Billie Jean King was one of my childhood heroes and role models, so I enjoyed this book alot. I remember watching the Battle of the Sexes on television as a 4th grader in the fall of 2003, and being so excited that she won! I liked learning more about the match in this book, as well as more women's tennis history mixed in with the advice King dispenses. ( )

An easy read, simplistic, but the advice is sound. And any glimpse into the mind of an icon is a privilege. An easy read, simplistic, but the advice is sound. And any glimpse into the mind of an icon is a privilege.

A lite and quick read. If you're looking for a tennis memoir, this is not exactly it, and if you're looking for a deep self-help book, this is not it either. BUT...in replaying the 1973 Battle of the Sexes with Bobby Riggs, this little gem of a book becomes a hybrid - of sorts - a self-help/quasi-memoir, with a little bit of business advice thrown in for good measure and some personal recollections and advice to sweeten the pot. This more of a motivational memoir with inspiration thrown in for good measure.

Kinda hard to place it in any particular category...but still a good read! ( )

In commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the Battle of the Sexes, this motivational book was published which is a collection of life lessons framed through the match. I especially enjoyed her descriptions of how she prepared for the match and what goes through her mind during play. Some of the stories of her family life were also touching.

Note: I received this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers. ( )

When I requested Pressure is a Privilege: Lessons I've Learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers offerings I expected, and was looking forward to reading, an autobiography by the remarkable Billie Jean King. I was not at all expecting a motivational self-help book, and would have avoided requesting this title if I had known its content.

I am old enough to remember the world before Title IX. When I arrived at college, my chosen school had just opened a new athletic facility, and I joined the women’s swim team. The men’s locker rooms were carpeted, and were equipped with saunas, steam baths, massage tables, and a weight room. Our locker room was a bare bones affair, with metal lockers, wooden benches, and bare concrete floors. They practiced during prime early evening hours; we had to practice at 6 am, with our eyes burning from the overnight burst of high-concentration chlorine. They had 20 scholarships; we held bake sales to pay for our swimsuits, goggles, and travel to away meets. Title IX didn’t improve our locker room, but it did pay for our equipment and travel, and provided a few scholarships so we could recruit some talented swimmers.

Billie Jean King would be a hero (or “shero” as she puts it) if she had done nothing more than fight for equality of access to sports in schools, but of course she is also a world champion tennis player, an advocate for equal pay for female professional athletes, a human rights activist, and a coach, mentor, and role model to a younger generation of professional tennis players. She has always been a class act, even as younger (and more conventionally pretty) players got more attention from the sporting press, and more prize money due to King’s efforts. Unfortunately this book provides only tiny glimpses into King’s life and career.

The so-called Battle of the Sexes was quite a spectacle, with a very satisfying outcome, but this book obsesses about it ad infinitum. I can’t disagree with any of the advice King offers, but I am just not a fan of motivational writing. The chapters are brief, averaging only 12 small pages including photo and title page, and I found the “instant replays” at the end of each chapter to be an unnecessary distraction. In spite of all my complaints, someone more open to motivational books might enjoy King’s direct and down-to-earth style. ( )