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[Cubejam]

Has any one read "The Life of Senna" by Tom Rubython?


Link to amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0954685733/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0954685709&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=1ZW8HJYG4RBJWMPQVJKZ

I just finished reading it and was wondering if anyone else had read the book.
Quite long, it covers his whole career. It also covers his love life & his business life too. Of course his death takes up a quarter of the book and what it meant for the future of the sport.

I thought I would give my review here and see what you think, if you haven't read it you can pick it up for under £10 paperback with about 600 pages.

I found the book both tedious & enjoyable to read at the same time.
Not the best biography I have read but it told me his story & who he was. This book has actually made me become a much greater Senna fan than I was before.
He died while I was young, 3/4 years old so I never had the chance of making him my hero, he would have retired by the time I was truly old enough to understand the sport fully too.

Many mistakes I have found in the book, it doesn't seem to be proof read. Simple spelling mistakes occur 5/6 times in the book & it is quite repetitive. Sometimes repeating itself within the same chapter but also repeating itself later on.

It also seems as if the book was written by more than one person. at the back it says the foreword was written by friend and fellow racer Gerhard Berger. But, the rest of the book seems to change writing style a bit.

All this said it contains some original photos from Keith Sutton. It also told me a lot about his early career, how he made I into F1 & the path he took in F1.

Don't let my criticisms put you off, I have seen the same thing written by almost every review I've seen of this book, but ultimately it gives me a feeling of great pride to know in my mind what he was like. Harsh but fair, harsh but unfair, born racer, born romantic & a man who loved children.

I suggest you take a look, for people old enough to remember him it will bring back memories you'd forgotten & for people like me around the age of 18 or younger who couldn't follow him I suggest you take a look to. It is enjoyable to read & I have massive respect for my new hero.

[Amanda]

I thought it was a good read, a bit repetitive at times but still enjoyable and informative for a Senna novice (which I was at the time). The one thing I really could have done without was the long chapter describing the court case following his death. I'm not sure why that had to be quite so lengthy.

[Jabberwocky]

I have read about 3/4 of it and then got bored of it. The repeating of things constantly got to much for me in the end.

[Cubejam]

Yeah, repetitiveness was quite irritating. I hated the part where it described him in the car after his crash... the blood & the brain matter... not nice...

[Amanda]

Yeah, repetitiveness was quite irritating. I hated the part where it described him in the car after his crash... the blood & the brain matter... not nice...

I agree. It was the chapters analysing Senna's crash and injuries and the one about the trial that I really didn't need. I'm not sure why he put so much detail into that section of the book, I'd much rather of heard more (there was virtually none) details of his childhood.

[7UpJordan]

I read that book a few years back. It was a good read, although some of the chapters towards the end were not so good, like the Senna trial and it's always almost a tear-jerker reading about that fateful weekend at Imola.

One part I found interesting was at Monaco 1985 when he sat in a corner in the garage with a steering wheel and something like a mop and visualised the track in his mind even simulating the steering inputs and gear-changes.

[Cubejam]

One part I found interesting was at Monaco 1985 when he sat in a corner in the garage with a steering wheel and something like a mop and visualised the track in his mind even simulating the steering inputs and gear-changes.

Yeah I did find that interesting, similar to what a bob-sleigh driver would do when preparing for a downhill run.

I was surprised little was mentioned of Barrichello & Ratzenbergers deaths. Although it was true to his nature that they found the Austrian flag in his overalls on 1st May.

[Jabberwocky]

One part I found interesting was at Monaco 1985 when he sat in a corner in the garage with a steering wheel and something like a mop and visualised the track in his mind even simulating the steering inputs and gear-changes.

Yeah I did find that interesting, similar to what a bob-sleigh driver would do when preparing for a downhill run.

I was surprised little was mentioned of Barrichello & Ratzenbergers deaths. Although it was true to his nature that they found the Austrian flag in his overalls on 1st May.

Barrichello's crash not death. even if it did make it look like his head was on a bit of elastic.

[7UpJordan]

One part I found interesting was at Monaco 1985 when he sat in a corner in the garage with a steering wheel and something like a mop and visualised the track in his mind even simulating the steering inputs and gear-changes.

Yeah I did find that interesting, similar to what a bob-sleigh driver would do when preparing for a downhill run.

You were watching the Top Gear Winter Olympics last night weren't you?

If Senna was racing today he'd have made the team bring their simulator to the track and he'd spend hour after hour behind the wheel of it.