Rating: 
Summary: In the Wake of Ancient Greek Triremes
Review: "I am rowing toward the past," writes Strauss in this exhilarating and multifaceted meditation on learning and mastering the ancient art of rowing. As a frustrated athlete searching for a fulfilling sport to call his own and as a scholar of ancient Greek naval history, the author has hit on a fascinating and auspicious combination, the graceful blending of personal narrative with historical interest.
My favorite chapter was the one on the striking love-hate relationship the classical Greeks had with the wine-dark waters that surrounded them, from their naval victory against the Persians at Salamis to the nostalgia of lifelong sailors for home shores and the ever-present threat of loss at sea.Reading "Rowing Against the Current" is a real adventure!
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Summary: A refreshing read
Review: A wonderful read for all of us wanabees whose youthful dreams of sports heroism were let down by our lack of prowess. Strauss explores the pains and joys of middle aged athleticism while offering fascinating insights to the ancient rowers who battled at Salamis and elsewhere. A rare book that's perfect to lose yourself in while flying to Europe or while riding the train to work.
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Summary: A masterpiece of athletic angst!
Review: At first reading, I found Mr.Strauss to be a tad to prone to poetic whimsy. Though I found his prose style very impressive, he seemed to want to wax eleoquent about every aspect of his middle-age rebirth. However, after finishing the book, I could not get certain paragraphs out of my mind, and I would leaf through in order to re-read said paragraphs. Eventually I read the book four times, the resonance and poetry I so blithely dismissed as hyperbole, was replaced with an awed respect for the author. He is excited and curious, and those qualities rush forth in a flowery prose, but it is not extentanious, it is the childlike glee of learning a new sport. Through out this book, Mr.Strauss touches on topics that relate to us all: sports injuries, getting back in shape, juggling fitness with family and work. All of these topics touch most people and he handles them with an ease and grace that will inspire all that read this tiny tome. Nowhere is he more effective than when discussing the biggest reason for choosing so ardous an athleteic endeavor; that being a horrid Little League experiance that scared him for decades. In between humorous laments, and fresh diatribes, Mr.Strauss also covers rowing technique, history, and preparation. He becomes a whirling dervish, a man possesed! Yet he handles all these subjects with great prose dexterity, and a human touch that will reach out to all who buy this book. On a personal note, I found his description of the Concept 2 rowing machine( ergometer) to be wry, funny and dead on. I own one of these machines, and it is a hellish, brutish, sweet torture, and Mr.Strauss nails the experiance with great wit. This is a wonderful read, as the trials and tribulations of Barry Strauss are the same for most of the human race. Yet he shows how to handle these, to push oneself, to triumph in defeat with such grace that you will feel like attacking your personal foibles with rapier and musket!
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written book
Review: At last, hope for the kid, (now an adult), who was "last to be picked for the team." I read this book and marvelled at how beautifully it was written and at the same time how inspiring it was for the non-athlete in all of us. There really is hope after 40 and this book inspires you to find the way.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice contemplation on rowing; good history on ancient sport
Review: From time to time you run across one of those books that wanders gracefully from one topic to another, all the time circling around a central theme. John McPhee's "Oranges" is like that, and so is "Rowing Against the Current." Mr. Strauss, a classics scholar himself, is perfectly poised to write a book about rowing. His background in classics gives him a special vantage point from which to appreciate the ancient sport of rowing and its survival into modern times.
Be warned, this is not a book for everyone. If you're looking for a book on rowing techniques or how to improve your stroke, look elsewhere. The subtitle says it all: "On Learning to Scull at Forty." This is an intensely personal memoire about one man's experiences taking up a new sport in middle-age (although some of us might regard him as a mere spring chicken).
But for those looking for a book that ranges from a description of what it's like to take out a narrow shell with a twelve-inch wide seat on a river at dawn to a comparison of the status of rowers in ancient Greece and Rome, this book is highly recommended. Think of it as a fireside book -- something to curl up with on a cold night. And if you like it, then move on to David Halberstam's "The Amateurs." Enjoy.
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Summary: A great read!
Review: I can't add much to what has been said already, so let me just add my voice to those above by saying you won't be sorry you read this book. I read it twice in no time.
Rating: 
Summary: Self-indulgent self-congratulation.
Review: I certainly don't recommend this book to anyone who would like to understand the beauty of the oarsman's toil. David Halberstam wrote a far better book in "The Amateurs." From a competitive oarsman there's Stephen Keisling's "The Shell Game," which culminates in Yale's victory over Harvard. No, Strauss' book details an uncompelling journey of (self-)discovery and is a complete failure as an exegesis of the sport of rowing. Don't be tricked into buying it by the Eakins on the cover. Far from being beautifully written, the book is the diary of a wannabe who has not earned a seat in the boat. All of the classical and historical material presented is familiar to anyone who has been involved in rowing and is available from more learned sources without the whine. Strauss' apparent erudition fools only those who have never rowed. As a 41-year-old former officer of the Cascadilla Boat Club, as a coach and boatwright and competitive oarsman, I found that only my love of rowing could counter Strauss' cloying self-congratulation. (Boy, was I impressed with his weak, half-hearted efforts to learn the craft! Not to mention his valor on race day.) The reader may decide for himself: did the author's professed devotion to the sport in fact change him? I think it did. It made him think he was "on the team."
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Summary: Strauss enlivens English as well as his scull.
Review: I just happened to pick up Strauss' book for something fun to read and I loved the way he played with the English language as he did with his skull. Thanks Dr. Strauss for enlivening my life. I don't plan to skull but I do plan to bike more beside the Genesee river. Thanks!
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Summary: Good to know I'm not alone...
Review: I just started rowing last summer and I can honestly say that this book really hits home. I think the book is well written and overall the book is good but not great. The author is a historian of the ancient world (primarily Greece as far as I can tell) and seems to dive too deeply on strange tangeants regarding ancient rowing vessels and coaches for my taste. Overall a good book.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful meditation
Review: I love this book -- it is a beautifully written meditation on what it is like to get older and wiser. Strauss chose rowing to lead him through his mid life changes; his experiences could translate to any endeavor, athletic or not, that a person on the verge of a life change can undertake. I heartily recommend it!
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