Michael Lewis - Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

Pros: Great access and compelling story
Cons: Possibly only for baseball fans

I have plenty of fond memories as a kid. I enjoyed playing with my friends, watching cartoons on Saturday morning before my parents woke up and reading major league box scores. Which one of those doesn’t fit? Yea, the box scores. Believe it or not, I ...

Pros: Great inside look at a baseball General Manager in action
Cons: None

Michael Lewis has come up with a fascinating take on how to put a winning baseball team together. He uses Billy Beane, General Manager of the Oakland A's, as the best example of a modern manager whose financial resources don't permit him to play with ...

Pros: the depth, the access, a baseball fan's dream come true
Cons: none

It's a question that seemingly had simple answers. In the world of professional baseball, how did t ...

Pros: Original thinking, incorporating modern baseball sabermetrics with sound market strategy
Cons: Some fossilized die hard "old school" thinkers can't approach this with an open mind.

The 2003 major league baseball season culminated in October with arguably the most exciting playoffs in history, and with one of baseball’s “David’s” defeating “Goliath” when the low budget Florida Marlins overcame the storied New ...

Pros: Player/manager profiles, Bill James, and the power of stats. AND THE A's!
Cons: Not enough historical and league perspective.

MONEYBALL is like the Chinese food of baseball books. You’re all happy and full after the meal, but ...

Pros: Fascinating inside look at how baseball really works.
Cons: Nothing major.

   "Moneyball" jumped on to some best-seller lists when it was released in the summer of 2003. That was rather surprising for a baseball book that has little to do with how the game is played on the field.    But maybe ...

Pros: addictive, well-written, rereadable, good for statheads
Cons: a little too heavy on Beane praise

You read right--fantasy baseball. Though Michael Lewis is writing about a real GM and a real team faced with real monetary constraints, no book has helped me more in fantasy baseball leagues than Moneyball. It's principles can be applied to dominate ...

Pros: Offers insight into an new innovative way of looking at baseball managing and scouting.
Cons: There are still some unanswered questions that may come up...

As a baseball fan, more specifically a Seattle Mariners fan, the past few years have been filled with grief and bitterness. A miraculously 116-game season was immediately followed by two relatively mediocre 93-win seasons in which the Oakland Athletics ...

Pros: Incredible story, makes you look at the game differently
Cons: Only for fans of the game, others will not appreciate it

If you love baseball, you will love this book. I read this book cover to cover in one sitting. It a fast read, and will change the way you look at the game. Moneyball looks at Oakland A GM Billy bean and how he took his team into the playoffs year in and ...

Pros: Excellently written, easy to read, and enjoyable.
Cons: The idea of a baseball book might put off some who should read it.

On the surface, Moneyball is a study in how a baseball team with a small budget can manage to compete with teams who spend several times as much. Actually, it is about much more. Moneyball follows Billy Beane and the Oakland A's through a season to ...

Pros: Very insightful inside view of a small-market baseball teams struggle to compete
Cons: Many players mentioned didn't pan out for the A's, and their payroll expanded

I first began reading Michael Lewis' works in college. For a Business Perspectives class my sophomore year, I read “Liar’s Poker,” the semi-autobiographical look at the crazy 1980’s bond market. From this work, I grew very fond of Lewis insightful and ...

Pros: Engrossing; I couldn't put it down.
Cons: Some may feel the "hero" is portrayed as conniving and egotistical.

As a lifelong baseball fan and die-hard Oakland A's fan, there was no way I was not going to read Michael Lewis' Moneyball, which takes us behind the scenes of a major league baseball front office. The author follows A's General Manager Billy ...

Pros: great book for all, not just ball fans. Very entertaining writing style.
Cons: If you know absolutely nothing about baseball, this book might bore you.

When I saw Moneyball on the shelves I knew nothing about it other than it had something to do with baseball. But I had read Lewis' Liars' Poker many years ago, and loved it, so I decided I should give Moneyball a read. I enjoy baseball, and used to go ...

Pros: Entertaining behind-the-scenes look at the back office of a ballclub
Cons: A little thin for sabermetricians

When I say "In Awe of Billy Beane" I'm referring more to the author than to me. This is basically a biography of a few years of Beane's life, and it is highly entertaining. It provides a nice glimpse of how the back office works at a major league ...

Pros: Explains strategies of how the A's are run from drafting players to signing free agents.
Cons: Chapters jump a little bit, mentioning aspects of the book in many different chapters

Moneyball is a must read for any baseball fan. It tells the strategies of the Oakland A's baseball team and their GM Billy Beane and how he can take a small market team and put them in the playoffs year after year.