Now that I have your attention, BUY THIS BOOK. While the world's early adopters are busy creating muxtapes (here's mine), let us not forget the analog joys of a good read. T.D. Thornton's Not by a Longshot: A Season at a Hard-Luck Horse Track is out in paperback and plenty affordable for you to pick up a few copies. As a fan of racing, and presumably someone that would appreciate more quality racing books, racing coverage, and generally for racing to command a greater degree of mindshare, we need to support work that serves this end.
Birthdays, Mother's Day, Fathers Day, May Day--whatever the occasion--find an excuse to give this book to both the racing fans AND the reading fans in your life. They'll love it, and you'll be proselytizing for the great sport of thoroughbred horse racing.
But make no mistake, this book is not propaganda. This is a dead honest look at racing at a second tier track. The struggle, the sacrifice, and the characters that feel they must choose between what works and what's right, makes this book as much a study in cognitive dissonance as a true racetrack yarn. The huge ups and spectacular successes are in there too. Despite odds against and the constant uphill battle of racetrackery, all beautifully illustrated by Thornton's masterful pen, the reader is not denied redemption. Not by a Longshot is the total package.
2 comments:
yes it was a great read brad. I could not put it down. but I don't need to buy it. If you remember someone gave it to me last year.
-j
wow that's an endorsement. i'll see if i can find a books on tape version.
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