LeBron

Product Information

LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger’s “ Shooting Stars” is not just another athlete memoir. James, who appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated when he was just seventeen (tagline: “The Chosen One”), had his high-school games nationally televised on ESPN, and was drafted number one out of high school in 2003 by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Bissinger is a Pulitzer Prize winner whose book “Friday Night Lights” has sold almost two million copies, and has since been made into a film and a TV series. There are some ironic limitations in the format of the book centered on how to look at such a storied and lengthy career that isn't even finished. There is a missing element of hindsight due to the fact that we don't even know how his professional career will end and what other great things he will accomplish. This feels like a half biography at this point - extremely impressive especially with all he has already done - but it doesn't do his story justice as readers get cut off at his current age of 38 (unavoidable since they wanted to publish now but leaves a feeling that this will need to be updated if it ever wants to be considered a "complete" story of LeBron later on). Reporter: LeBron, what would you say are the three words you'd use to describe yourself and why those three words?

Reporter: Would you tell me one thing about yourself that most people don't know and why don't they know it? LeBron James: We all have our strengths and weaknesses Kyle and I am sure you have some as well, but I would consider myself to be good at basketball, cooking, and being a parent to my children. With hard work and dedication I have managed to jursically develop in these categories, obviously, it did not just happen overnight. I would not say I am bad at anything rather I am subpar at some things including free throws, three point shooting, and golf. Even though they are my weaknesses right now with loads of practice and work eventually they could turn into my strengths. LeBron James: If I were in desperate need of help I would turn to my wonderful wife who is constantly supportive and talks me through my problems. She has always been there for me since day one standing beside me when I am at my highs and lows. Savannah plays a massive role in my life and is all I could ask for in a wife. I did not particularly enjoy the Libro.fm narrator, Gloria James. I am not familiar with this individual, but the last name leads me to believe she may be a family member who wanted to be part of this project. It is important for diction, articulation, and elocution to be accurate when presenting oral reading to young readers. What they hear is what they will one day mimic as readers. This narrator drops consonants such as /s/ in “ask” and pronounced it as “ax.” That is unacceptable when modeling good oral reading for children. As a Ohio kid this was a fun read getting to reminisce on some of his best moments in Cleveland while also humanizing some of his missteps that temporarily turned him into the biggest villain of the sports world. Equally fascinating and enjoyable was the breakdown of his savvy business decisions that have made him a billion dollar man. LeBron really does not get enough credit for building a legitimate business empire and dodging nearly all the pitfalls of fame and wealth - you never find him on the scandal filled headlines unlike so many others in his echelon. Plus he’s been playing at a high level year in and year out in the NBA for 20 years now. That’s a superhuman feat.Race and class are very present in the book. Many superstars try to stay out of those discussions. How important was working through these issues for James? Rating this a 2/5, or 40%, because that's the same rate of success as LeBron James in the NBA Finals. Just like LeBron's promise to bring "Not one, not two...not seven" championships to Miami, this self-proclaimed King once again fails to deliver in the clutch. Unable to accomplish anything meaningful without joining a superteam, LeBron relies on perennial All-Star illustrator Nina Mata and his own mother Gloria James to voice the audiobook. Finally, by depicting such a racially diverse cast of characters and promoting the message that anybody can accomplish anything no matter where they start, LeBron fails to capitalize on a simple but critical fact that the GOAT Michael Jordan would never overlook- Republicans buy books too. However, this is no clip job. Benedict writes scenes that make clear the extent of his primary reporting, putting the reader, to paraphrase a popular Broadway musical, in the room where it happens. You can practically see the goop in Miami Heat president Pat Riley’s hair as he seethes in resentment when James announces his departure from South Beach to return to Cleveland. “LeBron” isn’t just great sportswriting, it’s also vivid narrative journalism. In short, there’s no shortage of material for a biographer to chronicle the current Los Angeles Laker, and Jeff Benedict’s comprehensive new “LeBron” does a masterful job of shaping that material into a cohesive and propulsive whole. This is a fast break of a book, slicing into the many mini-narratives that James has lived and artfully tying them together to create a portrait of a man who has, by his own design, remained an enigma except to those he decides to trust. Benedict has constructed a sort of sports opera fueled by the drama and emotion surrounding his subject, but never sensationalistic or unfair. Benedict clearly likes James, but he’s been around long enough — among the subjects of his 17 books are Tiger Woods and the New England Patriots — to steer far clear of hagiography. A book I have below average feelings for and it would not come with a recommendation from me but I would mention it in conversation if related to the book topic at issue.

