How to Watch Basketball Like a Genius
What Game Designers, Economists, Ballet Choreographers, and Theoretical Astrophysicists Reveal About the Greatest Game on Earth
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Narrated by:
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Michael Butler Murray
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By:
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Nick Greene
About this listen
A brilliant, entertaining deconstruction of basketball, drawing on the expertise of board-game creators, magicians, therapists, and more.
Basketball is the second-most popular sport in the world - an insanely complicated game built on a combination of athleticism, craftiness, rules, intangibles, and superstardom. However, while it's enjoyable to watch, the real reason it works is because it's a game of culture, art, and all the things that make us human. How to Watch Basketball Like a Genius deconstructs the sport from top to bottom and then puts it back together again, detailing its intricacies through reporting and dozens of interviews with experts. These experts, however, are a diverse group: wine critics weighing in on LeBron's ability to delegate on the fly, magicians analyzing Chris Paul's mystifying dribbling techniques, cartographers breaking down Steph Curry's deadeye three-point shooting. Every chapter treats basketball to a multi-disciplined study that adventures far beyond the lines of the court, examining key elements of the sport from some surprising and revealing angles. There's a reason it has conquered the world, and every game is a chance to learn about pop culture, fashion, history, science, art, and anything else that bounces our way.
©2021 Nick Greene (P)2021 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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doesn't translate great to audiobook
- By Mbriggs on 02-18-15
By: Tim Layden
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You Herd Me!
- I'll Say It If Nobody Else Will
- By: Colin Cowherd
- Narrated by: Colin Cowherd
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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In this age of billion dollar athletic marketing campaigns, “feel good” philosophy with no connection to reality, and a Sports Media echo chamber that’s all too eager swallow whatever idiotic notion happens to be in vogue at the moment, it’s tough to find people who aren’t afraid to say what they’re really thinking.
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Great book, Repeats majority of themes from radio
- By Troy on 01-20-14
By: Colin Cowherd
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Tall Men, Short Shorts
- The 1969 NBA Finals: Wilt, Russ, Lakers, Celtics, and a Very Young Sports Reporter
- By: Leigh Montville
- Narrated by: Leigh Montville
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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They don’t set up any better than this. The greatest basketball player of all time–Bill Russell–and his juggernaut Boston Celtics, winners of ten (ten!) of the previous twelve NBA championships, squeak through one more playoff run and land in the Finals again. Russell’s opponent? The fearsome 7’1” next-generation superstar, Wilt Chamberlain, recently traded to the LA Lakers to form the league’s first dream team. Bill Russell and John Havlicek versus Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.
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Very good book with a caveat
- By Hebern on 12-06-21
By: Leigh Montville
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Tanking to the Top
- The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports
- By: Yaron Weitzman
- Narrated by: Yaron Weitzman
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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When a group of private equity bigwigs purchased the Philadelphia 76ers in 2011, the team was both bad and boring. Attendance was down. So were ratings. The Sixers had an aging coach, an antiquated front office, and a group of players that could best be described as mediocre. Enter Sam Hinkie - a man with a plan straight out of the PE playbook, one that violated professional sports' Golden Rule: You play to win the game.
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Great history of tanking by Sixers
- By Alan Bernstein on 03-11-23
By: Yaron Weitzman
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Dream Team
- How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Changed the Game of Basketball Forever
- By: Jack McCallum
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In Dream Team, acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum delivers the untold story of the greatest team ever assembled: the 1992 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team that captivated the world, kindled the hoop dreams of countless children around the planet, and remade the NBA into a global sensation. As a senior staff writer for Sports Illustrated, McCallum enjoyed a courtside seat for the most exciting basketball spectacle on earth, covering the Dream Team from its inception to the gold medal ceremony in Barcelona.
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Great insight into the great basketball team ever.
- By James O'Brien on 09-04-12
By: Jack McCallum
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Furious George
- My Forty Years Surviving NBA Divas, Clueless GMs, and Poor Shot Selection
- By: George Karl, Curt Sampson
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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A man of deep passion and intensity, George Karl earned his bad boy reputation while playing at the University of North Carolina, a rap that continued through the five years he spent with the San Antonio Spurs - and long after he stopped playing. Karl's beery nights, fistfights, and barking followed him into a 35-year coaching career. In a game defined by big stakes and bigger egos, rabid fans and an unforgiving media, Karl was hired and fired a dozen times.
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Pathetic little black book.
- By Brad Howard on 04-20-20
By: George Karl, and others
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A Giant Win
- Inside the New York Giants' Historic Upset over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII
- By: Tom Coughlin, Greg Hanlon - contributor, Eli Manning - foreword
- Narrated by: Donald Corren, Tom Coughlin
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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In A Giant Win, Coach Tom Coughlin reveals the intricacies of football, sharing details only a coach would know. He also details relationships with some of the most iconic players from the Giants, including Eli Manning and Michael Strahan. A Giant Win provides a frame for Coach Coughlin to discuss his life in football—including his years with the Giants as an assistant coach in the late 1980s and 1990, when he helped win a Super Bowl working under Hall of Fame Head Coach Bill Parcells and alongside the coach he’d oppose in Super Bowl XLII: Bill Belichick.
