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

HOMAGE TO CATALONIA

by George Orwell ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 1952

bookshelf

A history, published in Britain shortly after the author wrote it in 1937, of the few months surrounding the Barcelona Telephone Exchange riots and what the writer determines as the Communist betrayal of all of Spain's anti-fascist forces. The crux of Orwell's writing is to show the ridiculous misrepresentations of the actual happenings in Barcelona and on the front and their meaning for the rest of Spain. The Communists were joined with the Government. Another anti-fascist faction was the P.O.U.M. or anarchist militia. They were closely allied with socialist worker movements, ready to build up a workers' revolution. In the beginning when issues were but hazily defined, Orwell joined the P.O.U.M. and fought with them- at the front. The Communists, considering anarchist-socialist revolutionary policies as presumptive, sought successfully to purge the P.O.U.M. and rendered them through messy journalism, coercive police methods, withdrawal of arms, false reports- as Trotskyists, pro-Franco, anything but the potent patriotic force they were. Thus republican Spain lost a power that could have helped beat Franco. Orwell's report is as exciting as it is meditative. With his quiet exactitude the midnight skirmishes, the political issues, and the utter futility of war come clearly into focus. Perhaps not a book to create sensation in a day when much of what happened at Barcelona has been realized, but one enlightening in terms of showing the war way toward mutual understanding and fair play.

Pub Date: May 15, 1952

ISBN: 1849025975

Page Count: 182

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace

Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1952

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
GEORGE ORWELL
by George Orwell ; edited by Peter Davison

- BOOK REVIEW
DIARIES
by George Orwell & edited by Peter Davison

- BOOK REVIEW
ALL ART IS PROPAGANDA
by George Orwell

bookshelf

MOMOFUKU MILK BAR

by Christina Tosi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 25, 2011

bookshelf

With this detailed, versatile cookbook, readers can finally make Momofuku Milk Bar’s inventive, decadent desserts at home, or see what they’ve been missing.

In this successor to the Momofuku cookbook, Momofuku Milk Bar’s pastry chef hands over the keys to the restaurant group’s snack-food–based treats, which have had people lining up outside the door of the Manhattan bakery since it opened. The James Beard Award–nominated Tosi spares no detail, providing origin stories for her popular cookies, pies and ice-cream flavors. The recipes are meticulously outlined, with added tips on how to experiment with their format. After “understanding how we laid out this cookbook…you will be one of us,” writes the author. Still, it’s a bit more sophisticated than the typical Betty Crocker fare. In addition to a healthy stock of pretzels, cornflakes and, of course, milk powder, some recipes require readers to have feuilletine and citric acid handy, to perfect the art of quenelling. Acolytes should invest in a scale, thanks to Tosi’s preference of grams (“freedom measurements,” as the friendlier cups and spoons are called, are provided, but heavily frowned upon)—though it’s hard to be too pretentious when one of your main ingredients is Fruity Pebbles. A refreshing, youthful cookbook that will have readers happily indulging in a rising pastry-chef star’s widely appealing treats.