Out of print for more than 30 years, now available for the first time as an eBook, this is the controversial story of John Wooden's first 25 years and first 8 NCAA Championships as UCLA Head Basketball Coach. This is the only book that gives a true picture of the character of John Wooden and the influence of his assistant, Jerry Norman, whose contributions Wooden  ignored and tried to bury.

Compiled with more than 40 hours of interviews with Coach Wooden, learn about the man behind the coach. The players tell their their stories in their own words. This is the book that UCLA Athletic Director J.D. Morgan tried to ban.

Click the book to read the first chapter and for ordering information. Also available on Kindle.

Total Recall (8/10)

by Tony Medley

Runtime 115 minutes.

OK for children.

I don't like movies set in a bleak future. I don't like movies that are dark and basically devoid of trees and blue water. I don't like movies with lots of robots and machines. This movie is set in a bleak future, is dark and basically devoid of trees and blue water and is filled with robots and machinery. But I liked it.

Why did I like it? Based on Philip K. Dick's short story, "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," and a remake of the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger film of the same name, it's a rip-snorting, nonstop, high tension experience that starts fast and ends faster. The acting by Colin Farrell and Jennifer Biel is very good. Kate Beckinsale is beautiful but her acting is so over the top it seemed like it was camp at times.

Instead of using Mars, however, director Len Wiseman kept the characters on earth, but an earth in the future that has been devastated by chemicals and has only two living areas, United Federation of Britain and The Colony (which looks like it must be Australia from the map).

Farrell lives in The Colony, basically a slum, and travels underground to work in Britain, which is where all the upper crust live. "Rekall" is a place you can go to create memories that will make your life better, maybe. That's what Farrell does and while he's preparing for the treatment, all hell breaks lose, his life changes, and it's nonstop action from there until the end.

Farrell is a terrific actor and carries the perplexion of his character off perfectly. He's aided by good performances by Biel, Bill Nighy (who appears in so few scenes his role is little more than a cameo), and Bryan Cranston, who plays the bad guy who rules Britain and wants to annihilate The Colony.

The only fly in the ointment is Beckinsale's performance. It's hard to tell whether it's Beckinsale's fault or Wiseman's. Somebody should have seen it in the dailies and toned it down.

But that wasn't enough to ruin the film for me.