The Blind Side

Evolution of a Game

By: Michael Lewis

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

In football, as in life, the value we place on people changes with the rules of the games they play.
When we first meet the young man at the center of this extraordinary and moving story, he is one of thirteen children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or any of the things a child might learn in school. And he has no serious experience playing organized football.
What changes? He takes up football, and school, after a rich, Evangelical, Republican family plucks him from the mean streets. Their love is the first great force that alters the world’s perception of the boy, whom they adopt. The second force is the evolution of professional football itself.
In THE BLIND SIDE, Lewis shows us a largely unanalyzed but inexorable trend in football working its way down from the pros to the high school game, where it collides with the life of a single young man to produce a narrative of great and surprising power.

Critic reviews

“[Lewis] is advancing a new genre of journalism.” — George F. Will (New York Times Book Review)

“?works on three levels. First as a shrewd analysis of the NFL; second, as an exposé of the insanity of big-time college football recruiting; and, third, as a moving portrait of the positive effect that love, family, and education can have in reversing the path of a life that was destined to be lived unhappily and, most likely, end badly.” — Wes Lukowsky (Booklist)

Great Reader

I decided to read/listen to this book because I enjoyed the movie, and now that I've finished it... I like both as they're own individual story, since the film was meant to be an inspiring story, while the book is as the cover says the "evaluation of a game" still great! If it weren't for the audiobook the football parts would have gone over my head a lot more lol love it

better than the movie, of course....

whereas the movie has to focus on the story of a young phenom, the book is able to explore the market conditions...and luck...that allowed Michael Oher to rise to prominence and success. Michael Lewis is a master of identifying anecdotes and unsung heroes who come to define the very market conditions that defined them. ~SW

Underdog story with equity/equality undertones

This isn't a story like Moneyball, except in football. It is still a great underdog story, and without getting too political it digs into some major equity/equality issues while keeping the reader interested in the main storyline.

Good book to listen to

I'm not a football fan but I really liked this book. It was a little disjointed - going between the story of Michael Ohr and the NFL but still very enjoyable. It made our 18 hour trip home from So Ga go very quickly. I would recommend it to just about anyone - sports fan or not.

Lewis Does it Again

After enjoying Moneyball so much, with its amazing human portraits placed against the tableau of baseball, I had some doubts that Michael Lewis could duplicate such quality with The Blind Side. And while The Blind Side may not garner as much attention as Moneyball, or the sizzle that book generated, it is every bit its equal, and perhaps even better. A fascinating (almost incomprehensible) story for our age, Lewis has actually managed to make the left tackle position in football interesting. Have you tried watching left-tackle play during a game? It's only effective when it's dull. Lewis, however, peels back the layers of its intricacy, in the process showing us why people like Michael Ohre and the Tuohy family are so remarkable. Even if you don't like football, you'll enjoy this book.