Moneyball

The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

By: Michael Lewis

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Moneyball reveals a quest for something as elusive as the Holy Grail, something that money apparently can't buy: the secret of success in baseball. The logical places to look would be the giant offices of Major League teams and the dugouts. But the real jackpot is a cache of numbers collected over the years by a strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts: software engineers, statisticians, Wall Street analysts, lawyers, and physics professors.

In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Lewis shows us how and why the new baseball knowledge works. He also sets up a sly and hilarious morality tale: Big Money, like Goliath, is always supposed to win.... How can we not cheer for David?

©2004 Michael Lewis (P)2011 Random House

Critic reviews

"The single most influential baseball book ever." (Rob Neyer, Slate)

"Another journalistic tour de force." (Wall Street Journal)

"Engaging, informative, and deliciously contrarian." (Washington Post)

Great all the way Analytics Revolution

Micheal Lewis is always great, I'm not even that into baseball I'm a football guy. But the Analytics Revolution and strategic revolution rocking the college and pro football world has a prequel here in baseball.
It's far better to see the movie first, and have a better visual to go by. The movie , Any movie, can't tell even half the story of a book. The movie makes the As coach into a villain, which is lies. Paul Podesta refused to be included in the movie so you have the awkward and fictional personality of the movie. Just buy it, it took me only a few days of commuting and gym workouts and errands to finish this book. I loved it.

Perfect. Great book. Great narration.

Just get it. Period. Of the things to learn: (1) building a talented team reasonably priced, (2) what to look for in finding talent, (3) full belly laughs, (4) using imagination to rethink strategy in a field with long held strategy viewpoints, (5) excitement. There’s a reason this book is not just seen as a book about baseball. This book is considered one of the best books for business entrepreneurs- how to spot talent, how to negotiate for it, how to cut costs, what human attributes are most important in determining long term prospects of a potential hire, and effective management. Wildly fascinating and instructive - it also showcases the narrative power of Scott Brick.

A home run

What made the experience of listening to Moneyball the most enjoyable?

The behind the scenes look at how the team and its GM made "Moneyball" work

What did you like best about this story?

The behind the scenes look with what seemed to be unfettered access. Also the tale of how this "can't miss" star missed.

Any additional comments?

I stopped following big league baseball in October 1994, when MLB cancelled the season and the World Series. So I was dubious about my interest in this book. But after reading how St. Bonaventure University women's hoops coach Jim Crowley read this book and used Moneyball principles to remake a losing program and save his job, I was intrigued. I'm very glad I choose to listen to this book.

Read this book and change your life

If you do anything that involves probabilities and statistics [and we all do whether we think of it that way or not] this book can change the way you look at things not only in sports but in any endeavor.
Scott Brick is a versatile and excellent narrator.
Thankfully the book is not too long, and reads fast and is absorbing and very informative.

Awesome

Great book and narration. definitely worth a listen even if you've seen the movie. highly recommended.

Home Run!

What a fantastic story. The ability to recognize misunderstood reality beyond the vale of conventional wisdom - like on base percentage - is one of the most important and undervalued intellectual skills. The courage to act on such perception is just as valuable and even more rare. Thanks, Michale Lewis, for putting the genius of Billy Beane and the early sabermetricians in the limelight they deserve!

Changed my view of baseball

Loved this book, I was hooked on it right from the beginning, and I was sad when it ended because I wanted to keep following the story for another season!

Great book!!

Not only does it show how you can approach baseball differently... you can apply this to ANY business environment.. why think IN the box.. will that ever get you ahead??

I love baseball and a good story about it...

very interesting storyline and high quality narration. details are great in some areas and too long in others.

Better than the movie

The story and reader were engrossing and entertaining. Love Scott Brick. I will look for more narrations by Scott.