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The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game
When we first meet Michael Oher is one of thirteen children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or how to read or write. He takes up football, and school, after a rich, white, Evangelical family plucks him from the streets. Then two great forces alter Oher: the family's love and the evolution of professional football its
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Paperback, 352 pages
Published
September 17th 2007
by W. W. Norton & Company
(first published 2006)
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Popular Answered Questions
Sean Mc Cormack
sports/based on a true story
Donna McCaul Thibodeau
Yes, he does. He puts his arm up to keep the airbag from hitting him in the face and severely injuring him.
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FOO-BAH! FOO-BAH! 24-7, 365 Days a Year!
Seriously, doesn't it seem like football is happening year 'round these days? The NFL with the help of ESPN has done a hell of a job making themselves ubiquitous. Lucky for me, I love the game. Sucks for those who don't, though...
The Blind Side is a nice, concise slice of today's true American Pastime, and it's the sort of feel-good story that will appeal to a broad audience (and by broad I don't necessarily mean dames!) *twiddles cigar and jiggles eyebrow ...more
Seriously, doesn't it seem like football is happening year 'round these days? The NFL with the help of ESPN has done a hell of a job making themselves ubiquitous. Lucky for me, I love the game. Sucks for those who don't, though...
The Blind Side is a nice, concise slice of today's true American Pastime, and it's the sort of feel-good story that will appeal to a broad audience (and by broad I don't necessarily mean dames!) *twiddles cigar and jiggles eyebrow ...more
Jan 13, 2009
Mahlon
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Football fans, educators, social workers
Recommended to Mahlon by:
ESPN
Shelves:
read-2009
The Blind Side features two story lines, one traces the evolution of offensive football since the early 1980's specifically the way it reacted to the way Hall of Fame revolutionized the Outside Linebacker position was played. Thanks to Taylor's prowess at rushing the Quarterback, the Left Tackle(who protects the QB's blind side) quickly became one of the most important, and highest-paid positions on the football field.
The second storyline focuses on Michael Oher, who has all the psyical gifts th ...more
The second storyline focuses on Michael Oher, who has all the psyical gifts th ...more
Dec 21, 2007
Patrick
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
football fans
On the merits of the story alone, I enjoyed this book. Lewis is a very good writer, and he is able to tell a compelling story and educate the less knowledgeable without coming off as condescending, which is more difficult than it sounds. The story of Michael Oher is compelling (and ongoing), and it's hard not to root for him.
That said, I have my suspicions about the altruism at the heart of the story. There are too many questionable motivations floating about, although, to Lewis's credit, he doe ...more
That said, I have my suspicions about the altruism at the heart of the story. There are too many questionable motivations floating about, although, to Lewis's credit, he doe ...more
This book has quite a few different stories going on:
1) the importance of and rise of the offensive lineman 2) the story of Michael Oher, 3)LT (as in Lawrence Taylor of the NY Giants)and Bill Walsh (football coach, 49er's) these are "supporting stories" amongst others
I heard of the movie and I like football books, so I thought I would enjoy this story about Michael Oher (and I did). I assumed it was just a story about Michael Oher, which it wasn't.
I read Lewis's book Moneyball awhile back and ...more
1) the importance of and rise of the offensive lineman 2) the story of Michael Oher, 3)LT (as in Lawrence Taylor of the NY Giants)and Bill Walsh (football coach, 49er's) these are "supporting stories" amongst others
I heard of the movie and I like football books, so I thought I would enjoy this story about Michael Oher (and I did). I assumed it was just a story about Michael Oher, which it wasn't.
I read Lewis's book Moneyball awhile back and ...more
The Blind Side is a book about a homeless teenager who gets adopted by a married couple who sees him on the side of the road and gives him a ride and a place to stay. While he is with them he grows fond of them he starts to attend a fancy mainly white Americans go there he only has a couple pairs of clothes.
