- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (2 May 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 075531171X
- ISBN-13: 978-0755311712
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.6 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 752,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Ella Windsor, Mail on Sunday
'A joy to read'
Book Description
A brilliant piece of sports writing that unveils the cultishly popular world of greyhound racing and diamond geezers
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What i liked about this book was the impression of the author trying to fast buck his way to some kind of success in a sea of more adept people who are mostly failing at the same game. The book isn't so much about the dogs as about the desperate world of instant winnings that existed centuries before the lottery.
Matthews is leeched dry by the experience of running his dog and Kevin (the dog), with far less philosophy, fares much better in life without winning a thing. The 'cruelty' of the sport seems much more toward the punters than the dogs.
Matthews is leeched dry by the experience of running his dog and Kevin (the dog), with far less philosophy, fares much better in life without winning a thing. The 'cruelty' of the sport seems much more toward the punters than the dogs.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm not normally a book reader if you know what i mean but i picked this up out of inteset as a greyhound kennel-hand and owner and couldn't put it down. It's a little hard to get into if you know nothing about the great sport but a very interesting read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book matches the tag 'a curate's egg' admirably. It is an in depth and often fascinating look at all aspects of greyhound racing through the eyes of someone who buys Kevin(Zussie's Boy), a very ordinary dog running at Walthamstow. Anyone familiar with, or wanting to find out more about the greyhound world and its characters will find a lot to enjoy here, since it covers a range of topics including breeding, racing, betting,coursing, issues of animal rights and gambling addiction. There are many insightful, exciting and well written parts to the book, providing a generally balanced view of a somewhat controversial sport.
However, there are also sections which are very irritating. The author writes about bodily functions as though he is the first person ever to discover these, and assumes that readers will find lengthy passages about using notes as toilet paper, and vomiting hugely amusing. He pleads poverty and how gambling supposedly took over and threatened his life whilst apparently simultaneously being able to afford luxury London accommodation and winter holidays in the Caribbean. He writes condescendingly about Gamblers Anonymous, and seems surpised when attending a hare coursing event and loudly criticising it in a crowd on his mobile phone that people turn against him. His eventual decision as to Kevin's post-racing fate left me only just on the side of empathising with the author. An interesting, but very mixed book!
However, there are also sections which are very irritating. The author writes about bodily functions as though he is the first person ever to discover these, and assumes that readers will find lengthy passages about using notes as toilet paper, and vomiting hugely amusing. He pleads poverty and how gambling supposedly took over and threatened his life whilst apparently simultaneously being able to afford luxury London accommodation and winter holidays in the Caribbean. He writes condescendingly about Gamblers Anonymous, and seems surpised when attending a hare coursing event and loudly criticising it in a crowd on his mobile phone that people turn against him. His eventual decision as to Kevin's post-racing fate left me only just on the side of empathising with the author. An interesting, but very mixed book!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
my dad loved this
i brought my dad this book and he loved it he could relate to everything which was being said in the book on ways to win the most money on the dogs he never did buy a greyhound but... Read more
Published on 10 July 2009 by Mrs. J. Butterworth
One man and his dog
John Ruskin had a view on price -
"There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider... Read more
"There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider... Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2009 by S. Wilson
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