Jerry West

I'm reading this book by Jerry West - maybe the best basketball player ever. I've learned I should go to Amazon.com and read reviews before I buy a book. This one is not what I thought it would be. He talks very little about his life in the NBA. He spends a lot of time talking about players when he was general manager for the Lakers. Who reads a book about a general manager? Most of the time he spends talking about his basketball playing is obsessing about the games he lost, times he didn't make the right play, or people that he thinks ripped him off. I thought, "You've won an NBA championship, a state championship, an Olympics gold medal - Get over it."

I've read the Amazon reviews since then and they seem to agree with me. There was way too little basketball and way too much complaining. They also mentioned something else I thought. The cowriter who I'm guessing a professional that was payed to keep the story coherent, was vastly overpaid.

By the end of the book my feelings started to change about it. It really isn't a story about Jerry the basketball player. Its a book about a person that suffers from a lifetime of depression and what that is like. I do think there is counseling he could get that could help him, and he could do some things to improve his attitude toward life, but basically, his depression is beyond his not his fault
. The first two-thirds of the book I was blaming Jerry for his bad attitude, but his depression is really beyond his ability to control.

So it's a very interesting book, especially if you are interested in the topic of depression. If you want the story of his great playing career, not so much.

Fun fact - Jerry's silhouette was used for the NBA logo.