Tüm zamanların en iyi basketbolcusu: Michael Jordan.
Hayatta, özellikle de spor alanındaki en büyük isimlerin kimler olduğu sorusunu sorup, bu isimleri birbirleriyle karşılaştırmayı çok seviyoruz. Bilhassa basketbolda, sürekli böyle bir tartışmanın peşinden koşuyoruz. En son tartışma LeBron James’in yeni Jordan olup olmadığı hakkında... Daha önce Kobe Bryant, ondan önce de Grant Hill için bunları konuşmuştuk. Jordan yeni Julius Erving, Shaq yeni Wilt’di. Bu, karşılaştırma yapmanın ve konu yaratmanın kolay yolu. Ancak Jordan’da farklı olan şu: yeni bir Jordan olamaz çünkü Jordan basketboldan çok daha fazlasıdır.
Michael Jordan’ın efsane kariyeri onun ilk NBA oyunundan otuz beş yıl sonra onunla birlikte oynamış, ona karşı mücadele etmiş oyuncular ve ona koçluk yapmış isimler tarafından anlatılıyor. Kitabı okurken Jordan’ın kimsede olmayan büyüleyici oyun tarzını, kendini basketbola adayışını, cesaretini, yorulmak bilmez, pes etmeyen kişiliğini ve onun neden tüm zamanların en iyi basketbolcusu olduğunu anlayacaksınız.
“Başarısızlığı kabul edebilirim; denememiş olmayı kabul edemem.
Sam^^Smith is an NBA writer for the Chicago Bulls website bulls.com. He is the author of multiple articles and books, including The New York Times bestseller, The Jordan Rules.
I came across this book at the library; having read Sam Smith's previous Jordan books, The Jordan Rules and Second Coming, I looked forward to reading this one.
Verdict: if you're a fan of Michael Jordan and the Bulls for 30+ years, as I am, there's a lot to like here, and it's a quick read, despite some problems I had with the writing.
This book has a real "self-published" feel to it (even if it's not) that I found disappointing from a professional writer like Smith. Not that the writing is terrible -- it's functional, and doesn't aspire to be poetic. However, at various points throughout the book I found myself having to re-read a sentence (multiple times, in some cases) to decode and comprehend whatever it was Smith was trying to say; Smith could have used an editor who could have pointed out the multiple places where he could have been more clear or graceful in his sentence construction.
Furthermore, interspersed among his reporting/storytelling throughout the book are excerpts from interviews Smith conducted with various athletes, executives, etc. -- even President Obama chimes in. The interviews are reported verbatim, apparently unedited, which does a disservice to some of the people featured in the book who aren't the most eloquent, polished speakers. I think Smith could have refined the presentation of what they said -- as reporters did for Jordan throughout his career, which had a positive effect on the public's perception of Jordan as a public speaker, though he's definitely above-average without such "protection" from Chicago's provincial reporters -- without compromising his journalistic integrity. It would have made for a better reading experience.
For these reasons, I was convinced that Smith didn't work with an editor on this book, as I didn't recall having the same reaction to The Jordan Rules and Second Coming when I read them years ago. In the "Author's Notes" chapter that ends the book, Smith states that he considers himself a "journalist" more so than a "writer" -- compared to, say, David Halberstram, whom Smith praises within these pages as a personal hero (rightfully so) -- which I'd say is a fair assessment, given his writing in this book.
Then -- in the last paragraph of the book -- Smith reveals that his son edited the book. So he had an editor after all; however, I'd say he was better served by the editor(s) who worked on The Jordan Rules and Second Coming.
Anyway, I don't think the book's flaws are crippling, and Jordan fans will probably gladly suffer them while taking this trip down memory lane with Sam Smith. The book is a quick read and enjoyable, the aforementioned problems I had with it notwithstanding.
I really enjoyed a lot of the stories here. The most effective part of the book by far were the direct quotes from former players and other notable people like President Obama. I've never read anything by Sam Smith before, but what stopped this from being a 4 or 5 star book was that the writing itself was shockingly bad. I'm not sure if Smith was purposely going for some sort of casual approach, but it felt like talking to a fan at the bar about his sports memories after he's had too many drinks.
şahsen, michael jordan'ı anlatan ilk türkçe kitabı yayımladığı için martı yayınları'na teşekkür ediyorum. kitap, klasik bir biyografi olmasa da, büyük bir boşluğu dolduracağı için, ilk planda bu pek önemli değil. klasik bir biyografi değil, yazar tarafından üçlü bir yapı kurulmuş çünkü: bir yandan jordan'ın hayatı anlatılıyor; bir yandan jordan'ın tüm kariyerine şahitlik etmiş olan yazarımız, onun hakkında analiz ve yorumlarda bulunuyor; bir yandan da onunla oynamış, ona karşı oynamış, onu izleme şansına erişmiş ve onu tanıyan, neredeyse tüm büyük isimler, onu anlatıyor. bu üçlü yapının, klasik biyografi gidişatı yerine daha keyifli bir rota sunduğunu söylemek mümkün. lazenby ya da halberstam'in biyografilerinden birini çevirecek bir babayiğit de çıkar diye umuyoruz, yakın zamanda. tamam, yayın dünyamızda çok eksik var ama, jordan'la alakalı ilk kitap da, adam basketbolu bıraktıktan neredeyse 20 yıl sonra da çıkmasın yani.
Realistically this is say 4.25 stars. Given that it was a read along for Last Dance I’ll give it a bump. The interviews and comments from former players is the real benefit to the book. The rest of MJs story is pretty well covered elsewhere so if Sam Smith glossed over some details it was no biggy in my mind.