Top 3 Patriot books

[amhunt2]

Education of a coach

Patriot Reign

Management secrets of the New England Patriots (my favorite of the 3)

any other suggestions??

I know the pats library is somewhat small to that of the pack and niners...you could spend years reading all related books with niners connections... speaking of, bill walsh's book "the winning edge" (or something like that) retails at $160 minimum on the internet. Any ideas what makes this legendary book so rare/expensive?

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Peppers book was really good. It came out after the 2001 season and gave a lot of great insight to what the coaching staff was thinking. It would alternate with one chapter being about football fundamentals and the next chapter being about what was happening for the Patriots to prepare for that coming weeks opponents. Very insightful book. One interesting thing that I learned from it was that after Drew Bledsoe was cleared to play, he was 20 pounds under weight and the coaching staff felt he was too light to get back into games. This contributed to the decision to name Brady the starter for the rest of the year.

Won for All: The Inside Story of the New England Patriots Improbable Run to the Super Bowl, by Pepper Johnson

My favorite of those cited. Real insight into how the Pats prepare for a game not covered elsewhere. Behind the scenes views of the players and their situations. Before fans post "why doesn't ex-player so-and-so become a Pats coach for BB?" remember that these ex-players are multi-millionaires and may not exactly hunger for jobs that require OVER 80 hours per week.

Patriot Reign is next, again mainly for the insights on players. Charlie Weis going off on Patrick Pass is hilarious, just like he was on the practise field back when you could hear everything said in Smithfield RI. More Bledsoe story info.

Edu of a Coach seems to be a fav here. Me, I was dissapointed. Sure the Steve Belichick background stuff was interesting but I expected far more than was delivered.

Management Secrets is too disjointed and too much of a stretch in many cited examples. Worse yet in hindsight some of the secrets/tactics extolled don't look so convincing given the lack of rings since 2004.

 

[Scouse Patriot]

Education of a Coach is on the christmas list.

 

[italian pat patriot]

i have read many times (as i bought it) Tales From The Patriots Sideline

i like it a lot

 

[eternal]

Earlier today, the thought had occurred to me that the best book about the Pats hasn't even been written yet. That's the one that comes out at least 7 or 8 years from now that will (hopefully) be written by William Belichick.

 

[PatmanFever]

Education of a Coach
Moving the Chains: Tom Brady and the Pursuit of Everything
Patriot Reign

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

Education of a Coach -Extremely well written.
Patriot Reign - loved the behind the scenes feel, Hochstein's story and the Jackson - Belichick post superbowl interaction are classics.
Won for all - this was the 1st one I read, really enjoyed it, especially since it described in detail the 1st SB season.

 

[Pats Fanatic]

The best one was the one from 1979. It was not well written and would be dreadfully boring to anyone who isn't a fan of the team, but it covers details of the beginnings of the AFL and the Patriots. The New England Patriots, Triumph & Tragedy. The author is Larry Fox, and the book was published in 1979 by Atheneum in New York.

Then Education of a Coach followed by Holley's book.

You are right it is a good book I did find that Amazon is selling 13 used copies of the book if anyone is interested.
Amazon.com: The New England Patriots (9780689109928): Larry Fox: Books

 

[Garbanza]

Patriots Reign was my favorite of all of them. Great inside scoop and highly entertaining. A must read for any true Pats fan. It's where I found out that BB had told Tom Jackson to go eff himself. LOVED IT.

Education of a Coach was "educational" - but far less "entertaining" than Reign. Felgers was eh...then again, I have a love/hate relationship with Felger. Have not read Johnson's.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Education of a Coach is a must-read. Halberstam was one of the great writers of the century IMO.

Patriot Reign is not nearly as well written (almost nothing is) but it's a fun read.

I agree, PJ. When we consider books about the Pats, there are really two categories: "The Education of a Coach by David Halberstam" and "Everybody Else."

I'd put Michael Holley's "Patriot Reign" at the top of the list of "Everybody Else," but with due respect to a good guy who is knowledgeable about both the NFL and the Patriots and who writes pretty well, he isn't in the same league as David Halberstam.

I've given Halberstam's book on Belichick as a gift to some of my academic/intellectual friends, who wouldn't give the time of day to other books mentioned in this thread and who don't understand how I can be such a rabid fan and follower of the NFL and the Patriots. Two of them have told me that the book gave them a completely new perspective on the world of the NFL and they've actually started following the Patriots.

There are many reasons that it's sad that Halberstam died relatively young (73), but, in particular, the fact that he passed before he could do a follow-up book or, more likely, lengthy article on Coach Belichick, based on interviews with him, post-Spygate is particularly unfortunate.

I don't know whether you know it, but Halberstam died in a car accident on the way to do an interview with Y.A. Tittle for a book about the 1958 NFL Championship Game...the game that most agree gave birth to the Modern NFL. I would love to have been able to read that book! RIP