Mind Over Water: Lessons on Life from the Art of Rowing | 
|  | | | Title: | Mind Over Water: Lessons on Life from the Art of Rowing | | Author: | Craig Lambert | | Publisher: | Mariner Books | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 07 September, 1999 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0618001840 / 9780618001842 | | List Price: | $12.95 | | You Save: | $1.94 | | Amazon Price: | $11.01 | |
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| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
In this wise and thrilling book, Criag Lambert turns rowing--personal discipline, modern Olympic sport, grand collegiate tradition--into a metaphor for a vigorous and satisfying life.
Amazon.com Review
Some sports--the solitary ones, in particular--are simply more prone to mysticism and mystery than others. Golf, certainly. Long-distance running, of course. Fishing. Climbing. Each has a literature that confronts the essence of its lonely pursuit and explores the way the solitude and self-discipline these sports demand grow the spirit and fill the competitor. Lambert's graceful reflection on rowing is a lovely addition to the genre, part memoir, part narrative, part celebration of a relatively arcane endeavor, and utterly provocative. The superficial journey here is over water; the real one is internal. "Like Einstein," he writes, "we wish to know God's thoughts. We shall attempt to pry them loose with an oar. The raw elements of the sport are our teacher: the wind and the water, the boat and its oars, our own bodies and minds." Given those elements, it's no surprise that the education is a profound one. The surprise is how accessible and appealing it turns out to be. --Jeff Silverman
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Customer Reviews:
• Gaack! Just When I'd Given Up Highlighting My Books. . . 30 January, 2005
"Mind Over Water" falls into the category of the memoir, highly personal and considered memories and musings. It's about rowing and, as the subtitle states: "Lessons on Life from the Art of Rowing." If you don't like this kind of book, steer clear. You also won't like "Green Thoughts: A Writer in The Garden." On the other hand, if you do like this kind of book, "Green Thoughts" is also recommended.
"Mind over Water" is about rowing internalized, what it means to row and race and how these lessons can be applied to life. As such, its primary goal is not so much instruction as translation. And translations, of course, are never exact, which may account for some of the animosity of other reviewers.
So what is "Mind Over Water" really about? It's not so much about rowing as it is about what rowing means to the author. As such, you can't really fault it for not being the book you might write about rowing or for not being an instruction manual. It has humbler ambitions. Think of it as an off-water musing.
In any case, I liked it. And, yes, I had to get to get out the highlighter. Among those who like the book, everyone is going to have favorite passages, as some of these reviews attest. Here are some of mine:
"Edges form outlines. If our boundaries determine our identities, then we learn who we are by finding our limits."
"Sliding between dark and shadow, between sunlight and the obscure, is the region of discovery."
"Staying on course limits your attention to the boat and its rowers, who are, after all, the motor that takes you there. The goal does not disclose itself until it is attained."
"Mistakes shine a spotlight on our model of reality and show us its flaws. Unexpected outcomes help us refine our picture of nature."
"Tall smokestacks rise from the powerhouse and waft plumes of smoke into the sky, the epitaph of fuel burned into power."
If this kind of writing disturbs or bores you, look elsewhere. If not, you might find "Mind Over Water" as enjoyable as I did.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A5BAE3SEOGND5
• Lame! 01 February, 2008
Over the top and over writen! I couldn't read more than half of it. I'll never get those hours back!
I know I never want him in my boat, if he talks the way he writes!
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2Z974QQOK9S8K
• I'm Buying Six Copies 04 September, 2006
I generally read fiction for entertainment. And, in fact, generally loathe books anywhere in a stone's throw radius of the personal development genre. However, Mind Over Water really touched me. Lambert's insights are packaged in such a way that they both are easily absobed and entertaining. I'm buying a copy for each of my closest friends with the suggestion that they read it once per year, about 5 pages at a sitting.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2K93F51EDG7TB
• Not For Athlete 17 April, 2007
This will be a short review. To use an example visit the sample extract that is offered on this web site. The author mentions a double head. He builds it up as something mythic and impossible. This is a joke. Six miles is nothing. Just nothing. Its a warm up for some. Sports writing is not easy but effort should be made to represent the true hardships of a sport, because if you fake it you also fake the joy that can be derived from the sport. Rowing is tough and you learn a lot about yourself from it but limiting it to oh its really cold in the morning and the hagiographies of US olympians is boring and misguided. I suggest Lambert visit a few more boat clubs.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1PXTV0ZUZ7G60
• A Guide To Life. 26 December, 2008
This is a beautiful piece of work that brings life down to earth (water).
And in this life, everyone wins. Everytime.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3EE2AD4QFHVZ
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