Rating: 
Summary: Breathless and dubious
Review: Where to begin? About ten pages in, I began to smell a rat. This work claims to be nonfiction, but I'm not so sure.The style of reporting at the time was to overhype. Everyone knows this, but instead of a turning a jaundiced eye, Ms. Hillebrand decided to adopt this practice as her own. There seems to be no tidbit about Seabiscuit reported at the time that she is prepared to disbelieve. Look at how many things in the bibliography are marked "SB" -- which, she explains, is the designation she uses for newspaper clippings which have no date or source attribution. If she could corraborate these through another source, then why not list the other source? She crows, in the Acknowledgements, about finding many cases where the facts she was researching were confirmed by multiple witnesses. Someone please tell the author this is called "corraborating evidence", and it is what you rely on when writing a historical account. Not faded overhyped singleton news clippings of unknown origin, which are quoted from oh so often without the slightest bit of skepticism. (For fun, swing on over to snopes dot com and do a search for "Seabiscuit".) There are so many little details -- facial expressions, sighs, crowd reactions -- that are "just so", obviously written to thrill rather than inform, and it's quite impossible to believe that any historical research method short of a time machine could possibly reveal them. And these tidbits are always presented in such a way as to make Seabiscuit's rise more dramatic, trainer Smith more mysterious, jockey Pollard more unlikely. The popularity of this book and its accompanying movie have effectively clouded the waters, so we'll probably never know the true story of Seabiscuit. Ms. Hillenbrand has launched an effective campaign towards his establishment as a fairy tale, however.
Rating: 
Summary: great descriptions of races!!
Review: This book had a subject matter that I am very familiar with which probably helped me appreciate it more. I found it very interesting. The detailed descriptions of races had me on the edge of my seat as if I were riding 'the biscuit' myself. It also gave a very interesting look to the actions that go on behind the scenes of horse racing. I recommend it for anyone who is interested in the biscuit's life or just horse racing in general. Although most terms are explained in footnotes, it still may be a little hard to understand for someone who knows little or nothing about racing.
Rating: 
Summary: Deserves All the Praise
Review: I've been hesitant to read non-fiction after far too many encounters with boring accounts of history throughout high school and college, but I tried this one and LOVED it. It was so exciting--not at all like reading a textbook. One of the best things about Hillenbrand is that she helped make some of the details of racing understandable but at the same time she didn't talk down to the reader either. She seamlessly provided information about the era while telling the story of Howard, Smith, Pollard and Seabiscuit. It certainly lives up to all the hype.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Vision
Review: To find this subject matter, and to tackle it so brilliantly, readers must credit author Laura Hillenbrand with amazing vision. She has unearthed a point on the American timeline, dating back to the Depression era, which virtually had been forgotten. Yet Hillenbrand's account is so vivid that the reader gets caught up in the excitement of that moment long past. Her research is breath-taking, and her prose is lively and elegant. She tells this story well enough that the book reads like fiction. And, for the span of this account, one truly can understand the frenzy surrounding this racehorse which was so improbable in its success; in fact, the broken-down horse becomes almost a metaphor for the broken-down spirit of the nation in those difficult days. At his height of glory, Seabiscuit was as important to American pop culture as J-Lo and Britney are today. The vision of the book extends to the film. It is rare for movies to equal, or exceed, the books from which they are adapted, but SEABISCUIT is one of the most visually beautiful movies ever made, much to the producer's credit. Take a break from the bad news of the moment and enjoy the history of the horse that had delighted America during those grim days of the Depression.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Dumb compared to my novel
Review: Hey who cares about some stupid biscuit-- Sea or otherwise -- if I were you I'd purchase my novel about the most interesting person who ever lived -- MYSELF! Read MY FRACTURED LIFE, read MY FRACTURED LIFE, read MY FRACTURED LIFE
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Dumb compared to my novel
Review: Hey who care about some stupid biscuit-- Sea or otherwise -- if I were you I'd purchase my novel about the most interesting person who ever lived -- MYSELF! Read MY FRACTURED LIFE, read MY FRACTURED LIFE, read MY FRACTURED LIFE
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I have read in years!
Review: How can a previous reviewer say all that it was about was one race after another? Indeed, I don't think he/she was paying much attention. When I started reading this book, it just got better and better. I thought "this is such an interesting story, if I didn't know it was true, it would be an interesting fiction"...but it was true. How this writer was able to capture the feeling of being on a horse's back in a thoroughbred race is absolutely amazing, but you feel like you are in the race riding Seabiscuit. Also, the development of Seabiscuit's personality is very inspiring., i.e., that he when knew his picture was being taken, he held his head in a certain way for best effect. And that he loved to compete and hated to be out-run..., etc. The story of the jockey, Red, and his great courage and determination was not developed as well on screen, as it was in the book. The movie is good, but the book is much better. An excellent writer and an excellent read.
Rating:
Summary: Love, Pride and Devotion
Review: Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand is a wonderfully colorful novel that sweeps through the courses of several different lives. There is the owner, a rich man yet also a man with a void in his soul. There is the jockey, a talented man, but a man with a void in his soul. There is the trainer, an intuitive and almost supernaturally gifted man, but a man who also has a void in his soul. In each other, somehow they are able to fill those voids, and the result is family, belonging, love and loyalty. A truly touching and tear-jurking novel. A drama that is not only funny at times, but one that will also make you think. I also recommend Lucky Monkeys In The Sky by Michele J. Geraldi. It is a novel much different from Seabiscuit, but with similar values and lessons.
Rating: 
Summary: Will the races ever end?
Review: There was so much hype and publicity surrounding this book, I was excited to get my hands on it and find out was everyone was talking about. I started reading, and I was a little dissapointed that the beginning didn't immedietly grab my attention. I kept reading because I heard from a few people that it's a little slow to start. So here I was reading and reading, and waiting for it to get exciting. Pretty soon I had finished the book, and I hadn't discovered the exciting part. The story of seabiscuit is much better suited to a movie, or a story told around a campfire. It just didn't work as a book. The only thing that ever happens to Seabiscuit is that he runs in race after race- he runs in so many races I was sick of it by the end. Nothing significant ever occurs during or between the races, he either wins or looses, and moves on to the next race. I thought that for sure something would have to happen to make this story a bit my dynamic, but the races just keep on coming. I don't know what the American Public saw in this book, but whatever it was, I missed it. Probably because I was drowning in race after race after pointless race...
Rating:
Summary: An Outstanding Book!
Review: I just finished reading Seabiscuit. I had great difficulty putting it down, finishing it in just 4 days. I have a little fondness for horseracing having been to Bay Meadows many times since I was a child. I did not realize there were so many subtle nuances a horse can communicate during a race such as the ears being pinned back (meaning the horse is focused), or the ears turning (meaning the horse is fooling around). I also didn't realize that horses actually stare each other down during the race and can actually break another horse's spirit by beating him. The insights into the minds of horses was probably what I found most fascinating about this book not to mention the great storyline surrounding the rise of Seabiscuit from obscurity. The additional information regarding the minds of horses makes the story all the more richer. Hillenbrand has an easy to read style of writing and you get the impression that it was impossible for the author not to be inspired and moved by the story of Seabiscuit.
| 
