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    Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back
    Unavailable
    Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back
    Unavailable
    Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back
    Audiobook7 hours

    Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back

    Written by Tim Keown and Josh Hamilton

    Narrated by Ethan Sawyer

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Josh Hamilton was the first player chosen in the first round of the 1999 baseball draft. He was destined to be one of those rare "high-character " superstars. But in 2001, working his way from the minors to the majors, all of the plans for Josh went off the rails in a moment of weakness. What followed was a 4-year nightmare of drugs and alcohol, estrangement from friends and family, and his eventual suspension from baseball.

    BEYOND BELIEF details the events that led up to the derailment. Josh explains how a young man destined for fame and wealth could allow his life to be taken over by drugs and alcohol. But it is also the memoir of a spiritual journey that breaks through pain and heartbreak and leads to the spectacular rebirth of his major-league career.

    Josh Hamilton makes no excuses and places no blame on anyone other than himself. He takes responsibility for his poor decisions and believes his story can help millions who battle the same demons. "I have been given a platform to tell my story" he says. "I pray every night I am a good messenger."
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateApr 3, 2012
    ISBN9781619692831
    Unavailable
    Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back
    Author

    Tim Keown

    New York Times bestselling author Tim Keown most recently cowrote Rick Harrison's License to Pawn, and was the cowriter of bestsellers Bad as I Wanna Be by Dennis Rodman and Beyond Belief by Josh Hamilton.

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    Reviews for Beyond Belief

    4/5

    47 ratings12 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This was an interesting and inspiring read. I was riveted to his story and inspired by his courage. I cried through the last quarter of it.

