Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #239377 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–This is a guidebook to the popular TV series in which contestants race around the world engaging in grueling tests of fortitude and stamina, while demonstrating the ability to get along with their teammates, with the hope of winning one million dollars. The humor and snide asides by the author make the book most appropriate for teens. Good for fans who might have missed a season or two among the eight covered here, its also entertaining for anyone who wants to know what the show is like but doesnt want to watch it. Castros tendency to introduce a segment of each race by hinting at who will win or which team will not survive takes away some of the suspense. He also nicknames the teams (e.g., Team Doomed), and this removes some of them from contention for readers before the race has even begun. He dismisses an entire season of the race–the family edition–as weak and poorly conceived, and his sarcasm toward some of the participants here is even thicker than usual. There are entertaining interviews with some of the shows most memorable contestants. The chapters recounting the smartest tactics and dumbest mistakes are enjoyable, as is the chapter on the shows most enduring moments. An interesting twist on armchair adventuring.–Will Marston, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Customer Reviews

Completely Unauthorized
Well, it is! Seriously, despite not being authorized (and therefore lacking in certain aspects of information concerning behind the scenes production of the show), this is an excellent book as it is written from the viewpoint of both an avid viewer (as the author admits to being) and the contestants themselves.

There are some interesting interviews, and some "reality check" moments from the author, including a vomit chapter and a Dear John letter addressed to Jonathan (of Jonathan & Victoria infamy). The author doesn't take sides on anything, but acts as a devil's advocate in all cases, giving even the Guidos airport ploy from TAR1 a fair hearing as well as Jonathan's outbursts.

Team names the author comes up with are generally okay where particular teams are memorable, but fail where they are less so - but to be fair, the names some teams give themselves during the game in such cases are the same, and at least in the case of the book you can flick back a page or two to check which team is which. Better are the alternate titles Adam Troy-Castro gives to the races and the legs themselves.

All-in-all, its a fun book. And it serves CBS right for not bringing out a book themselves or more DVDs after the two initial DVD releases. ;P

thumbs up from TEAM DOOMED
Even though the author decided to name our team "DOOMED", i enjoyed My Ox Is Broken. A good recap of the series, with good interviews. I think fans will like the book, and people just coming to the Amazing Race can benefit from the recaps.

PS. I guess we were doomed after all

Steve (of Steve And DebraTAR4)

We Were There
We were participants in the Amazing Race 7, which we have heard was the favorite show among fans. We were the Energizer Bunnies mentioned in this book. We found the author's assesment of what actually happened fairly accurate, but there were many incidents that were reviewed that should have been explained in depth to get the impact of what actually happened. He did a good job basing his research mainly on the edited version shown on TV. There was so much more. Maye we'll write our own book someday. It was more than interesting!!!!
Gretchen and Meredith