Review of Batista Unleashed (Hardcover)

I've been a big fan of wrestling ever since I was a little kid. I grew up with characters like Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and The Undertaker. When the guys I grew up with slowly started to fade away I lose my interest in the WWE. For me, the new guys just didn't have the same "it" factor as the ones I grew up with.

It wasn't until the WWE started releasing books from their stars that my interest started to build again. When I was a kid there was no difference between the character these guys played on TV, and the person they were at home. I would've never dreamed that one day I'd be watching a TV show about Hulk Hogan...his wife....AND his kids?? No way.

Now that I'm a little older and understand the difference between the characters they play in the ring, and the real person they are, I've gained a new level of respect for the men and women of the WWE.

When Batista first came to the WWE he was all but entertaining. Since then I've watched his character grow and become World champion on numerous occasions. I had no idea he was releasing a book, and at first I was a bit skeptical about reading it because in the ring Batista isn't known for his overwhelming personality.

I gave in and purchased the book on Mon 10/22, and I've already finished it. Dave Batista (or Bautista)is actually an interesting, fairly deep guy with a lot of stories to share about his less than perfect past. His stories about growing up, bodybuilding, and life on the road actually had me laugh at loud at some points.

What I really enjoyed was that while Batista obviously had help in writing the book, at no time did I feel like I was reading someone else's words. The entire book made me believe that he actually sat down and wrote this which I can't really say about a lot of other biographies I've read. The book is candid, revealing, and very interesting. Personally, I couldn't put it down, and I would highly recommended it to anyone who's looking for an interesting book they can finish in a few days.

Even if you're not a fan of wrestling, the stories of Batista's life before he entered the ring are worth the purchase alone.



Product Description
People around the world know Dave Batista as World Wrestling Entertainment's "the Animal," the rope-shaking, spine-busting World Heavyweight Champion, one of the most popular Superstars in recent years.The crowd turned Batista from heel to babyface after they were electrified by his awesome physique and physical wrestling style.

Few fans, however, know that Batista didn't join the profession until he was thirty years old -- an age at which many wrestlers are thinking about hanging up their boots. Nor do most fans know the tremendous toll the climb to the top has taken on Batista's personal life. While successfully staying away from hard drugs and -- usually -- liquor, he found sex too tempting to resist.

"Women were my drug of choice," the Animal confesses. That addiction cost him his marriage, destroying a relationship that had helped him climb from poverty to the pinnacle of sports entertainment in less than two years.

Now, in Batista Unleashed, the WWE Superstar comes clean about the choices he made and the devastating effects they had on his family. He talks about the injury that stripped him of his title -- an injury he blames on Mark Henry's carelessness. While being sidelined cost Batista untold hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost income, it also set the stage for a tremendous comeback that cemented the Animal's reputation as a true champion.

Batista talks about growing up in the worst part of Washington, D.C., where three murders occurred in his front yard before he was nine. He speaks lovingly about his mother -- a lesbian -- and how hard she worked to keep the family not just together but alive. He talks candidly about his own criminal past: a conviction on a drug charge and another, since overturned, on assault. He speaks of his days as a bouncer and a lifeguard, and tells how bodybuilding may have saved his life.

Once he made it to the WWE, Batista realized he wasn't really ready for the big time. His career seemed headed for a fall until Fit Finlay took him under his wing. But his real education came when he joined Evolution and rode with Triple H and Ric Flair, two of sports entertainment's all-time greats. Batista talks about what they taught him, and details some of their wild times on the road.

But the champ also reveals a kinder, gentler side. While his soft-spoken manner in the locker room has sometimes been misinterpreted as arrogance, in truth Batista's always been somewhat shy and quiet. Emotional by nature, he reveals for the first time that the tears fans saw at WrestleMania 21, when he won the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time, were very real. And he speaks movingly about his problems with his ex-wives and teenage daughters, and how it felt to become a grandfather.

While his straight-shooting mouth has occasionally gotten him into trouble -- most notably in a backstage confrontation with Undertaker after some remarks about SmackDown! -- Batista is his own harshest critic. He explains his early limitations as a wrestler and the work he has done to overcome them. Interspersing his memoir with accounts from life on the road, Batista lightens the narrative with a surprising sense of humor. An Animal in the ring, he reveals himself as an honest and even humble man in everyday life.--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author
Jeremy Roberts (cowriter) has written on a variety of subjects. His nonfiction work includes biographies of Mussolini and Joan of Arc for A&E Books.

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Review of Blackfoot Physics: A Journey into the Native American Practice (Paperback)

It takes a while to get into this book because the first chapter is a bit boring (needs some serious editing, in fact). But once past that hurdle, there's not a dull moment. While one might take issue with the author's apparent attitude that the Native American version of science is superior to that of the Western world's, there's no doubt that the Western world has missed a lot of vital information about the nature of reality. The Native Americans were shoved aside by the Western invaders, who seldom had the sense to acknowledge the wisdom (not to mention the mathematics and the astronomy and the way to make a decent canoe) that the natives had to offer; now we're learning that much of what the natives believed is echoed in the new physics that is still being examined.

Product Description
One summer in the 1980s, theoretical physicist F. David Peat went to a Blackfoot Sun Dance ceremony. Having spent all of his life steeped in and influenced by linear Western science, he was entranced by the Native American worldview and, through dialogue circles between scientists and native elders, he began to explore it in greater depth.

Blackfoot Physics is the account of his discoveries. In an edifying synthesis of anthropology, history, metaphysics, cosmology, and quantum theory, Peat compares the medicines, the myths, the languages-the entire perceptions of reality of the Western and indigenous peoples. What becomes apparent is the amazing resemblance between indigenous teachings and some of the insights that are emerging from modern science, a congruence that is as enlightening about the physical universe as it is about the circular evolution of humanity's understanding. Through Peat's insightful observations, he extends our understanding of ourselves, our understanding of the universe, and how the two intersect in a meaningful vision of human life in relation to a greater reality.

About the Author
F. David Peat holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics and is deeply interested in the relationships between science, creativity, art, and culture. He worked with the late quantum physicist David Bohm and is the author of many books on science and our relation to the world including The Blackwinged Night, Synchronicity, and Science, Order, and Creativity (with David Bohm).

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