An affecting memoir that speaks to resolve and courage in the face of fear.
The noted climber and photographer writes about mountains and images—but more, about the mental illness that has dogged his every journey.
“For those of you who are here for adventure and climbing and pictures, that’s all in here, but this is not a book about that,” writes Richards. Every major mountain figures in these pages, but each is colored by the author’s bipolar disorder—if that’s the correct term; as he has learned, numerous issues could be at play, including possible PTSD. As the author recounts, there are plenty of reasons for PTSD: his parents’ divorce, drug abuse for self-medication, a constantly busy mind constrained by terror atop the usual adolescent uncertainties. “Nature is the only reprieve I get from my hyperactive brain,” writes Richards, and so he has found solace in ever greater outdoor challenges, coupled with a love of literature and an irreverent approach to it (“In the Bible, everyone comes from a fucked-up family”). Love, work, health care: All mingle in this memoir, a highlight of which is the author’s photographic work on Everest that landed him a gig at National Geographic. A low point was being accused of inappropriate behavior, which caused him to lose that connection, “a massive piece of my identity and life.” The author’s handling of that situation is refreshingly self-aware and non-evasive, and although the magazine retracted its findings, Richards sensibly chose to move on, reflecting what seems a healthy response to stress. For all the introspection, there’s also plenty of mountain adventure—to often gruesome effect, as he recounts one climber’s body after another strewn across the terrain: “I think of all the friends and people I’ve known who are no longer and lose count because my brain is too slow.”
An affecting memoir that speaks to resolve and courage in the face of fear.Pub Date: July 9, 2024
ISBN: 9780593596791
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
“Protect your passion,” writes an NBA star in this winning exploration of how we can succeed in life.
A future basketball Hall of Famer’s rosy outlook.
Curry is that rare athlete who looks like he gets joy from what he does. There’s no doubt that the Golden State Warriors point guard is a competitor—he’s led his team to four championships—but he plays the game with nonchalance and exuberance. That ease, he says, “only comes from discipline.” He practices hard enough—he’s altered the sport by mastering the three-point shot—so that he achieves a “kind of freedom.” In that “flow state,” he says, “I can let joy and creativity take over. I block out all distractions, even the person guarding me. He can wave his arms and call me every name in the book, but I just smile and wait as the solution to the problem—how to get the ball into the basket—presents itself.” Curry shares this approach to his craft in a stylish collection that mixes life lessons with sharp photographs and archival images. His dad, Dell, played in the NBA for 16 years, and Curry learned much from his father and mother: “My parents were extremely strict about me and my little brother Seth not going to my pops’s games on school nights.” Curry’s mother, Sonya, who founded the Montessori elementary school that Curry attended in North Carolina, emphasized the importance not just of learning but of playing. Her influence helped Curry and his wife, Ayesha, create a nonprofit foundation: Eat. Learn. Play. He writes that “making reading fun is the key to unlocking a kid’s ability to be successful in their academic journeys.” The book also has valuable pointers for ballers—and those hoping to hit the court. “Plant those arches—knees bent behind those 10 toes pointing at the hoop, hips squared with your shoulders—and draw your power up so you explode off the ground and rise into your shot.” Sounds easy, right?
“Protect your passion,” writes an NBA star in this winning exploration of how we can succeed in life.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780593597293
Page Count: 432
Publisher: One World/Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Basketball fans will enjoy Pippen’s bird’s-eye view of some of the sport’s greatest contests.
The Chicago Bulls stalwart tells all—and then some.
Hall of Famer Pippen opens with a long complaint: Yes, he’s a legend, but he got short shrift in the ESPN documentary about Michael Jordan and the Bulls, The Last Dance. Given that Jordan emerges as someone not quite friend enough to qualify as a frenemy, even though teammates for many years, the maltreatment is understandable. This book, Pippen allows, is his retort to a man who “was determined to prove to the current generation of fans that he was larger-than-life during his day—and still larger than LeBron James, the player many consider his equal, if not superior.” Coming from a hardscrabble little town in Arkansas and playing for a small college, Pippen enjoyed an unlikely rise to NBA stardom. He played alongside and against some of the greats, of whom he writes appreciatively (even Jordan). Readers will gain insight into the lives of characters such as Dennis Rodman, who “possessed an unbelievable basketball IQ,” and into the behind-the-scenes work that led to the Bulls dynasty, which ended only because, Pippen charges, the team’s management was so inept. Looking back on his early years, Pippen advocates paying college athletes. “Don’t give me any of that holier-than-thou student-athlete nonsense,” he writes. “These young men—and women—are athletes first, not students, and make up the labor that generates fortunes for their schools. They are, for lack of a better term, slaves.” The author also writes evenhandedly of the world outside basketball: “No matter how many championships I have won, and millions I have earned, I never forget the color of my skin and that some people in this world hate me just because of that.” Overall, the memoir is closely observed and uncommonly modest, given Pippen’s many successes, and it moves as swiftly as a playoff game.
Basketball fans will enjoy Pippen’s bird’s-eye view of some of the sport’s greatest contests.Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-982165-19-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
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