Product Description

The book behind the Academy award-winning film starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw. Opening in theaters November 20, 2009, The Blind Side is a feature movie based on Michael’s Lewis’s New York Times bestseller, produced by Alcon Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The Blind Side tells the inspirational story of Michael Oher, a homeless black teen taken under the wing of the Touhys, a wealthy white Memphis family. Oher’s size and speed on the football field bring him accolades. But learning the game’s strategy and making it as a student take the help of his new family, coaches, and tutor.

Sandra Bullock stars as Leigh Anne Touhy, the sharp-witted and compassionate matriarch. Tim McGraw stars as her sports-enthusiast husband. Oscar winner Kathy Bates plays Miss Sue, Oher’s indefatigable tutor. Quinton Aaron has his first major role as Oher. John Lee Hancock, who directed The Rookie and The Alamo, writes and directs the film.

Michael Oher was just drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens. This edition includes a new afterword bringing Oher’s life up to date through college and the NFL. .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #372 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780393338386
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. As he did so memorably for baseball in Moneyball, Lewis takes a statistical X-ray of the hidden substructure of football, outlining the invisible doings of unsung players that determine the outcome more than the showy exploits of point scorers. In his sketch of the gridiron arms race, first came the modern, meticulously choreographed passing offense, then the ferocious defensive pass rusher whose bone-crunching quarterback sacks demolished the best-laid passing game, and finally the rise of the left tackle—the offensive lineman tasked with protecting the quarterback from the pass rusher—whose presence is felt only through the game-deciding absence of said sacks. A rare creature combining 300 pounds of bulk with "the body control of a ballerina," the anonymous left tackle, Lewis notes, is now often a team's highest-paid player. Lewis fleshes this out with the colorful saga of left tackle prodigy Michael Oher. An intermittently homeless Memphis ghetto kid taken in by a rich white family and a Christian high school, Oher's preternatural size and agility soon has every college coach in the country courting him obsequiously. Combining a tour de force of sports analysis with a piquant ethnography of the South's pigskin mania, Lewis probes the fascinating question of whether football is a matter of brute force or subtle intellect. Photos. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
As in Moneyball (**** July/Aug 2003), which chronicled the strategies behind the Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane, Berkeley-based author Michael Lewis takes a personal look at a complicated game in his newest nonfiction extravaganza. Just as they embraced Moneyball, critics eagerly wrap their arms around The Blind Side. It's much more than a treatise on football; it's an exploration of the limits of conventional thinking and how strategic changes affect the value of quick-footed behemoths. However, while most reviewers are positive, something holds them back. Maybe Lewis makes it all look too easy. Or perhaps, as The New York Times charges, he takes the easy route through a complicated set of stories. That he makes it easy for his reader to comprehend—and enjoy—is enough for most critics to give Lewis's latest a rousing cheer.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* The titular "blind side" is a right-handed NFL quarterback's left side. The defensive linemen rushing the quarterback from that side often arrive undetected and thus can inflict great damage on the opponent's key offensive player as he sets himself to pass. The key to minimizing quarterback damage is an effective offensive left tackle. Lewis, most recognizable as the author of the best-selling Moneyball (2003)--about the growing reliance on statistical analysis in baseball--describes the NFL's ever-growing obsession with left tackles as a means to counter defenders who seem to grow bigger, stronger, and more vicious each season. He juxtaposes that narrative with the unlikely story of Michael Oher, who was living on the streets of Memphis when he was 15 years old. He also happened to be six-feet-five-inches tall, weigh 350 pounds, and possess definite athletic talent. Almost through sheer serendipity, he is adopted by a wealthy family whose members make it their mission to see that he has an opportunity to benefit from his amazing physical gifts. The book works on three levels. First as a shrewd analysis of the NFL; second, as an expose of the insanity of big-time college football recruiting; and, third, as a moving portrait of the positive effect that love, family, and education can have in reversing the path of a life that was destined to be lived unhappily and, most likely, end badly. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

A touchdown
I became a Michael Lewis fan years ago when I read Liar's Poker. Fan may be too strong a word. I realized then that I enjoyed his style and so when browsing the book store, and with the movie trailers out, seeing that the book was by Lewis, i decided to give it a shot.

I was not disappointed. Lewis has a way of writing that brings something which you are not a part of into your life and make you one with it. Some of his short works i still find that I remember vividly, twenty years later and recite from on occasion.

