Book Shelf: Mixed Reviews For Bill Simmons' "Book Of Basketball"

Simmons Receiving Mixed Reviews For New Book

SLATE's Josh Levin wrote "THE BOOK OF BASKETBALL" by ESPN's BILL SIMMONS "exacerbates the worst tendencies of a writer who's never mistaken brevity for wit." The 736-page book is "more a collection of extended blog posts than a work of literature, an anthology that's best read in short bursts," and the "result is a shaggy, R-rated extension of the Sports Guy's ESPN columns, a frustrating mix of spot-on insights and aggravating shtick." One of Simmons' "biggest flaws" in the book is that he "tries too hard to entertain: He'd be twice as funny -- and a lot less repetitive -- with half the jokes." But Levin wrote for "all of Simmons' flaws, this is the ultimate book for the connoisseur of sports minutiae." Also, the book's "ascent to No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list leaves no doubt that the bard of the beer-and-boobs crowd has also become America's favorite sportswriter" (SLATE.com, 11/11). In N.Y., Richard Sandomir wrote Simmons "crunches numbers ably, with smart, sometimes outrageous and often funny results." But he is "not wonky; he is informal, self-referential and full of wild leaps and provocations." What "should be remembered most about the book is not necessarily his skills at evaluating players but his excursions into race" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/9).

BREAKING THE MOLD: SI's Grant Wahl writes most coaches' autobiographies "try to teach us how to be successful in the business world." But Univ. of North Carolina men's basketball coach ROY WILLIAMS in his memoir, "HARD WORK: A LIFE ON AND OFF THE COURT," written with former SI writer TIM CROTHERS, "thankfully ... steers cleers of such nonsense." Williams' "life story is inspiring enough without any added self-help platitudes" (SI, 11/16 issue). USA TODAY's Reid Cherner noted Williams in the book "chose to go into the direction of an autobiography and didn't spare a lot of details." Included are details of his "being abandoned by his father" and his "coaching failures and successes." Williams: "I wasn't trying to cleanse my soul or anything. There was no analytical approach. It was just, if I was going to to tell my story, I'm going to tell my whole story and I'm going to tell the truth" (USA TODAY, 11/12).

PACKING A PUNCH: The AP's Henry Jackson wrote WIL HAYGOOD's biography of late boxer SUGAR RAY ROBINSON, "SWEET THUNDER," is "about as fine a book about a boxer as you will find." Haygood "takes us deftly from Robinson's childhoord in Detroit" to the "heights of Robinson's boxing career, his retirement work with children and ultimately his early death at age 67." Also, one of the "many services Haygood provides in 'Thunder' is putting a proper historical frame on Robinson" (AP, 11/9). In Pittsburgh, Gene Collier wrote "whether as the story of 20th-century racial convulsion running a parallel track to global conflict, or as wartime sentimentality back-dropping no-Jim Crow politics, 'Sweet Thunder' fully informs on a singular lifetime, that of WALKER SMITH JR., who became Ray Robinson through a last-minute registration switch at a tournament where Smith wasn't expected to fight" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 11/8).