Amazing Pace [Hardcover]

This book is a really interesting read. I suspect most people who pick this book up will be swimming fans, though that really isn't a prerequisate. Paul McMullen gives you tons of background and the best history lesson on the sport you can find. I found the details in the history terrific. I liked reading about all of the past and present swimmers. Some are stars, others are unfamiliar names. I loved how meets and races were dissected. I found the information about doping particularly interesting because that was all new to me. There was so much information in this book and it was conveyed in a captivating way.

Having read the other Phelps book, Beneath the Surface, I finished this book much more satisfied. Amazing Pace delved much deeper below the surface and gave a lot of insight into Michael Phelps's life and swim career. Honestly, it probably isn't fair to compare the two books since the other one seemed geared to a different audience. Amazing Pace seemed written for sports lovers, not just Michael Phelps lovers.

I loved how the author organized the book, sometimes jumping around. I liked the anecdotes about Phelps's family, even though they were sometimes painful to read. The swimmer's relationship with his father was especially hard to digest. Thankfully he has strong bonds with his mother and sisters. There's a part in the book that describes a scene with the women in his life after Phelps has won his first Olympic gold medal. I was brought to tears by it, though I also felt a little guilty about spying on such a personal moment.

Other aspects of Phelps's life were sometimes difficult to read about. The pressure put on him to top Spitz's achievements seemed unfair for a kid of just 19 to handle. It's surprising he was so cool and poised during the 2004 games given the heat of the media and fans. It wasn't easy to read about the period post-Olympics when things fell apart a bit. I don't just mean the DUI. That was a mistake to be sure, but the touring and the injury were harder to read about.

The book is not a downer, as one might think from what I've said so far. There are many funny tales and the relationship between Phelps and his coach, Bob Bowman, is endlessly fascinating. There's also the actual swimming. Paul McMullen breaks down each day of the 2004 Athens Olympics and I was on the edge of my seat reading about the races, even though I knew the outcomes. I had to go back and watch some races because the book inspired me so much.

I think there are a lot of lessons to be learned from this book. First and foremost, it shows that in order to achieve things like Michael Phelps has, you have to work really really hard. Few people in this world have it in them to work that hard. Phelps is to be admired for the effort he's put into his swimming, moreso than the medals he's won.

Michael Phelps has always been generous with reporters, so many scattered profiles of him exist. This book nicely brings the information together. And perhaps it can be revised after the 2008 Olympics.

McMullen covered Phelps for the "Baltimore Sun" and seems to have developed good relationships with Phelps and his people. McMullen adopts an upbeat tone: he enjoys Phelps' accomplshments and values the perspectives of Phelps' family and coach. As a local man who was on the story almost fulltime, McMullen knows things that other writers do not, such as Phelps' probable income, the content of arguments between Phelps and his father, the impact of Phelps' sister's swimming career on his own.

McMullen's book complements rather than competes with Phelps' own autobiography, "Beneath the Surface," written with Brian Cazeneuve. Indeed, McMullen strives to fill in background and perspective that the informally told biography leaves out.

Those good things said, the book offers some frustrations. The chief one is McMullen's refusal to narrate chronologically. Each chapter, until the 2004 Olympics, starts with a competition, then circles back to discuss some issue, such as family, professionalism in the Olympics, dietary suuplements (he actually makes supplements almost interesting). The effect is that twice when I resumed reading after a break, I forgot where I was in Phelps' career. Within chapters, I also felt unstuck in time. Chapter 1 starts with a meet in 2003, cycles back to discuss Phelps' parents, then lingers for over a page on the 2000 Olympics. What happened to narrative order?

Two other complaints. McMullen does not demystify the sport. Unlike, for example, John Feinstein who embeds illuminating information in his basketball books without impeding the narrative flow, McMullen leaves complex issues undiscussed. Why do swimmers train as they do? What made Coach Bowman's methods with Phelps successful? How do race strategies differ in various events? Further, McMullen is not very dramatic at describing races, which is sad because Phelps often comes from behind to win.

The book is a fun and fast read. Yet we still need a book that does for Olympic level swimming what Feinstein's "A Season on the Brink" does for college basketball and what H. G. Bissinger's "Friday Night Lights" does for football.

I've read several books about Phelps and I found this one a bit lacking. A few things bothered me.

1. Until the last 4 chapters or so, the author jumps around a lot. He jumps years and events as well as goes on random tangents about other swimmers, other athletes in general (running, wrestling, etc.) and facts about the Olympics themselves. While some of these tangents were interesting, I felt they were just filler. They weren't needed in this book and didn't provide much context.

2. Phelps has always been pretty adamant that his father didn't play much of a role in this life after his parents divorced. They've been estranged and Phelps has frequently said his father played little role in his swimming success. All of this makes me wonder why Fred Phelps (Michael's father) plays such a large role in this book.

It makes me wonder if the author was looking for another angle, or if he was unable to get enough information for the book from the rest of Phelps family. Fred features prominently in the first third of this book and makes appearences throughout. There is little in the book about Phelps' mom, who he says had the most influence on him and his career (other than his coach). I just don't like how he is woven into this story.

I should also note that this book was written long before 2008 and therefore doesn't feature the Beijing Olympics. It only looks at Phelps' life up to the Athens Olympics (this isn't a critism, just a fact). Much of what is presented in this book can be found elsewhere in better written works.

If you want to know more about Phelps, your best bet it to read the books he wrote himself. 'Beneath the Surface' covers the same time period as 'Amazing Pace' but is better written, more truthful and more entertaining. 'No Limits' looks primarily at the Beijing Olympics and is worth reading. I'm glad I got 'Amazing Pace' from the library because I wouldn't have wanted to spend money on it.