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Love Coach Coughlin Story
- By Alison on 02-29-24
By: Tom Coughlin, and others
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Three Ring Circus
- Kobe, Shaq, Phil and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: Brian Hutchison
- Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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In the history of modern sport, there have never been two high-level teammates who loathed each other the way Shaquille O’Neal loathed Kobe Bryant and Kobe Bryant loathed Shaquille O’Neal. From public sniping and sparring, to physical altercations and the repeated threats of trade, it was warfare. And yet, despite eight years of infighting and hostility, by turns mediated and encouraged by coach Phil Jackson, the Shaq-Kobe duo resulted in one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history.
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Ok I've finished it and have more thoughts
- By Bobby S on 09-24-20
By: Jeff Pearlman
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Russell Rules
- 11 Lessons on Leadership from the 20th Century's Greatest Winner
- By: Bill Russell, David Falkner
- Narrated by: Rif Hutton
- Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
- Abridged
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Bill Russell has been hailed as the greatest team player of the 20th century. As a five-time NBA Most Valuable Player, he is one of the most important basketball players ever, and with 11 championships as player and coach of the Boston Celtics, he is one of basketball's greatest winners. Russell Rules offers inspiring lessons on commitment, personal integrity, team ego, and craftsmanship that are as relevant to the entrepreneur or parent as they are to the athlete.
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Clear & Concise but with Depth
- By Kenneth Downing on 12-18-23
By: Bill Russell, and others
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Basketball
- A Love Story
- By: Jackie MacMullan, Rafe Bartholomew, Dan Klores
- Narrated by: James Fouhey, Jim Frangione, Sullivan Jones, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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A sweeping and revelatory history of basketball, drawing upon hundreds of hours of interviews with the greatest players, coaches, executives, and journalists in the history of the game. In an effort to tell the complete story of basketball in all its fascinating dimensions, acclaimed authors Jackie MacMullan, Rafe Bartholomew, and Dan Klores have compiled nearly a thousand hours' worth of interviews with a staggering number of basketball greats. The audiobook that grew out of those interviews is an extraordinary project and quite possibly the most ambitious basketball work ever made.
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Underwhelming
- By Adam Kosberg on 12-02-18
By: Jackie MacMullan, and others
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Play by Play
- Calling the Wildest Games in Sports - From SEC Football to College Basketball, the Masters and More
- By: Verne Lundquist
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner, Verne Lundquist
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Verne Lundquist's remarkable broadcasting career has placed him at the center of major sporting events in America for more than 50 years, from Jack Nicklaus' final victory at the 1986 Masters to Tonya Harding's attack on Nancy Kerrigan at the 1994 Olympics to the Auburn-Alabama shocker of 2013. In his first memoir, he replays highlights from his career, taking sports fans behind the scenes of some of the most dramatic moments in modern sports history.
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Decent Sorry, Bit Boring
- By Allena on 08-20-24
By: Verne Lundquist
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The Master
- The Long Run and Beautiful Game of Roger Federer
- By: Christopher Clarey
- Narrated by: Kiff VandenHeuvel
- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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There have been other biographies of Roger Federer, but never one with this kind of access to the man himself, his support team, and the most prominent figures in the game, including such rivals as Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Roddick. In The Master, New York Times correspondent Christopher Clarey sits down with Federer and those closest to him to tell the story of the greatest player in men's tennis.
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Roger, voiced by Schwarzenegger
- By S. Armour on 08-27-21
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Funky
- My Defiant Path Through the Wild World of Combat Sports
- By: Ben Askren
- Narrated by: Ben Askren
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the most dominant college wrestlers in history, Ben Askren became a folk hero during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, before going on to become a multiple time MMA champion and one of the sport's biggest stars. Here, in Funky, this record-breaking wrestler and polarizing UFC fighter shares how he came to dominate opponents while blazing a trail through competitors in unprecedented ways. Not blessed with natural athleticism, he revolutionized folkstyle wrestling by innovating his own technique, which earned him the famous nickname, "Funky."
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Ben sounds sedated
- By Michael J on 12-16-22
By: Ben Askren
What listeners say about How to Watch Basketball Like a Genius
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Łukasz Golowanow
- 12-31-23
An amazing book for a casual fan
A wonderfully enjoyable mix of trivia with serious analysis. Fun, insightful, quirky, though at times perhaps too meandering for its own good. If you're a casual basketball fan like me, you're bound to love it.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-22-23
Insulting
This author insults religion and asserts his opinion on the COVID-19 pandemic. I never would’ve thought a basketball book would touch on these topics but it did. I wish I could get a refund after listening to a lot of this BS
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