He starts playing football but he does not have the best grades in the world, his major is protection. His adopted parents use that to an advantage and he become’s really good at the sport ...more
He starts playing football but he does not have the best grades in the world, his major is protection. His adopted parents use that to an advantage and he become’s really good at the sport ...more
9/25/09 - As a book club read, this was different. And as football is not my favorite sport (I don't dislike it, but for me it ranks below baseball & basketball), I wasn't sure how I was going to like it, but I went in with an open mind. It basically alternates between chapters about football player Michael Oher's "history" & the emerging importance of the position of left tackle in the NFL and in college football. Overall, a very educational story for me. For someone who doesn't necessa
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Hoop Dreams detailed the machine built around taking poor black athletes from the inner city and sticking them into primarily white school systems that only cared about those athletes to the extent that they would help their sports teams win. The Blind Side concerns itself with a similar story, except Michael Lewis tends to pause breathlessly and exclaim isn't this great? He admits that the father, Sean, "had been born with a talent for seeing the court, taking in every angle and every other pla
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I read this after seeing the movie version and was amazed that many of the precious details I assumed had been invented by Hollywood writers were real and actually happened. The book is mostly about Michael Oher, a homeless black teenager who was adopted by a white family in Memphis who then went on to be a successful football player. There are also a few dense chapters devoted to recent changes in professional football and how the player who guards the blind side of a quarterback now has greate
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Mixed feelings about this one. I'm huge NFL fan and Ravens are one of my favorite teams (mostly because of Ray Lewis) but I didn't know the Michael Oher story until the movie was released.
I found the Left Tackle/NFL history of the book very interesting. But I can totally see why Michael himself had problems with how he was portrayed in the book. This is not just a poor black teenager being taken in by rich white upper class christian family stereotypical rags to riches taking the black child ou ...more
I found the Left Tackle/NFL history of the book very interesting. But I can totally see why Michael himself had problems with how he was portrayed in the book. This is not just a poor black teenager being taken in by rich white upper class christian family stereotypical rags to riches taking the black child ou ...more
Michael Lewis does it again, this time with football. This is the story of a black kid from the country's third poorest zip code in Memphis who was adopted by a wealthy white family (they own their own jet) and with lots of support from the father of a son and from coaches and teachers and tutors played football at Old Miss and made it to the NFL and multi-million dollar contracts.
Woven into the story of Michael Oher is the development of the importance of the left tackle in professional footbal ...more
Woven into the story of Michael Oher is the development of the importance of the left tackle in professional footbal ...more
I loved this book...well most of it anyway. Michael Oher's story was touching and I loved that specific part in this book. He changed his stars and put them in line. It was very inspirational. This started as a solid and clear 5 stars. Michael Lewis wrote this story so well.
But then he got all technical about football, coaches, players, and plays. Which, to be honest, really isn't my thing. I like football just a tad less than baseball, and I really don't like baseball. Football, to me, just see ...more
But then he got all technical about football, coaches, players, and plays. Which, to be honest, really isn't my thing. I like football just a tad less than baseball, and I really don't like baseball. Football, to me, just see ...more
Lewis writes two stories here. One is interesting. The other is mildly intriguing and probably not as a big a story as it seems.
When telling the story of Michael Oher, a poor black kid from Memphis adopted by a loaded white family and the journey he takes from uncommunicative, unschooled, untrusting child to a succesful lineman starring at Ole Miss it's a good story.
When writing about the emergence of the left tackle position in the NFL it was hard not to skip passages.
Left tackle is an key posi ...more
When telling the story of Michael Oher, a poor black kid from Memphis adopted by a loaded white family and the journey he takes from uncommunicative, unschooled, untrusting child to a succesful lineman starring at Ole Miss it's a good story.
When writing about the emergence of the left tackle position in the NFL it was hard not to skip passages.
Left tackle is an key posi ...more
3.5 stars.
A real shame that the second half is phoned in. The first half is brilliant; at once a wonderful, heartbreaking story about a real person, and a clean, clear look at the evolution of the passing game and the roles of pass rushers and left tackles. And I know what the West Coast offense is now!
In the end, I wanted more football. Without taking anything away from the story of Michael Oher, which was great, I wanted Lewis's crisp, clear style to explain the intricacies of this very compli ...more
A real shame that the second half is phoned in. The first half is brilliant; at once a wonderful, heartbreaking story about a real person, and a clean, clear look at the evolution of the passing game and the roles of pass rushers and left tackles. And I know what the West Coast offense is now!