      READ THIS!!!!
    • 5/5
      Beyond Belief is a fantastic autobiography that I highly recommend. Josh Hamilton is currently a superstar in the world of baseball and many people and fans do not know how about his past life. A talented kid from North Carolina is the first overall pick coming out of high school, the first high schooler ever taken first overall, and has extreme expectations. He begins his career in the minors with great success, but he then starts drinking and using illicit drugs now and then. His moderate use turns into addiction and he begins to fail drug tests. His life is beginning to crumble. Once such a promising young, talented baseball player now he is falling off the radar. At one point, he admits to the reader that he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on alcohol and drugs a year. Through his grandmas encouragement and belief in God he is able to get sober.This thrilling, interesting story is a must read for everyone, even non-baseball lovers. Josh Hamilton's story is fascinating, riveting and mind-blowing. The reader is able to sympathize and empathize with Josh through his auspicious and depressing times in life. Although Josh isn't the greatest writer, he is able to communicate with the reader through pathos. His story is unbelievable and it's hard to believe where he is now, a great and inspiring baseball player.
    • 4/5
      As a huge baseball fan, I'd obviously heard of Josh Hamilton's story. I remember the 2008 Home Run Derby and the feel good story of Josh's amazing comeback. However, I had no idea just how far he had really come.This book is clearly written by Josh; the grammar and sentence structure aren't perfect, but I appreciated that. It made the story that much more authentic. You can feel all of his emotion in his words - joy, devastation, hopelessness, redemption. His is a truly unbelievable story that would have been a great plot for a movie, if only it weren't true.Baseball fan or not, if you enjoy a heartwarming, back from the bottom, feel good story that reinforces your faith in the human spirit, you have to read this book.
    • 5/5
      100% recommended for everyone. Josh Hamilton's story is one that will appeal to pretty much anyone. A man to be on top of the world, falling so far down and having the strength and tenacity to bring him back on the right path is something anyone can take to heart. This is a read simply for everyone. You will find something about his life story that you can apply to your own.
    • 4/5
      Beyond Belief is an inspiring story of Josh Hamilton's battle with depression and drug addiction. This story is one that tells the story of how he fought his way back from the depths of despair to become one of baseball's most feared sluggers. Josh Hamilton does not beat around the bush, he tells it just like it was. Josh gives a vivid description of what it is like to be shackled to addiction and not know how to get out of it. The best thing about this book is the honest account that Josh gives. He is one of the few baseball players who has told the TRUTH about drug use. He uses his life as an example of the forgiving power of God and uses his life is a testament to God's grace. This is a great book to inspire others with addictions of any kind. It is a great book to inspire those who are struggling in marriage. Josh's wife stood by his side through all of his struggles and have walked out together hand in hand. It is a beautiful story of courage, redemption, marriage, faith, and hope. I recommend it for fans and non-fans of baseball alike. Josh Hamilton's life is an encouragement to all.
    • 4/5
      Josh Hamilton is what used to be known in the computer world as a WYSIWYG. He is up front about who he is and what he has done. His is a familiar story, the highly successful young man who flounders as success piles on, who loses his way, but with the love of the right person and the Grace of God, is able to turn his life around, to redeem himself to the point that he succeeds beyond the original expectations.The young man in this book is not a deep thinker; this volume pales in comparison to Bob Welch's heart-wrenching, deeply personal "Five O'Clock Comes Early." Josh delves only so deep in dealing with his addictions, but he delves only so deep in life, so the story he shares is an honest one.It is a book about recovery through faith published by a Christian company which at first deterred me from reading it, thankfully Josh is low keyed about his faith and even addresses this issue. There were times when I wanted more, more insight, more questioning, more expounding, yet none of those would have been true to the man who lived this story. As simple and straightforward as he is, Josh Hamilton kept my interest alive through to the end.
    • 3/5
      A familiar story, guy has it, all throws it away on drugs, finds solace in the tatooo needle, gets hooked on drugs, finds God all is well. This book just skims the surface with little depth. Hamilton is afraid to look at what caused his downward spiral. I do not want to diminish his recovery yet his solution to, his starting drugs, the failure to really look at his issues with parents, baseball and fame really holds back the story. If you know someone that needs help overcomming addiction this book might help.
    • 5/5
      This is a touching story of a young man who was rose to the heights of the world as a baseball prospect, descended to the pits of drug addiction, and then rose again redeem his career, his relationship with his family, and his life in general. And yet he did not pull himself up by his bootstraps, he attributes his ability to shake off drugs to His relationship with Jesus Christ. A particular turning point during a low point in his life was when his Grandmother showed him love and hospitality when others would not, and when he stumbled upon a Bible verse which said "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:7)Josh is a unique person in many ways. To hear that a baseball player fell into a life of addiction would not turn many heads. But Josh was not your type baseball prospect. After having been drafted and playing within the Tampa Bay Devil Rays organization, his parents traveled and lived with him! He kissed his mom and grandmother before each game! Even in this book, he still calls his father daddy! Within that context, you can see how shocking it must have been for people who knew him as such a straight kid to hear that he was a major crack addict. Josh's story shows that no-one is above sinking into a destructive lifestyle, no matter how "good two shoes" and "innocent" they are.Josh's narrative of his redemption is very interesting and inspiring. He's a very interesting personality, and he really writes with a lot of depth and vigor. I think most everybody would enjoy this book. It's a good, inspiring read of a story of how there is no-one who has sunk so low that they have disqualified themselves for being redeemed.
    • 3/5
      Beyond Belief by Tim Keown is not a baseball book, but a inspiration book. I had some trouble buying into his reasons for what he did. In the end though, his life has been turned around, and hopefully he continues on his chosen path.
    • 4/5
      Do not expect Beyond Belief to be eloquent or a great literary masterpiece. It is what it is - a straightforward, simple, eyt heartfelt account of one athlete's fall from grace and subsequent redemption through religion. Drafted right out of high school and given a salary of 3.96 million, one can hardly anticipate fancy prose from Josh Hamilton. Instead, what lies in the 257 pages (with help from ESPN senior writer Tim Keown) is a humble account of his life as an athlete, drug addict, and finally, a man of faith.
    • 5/5
      My husband, who by his own definition, is a non-reader, thought that this book was "great!" Addicted to sports, my husband grabbed this book when it came into our home. This is an easy read for any baseball addict, but is also a good read for a non-lover of the game. In this memoir, Josh is so talented a ball player that he receives $3.9 million bonus just for signing with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at age eighteen.Here is a man devoted to family and God, who comes close to throwing all away. My husband found himself getting angry as he read about the many bad choices Josh made for four long years! The promise of a Golden Life tarnishes because of drugs and alcohol.Family ties are strong, and one family member comes through to help him turn back, and advance all the way to the All-Star Home Run Derby in 2008. Pick up a copy.
    • 4/5
      I normally prefer to read biographies rather than autobiographies because I think they present a less biased account of the person’s life. However, a first person account can reveal intimate details that a biography can’t. In this book, Josh Hamilton doesn’t try to hide all the awful things that he did to himself and his family as his addiction controlled his life. He doesn’t blame anyone, but himself for his problems. It is amazing how someone who had never even gotten drunk before could so quickly destroy his life with drugs. It is equally amazing how he has managed to turn his life around again. This book is a quick easy read that gives good insight into addiction and what life is like for someone who has immense talent.