picture on front cover/dust jacket
Title Lawn Bowls Champions Secrets
Author Brian Leonard Golightly Marshall
Publisher Lulu.com, Morrisville, N Carolina, USA
First published 2008
ISBN 1409216020
Edition reviewed 1st
Hardback/softback Softback
List price £19.51
Cover size(cm)
(height x width)
27.9 x 21.2
Number of pages 72
Number of pages with Coloured photos Black & white photos Line drawings
  25 None 33
Synopsis For anyone interested, you can download a free copy of the book here, but you'll note that the title on the cover reads 'Golf - The Secret' which provides a clue as to the questionable professionalism and integrity promulgated by this author. Although I'm adding details of this self-published book to my site for the sake of completeness, I will definitely not be purchasing a hard copy for my library for the reasons that follow.

The author contends that the sportsperson who is aware of the significance of the Coriolis Effect* upon a moving object, be it a ball, an athlete or even a huge yacht, will improve his or her performance by several percent and achieve championship levels. I don't profess to understand the physics of the Coriolis Effect, but even if there's some substance to his argument, misleading and dubious claims surrounding his publication lead me to question his motivation for writing it. For example:

  • Only seven pages of the book are devoted to bowls. About six other sports are covered and at least two of them, golf and swimming, are the subject of separate books. Incredibly, Lawn Bowls - The Secret also appears as a separate hardback title for £18.26 and a downloadable version for £3.82. With identical page numbers and, with the exception of the title, identical front covers, there would seem to be a high probability that the contents of all these books are also identical.
  • The assumption from the book's title is that the author includes references within his text to bowls champions - yet not one bowler is named.
  • The author writes of himself: 'One of the most famous and controversial man (sic) in history; the most royal man alive, he can be found on the Internet "Brian Leonard Golightly Marshall". 1,470 occasions and 140 videos on Youtube. As of June 24th 2008. Scientist, Astronomer, Astrologer of ancient prophecies, the foremost Hebrew and Greek expert, Mathematician, Physician, Physicist. A man of controversy, who has solved the mystery of the Milky Way Galaxy, the Mayan Calendar, Nostrodamus, the Bible, the Great Pyramid ...' Enough said!
  • The book is padded out with numerous illustrations and overlarge type.
  • In addition to the books described above, the author has also written at least ten esoteric books around the subjects listed above. Guess what: with the exception of the titles all the covers are the same!
  • The price quoted by the publisher of this book is £19.51, and although Amazon's price is about £3.00 cheaper, both levels are exorbitant for a book that is deceptive in its title and content, of questionable validity and poorly structured and edited.
In conclusion: Caveat emptor!
*The Coriolis Effect: the apparent acceleration of a moving body on or near the Earth as a result of the Earth's rotation