Rent: A Fighter's Heart: One Man's Journey Through the World of Fighting

Sam's a diehard adventure seeker and I respect him for getting into the ring. The way he writes, however, is hard to read. There were many run-on sentences that I had to go back and re-read that ruined the flow of the book, which is too bad because it's a good story. A few strategically placed periods that divided the paragraphs into separate ideas would have been greatly appreciated. It's hard to get into a book when you're constantly going back to read a passage two or three times per page. Otherwise it's a fascinating journey.

Sam Sheridan has led an adventerous life! From working in Antartica to training multiple disciplines of combat sports, he just jumps into trying anything that interests him.
All of that makes for a fast paced read, but what really interested me was his journey to answer the question on what makes men fight. He answers that question more eloquently than I can describe, so if you have any interest in MMA or even boxing, this is a book you will enjoy.

MANY MEN CAN FIGHT BUT NOT EVERY MAN HAS HEART OR BOTTLE, SAM SHERIDAN HAS BOTH, A STORY OF A MANS COURAGE IN THE WORLD OF FIGHTING. HES TRAINED AND FOUGHT WITH THE BIG BOYS OF THE SPORT AND HAS DONE MOST OF IT WHILST INJURED. A GOOD STORY ABOUT ONE MANS DETERMINATION TO PUSH HIMSELF WHERE OTHERS WOULDNT.

I wasn't sure what to expect. Frankly, I wondered whether Sheridan would simply catalog blood and guts and the "brutality" of "human cockfighting." There was some of that sensationalism here, but I thought he did a good job of giving an inside look at several fight camps, all world-class:
*Fairtex for Muay Thai boxing
*Brazil Top Team for jiu-jitsu
*Andre Ward's boxing camp
*Miletich Fighting Systems for MMA

Sheridan treats fighters and trainers as people, avoiding the standard stereotypes (happy warrior, grim reaper, berserker, etc.) I enjoyed that. I didn't find much that surprised me about the muay thai, the BJJ or the mixed martial arts, but Sheridan went further than that. I'll go ahead and warn readers with weak stomachs that Sheridan explored dog fighting and cockfights in this book, and following the method he used for human fighters, did not just quote other books. No, he went to Brazil, Thailand and the Philippines to watch dogfights and cockfights. His reasons might surprise you. Certainly I learned some things I didn't know about either "sport," and although nothing in the book elevated my opinion of either spectacle, it's nice to have an opinion supported by knowledge as opposed to ignorance.

On the downside? Well, there's not a lot. The only thing I found a little annoying was Sheridan's constant refrain that he's not a tough guy, not a fighter, just a dilettante. He IS a dilettante, but the constant refrain makes him sound like he's begging someone to step up and tell him he's not. If he were a professional fighter, his wandering warrior-monk approach would definitely hold him back . . . but for a guy who has to keep his book deal in mind and think about what will make good reading, it was the right way to go. As much as a serious fan like myself might enjoy an inside look at Team Miletich or Brazil Top Team, that's not what this book was intended to do. This is a book of fighting.
Good stuff.

Part of a journalist's trade is his/her objectivity. It is one of the things missing from this book. The author is a fine, fine writer. What he lacks is enough time in a specific discipline to take the lessons learned down to the bone, and the ability to write honestly about someone without having it come off like a magazine fluff piece.

I skipped over the animal fighting chapter...I understand why it was included, but if no one watches/bets....the sports will end...people have a choice, animals-not so much.

Keep working, Sam, you'll get better as time moves on....BTW....the older you get, the more it hurts, LOL.