Here we have an encouraging story of a young black boy who really has nothing in his life but his athletic ability. We have a good family that certainly does not need to exploit the boy. So they did what we all should want to do if our situations allowed, take the boy in and help. But the story is not just about that, it covers the evolution of football, these last thirty to forty years as marquee quarterbacks, or productive west-coast offense systems come into play.

In essence it is two books because of that, and it is what makes the story. I had to call my football buddy up half-way through and tell him I had a book he needed to read. Now I have to watch a game and wonder what the left tackle is doing.

This book was a very good read, and well worth the time and effort. It may not be as fun ultimately as Playing for Pizza by Grisham, but it is pretty good in its own way.

Not the Disney version of Oher's story
Warning to potential buyers: this book is not the text version of the Sandra Bullock movie, which from the trailers appears to have simplified the story down to Disney level. This is a book about football first and foremost, with the story of Michael Oher interwoven.

The author begins by providing a history of the economy for specific types of NFL players using anecdotes and data about changing trends in football. This is all done so that we can understand how Michael Oher's arrival on the football scene became such a sensation, and also quite possibly for the love of the game as well. I found these parts of the book incredibly educational and enlightening.

The story then begins to focus on Oher himself. This tale is not as simple as the movie would perhaps have you believe. As much as my heart would love to think that the Touhy family saw him sitting on the side of the road, brought him home, and adopted him, this book makes it clear that it was not that simple. Without telling the entire story, it definitely left me wondering what would have happened to Michael Oher if he couldn't play football, and for me, called into question a bit the Touhy's motivations. Oher must be an absolutely brilliant young man if he improved academically in the way described in the book; but these talents are not encouraged by the Touhys except as a way to get into college so he can play ball. Then again, that may just be the whole point of the book--the power of football.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book's primer on the history of player market value in the NFL, as well as the background on coaching styles. To football diehards this information may be old news but it's worth a second look. Finally, regarding the Oher part of the book, I confess that I was not left with a great impression of the Touhy family. However, the author's analysis of the nuances involved in this story was appreciated far more than the sanitized version.

Michael Lewis' great book is more than just the tale of Michael Oher
There are some off-base reviews here of people who loved the movie and figured that Michael Lewis' book would be the perfect follow-up. For those people, please note: the movie is BASED ON the book. Movie != Book. The movie represents just one thread of Lewis' excellent work. The sub-title of Lewis' work is "Evolution of a Game." Lewis' main thesis is hinted at in the brief voice-over that Sandra Bullock (in the persona of Leigh Anne Tuohy) provides at the outset of the film: that if the quarterback is the highest-paid position in the game, then the evolution of the game is that the second highest-paid position is the one that provides insurance to that position: the left tackle....the gentleman that protects the quarterback's blind side. Michael Oher is then presented as someone with the potential - five years in the future at of the time of Lewis' research - to assume that role in the NFL. Thus, at the time of Lewis' tale, we come to understand why he's such a heavily recruited commodity. From there, Lewis peels back the onion and we come to know of Oher's upbringing and the role of the Tuohy family.

I have to admit: I went in cynical about what to expect in the movie, fearing the worst. But director John Lee Hancock does a wonderful job here extracting the essence of Oher's tale. Because let's face it: the rest of Lewis' book - while fascinating to those of us interested in the sport - doesn't translate well to the screen. But of Oher's tale: it seems the stuff of a Hollywood movie. And it has the added benefit of being the truth. But, again, all credit here to director Hancock: I had hoped throughout the film that he'd have the good sense to finish the tale in the most powerful manner possible: by showing footage of the real Michael Oher selected in the 1st round of the NFL draft. And, that's exactly what Hancock does - followed up by a series of emotional photos provided by the Tuohy family. [Stay for the credits to see them.]

One note about where the book and movie are very divergent: the role of Sean Tuohy. In the movie, Sandra Bullock's Leigh Anne Tuohy is the driving force and Tim McGraw's Sean - while agreeable - seems along for the ride. Readers of the book know this is far from the case. Lewis cites Tuohy's special connection to high-school athletes and mentoring personality. Plus, what readers of the book don't see: how Michael Lewis happened upon this story in the first place - he and Sean Tuohy are childhood friends and high school classmates.