Joseph Dan (1935–2022)

At 179 pages, this is a little gem of a book chronicling the last three years of Lou Gehrig’s life. His struggles during the Yankees’ 1938 season while ALS was secretly taking hold is masterfully and concisely written. Play by play reporting in sports biographies generally leaves me bored, but not so here. Dan Joseph presents just the right amount of detail to keep you interested without bogging you down with statistics.

Although this isn’t a biography, Joseph provides enough show more information to give the reader a fair glimpse of who Gehrig was. His strength of character is apparent. It is no wonder he was given the title, Iron Horse, “a name coined for the first train locomotives”. To play 2,136 consecutive major league games, an Iron Horse is what you’d have to be.
Grantland Rice, a prominent sportswriter at the time, compared Gehrig to a character from Rudyard Kipling’s poem, The Ballad of Fisher’s Boarding House.

“And there was Hans the blue-eyed Dane,
Bull-throated, bare of arm,”

As Joseph puts it,
“Lou was actually of German descent, but at six-foot-one, 210 pounds, with tree trunk legs, muscles rippling from his arms and back, dark wavy hair, and a pair of watchful blue eyes, he evoked the mighty figure that Kipling described.”

The center of the book contains 20 photos, 17 of which I hadn’t seen before. (And, I’ve seen a lot) There is also the wonderful cover photo of Gehrig at his locker, pipe between his teeth, and holding his number 4 jersey.

The last third of the book is priceless in its description of Lou’s ALS diagnosis, end of his consecutive games streak, Lou Gehrig day at Yankee stadium, and his short life in retirement from baseball.
It’s a sad story, but one that leaves me a bit more proud that I’m a part of the human race that could produce such a fine human being as Lou Gehrig.
If you’ve ever played the game, or just love it, you’ll enjoy this book about one the best that ever took the field, but had to leave us tragically early. show less

This is a very nice and succinct introduction to the subject of the kabbalah. Joseph Dan takes a very fair-minded approach to his subject, and offers much information without opinion. This is important as there are many who have very particular and passionate notions o this subject. This book is not intended to bring one into the interior study of Jewish mysticism, but offers up very useful outline and history of what has happened to this subject beginning from the Middles Ages to the present.

Very good, very short, very introductory. What more can you ask for?

Tikkun Olam - Jewish concept of mending the world (from Wikipedia). Making the world more God-like by doing God-like deeds in daily life. Giving back. The Golden Rule. Stuff that's at the core of all of Earth's major religions. Also, the concept that God is in all of us, which connects with many other religious beliefs. This one was heavy on the history, light on the concepts, which was disappointing, but at least I learned something and my frustration with religious separatism was reaffirmed.