The Book Of Basketball: The NBA According To The Sports Guy (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
First of all I would like to start off by saying that this a very large book that contains pages full of stats, facts, stories, and game reviews.Also The Book Of Basketball I've honestly have never read a book that is goes so in depth into one topic, in this case that one topic would be the game of basketball. Bill Simmons really knows the game of basketball and the things he writes about things such as the dynasty of Chicago Bulls when they absolutely dominated the league, which actually lived though. He has firsthand experience. He has no bias, for the most part everything he says is based of of pure facts, he addresses opinions and really digs deep to come to a conclusion. Simmons, it seems, had regularly ripped on Thomas in his column, on that the former Detroit Pistons star pretty much sucks worse at being a human being than he does at being a GM. As you can tell this book is not all serious it has comedic value too! Collins really made this an enjoyable book to read, although there is over 700 pages. When I last lived in Canada I was an avid follower of all the major sports. But 15 years on, with my priorities changed I began to realize the pointlessness of endless regular seasons. The one sport that really captured my attention upon my return though was basketball, and in particular the near perfection of the San Antonio Spurs during their most recent title run. My interest piqued, I stumbled on to Simmons' Book of Basketball, which in many ways was the perfect re-entry into the game. I grew up admiring the Celtics and Bulls, whose dominance is well documented here, but before 1980 and after 2000 my knowledge was pretty spotty, so I was grateful for such a comprehensive review of the history of the game. I have to admit when I first picked it up in the bookstore I was wary when I saw the lengthy and potential tedious list of player biographies - 96 in all - but Simmons deserves bucketfuls of credit for his engaging writing style, riffing with authority on basketball's pantheon of greats, interspersing personal anecdotes with random digressions and pub-style lists and arguments (although he's not half as funny as he thinks he is). The book falls down at the end, as many fellow reviewers have stated, due to it's lack of editing. Do we really need to discuss at length Russell vs Chamberlain, then review the top 96 players of all time, then discuss the great teams of all time, then list who would make the greatest team of all time. He may write with great verve and originality, but there are only so many ways one can discuss the success of the Boston Celtics before it starts to become a bit repetitive. If he was able to cut out about half his footnotes and condense it to 500 pages, he would have the perfect basketball book.
What do You think about The Book Of Basketball: The NBA According To The Sports Guy (2009)?
I'm loving this book so far. It really helps my basketball arguments now
—Penny
May very well be the best book I have ever read.
—blindspawn