In the end, I wanted more football. Without taking anything away from the story of Michael Oher, which was great, I wanted Lewis's crisp, clear style to explain the intricacies of this very compli ...more
My husband read this as a sports book, but as an educator I was very interested in the barriers poverty presents for getting through (or even "to") school. My father-in-law recently reminded me of the book when he recalled that Oher and his brother grew up in a section of Memphis where Census results showed not a single father in the entire zip code. Is anyone starting a Memphis Children's Zone?
After seeing the movie I was curious about the book and though I'm not a big football fan decided to give it a read.
The story is well written and Michael Oher's story is compelling. I'd been curious about the Racism vs. Ole Miss angle as it was not emphasized in the film and knowing what I did of Ole Miss's history I was curious. This was covered very well in the book.
I was a bit daunted by depth of the coverage of the evolution of football in the book but I can't say I wasn't warned... The ti ...more
The story is well written and Michael Oher's story is compelling. I'd been curious about the Racism vs. Ole Miss angle as it was not emphasized in the film and knowing what I did of Ole Miss's history I was curious. This was covered very well in the book.
I was a bit daunted by depth of the coverage of the evolution of football in the book but I can't say I wasn't warned... The ti ...more
I loved this book! Love, love, loved it. Interest in football? Zero. Interest in the surge of importance of a single football position I maybe could point out on the field, but probably not? Nope. Interest in the motives and actions of a white Christian Republican uber-rich Memphis family? Not even. Interest in this book which contains all of the above? Incredible. I couldn't put it down. That is the mark of a very good non-fiction writer. Do you like football? Read this book. Do you not like fo
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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This is one of the best stories, and books, that I've read yet. The book, I come to find, is a progression of interweaving stories; about the evolution of the position of left offensive tackle in American football; the free market increase of value of that position, and why it became so important; the central character, Oher, and how it came to pass that he wound up playing the position; the socioeconomic factors that played into his struggle out of the slums of Memphis' west side; the business
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Michael Oher grew up in the third poorest zip code in the United States, a village that was a “portrait of social dysfunction” (302). He lived with thirteen brothers and sisters all born under the same unemployed, alcoholic, substance-abusing mother, until the children were forcibly separated into foster homes. On many occasions, Michael fled from foster homes to reunite with his mother, often rendering him homeless in his search. From the extreme poverty of Memphis’ slums, the novel’s protagoni
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The Blind Side is a wonderful novel about a young man with an incredible story who will one day be one of the highest paid athletes in the National Football League. We first learn about Michael at the age of 13 when we read that his mom is addicted to crack; he doesn’t know his real name, his father, his birthday or any things a child should know by that age. Michael then learns to play football, go to school, and a family picks him off the streets and takes him into their home. The story mainly
...more
"The Blind Side features two story lines, one traces the evolution of offensive football since the early 1980's specifically the way it reacted to the way Hall of Fame revolutionized the Outside Linebacker position was played. Thanks to Taylor's prowess at rushing the Quarterback, the Left Tackle(who protects the QB's blind side) quickly became one of the most important, and highest-paid positions on the football field.
The second storyline focuses on Michael Oher, who has all the psyical gifts t ...more
The second storyline focuses on Michael Oher, who has all the psyical gifts t ...more
This book already has 765 ratings, what can I add? :>
Michael Lewis is probably my favorite living author.
About 1980, Tracey Kidder wrote "THE SOUL OF A NEW MACHINE".
A book about how a bunch of employees at a computer company
designed a new computer against restraints of time and money.
I think this was probably the first book that took an
inside look at organizations and how they work to produce
something "new".
Michael Lewis has glommed on to this genre and has written
a series of great books. ...more
Michael Lewis is probably my favorite living author.
About 1980, Tracey Kidder wrote "THE SOUL OF A NEW MACHINE".
A book about how a bunch of employees at a computer company
designed a new computer against restraints of time and money.
I think this was probably the first book that took an
inside look at organizations and how they work to produce
something "new".
