Landing It: My Life on and Off the Ice

Just finished this book and it was wonderful. Well written and I couldn't put it down. Have been a fan of Scott's since the first time I saw him perform on TV. Have been blessed to see him many times in person and also met him and talked with him when our skating club held the USFSA Nationals in 1992. Our daughter got to play cards with Scott when she was in Colorado two different summers taking lessons from Don Laws. Scott would drop by the rink whenever he was in town and had the chance and usually played cards with all the skaters. They loved him and loved how he felt like "one of them". A FANTASTIC and TALENTED SKATER and a great guy who has weathered many health "storms". Hope and pray he will be blessed with good health from now on. HE IS AWESOME !!

This is a great autobiography of one of skating's greats. He writes as if he is telling his life story directly to the reader. There is, of course, a great deal of skating in it. But for those of us who can barely skate a straight line, it is still very interesting. His life is incredible. There are whole chapters dedicated to others in skating (the one dedicated to Sergei Grinkov is so touching and gives a lot of insight into another great skater, but have Kleenex handy!). Mr. Hamilton has had so many medical challenges and tragic things happen in his life. Yet he maintains such a positive, upbeat attitude and finds the humor in so many things. I loved reading about his personal life and life as an announcer. I came away from this book so touched, and immediately added his other book to my "must read" list.

An historic male figure skating icon, philanthropist, and skating commentator who brought interest in competitive skating to new heights single- handedly back in the '80s & '90s, Scott Hamilton's first book, Landing It, is a treasure. Honest and informative, humorous and insightful, I've read this book half a dozen times. With his next two books, The Great Eight and Finish First are great reads also. Go-to books for self-helpers, Scott is a cheerleader, guru, leader and empathizer. Such a great man who has taken his courage and success in beating three bouts with tumors and a case of cancer to helping fund, found and volunteer with multiple cancer research and survival foundations.

I loved reading this book. I am a big ice-skating fan and have watched it since I was a kid.The book starts off in chapter one talking about his cancer discovery already. You start to get a feel for who he is based on the way he handled the news of his illness etc. Then he talks about his childhood and the sacrifices his mom made to drive him for miles to get to competitions. He goes on to talk about his actuall career (and this is the reason for losing a star - because he talks too much about his routines and the types of jumps and the scores. Enough already, just let us learn about him). He even includes a chapter about Sergei Grinkov (one of my other favourite skaters who died tragically and unexpectedly on the ice) which is nice and moving.Scott has a real upbeat personality and a very positive attitude which will take him a long way. He is a great guy and a brilliant skater and I enjoyed reading about him and his career (just not all the endless jumps). I recommend this to all skating fans and cancer patients looking for a bit of inspiration. It's really good.

I love Scott Hamilton since he is such an inspiring and positive person. I was interested in reading a book about his life.

A good book. My only reservation was that while I have enjoyed watching Scott, I am not really interested in ice skating details.

This is a way too long, not very interesting book about Scott Hamilton. Now, you understand, I'm a great admirer of Scott, his skating, his sportscasting ability, his survival of his cancer, etc. I'm sure he did, indeed, have an interesting life but it is dragged out way too long in this book with waaaaaay too much detail. For the most part, he seems to be sort of bragging about what an immature, ungrateful, partying jackass he was most of the time. He must have kept a hell of a diary because I've never seen anything like the detail in which he relates apparently every single competition he ever went to, who was there, how he did, from the very first time he ever put on skates. I think this could have been a much better book but needed a much better editor than it apparently had.

Loved that my mom loved the book!