Non-Fiction Books

Fourteen basketball players describe their childhoods, college basketball experience, and pro careers, and explain how professional basketball has changed

To err is human. To really screw up requires team effort. Everyone cheers the clubs that win pennants, but what about the doormats who made their triumphs possible? It’s time to give baseball’s lousiest teams their due. Here they are: The 1904 Washington Senators, whose only good player, a thirty-five-year-old star hitter, took a dive (fatally, into Niagara Falls); the 1935 Boston Braves, who set the National League standard for losing percentage despite featuring three Hall of Famers—including Yankee exile Babe Ruth; the 1952 Pittsburgh Pirates, Joe Garagiola’s cellar-dwelling team that was so bad, he quipped, “they wouldn’t put our pictures on bubble gum cards”; and the 1962 New York Mets, maybe not the worst team ever but definitely the funniest in modern baseball history. You’ll get the stats, the scores, the scandals, and the secrets in this no-holds-barred account. When the survivors of these diamond trainwrecks include such legends as Marv Throneberry, Ralph Kiner, Cal Ripken Jr., Roger Craig, and Joe Garagiola, you can be sure that the book (unlike its subjects) is a winner.

Missy tells all … and there is a lot to tell. First came Missy. Then came Sable, Sunny, Chyna, and the rest. Missy Hyatt was professional wrestling’s first character — the original sexy “socialite” sidekick whose trademark Gucci purse and tough-girl attitude made her the most loved — and most hated — woman in wrestling. Now, fifteen years after she first shimmied up to the ring, Missy Hyatt takes fans inside the world of wrestling. From her high school days as a hard-core fan, cheering from her living room, to the cover of Wrestler magazine, Missy has done it all. In this no-holds-barred memoir, Missy discloses the behind-the-scenes secrets of table-throwing, chair-smashing, hair-pulling, and the technique of “juicing” — how wrestlers make themselves bleed on cue. Find out about her intimate relationships with Jake the Snake, Wonder Years’ Jason Hervey, Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert, and many many more. Missy has worked with wrestling’s biggest stars, from Hulk to Jesse, from Vince to the Rock, and she tells everything.

This guide to coaching female athletes of all ages shows how to build a team and provides invaluable advice on the differences between coaching males and females. The authors include exercises that foster teamwork and develop essential skills. They also answer parents' most common questions, such as how to tell if the coach is doing a good job and what to do if a child wants to quit. Filled with stories about the Olympic and World Cup championship teams, this useful handbook is infused throughout with DiCicco's philosophy that at every level playing soccer (or any sport) is about "playing hard, playing fair, playing to win, and having fun."

A collection of short fiction, personal stories, essays, profiles, humor, poetry and profiles culled from the first 5 years of the webzine, Ducts.org. Spend an afternoon with comedian, Pat Cooper,; dive into the uncensored mind of a streaker; tune into an edition of the Ricki Lake Show in which she interviews four characters from Wuthering Heights; sing and dance your way into the Bill Riley Talent Competition; visit the Louisiana State Penitentiary rodeo; find out who the real Boogie Man is; and learn How Not To Greet Famous People.

Charlie Moore was married with two kids when his bait-and-tackle shop went under. A fisherman and an entrepreneur, Charlie set out to star in his own fishing show. Crazy, right? But the only thing the ones on TV had in common was that they were dull. People have called Charlie a lot of things, but never dull. Today, they call him the Mad Fisherman. The Mad Fisherman is the incredible story of how Charlie cold-called his way onto TV and made Charlie Moore Outdoors a hit all while working odd jobs to squeak by. This success gave birth to ESPN's Beat Charlie Moore, a groundbreaking show on which Charlie goes mano a mano with pro fishermen and celebrities. Guests have included quarterback Drew Bledsoe, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Ted Nugent, and many more. Famous on land, they're all regular guys with a fishing pole in their hands. With unflagging energy, a wild sense of humor, and a love of the outdoors, Charlie Moore reaches millions of people every week.

Whatever your age or length of service with your current employer, the odds are that you will need to re-invent yourself several times during the coming decade. The phenomenon of needing to move from job to job to be successful in business is very real. According to the U.S. Department of Labor: “By the time someone reaches thirty-eight, he or she will have held ten to fourteen different jobs!” Whether you’re just starting out, starting over, or content with the job you have, this book can make the difference between success or failure, and, more important, between enjoying what you do and hating what you do. Comments and Reviews: “This is the new career Bible! It’s a must read for anyone who is looking for a job or a new career or just some straight forward good advice about navigating through the business world.” —Carol A Smith, Chief Brand Officer, SVP, ELLE Magazine “There are many passages of this book that both speak to me and amaze me. I am going to re-read it, as there is so much useful information to absorb.” —Alan Goldsher, Founder, Residential TV “It’s the most refreshing, enlightening, thought-provoking and hands-on book I’ve read in a long time. Very inspiring.” —Richard Alfredo, SVP Corporate Communications, NBC/Universal “The book is humerous, breezy, and a nice primer on selling and career building. I was impressed wuth the creativity of the approach. I liked the learning points at the end of each chapter.” —Paul Jampolosky, VP Oppenheimer “I enjoyed the quick, no nonsense, common sense read of You Can’t Fall Off The Floor! You nailed it with this book.” —Nick Matarazzo, EVP Sales & Marketing, Hachette Filapacchi Media You Can’t Fall Off The Floor! is a great read and a very valuable resource” —Steve Cohen, Editor of Media Industry Newsletter About the author, Steve Blacker: Steve has successfully worked for over twenty-seven companies during the past fifty years. The different companies are: Bloomingdales, Macy’s,Time Magazine, Chenault Associates (Ad Agency), Golf-A-Tron, Time Magazine, Money Magazine, Village Voice, New York Post, Cue Magazine, Medical Economics, Ski View, American Heritage, Channels of Communication, Savvy, American Lawyer, TV Cable Week, Sports Illustrated, PEOPLE, INC Magazine, Business Month, Playboy Enterprises, Frankfurt Balkind (ad Agency), Ron Delsener Jones Beach Concert Series, Business World, KPMG, Conde Nast, Hearst, Hachette, Frankfurt & Blacker Solutions. Blacker has been through two different take overs by Rupert Murdoch, sold indoor golf machines though he cannot hit a golf ball and become an expert in Market Research even though he flunked high school algebra and geometry over four times and barely graduated from the Horace Mann School in Riverdale New York. He has never taken any job with the idea it was going to be a long-term career. His attitude was always “I’m going to learn something in this job, and I’m going to have some fun while I’m doing it. And what I learn will make me more valuable to the next place I go. His mantra: “Most people don’t understand a simple fact: Getting a job is a job in itself.”