 1 year later...

THE BOYS IN THE BOAT - by Daniel James Brown.

Just came across this clip on Utube accidentally...

Disclaimer: I have no stake in this book. But am making this post to promote another fellow author in what appears to be a great Olympic story. I don't know when I'll get to it -- but if anybody reads it w/in the next couple of months, would you post a review here? Thanks.

FINALLY, finished the book! While it does drag at times -- because the boys are essentially real nice, small-town blokes, there's not much excitement there in terms of envy, murder, lust, deceit, betrayal or revenge...well, other than wanting to win a race. If you're comfortable with those parameters, then it's worth a read in an Olympic year.

One thing I learned -- the Rowing Federation was crooked and corrupt. They assigned the best, most protected lanes to what else? Germany (lane 1). and Italy (2) (the 2 Fascist allies); and the worst lanes (7 and 8), with the most wind, to GBR and the US, even though the US (and Switzerland) should have been placed in lanes 3 and 4 since they won their prelim heats. Avery Brundage wasn't president of the IOC yet. But despite this BLATANTLY advantageous assignment for the home team, the hard-working, hard-scrabble boys (with Don Hume, their biggest, strongest rower very sick that day), still beat the two Axis boats!!

As for a film version, unless they center on the story of Joe Rantz (one of the 8), whom the author picked as the focus point of his story, I don't think it's going to be another CHARIOTS OF FIRE or COOL RUNNINGS or BLADES OF GLORY. Seems like they've just settled on a documentary which, for those in the US, will air on PBS, a few days before Rio Opening, I think August 2, 2016.

(But I shed a few tears at the end because it was good to know that sometimes, the good guys do finish first.)

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  • 2 months later...

Sad news. The Olympic "Bible" will be no more:

 

Quote

 

Wallechinsky confirms no 2016 version of The Complete Book of the Olympics - and probably no more after

David Wallechinsky has confirmed that, for the first time since 1984, he will not be publishing a new version of The Complete Book of the Olympics on the eve of the Summer Games - and added that writing what has become established as one of sport’s set texts is “no longer cost-effective.”

Speaking from his Santa Monica home as he prepared to set off for Rio de Janeiro to cover his 13th Olympics as a television and radio commentator, the 68-year-old polymath told insidethegames: "Unfortunately, a new edition will not be published this year.

“There are two major reasons.

“The first, ironically, is that I have become so involved in other aspects of promoting an appreciation for Olympic history.

“The second reason is that the book is no longer cost-effective.

“Also, let's face it, had I published a book this year, the 98 plus new doping positives would have rendered it already out-of-date.”

Wallechinsky, who has also produced the companion volume of The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics, said that he had started writing up events from the London 2012 Olympics in the hope of making them “available online before the Tokyo 2020 Games".

On reflection, however, he added: “I was thinking to myself recently, what would it take to get this ready for Tokyo 2020 in the way I want it done?

“I would have to finish all the London 2012 stories, and then add in the Rio 2016 stories, where you are talking about more than 600 events.

“I would probably need to work on it for at least one or two hours every single day."

Wallechinsky added: “For the moment I don’t need to make a decision, but maybe in future I should just do the Winter Games book as it is a much easier project involving 85 events.

“But if I start working on the next Winter Games book, what about the Sochi [2014] Games doping?

“I feel that what is going to happen after the Rio Games are over is the McLaren Committee are going to go deeper into the Russian doping they uncovered, a lot of Russian athletes from Sochi 2014 are going to have their samples re-tested and found positive…

“In a way, what is the point in my writing about this until it is all settled? 

"It’s frustrating.”

Wallechinsky, who will cover the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at Rio 2016 and provide daily summaries for NBC and Westwood One radio, has a huge range of commitments both within and without the sporting realm.

The first category includes being President of the International Society of Olympic Historians and a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Commission on Culture and Olympic Heritage, as well as the Content Committee of the US Olympic Museum.

And as the founder of AllGov.com he provides up-to-date news about more than 340 departments and agencies of the United States Government, detailing not just what it says it does, but what it actually does, and who is making a profit from it.

“All of these activities, combined with my other projects, such as AllGov.com, have left me little time to work on my book,” he said.

Insidethegames

 

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I saw that. /\/\   And even with my 2012 edition, the damned thing already makes my bookshelf sag.  I think he should have stopped at 1996 (so, one century); and then just have started a new edition with 2000, moving forward.  That way, it wouldn't be such a huge thing.  But then again, he didn't ask me. :(

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  • 6 years later...
On 5/8/2016 at 5:56 PM, baron-pierreIV said:

FINALLY, finished the book! While it does drag at times -- because the boys are essentially real nice, small-town blokes, there's not much excitement there in terms of envy, murder, lust, deceit, betrayal or revenge...well, other than wanting to win a race. If you're comfortable with those parameters, then it's worth a read in an Olympic year.

One thing I learned -- the Rowing Federation was crooked and corrupt. They assigned the best, most protected lanes to what else? Germany (lane 1). and Italy (2) (the 2 Fascist allies); and the worst lanes (7 and 8), with the most wind, to GBR and the US, even though the US (and Switzerland) should have been placed in lanes 3 and 4 since they won their prelim heats. Avery Brundage wasn't president of the IOC yet. But despite this BLATANTLY advantageous assignment for the home team, the hard-working, word finder boys (with Don Hume, their biggest, strongest rower very sick that day), still beat the two Axis boats!!

As for a film version, unless they center on the story of Joe Rantz (one of the 8), whom the author picked as the focus point of his story, I don't think it's going to be another CHARIOTS OF FIRE or COOL RUNNINGS or BLADES OF GLORY. Seems like they've just settled on a documentary which, for those in the US, will air on PBS, a few days before Rio Opening, I think August 2, 2016.

(But I shed a few tears at the end because it was good to know that sometimes, the good guys do finish first.)

While it does drag at times, the book is worth a read in an Olympic year. One thing I learned is that the Rowing Federation was crooked and corrupt. They assigned the best, most protected lanes to Germany and Italy, while GBR and the US were given the worst lanes. Despite this, the US still managed to beat the two Axis boats.

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