Michael Jordan: The Life

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Forged successful teams out of players of varying abilities by getting them to trust one another and perform in sync. Michael Jordan’s book, Driven from Within, is an inspirational look into the personal life of the legendary basketball star. He shares his passion for the game, his drive to be the best and his own personal struggles. He encourages readers to take risks and to never stop believing in their own dreams. He also reveals his secrets to success, such as his commitment to hard work and dedication. Jordan’s book is a great source of motivation and a must-read for any aspiring athlete or entrepreneur. His words are sure to inspire and motivate readers to strive for greatness.

One of the few books Michael Jordan has ever written an editorial review for, Jordan tells readers, “I consider Tim Grover to be second to none in his knowledge of sports training, and he was an invaluable part of my training program. He is a take-charge person, with a deliberate but energetic and enthusiastic technique.” I was amazed by Jordan’s relentlessness as a competitor. He was truly an assassin on the basketball court. If there was any small chance....000001% chance that you would challenge Jordan’s ability to win or his status as the best, you would be sought out, humiliated, defeated and your reputation stomped on. Michael would then give a great press conference interview after the game to make you look like his inferior in every way. Teammates experienced a mix of awe and fear as he demanded absolute perfection, even in the most mundane practice situations. MJ was the perfect mix of other-worldly athleticism, iron-hard competitiveness, and savvy charisma. Jordan didn't really have another coach/person motivate him by intentional wounding until Bobby Knight did it on the '84 US Olympic team. (Knight comes across as a real douche in the book as well.) His time at UNC served him well, and Dean Smith comes across as an honest person who cares about his players but has the same ego and competitive drive as any major college coach. Jordan resented the Carolina Way, how fast break dunks that showed up the other team were punished and seniors were given the limelight. "The System" limited his individual ability, but helped him play in Tex Winter's triangle offense and be somewhat of a teammate. In Michael Jordan: The Life, Lazenby draws on his personal relationships with Jordan’s coaches; countless interviews with Jordan’s friends, teammates, and family members; and interviews with Jordan himself to provide the first truly definitive study of Michael Jordan: the player, the icon, and the man. Playing for Keeps by David Halberstamthe most important thing i liked about this book was that it helped me understand that even when you fail at something you keep trying until you succeed at it but while you fail you should always love the game for what it is not for what you want it to be. another thing i liked about this booked was that Michael Jordan became more of an inspiration to me because he wrote about all his experiences in detail and that helped me learn from things that i may come up against and will help me alot in the future for my own sporting career.

This should be riveting material, but by and large it just plays as dull. Sports lovers and idolatrous fans alike will be disappointed to find insufficient play by play or suspense-building here to bring Jordan's many transcendent moments to life. There's little drama, certainly no intentional humor. Nor is there substantive psychological study and insight. It's just a slog. While Lazenby ventures the occasional opinion -- mostly to propose MJ's sabbatical from basketball as a compensatory response to his father's death -- the closest he comes to putting the reader alongside the man occurs shortly thereafter, although even this portraiture becomes blurred by being unfocused in time: it's never clear whether the author is attempting to define Jordan as a competitor or personality generally, within his present context, or something else entirely. I liked this book because I really like Michael Jordan and basketball. I got this book so I could learn more about Michael in his younger life going into his adult life. Yeah, I would recommend this book. I would recommend it because it covered all of MJ’s life and it inspires you to be a better basketball player. If you are a basketball fan, especially one that grew up following the eclipse of Jordan's reign, I highly recommend reading this book. Off the court, Jordan's ability to alter markets and drive the business of his marketing partners is unprecedented. The Shrug. The Shot. The Flu Game. Michael Jordan is responsible for sublime moments so ingrained in sports history that they have their own names. When most people think of him, they think of his beautiful shots with the game on the line, his body totally in sync with the ball – hitting nothing but net.Through it all, Jordan showed the world that greatness, true greatness, comes from the inside out. He remains perhaps the greatest practice player in the history of sports, his desire to improve upon his own example legendary. When critics questioned his all-around ability, he became the game's most dominant defensive player at his position. When teams decided to close down the lane and eliminate drives to the basket, he became a deadly jump shooter. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson had the most successfully teams of the 1980s but never won more than two consecutive championships. The Bulls won three straight--twice.