Rick Reilly

I couldn't put this book down. Amazon delivered it yesterday afternoon and I spent all evening at my local watering hole devouring this book. I've never picked up a golf club or been a fan of Donald Trump but I've read books on both topics and this book takes the cake. Rick Reilly uses golf's Trump techniques (cheating and lying) to explain his terrible practices in office. Trump has been a notorious cheater in golf for decades, something he can't argue against; it's on film, hundreds of show more athletes, celebrities, and politicians will attest to it, he's admitted it, and his caddies joke that "Trump doesn't cheat... because we do it for him." Trump boasts that he's won 18 golf tournaments, although not ONE can be verified (16 are easy to disprove). He usually bullies course managers to put his name up on the trophy plaques because he "plays better than most other players all the time (most tournaments he never even played in!). Reilly then elaborates on Trump's business practices: specifically with his golf courses (lawsuits galore), his fight against paying contractors in full, and his failure to ban any Muslim countries that he had golf interests in. The book also discusses all presidents and their attachment (or lack thereof) to golf and how it influenced their presidential terms. "Obama wound up playing 306 rounds in office, or once every 9.5 days. Trump is on pace to, over eight years, to obliterate Obama's number - 759 rounds, which goes to show you that bone spurs do heal very nicely." The humor, the insight, the golfing parallels, and the writing make this book a showstopper. It was eye opening and golf was the perfect lens to view Trump and his "ethics" through. "In life, we're defined by the obstacles we overcome. That's the stuff we hang on our inner wall. But if you cheat to get around those obstacles, you never know the thrill of actually beating them. It's like buying a trophy in a pawn shop. You can shine it up and show it off and pretend you won it, but when you get close to it, it only reflects the face of a loser." make this book your most read political/sports book of 2019! show less

If it only it were not so frightening, this book would be hilarious!
Reilly digs deep into the persona of Donald Trump, revealing his true character (or lack thereof). Trump's passion is golf. I think everyone knows that. But what kind of person would diminish his life's passion by constantly cheating, bragging, and lying? The author shows explicitly that that kind of person would be Trump.
The man is completely incapable of telling the truth. He lies about his score. He kicks the golf balls show more into a better space (or has his lackey do it for him). He lies about the championships he's won. He lies about everything.
You might think that the author is another member of the "fake news" group that Trump rails on, however he documents incident after incident, as told by upstanding members of society who have golfed with him. It's a running gag among golfers everywhere how bad Trump cheats and lies.
And if you can't believe anything he says about his passion, how can you think he is going to tell the truth about anything else? You would have to be completely gullible.
Someday, just like our parents warned us, the lies will catch up to you. And the day of reckoning will be painful. Evidently Trump's parents didn't impress that upon him. How he has made it this far is amazing (and frustrating). When that day comes, I just hope that he doesn't take us all down with him! show less

The author poses a hypothesis that to truly understand Donald Trump one need only look at his history with his favorite pastime - golf. There are numerous funny stories of how Trump cheats and lies when playing, as well as influencing others to cheat for him! While these stories have a light side, when one considers his role in our nation, they take on an ominous note.
As the author says, "If you'll cheat to win at golf, is it that much further to cheat to win an election? To turn a show more Congressional vote? To stop an investigation?
"If you'll lie about every aspect of the game, is it that much further to lie about your taxes, your relationship with Russians, your groping of women?
"If you're adamant that that the poor don't deserve golf, is it that much further to think they don't deserve health care, clean air, safe schools?"
Frightening thoughts indeed, but we need to really think about them. Loved this book for those reasons. show less

Great collection of stories. Some of them were incredibly moving and some were hilarious. The editor should be shot, though... Who puts a tear jerking story about a kid with MS who runs cross country and has his team run his final laps with him back to back with a 9/11 story? REALLY? If I wanted to be a mess of tears during a lunch break at work there are many other things I could do. Not the best choice of order, but still a great book overall. Glad I found it in the Kindle store for next show more to nothing and decided to buy it. show less