Booklist called BEYOND THE HORSE RACE by John Zogby "A timely read for the politically inclined." To be honest, I was a bit turned off by the patronizing attitude in his Acknowledgments section which the author displayed towards his daughters-in-law who "made substantial contributions to the production of our babies." His text is designed to explore "How to Read Polls and Why We Should" but the graphs did not display properly in the preview copy I had. This made it difficult to fully appreciate his points. Zogby, a political consultant and the founder of the Zogby International Poll, does provide a short section at the end of each chapter which summarizes its "lessons" such as "don't be a victim of myopia and insularity." Another observation he offers: "Numbers produce stories. Imagination and hard work help us find the stories behind the numbers." There are many stories and tales here spanning decades which a specialized audience will likely enjoy if they can discount the author's tone. Slightly less than twenty percent of the text is devoted to notes, an extensive list of Works Cited, and an index.