The Marvellous Mania: Alistair Cooke On Golf

by Cooke Alistair

This title presents essays by the legendary writer and broadcaster Alistair Cooke on his lasting passion - golf, whether it is Arnold Palmer playing in 102-degree heat in San Antonio, dapper Gary Player winning the US Open at Creve Coeur, Missouri, or Jack Nicklaus playing (and winning) almost anywhere.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like every compilation of essays, "Golf: The Marvelous Mania" is comprised of a mix of the compelling and the bland. When Cooke comments on his own personal travails on golf courses, his personal interactions with elite golfers, and his unique perspective on the quirks of golf on each die of the Atlantic Ocean, his artful prose is a joy to read. The language is still finely sculpted in the remaining essays, but Cooke gets bogged down in anecdotes that start to sound very similar to those he has told in other stories and in subject matter that is completely foreign to readers born after 1970. If there were a way to give a book 3 1/2 stars, that is what I'd give this effort.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Late converts, whether to religion or golf, which is itself almost a religion, frequently become fanatics. Golf grasped Alistair Cooke's soul in middle age and held on fast for the rest of his life. I learned little I did not already know in this book, but Cooke's imagery, his wry intelligence and his knack of seeing what the rest of us see and filtering it through his own perspective before putting it down on paper made this a most enjoyable read.

[Gary Mendelblatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book but he jumps around too much.