Loads of information is packed into each title of this series about world inventors, innovative thinkers and great athletes, including timelines, sidebars, a glossary, maps, rare photographs and world-class writing that make these books accessible and dramatic. From the Sterling Biography series, each of these books offers a succinct account of a notable athlete’s life. Studded with quotes and illustrated with photos, the books include time lines, glossaries, bibliographies, and source notes. The man at the center of Lou Gehrig is today inextricably linked with ALS, the progressive nerve disease that ended his baseball career and ultimately his life, but he is also remembered as the Iron Horse of baseball, the legendary slugger who played a phenomenal 2,130 consecutive games for the Yankees. Written in a straightforward, journalistic style, these biographies present very readable accounts of the lives of three very different athletes who made their marks on American culture. Grades 6-9. --Carolyn Phelan