Playing with Fire: The Autobiography
Product Details | Similar Products | Customer Reviews | Author: Nasser Hussain List Price: £8.99 Availability:  |
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 | Product Details: Paperback 512 pages Release Date: 02 June 2005 Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 0141003669 Rating:   Sales Rank: 93549 | | Look for similar books by subject:
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| | Customer Reviews: Joined up Writing (04 October 2009)Highly recommended. Bridging that gap between Athers and Vaughan, he started the re-building with Duncan "behind the Shades" Fletcher. Another 4 * read by the way. Very well written, with as you would expect "heart on sleeve" most of the time. Could really identify with the early pages too. So why not the full 5 stars? Just thought he held back a fraction. Maybe on its 3rd drafting with a few cynical years in the Sky Sports commentary team behind him, he might just give up the final snippets and facets that would make this great. Beaten again by Steve Waugh I'm afraid. A truly important cricketer in the history of the English game nevertheless and should be owned. RC One of the better volumes of its genre (10 February 2009)A good autobiography produced at the right time (i.e., after he's retired, not when he's just turned 21). It starts and ends superbly, but the middle could have been tighter perhaps. Too much of it sounds straight from the tape; and there's too many !! too. He speaks frankly and to the point, pulls no punches and does not shrink from critical self-analysis. Well recommended. Great, true, honest reading (18 October 2007)To be fair, loved it, Hussain gritty honest view of everyone he has met in the game, much better than most sports autobiographies coz he does'nt cosy around people he actually does'nt like, brutally honest and difficult to put down, a great read whether you are a fan of the man or not! A great captain produces a great book. (04 September 2006)Nasser Hussain's jouney through English cricket is perhaps more unique than any other. Starting his career at the beginning of Englands demise in 1989, he went on to play through a shambolic era in the mid to late 90's to captaining a side at the turn of the millenium that grew into a world beater, comulating in England regaining the Ashes last year. Well known for his passion and fire in his game, this book portrays everything you would expect from Hussain. His acheivements largley came from utter determination, and his comparrisons with players that (in his words), had more natural ability are intersting. He explains why people like Ramprakash and Hick didn't have the success they should have, and why players such as Stewart, Atherton, and Thorpe sustained a place in a losing England side for so long. His dilema concerning Zimbabwe in the 2003 World Cup sums this book up. An honest and frank view of his feeling's of the sheer pressure he rode as he battled with cricket boards and politicians to help make the right choice for his cricket nation. Hussain write's about his astute retirement from the game, and you feel the release of all his pressures as he reflects up on what was a career that's summed up in his choice of title for the book- playing with fire. Playing with fire, written with passion (27 July 2006)I always find it fascinating to read the autobiographies of England cricket captains as they have such huge influence on and off the pitch. It's interesting to hear the thought processes behind their decisions and the usually revealing pen portraits of their fellow cricketers. Nasser Hussain's autobiography has plenty of these revelations but even more, it provides a huge insight into the roots behind the determined, sometimes hot-headed temperament of England's most successful captain for years. Clearly crucial to Nasser's development was his obsessive but loving father who relentlessly pushed his son as a cricketer. With some of his old man's steely determination rubbing off, Hussain's rise and superb career were as much due to his character as his talent as he was not as phenomenally naturally talented as some of his cricketing peers. What comes through in his well-titled autobiography is passion and controversy but also a great tactical brain and an acknowledgment of mistakes made. Playing With Fire also includes evidence of the politics at play in international cricket with Chapter 1 piecing together the shameful way the England team were treated by the various cricket authorities and UK government over the controversial matches in Zimbabwe in the last World Cup. Nasser records his detailed version of events and provides the definitive account of his career in this brilliant sporting autobiography. | |
