Will appeal to readers with subscriptions to both Guideposts and Guns & Ammo.
Pastor, insurance salesman and now-writer Drotos reflects on what he’s learned about getting through the hard times (divorce, bankruptcy, etc.) by hunting white-tailed deer in the Virginia woods.
In bite-sized anecdotes intended for reading in the deer stand, Drotos shares memories of his hunting life, beginning at age 18 when he killed his first buck. Amusingly, he relates getting suckered into buying a time-share for its hunting provisions and suffering a blow to his ego when he’s out-hunted by a first-timer. There are also cautionary tales, as when, seemingly in a fugue state, Drotos shoots and kills four deer, violating game law. “My definition of integrity is doing the right thing even when nobody is watching,” he writes. “I failed that day.” Now in his mid-40s, the author says his love for hunting has only increased—along with his tendency to find moral instruction in the sport. In practiced Sunday-school style, Drotos treats his hunting stories as parables from which one can easily draw the conclusion: “Life is nothing more than seasons,” “Life is never what you expect,” and “[L]ife is not a straight highway. It is more like a winding road.” Such bromides often feel at odds with the events described, as when Drotos writes of landing a lucky shot into a deer’s brain through the ear: “In life when you get your opportunity, pull the trigger (metaphorically speaking) to make your dream come true.” Some readers may also pause over Drotos’ tendency to see divine intervention in the oddest places. When a coyote crosses his path (and he kills the animal), the author calls it a “divine wink from God assuring me that He will be with me in both the good times and the bad ones.” The final section of the book is filled with lined pages in which readers can write their own hunting journal.
Will appeal to readers with subscriptions to both Guideposts and Guns & Ammo.Pub Date: April 8, 2012
ISBN: 978-1466411678
Page Count: 140
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 3, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
“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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