Living on the Black is a Non-fiction book that is a vivid piece of sports writing and interesting book on pitching that I absolutely adore. I specifically like this book because of the way that Mr. Feinstein assesses these two players that is quite unusual, his connection of thoughts is very good as well. Mr. Feinstein is also very delicate with his book and he does not leave any thoughts unconnected. Mr. Feinstein has personally become a hero in my eyes so let me show you why.

Mr. Feinstein has taken two extremely good pitchers and looked at them with a closer eye than other people in quite the unusual format. I mean, honestly, when we evaluate players, what do we assay them on? Their stats! In this book stats mean nothing. Nothing, I tell you NOTHING! Mr. Feinstein evaluates these players on heart and heart alone. In this book he takes you through the twists and turns of Tom Glavine (305-203 win and loss record lifetime) and Michael Mussina (270-153 win and loss record lifetime). These two pitchers both had goals for the season in 2007. For Tom it was to get to 300 games won which he was 10 wins away from when he started the season. For Mike it was to get to 250 wins which he was 11 wins away from. Both of the pitchers reached their milestones but both of the men took a path to their milestones that absolutely nobody foresaw.

The pattern of Mr. Feinstein’s connection of thoughts is incredibly logical but dizzying. Mr. Feinstein starts his book by talking about the announcers of the New York Mets & Yankees. By the next page, Mr. Feinstein is talking about Tom’s childhood. It is absolutely astounding. Mr. Feinstein collects extensive information and he is very collaborative with his characters. Mike Mussina was worried that if he got tired of answering a lot of questions, he might ruin Mr. Feinstein’s book. Mr. Feinstein was completely honest in saying that it would not ruin the book but he still needed to be able to follow Mike’s stats and such, so that he can keep Mike in the loop because otherwise. He might disappear from the book entirely if he did not!

Mr. Feinstein is very delicate with his book and I assume that he treats it like he would a son but he does not sugarcoat the content in any way shape or form. Page XVI (16) of the introduction says that… Mr. Feinstein realized Mike was not very happy and had an exchange with some mild language and frustration from our friend Mr. Mussina.

Mr. Feinstein does not leave any strings untied. Mr. Feinstein gets his hands on any information that he can and turns it into a fountain of knowledge that anybody may look into and gain info if they need in this book. When Mr. Feinstein is talking about the Mets in any part of the book, you can bet the house that he will talk about the Yankees on the exact same subject. Mr. Feinstein is clockwork like and every joke that someone cracks is explained. Mr. Feinstein is one of the few writers who has the ability to explain a joke and still have the reader laughing their head off like a mad person (mad in England use).

This is a very good book and it is not specifically aimed at any particular age group based on what I have read. Parents should be advised that there is some language involved but otherwise is a very good book. If a child really wants to read this book, I advise parents to read it first to see if it is appropriate. It is a very good book and if you are not concerned about your child picking up some new language please by all means let your child read my favorite book in the world.

Mr. Feinstein has authored a vividly written Non-fiction book and the most interesting piece of pitching studying that I have ever read. Mr. Feinstein assays the players unusually but very well none of the less. His connection of thoughts is outstanding, he is delicate as if he were a potter with a piece of clay, and there is not a single thought that is not connected to another thought. Mr. Feinstein is now in the top of all of my favorite authors and I hope that you will get this book from any available resource possible and enjoy again and again just as I have done many a time.