Michael Lewis has glommed on to this genre and has written
a series of great books. ...more
I'm not even going to bother putting the excerpt for this book since if you've seen the movie you know what its about. I'm going to put it straight that i am not a sports fan. I know absolutely nothing about sports, nor do i care to learn. The reason i picked up the book was because i liked the movie.Whenever i see movies based on books and i like it i tend to read the book next. Unfortunately the book is nothing like the movie. In fact unless your a sports or football fan that it's probably saf
...more
The Blind side is a novel about a troubled African American high school student who, with help from a wealthy white family, turns into a football prodigy. He shows great compassion and determination to leave a troubled life. I recommend this novel because it is a compelling story of compassion and determination. It shows that anyone can achieve greatness, no matter how hard and far you have to go to be great. I think it gives us the hardships one must endure to achieve greatness. Michael Oher, a
...more
I am a big Michael Lewis fan, but Blind Side really missed the mark. This was a chance to explore race, socioeconomics, education, and college and professional sports. Instead, it becomes a story of how wonderful a white family is for taking in a poor, black kid who is then groomed to play football for the NFL. There are so many shades of gray in this true story, but Lewis never really "goes there" and it becomes clear why in the acknowledgments - he is childhood friends with the rich white man
...more
You’ve seen the movie, now read the book. Michael Lewis truly has a knack for taking an ordinary subject that’s been endlessly profiled, such as the rags to riches story of a big black football player from the south, and peeling away unseen layers to reveal surprising depths and nuance. The opening, which solemnly recounts Joe Theismann’s gruesome injury at the hands of Lawrence Taylor, is a perfect introduction to “The Blind Side” as a football term, but also lays the groundwork for exploring t
...more
Nov 04, 2015
Josh Napper
added it
Josh Napper
The Blind Side
After finishing the Blind Side I really looked at Michael Oher with a different point of view. Going into this book, I knew of Michael Oher as a regular NFL player, however I didn't know what he went through to get to this point. Michael was born into a rough neighborhood and didn't have a dad growing up. He was a shy young boy and didn't do much physical sports. His favorite sport was basketball and he loved playing with his neighbors.
Michael was walking home on a ...more
The Blind Side
After finishing the Blind Side I really looked at Michael Oher with a different point of view. Going into this book, I knew of Michael Oher as a regular NFL player, however I didn't know what he went through to get to this point. Michael was born into a rough neighborhood and didn't have a dad growing up. He was a shy young boy and didn't do much physical sports. His favorite sport was basketball and he loved playing with his neighbors.
Michael was walking home on a ...more
Maximous white
10/14/14
Mrs. Vought
Michael Oher is a one of 9 of the kids to a mother that is big into drugs; Michael doesn’t have a family and lives wherever he can find. Then the touheys take Michael in. they adopt him, and take care of him. They help Michael get his grades up and try out for football. Michael gets the position of left tackle. Thats the quarterbacks most valuable player, its their blindside. Their job is to protect their quarterback and not let him get sacked.During his footb ...more
10/14/14
Mrs. Vought
Michael Oher is a one of 9 of the kids to a mother that is big into drugs; Michael doesn’t have a family and lives wherever he can find. Then the touheys take Michael in. they adopt him, and take care of him. They help Michael get his grades up and try out for football. Michael gets the position of left tackle. Thats the quarterbacks most valuable player, its their blindside. Their job is to protect their quarterback and not let him get sacked.During his footb ...more
Feb 17, 2016
Josh B
added it
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
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Michael Lewis, the best-selling author of Liar’s Poker, The Money Culture, The New New Thing, Moneyball, The Blind Side, Panic, Home Game, The Big Short, and Boomerang, among other works, lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife and three children.
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“He was ignorant, but a lot of people mistook ignorance for stupidity, and knowingness for intelligence.”
—
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“Courage is a hard thing to figure. You can have courage based on a dumb idea or mistake, but you're not supposed to question adults, or your coach or your teacher, because they make the rules. Maybe they know best, but maybe they don't. It all depends on who you are, where you come from. Didn't at least one of the six hundred guys think about giving up, and joining with the other side? I mean, valley of death that's pretty salty stuff. That's why courage it's tricky. Should you always do what others tell you to do? Sometimes you might not even know why you're doing something. I mean any fool can have courage. But honor, that's the real reason for you either do something or you don't. It's who you are and maybe who you want to be. If you die trying for something important, then you have both honor and courage, and that's pretty good. I think that's what the writer was saying, that you should hope for courage and try for honor. And maybe even pray that the people telling you what to do have some, too.”
—
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May 21, 2015 03:36PM
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updated May 21, 2015 04:13PM