Each Branch, Each Needle: An Anecdotal Memoir by H.A. Dorfman

by H.A. Dorfman

Excellent Book

Paperback

First published April 12, 2010

About the author

Harvey A. Dorfman (May 21, 1935 – February 28, 2011) was best known as an mental skills/sports psychology coach who worked in education and psychology as a teacher, counselor, coach, and consultant. Prior to starting a business as a mental skills coach, he lived in Manchester, Vermont. He also wrote for a local paper, taught English, and coached basketball at Burr and Burton Semi­nary (now Academy). He earned World Series Championship rings by serving as a mental skills coach for the 1989 Oakland A's and the 1997 Florida Marlins. In 1999, Dorfman became a full-time consultant teaching the skills of sport psychology and staff development for the Scott Boras Corporation, an agency that represents professional baseball players. He also worked as a freelance journalist and lectured at major universities and corporations on psychlogy, self-enhancement, management strategies, and leadership training. Through his books and his teaching experience, he helped thousands of people get more of what they wanted from life through his tough love and clear insight. Some baseball greats give him credit for their success in life as well as in baseball. He died on February 28, 2011

Reviews

[Rob Neyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not often that I wind up with just two stars, and I know we're in an era of grade inflation. But "It was OK" seems almost exactly right.

There's just not much there here. If you're writing a biography of Dorfman, or Scott Boras or Rick Ankiel or Billy Beane -- Dorfman admires Boras and Ankiel, and seems to revile Beane -- you'll want to consult this book, the last entry of Dorfman's autobiographical trilogy. But this is not really the place to learn anything about Dorfman's methods, or even so much about Dorfman himself. In a chapter solely about his favorite books, we learn that his all-time favorite is "Huck Finn" ... but not a word about WHY it's his favorite. Which might actually be revealing, or interesting.

Then again, at one point he writes, "I have shared many personal aspects of my life, but it is not appropriate, I think, to share insights that began on a professional level and ended up being very person. Insights about someone else. So be it."

So there you have it. There are dozens of anecdotes about clients, most of them professional baseball players. But the identities of the clients are usually obscured, the specifics of their issues vague, their treatments merely hinted at. Essentially, Dorfman's last book was for himself, with the details not really necessary because of course the author could summon them to mind whenever he liked.

Unfortunately, the reader is merely left to wonder...