bookshelf

THE TAO OF MUHAMMAD ALI

Name: THE TAO OF MUHAMMAD ALI
Author: Davis Miller
ISBN: 0-466-51946-4

by Davis Miller ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 12, 1996

bookshelf

The author's understandable admiration for and fascination with former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali underlies a barely sustainable portrait of ``Ali as mystic . . . as a vessel into which enlightenment pours, and from which it flows.'' Still, this is an often profound, intimate visit with the charismatic Ali. Now a contributing editor at Sport magazine, Miller first met his childhood idol in 1975, when he pitted his martial arts skills against the champ's boxing prowess: Miller actually hit him several times, but a single Ali jab almost broke his neck, and the exhibition was quickly halted. Still a student, Miller sold the story of that bout to Sports Illustrated. Years later, having become friends with the retired Ali, Miller would turn other encounters with the now-stricken fighter into an acclaimed magazine piece, ``The Zen of Muhammad Ali,'' the basis of this book. The portrait he paints of Ali is a tender, enchanting one: Seemingly enfeebled by Parkinson's syndrome, Ali nevertheless takes 10-mile walks, playfully spars with friends, family, and strangers, and delights in childish pranks, such as locking Miller in the bathroom. There's a lovely scene when Miller helps the champ with his tie; and an understated one when Ali confesses that he did not throw his Olympic gold medal into the Ohio River: ``Just lost it, that's all.'' Miller writes of the adoration paid Ali (though little is said of those who vilified the brash young boxer); of his extraordinary generosity; and of his loving, gentle way with children. There's much here that's truly endearing, but at times Miller seems on the verge of pinning some kind of New Age godhood on the man. He backs off, thankfully, and tidily sums up the mystique of Ali: He ``can't imagine anyone whose time on this planet—including through his illness, maybe especially through his illness—has been more life-affirming.''

Pub Date: Nov. 12, 1996

ISBN: 0-466-51946-4

Page Count: 320

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

bookshelf

I AM OZZY

by Ozzy Osbourne with Chris Ayres ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 25, 2010

An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.

bookshelf

The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.

Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.

An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.

Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010

ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION | BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS & CELEBRITY

- IN THE NEWS
Ozzy Osbourne Dies at 76

bookshelf

NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

bookshelf

This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)