Out of print for more than 30 years, now available for the first time as an eBook, this is the controversial story of John Wooden's first 25 years and first 8 NCAA Championships as UCLA Head Basketball Coach. This is the only book that gives a true picture of the character of John Wooden and the influence of his assistant, Jerry Norman, whose contributions Wooden  ignored and tried to bury.

Compiled with more than 40 hours of interviews with Coach Wooden, learn about the man behind the coach. The players tell their their stories in their own words.

Click the book to read the first chapter and for ordering information. Also available on Kindle.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (5/10)

by Tony Medley

Run time 169 minutes.

Not for children.

This super fantasy stuff is not for me. While I can handle The Chronicles of Narnia films (two by Disney and the last one by Fox), these films based on the classic children's books by J.R.R. Tolkien are peopled by too many fantasy characters and are far, far too long. To sit there for almost 3 hours and watch this stuff would seem to be beyond torture for a normal adult.

However, this film is so well made in terms of production values that it is worth sitting through at least for a while. The 3-D is exceptional. I saw in the version that runs 48 frames per second (fps) and the quality of the picture and the cinematography were stunning. (When sound was introduced in 1927, 24 fps became the standard for 35mm sound films.) At the faster frame speed, unlike most pictures shot in 3-D at 24 fps, the color is not degraded one iota by the 3-D. In fact, in the print I saw, the color is gorgeous.

The production values comprise the only reason that could cause me to recommend that anybody see this movie. These are supposed to be aimed at children, but I feel that this one is far too violent for children.

This is the first of the Tolkien books, and it takes place 60 years before the stories told in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This has many of the same characters and actors.

Like Lord of the Rings, this is going to come out in at least two more films. I don't anticipate seeing either one of them. The only thing I can compare sitting through these films with is the torment of sitting through those Twilight films that are aimed at the mentality of a 13-year-old female.

But the production values are so exceptional that one might not get too bummed out before an hour has expired, even if the content of the first hour is extraordinarily annoying.