This book is a good example of a multicultural and multiracial classroom/friend group representation that works without trying too hard. The students in this book are all different but they are all friends and working together to build a community. I would use this book to ask students to make these promises, but also to perhaps discuss what promises like this could mean for them and their peers. This was a well-written, easy-to-read biography about LeBron James. I enjoyed revisiting some of my childhood memories and learning more about parts of his career I didn’t know. In the biography of many trivia them for the use of the network. The author has been observing a lot of relevant and unusual information about his possible investments and actions for about 20 years in close cooperation with LeBron, which is applied to who off the pitch the titular James has become. The book contains that there are no perfect people and even the greatest athletes in the world also make mistakes, whether investment or strictly PR. It was no different in this case either. Lakers’ LeBron James became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, tallying 38 points to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s mark in a 133-130 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.Plus, as an NBA fan and someone who loves learning basketball history, I enjoyed reading about his career. It was great reliving the various playoff series and Benedict does a nice job in describing aspects of the games in vivid detail. Benedict also gives great information about the context behind "The Decision", James' return to Cleveland, and his experiences on the Cavs, Heat, and Lakers.

So who is this book for? I admit that my surprise was the fact that this position, contrary to the assessment, is not about basketball. Confirmation of this is the fact that the part describing the struggles of LeBron James' favorite in the world of basketball is maybe 10-15% of the whole book. Everything else concerns the "off-field" actions of the famous basketball player. By no means was I a LeBron fan. I thought he was a turd after The Decision and based a lot of my opinion on Scott Raab's brilliant book "The Whore of Akron." This is one of those great meaningful picture story books that you hope your children will take to heart and internalize its teachings. They were excited. Of course, they’d been written about before, but everything had been LeBron-centric. Part of the reason he wanted to do this book was to pay homage to the people who made him who he was, and these kids were an integral part of it. So they were excited to get their due. They weren’t braggarts—there was a humility to them—but they also wanted to say, “hey, we were pretty good ourselves.”The book focuses on James' career, but it provides more depth into the business side of his life. Sure, he plays basketball well, but he is also very savvy on selling his image. I thought Benedict did an excellent job in showing how James grew in that realm. An ambitious 360-degree portrait of golf’s most scrutinized figure . . . The book features fresh reporting on almost every significant element of Woods’ story. . . . It is a book brimming with revealing details.” This is an extraordinary book. The narrative is comprehensive, intimate, and original. I’ve watched and written about the entire Patriots dynasty, and yet this epic story provides new insights and startling details that I didn’t know. I can assure you that there’s not another Patriots book like it.” It was he and his mom throughout out his childhood trying to survive. When he started playing high school basketball, he was fortunate enough to play with some of his closest friends and had wonderful coaches helping him succeed. LeBron James: I feel as though I am continuously surrounded with people that are loving, caring, trustworthy, and hard working. These people are my family, teammates, coaches, staff, and friends. They are the ones that make my life better than it already is by just being who they are. I am only around positivity which is always a warm feeling to have and one that I love.

The book in general has a very informal tone; it gave me, the reader, alot of inspiring information of my role model, Lebron James. This book made me very motivated into making my game better, and to follow in Lebrons footsteps. Lebron said, “Look, I don’t want this to be about my acrobatics or my incredible dunks. The whole point of this book is that I had this supporting cast that only had an impact on the basketball court but on my life.” I’ll preface this by saying this is completely my opinion. I’ve asked him what he’s going to do, and he smiles at me and tells me to go screw myself in a very kind way, because I don’t think he knows. I Promise is a book about the promises that children should make to themselves to make sure they’re getting the most out of their childhood, their schooling, and the world around them. For example, this book has children promising to ask for help when they need it, promising to read as much as they can, promising to be team players, etc. In creating this community and striving to achieve these goals, it is the hope of the author that these children will go far in the world. Additionally, children are promising to always be themselves. Once LeBron retires the empire he has built off the court will take more of a spotlight. He’s at the front of the line to own the NBA expansion team in Las Vegas. Twenty years from now I expect him to own multiple pro franchises and be one of the most powerful moguls in Hollywood.

Where the book fell short for me was when I expected Windhorst to shed even more specifics that may have shed a negative light on James. It felt almost like the info was "approved" by James and company, not the whole truth in these dealings. I guess I hoped for something more honest with even more details. I could be wrong, but it just feels that way.