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Tapped Out
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Kindle Edition
I don't often buy hardback books but having read the author's first book, I couldn't stop myself from ordering this book. As per the synopsis, it is all about the author's journey into the world of mixed martial arts. If you enjoyed books like Goran Powel's waking dragons, buy it!
Positives:
- A brilliant writer, so much better than most ghost written bios.
- A good insight into the world of MMA
Negatives:
- Can be a bit technical in places, particularly if you are not familiar with BJJ
* Avoid at all costs
** Mediocre
*** Worth a read
**** Good
***** Shelf of favourites
Positives:
- A brilliant writer, so much better than most ghost written bios.
- A good insight into the world of MMA
Negatives:
- Can be a bit technical in places, particularly if you are not familiar with BJJ
* Avoid at all costs
** Mediocre
*** Worth a read
**** Good
***** Shelf of favourites
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
16 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Tapped Out Succeeds Where Others Fail
17 Nov 2011
Format:Hardcover
Matt Polly's "Tapped Out" succeeds where all other mixed martial arts-related books fail: it tells a fight story for both the male and female reader.
By jumping head-first into the icy waters of competition, Polly undertakes a journey of transformation, leaving behind a hard-drinking, leisurely everyman to become a capable mixed martial arts fighter. There is, of course, the expected blood, sweat and tears of training, as well as an exploration of the physical and mental rigors of climbing into the ring and beating someone silly. But throughout the narrative there's also the author's newly-wed wife, a presence that colors Polly's odyssey with a perspective heretofore unseen in mixed martial arts books.
From a visit to Russia and a tournament featuring the legendary fighter Fedor Emelianenko, to the grueling workouts of ace jiu-jitsu and kickboxing coaches John Danaher and Kru Phil Nurse, to the nigh-sadistic tutelage of trainer Joey Varner in Las Vegas, Polly's passage into the realm of sanctioned unarmed combat is both illuminating and compelling, a George Plimpton-esque case study on what it means to be a man in a sport populated by fistic giants - and thanks to his wife, "Em", Tapped Out is also a treatise on what it means to be a husband in that world.
Like Polly's "American Shaolin" before it, Tapped Out has all of the author's usual wit and ease of prose. But unlike his two-year stint at that Shaolin Kung Fu temple in China detailed in Polly's first book, this tale involves mixed martial arts, a bout in a Las Vegas hotel ballroom, and a wife waiting at home to kick his butt. And that sets it apart from every other MMA star bio or historical text out there.
Buy it. Read it. Love it.
By jumping head-first into the icy waters of competition, Polly undertakes a journey of transformation, leaving behind a hard-drinking, leisurely everyman to become a capable mixed martial arts fighter. There is, of course, the expected blood, sweat and tears of training, as well as an exploration of the physical and mental rigors of climbing into the ring and beating someone silly. But throughout the narrative there's also the author's newly-wed wife, a presence that colors Polly's odyssey with a perspective heretofore unseen in mixed martial arts books.
From a visit to Russia and a tournament featuring the legendary fighter Fedor Emelianenko, to the grueling workouts of ace jiu-jitsu and kickboxing coaches John Danaher and Kru Phil Nurse, to the nigh-sadistic tutelage of trainer Joey Varner in Las Vegas, Polly's passage into the realm of sanctioned unarmed combat is both illuminating and compelling, a George Plimpton-esque case study on what it means to be a man in a sport populated by fistic giants - and thanks to his wife, "Em", Tapped Out is also a treatise on what it means to be a husband in that world.
Like Polly's "American Shaolin" before it, Tapped Out has all of the author's usual wit and ease of prose. But unlike his two-year stint at that Shaolin Kung Fu temple in China detailed in Polly's first book, this tale involves mixed martial arts, a bout in a Las Vegas hotel ballroom, and a wife waiting at home to kick his butt. And that sets it apart from every other MMA star bio or historical text out there.
Buy it. Read it. Love it.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Phenomenal
17 Nov 2011
Format:Hardcover
For someone who knew nothing about MMA and had no interest in learning, I found Polly's book to be extremely engaging, even for a female reader. I was so inspired by his story, that I immediately went out and signed up for a boxing class. This is a great read for any MMA fan or just those looking to develop a new hobby. Highly recommended!!
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Matthew Polly Strikes Back
17 Nov 2011
Format:Hardcover
Picking up more than a decade after his adventures in China (see American Shaolin), Matthew Polly dons the athletic cup once more in the name of glory in TAPPED OUT. Here Polly recounts his so-crazy-there-must-have-been-a-book-deal-in-it journey from a past-his-prime and paunchy writer to a ironclad (well, iron surrounded by a thin layer of paunch) mixed martial arts warrior who steps into the ring of man-to-man combat, and takes the reader along for an insider's look at the personalities and culture of the MMA world.
Polly's journey from chump to something more than chump (no spoilers here) takes him from the New York MMA studios where Wall Street lawyers do a little Brazilian jujitsu on their lunch hours, to the muy Thai camps in Bangkok that serve as a foundation for late night wanderings in the red light district, to the Las Vegas centers where serious-minded fighters converge from around the world to spend weeks and months in dedicated training. Through it all, Polly never fails to remain an affably self-deprecating and informative narrator/protagonist, peppering the story with the history of MMA's development and rise to its current prominence, and balancing the tale with asides about his relationship with "Em," who goes from girlfriend to fiancée to wife over the course of his rise to becoming an MMA fighter.
TAPPED OUT is a knockout (see what I did there?) for MMA fans, who will revel in the intimate portraits Polly sketches of some of the sport's most famous personalities. But it also works for the uninitiated (like me) -- people who may not know a triangle choke hold from a noogie, but who love a good story.
Polly's journey from chump to something more than chump (no spoilers here) takes him from the New York MMA studios where Wall Street lawyers do a little Brazilian jujitsu on their lunch hours, to the muy Thai camps in Bangkok that serve as a foundation for late night wanderings in the red light district, to the Las Vegas centers where serious-minded fighters converge from around the world to spend weeks and months in dedicated training. Through it all, Polly never fails to remain an affably self-deprecating and informative narrator/protagonist, peppering the story with the history of MMA's development and rise to its current prominence, and balancing the tale with asides about his relationship with "Em," who goes from girlfriend to fiancée to wife over the course of his rise to becoming an MMA fighter.
TAPPED OUT is a knockout (see what I did there?) for MMA fans, who will revel in the intimate portraits Polly sketches of some of the sport's most famous personalities. But it also works for the uninitiated (like me) -- people who may not know a triangle choke hold from a noogie, but who love a good story.
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