This is the story of Michael Oher and the Tuohy family. It is also the story of the evolution of football.

Michael was a homeless kid in Memphis when he was adopted by the Tuohy family. Sean and Leigh Anne have two biological children, Collins and SJ (Sean Jr). Michael integrates into the family, but not without issues. He needs a lot of tutoring and guidance in life as well as school. He grew up thinking he'd be the next Michael Jordan and enjoyed playing basketball but eventually found football. The book goes into his life with the Tuohy's, the tutoring he needed to get his grades up to get into college, getting into college and the NCAA investigation into his acceptance to college. Sean and Leigh Anne were Ole Miss graduates (as was Mike's tutor) and very strong supporters of the school. (They even had an Ole Miss Christmas tree in their house).

The book was well-written and I found that the movie was pretty true to the book. I did end up skipping over some of the football sections. There is an afterword in the paperback edition that gives an update on Michael and the Tuohy family since the book had first been published. ( )

Michael Lewis is one of my favorite non-fiction writers: a great storyteller and a great "explainer." He's written several books about the business world (Liar's Poker), and he's also written about sports.

The Blind Side is obviously in the latter category, but that's not all it is. It is also a fascinating story about the human spirit, class, and the American dream, as cheesy as that sounds. It's not cheesy at all (I'm paraphrasing Malcolm Gladwell's blurb a little bit here).

If you enjoy football at all, you'll enjoy the discussion about the changes in defensive and offensive strategies. But you'll also enjoy the unfolding of Michael Oher's story. ( )

Not the best book I've read by Michael Lewis, but I loved the story. The book definitely opened my eyes to some of the less Hollywood friendly aspects of the family and school's background in Memphis. ( )

New Favorite Author

This doesn't happen often but Michael Lewis has just been added to my very short list of authors who I TRY to read EVERYTHING they ever write! (Ayn Rand, Irving Stone, Trevanian, Shakespeare - so many with just a few books, so many with so many! LOL! Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Soseki Natsume, Lafcadio Hearn, Oscar Wilde) - I can't keep up! But several are worthy of short-listing!

This was a fascinating, multi-faceted glimpse into the socioeconomics of the intersection of our high school and college educational system and football - and the perhaps unfair whispers of white savior complex. It was also an interesting character study on how a foster child's survival instincts can shape a personality. ( )

Not quite sure what I think of this book. Love the movie, but not overly addicted to sports stories. There are times when this is told like a great story, but there are other times when it seems put together like many magazine articles---some of which maybe aren't exactly related. The chapters that jumped around in time and subject were somewhat off-putting to me. Overall - ok, not as good as the movie. ( )