Ayrton Senna: The Whole Story Paperback – January 1, 2004

Ever since watching "Senna" the documentary, I've been intrigued by the story of Ayrton Senna. The movie did a terrific job of introducing this wonderful person to me (as someone who was only vaguely aware of anything related to Formula 1) and made the topic fascinating. Since then I've spent hours watching youtube videos of different races, interviews with Prost and others involved in the story, and the book did a terrific job of presenting more wonderful stories about this interesting man. The writing is much like that of a columnist or profiler and it is abundantly clear that Hilton had gotten to know Senna a little bit and was a big fan of his. Despite that, there are certainly moments where you do get to see some of Senna's mistakes or failings but the overall tenor of the book is a very positive one.But I don't think Hilton ever makes any kind of case for his book being objective or comprehensive, just that he wanted to tell the story of Ayrton Senna as he knew it. And in this regard, he does a great job. Reading about how quickly Senna could learn to drive and understand other types of racing cars and the small personal habits he kept as he developed into a world champion was tremendous fun. I've just read the book for the second time and enjoyed it just as much as the first time.

Once again, I loved reading his story from Christopher Hilton. It gave a comprehensive story of the life a great racing driver. Wonderful book

A great read!

This book is about one of the greatest race car drivers that ever lived, but tragically died doing what he loved.

This was the second of the more focused books about Senna I have read so far, and it was very interesting. The author seemed a bit in awe of Senna's accomplishments, and was obviously a big fan. Though it elevated the point of view at many times to make Senna appear to be an absolutely awesome gifted driver, it couldn't help revealing that Senna was a very driven man. Pun intended. It created the portrait of someone almost in another world when it came to winning, to the point that it seemed as if he didn't even see his fellow drivers as people, but just as annoyances who were getting in the way of his being first to finish. It wasn't as if they were all in it together, competing, all pushing for the championship, and being gentlemen about it, but just that HE was, and get out of my way. It's very clear he was very skilled, and his accomplishments were impressive, but a good sportsman would be a hard title to bestow upon him. To him winning was everything, no matter what, and begs the question, is it?

Anything about Senna, whether a book or movie, can do no wrong. He was, is and ever shall be the greatest racing driver.

The man was amazing, and he deserved something better than this sloppy, badly written biography. There is no doubt but that the writer admired Senna, and clearly has a thorough knowledge of his career. However, he is not a skilled biographer in the professional sense of the word, and there are some truly awful passages that make one cringe. The editor was obviously asleep at the wheel on this one, which is a great pity.

Great book