A personal story about an old glove, a Tuesday evening, and how one baseball history book gave a father and son a way to talk about the game again.
I read Joe Posnanski's The Baseball 100 one chapter a night from October through the next summer. Here is what a full season of reading it is actually like, who it is for, and where it falls short.
Two very different ways to own baseball history: Joe Posnanski's narrative love letter against the exhaustive reference every fact lives in. I own both. Here is the honest case for each.
You do not need to memorize a batting average to love the game. Here are ten honest reasons a great baseball history book belongs on every fan's shelf.
A personal story about an old glove, a Tuesday evening, and how one baseball history book gave a father and son a way to talk about the game again.
A plain guide to picking a baseball history book that reads like a story, not a spreadsheet, using Joe Posnanski's The Baseball 100 as the benchmark every choice is measured against.
Past the praise, here is a full, honest look at Joe Posnanski's The Baseball 100: what works, what drags, and exactly who should buy it.
Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit has sat on my shelf for six years, re-read and re-gifted. Here is what a history keeps earning after the first read is long over.
Two of the finest American sports histories, one about a racehorse, one about a rowing crew. Here is how they differ, and which one deserves your shelf first.
You do not need to know a furlong from a finish line to love a great horse racing history. Here is why the good ones win over readers who never followed the sport.
One rainy weekend, an uncle's old racetrack stories, and the book that turned a quiet evening into a family tradition.
A plain reader's guide to falling into sports history with no credentials, using Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit as the friendliest door in the whole genre.
Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit is one of the great American sports histories, and it deserves the praise. It also has stretches the praise conveniently skips. Here is the honest accounting.
Thomas Hauser spent years interviewing Ali and everyone around him, then built the definitive oral biography out of hundreds of voices. A lifelong reader's honest, long-term review.
Thomas Hauser's oral biography against Ali's own memoir, two very different windows on the same life, and which one belongs on your shelf first.
Ali, Liston, Frazier, Foreman. The names ring like old bells, but the stories behind them are what a great boxing history actually gives you. Here are ten reasons to read one.
A Christmas gift story about a retired machine-shop man who never discussed the past, and how Thomas Hauser's oral history of Muhammad Ali became the key that unlocked his memories.
A plain guide to reading boxing history for the narrative, with Thomas Hauser's Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times as the model of a book that reads like great literature.
Everyone calls Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times the definitive Ali biography. This review is the part they skip: what the book is built from, where its age shows, and exactly who should clear a month for it.
A longtime reader takes a close, honest look at the Bird and Magic memoir, the book that turned 1980s NBA basketball into a story told in their own voices.
The Bird-Magic memoir against Pearlman's Showtime. Two great accounts of 1980s basketball history, and how to choose which one to read first.
I had watched a hundred dunks before I understood one rivalry. Here is why a good NBA history book like the Bird and Magic memoir out-reads every highlight reel I have ever opened.
Three generations, one snowed-in afternoon, and the Bird and Magic memoir that turned a screen-free day into the best kind of argument.
You want to understand basketball's past but do not know which book to open first. Here is a plain reader's entry into NBA history, using the Bird-Magic memoir as the friendliest door in the whole shelf.
The Bird and Magic memoir is rightly loved. Here is the fuller, honest picture of what it does brilliantly and where its own-memory format quietly leaves gaps.
David Maraniss's definitive life of Vince Lombardi is the one biography of the Packers coach that matters. A long, honest look at why it still belongs on your shelf.
David Maraniss's biography of Lombardi against the big telephone-book encyclopedia that promises the whole league. Two very different ways to own football history, and which one actually rewards the reader.
Coaches, decisions, and whole eras that today's broadcasts never mention. Here are ten reasons a good football history book deepens the Sundays you already love.
A story about an old program, two brothers in their fifties, and how a David Maraniss biography finally opened a conversation our family had closed for thirty years.
A plain guide to reading football history for insight rather than trivia, with David Maraniss's When Pride Still Mattered as the model of a book that explains the modern game.
David Maraniss's biography of Vince Lombardi is the definitive football history book, and it deserves that title. Here is the honest look at what makes it great and the one thing nobody warns you about before you open it.
I read Joe Posnanski's The Baseball 100 one chapter a night from October through the next summer. Here is what a full season of reading it is actually like, who it is for, and where it falls short.
Past the praise, here is a full, honest look at Joe Posnanski's The Baseball 100: what works, what drags, and exactly who should buy it.
Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit has sat on my shelf for six years, re-read and re-gifted. Here is what a history keeps earning after the first read is long over.
Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit is one of the great American sports histories, and it deserves the praise. It also has stretches the praise conveniently skips. Here is the honest accounting.
Thomas Hauser spent years interviewing Ali and everyone around him, then built the definitive oral biography out of hundreds of voices. A lifelong reader's honest, long-term review.
Everyone calls Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times the definitive Ali biography. This review is the part they skip: what the book is built from, where its age shows, and exactly who should clear a month for it.
A longtime reader takes a close, honest look at the Bird and Magic memoir, the book that turned 1980s NBA basketball into a story told in their own voices.
The Bird and Magic memoir is rightly loved. Here is the fuller, honest picture of what it does brilliantly and where its own-memory format quietly leaves gaps.
David Maraniss's definitive life of Vince Lombardi is the one biography of the Packers coach that matters. A long, honest look at why it still belongs on your shelf.
David Maraniss's biography of Vince Lombardi is the definitive football history book, and it deserves that title. Here is the honest look at what makes it great and the one thing nobody warns you about before you open it.
