No Limits

The Will to Succeed

By: Michael Phelps, Alan Abrahamson

Narrated by: Holter Graham

Fresh from his triumphant and extraordinary achievement at the Olympic Games in Beijing, Michael Phelps—up from working-class, born-in-the-USA roots—shows us the secrets to his remarkable success—from training to execution.

For years the world has followed Michael Phelps’s progress from teen sensation in Sydney to bona fide phenom in Athens. Now he’s a living Olympic legend in Beijing with a peerless record of gold medals. In No Limits, Michael Phelps—the greatest competitor since Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods—will share the secrets to his remarkable success. Behind his tally of Olympic gold medals lies a consistent approach to competition, a determination to win, mental preparation, and a straightforward passion for his sport. One of his mottos is “Performance is Reality,” and it typifies his attitude about swimming.

No Limits goes behind the scenes to explore the hard work, sacrifice, and dedication that catapulted Phelps into the international spotlight. Phelps shares remarkable anecdotes about family, his coach, his passion for the sport, and the wisdom that he has gained from unexpected challenges and obstacles. Highlighting memorable races and valuable lessons from throughout his career, Phelps offers candid insight into the mind and experiences of a world champion. Phelps’s success is imbued with the perspective of overcoming obstacles and doing whatever it takes to realize a dream. As his coach, Bob Bowman, says, Phelps has made a habit out of things other people aren’t willing to do. No Limits will show readers just how he does that, and will inspire anyone to follow their passion straight to the finish line.©2008 Michael Phelps; (P)2008 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Inspiring

His discipline is inspiring. "I can only control my own performance. If I do my best, then I can feel good at the end of the day”

A success recipe.

Phelps' commitment, focus and execution of his goals, provides a template for anyone curious about what it takes to excel at anything. How great do you want to be. Honest and captivating, even though we know the ending.

Wow

Excelent book... Reminded me of the courage and detrrmination that anyone can have if you really want it

Thoughts of a champion

I really enjoyed this audio book but it took me a while to get used to the format. The chapters are headed with concepts like perseverance, courage and redemption and the authors use Phelps' various life-experiences and races to illustrate their points. Granted, a 23 year-old kid doesn't have the life experiences that a more mature athlete does, but Phelps has lived a very different life from the average 20-something. If you have set goals and then made sacrifices to meet them, you will enjoy this book. If you haven't, maybe you need to read it.

Be warned, it's not laid out in chronological order. The authors skip around a lot but this isn't Phelps' autobiography. It isn't "...then when I was 14, I tried out for the Sydney Olympics." There are a LOT of stats and figures and it is hard to keep them all straight, especially in an audio book. It didn't affect my enjoyment of the book, but I'm a swimmer and I'm used to numbers going round and round in my head. I plan to get the hardcover version so I can follow them more closely, particularly since this audible version is abridged. BTW, it's fun to find a particular race on YouTube and then watch it while listening to Michael (via Graham) narrate what is going on. (Oops, is that legal?)

Abrahamson did a good job of capturing the thoughts of the 23 year-old legend and Graham's voice work is excellent. Phelps himself narrates the introduction and the cadence and inflections are compatible with Graham's. It may be someone else's sentence structure and voice but you really hear Phelps shining through. I gave it four stars because really nothing besides "To Kill a Mockingbird" gets five from me. OK, maybe "Kite Runner."

Good story

Any additional comments?

The story of michel phellps and how he came to be is simply amazing. Pushing throught adversity and realiizing the