|
FreeDarko presents The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac: Styles, Stats, and Stars in Today's Game | 
| Authors: Bethlehem Shoals, Dr. Lawyer Indianchief, Silverbird 5000, Brown Recluse Esq.
Creator: Big Baby Belafonte
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Category: Book
List Price: $23.00
Buy New: $15.64
You Save: $7.36 (32%)
Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 3208
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7 x 0.9
ISBN: 1596915617
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9781596915619
Publication Date: November 11, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, December 2008: From its mouthful of a name, you might expect The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac to be one of the new breed of fantasy-friendly stathead sports guides in the vein of the Baseball Prospectus. Or, from its blogger pedigree (via the popular FreeDarko.com), you might assume it's one of those quickie blog-into-book projects that repurposes new-media content into an old-media package. But it's neither--not even close. Bucking the data-crunching trend, the Almanac's pseudonymous authors instead embrace the mythical side of pro sports, reminding us that the difference between, say, LeBron and AI lies not just in 0.2 ppg but in the rich drama of potential, style, and lore that each star represents. And the Almanac is no blog: it's every inch a book, freshly imagined and gorgeously designed, with colorful, smart graphics that give dimension to figures from Tim "Mechanical Gothic" Duncan to Stephon "Hategoat" Marbury. With a foreword, fittingly, by Gilbert Arenas, the NBA star whose kooky, self-concocted "Agent Zero" persona often overshadows his knee-hobbled game, the Almanac is the ideal midseason treat for the casual fan and the deep obsessive alike. --Tom Nissley In the illustrations below, artists from the Free Darko collective give their unique take on two of basketball's "Master Builders"--Kobe Bryant, the perfectionist, and Tim Duncan, a methodical player of gothic proportions. (Click the images to enlarge)
Product Description
The indispensible, amazingly illustrated companion to today's NBA—a roundball Rosetta Stone that hilariously decodes the trends and tendencies of pro basketball. The NBA of the moment is a league of hugely charismatic celebrities, crackling aesthetic intrigue, sociopolitical undercurrents, and raw humanity: every Kobe Bryant pump-fake or LeBron James dunk holds within it a Shaq-size load of meaning. The Macro-Phenomenal NBA Almanac is a one-of-a-kind guide to this tumultuous and exciting league. In a series of brilliantly illustrated chapters—from Master Builders like Tim Duncan to Destiny’s Kids like Amare Stoudemire to Lost Souls like Lamar Odom—the almanac breaks down the styles of the NBA’s most colorful characters, showing what each one reveals through his play and conduct, both on the court and off. Filled with some of the smartest, funniest sportswriting known to fankind, this book will cast an entirely new light on one of our favorite games.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 This Book Will Blow Your Basketball-Loving Mind November 11, 2008
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
The authors of this book must be brilliant NASA engineers on the side or something. They approach the NBA with a ton of enthusiasm and brainpower. And quirkiness. They tell us answers to questions we would never have thought to ask: like why Lamar Odom can only be understood through a careful analysis of his facial expressions, why Tim Duncan's "spirit animal" is the nurse shark (Tracy McGrady's is the monitor lizard), and why the Egyptian pyramids would have gone up much faster if Phoenix Suns guard Leandro Barbosa had been in charge of building them.
There are some really impressive charts that prove the authors must have watched every second of every NBA game over the past several years. But even though the Almanac made me laugh out loud, and got me in the mood for this year's season, its look is what stands out most -- the art throughout is stunning. It's weird that the most beautifully designed book I now own is about pro basketball, but there it is....
Amazing style+fantastic substance=a great sports book for people who don't normally like sports books November 16, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
Forgive the hyperbole I'm about to lather on, but I felt like this amazing, utterly unique book was written just for me. I fit into what I think is a rare demographic: the all-American basketball lover who just happens to also be a big fan of "literary" writing and hipster urban graphic design. By more than satisfying each of these seemingly incompatible interests, this book represents nothing less than THE standard for 21st century sports books. Seriously. A dry, quirky sense of humor that's never too arch or condescending couples nicely with penetrating statistical rigor and an acute knowledge of history and context. I think of this as a "post-blog" book in that it reads like a tidied up, bound summation of the best NBA blog posts by the best writers around. Think Bill Simmons or even a bit of David Foster Wallace combined with a mountain of interesting stats and stunning artwork. I can't think of a better holiday gift for anyone that's even remotely like me.
truly macrophenomenal November 13, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
as an avid reader of [...] for the past 3years, i am constantly amazed at their content. With this book, the authors have truly outdone themselves. Their original view on the game and players we love is refreshing. i highly recommend this to all.
 You must know this before purchasing November 19, 2008
3 out of 18 found this review helpful
The book sells itself as an almanac of the NBA stars. I give you the definitions of almanac below
1. an annual publication containing a calendar for the coming year, the times of such events and phenomena as anniversaries, sunrises and sunsets, phases of the moon, tides, etc., and other statistical information and related topics.
2. a publication containing astronomical or meteorological information, usually including future positions of celestial objects, star magnitudes, and culmination dates of constellations.
3. an annual reference book of useful and interesting facts relating to countries of the world, sports, entertainment, etc.
I am guessing the authors use the third definition, and even though I have only given this book 2 stars I am hoping that they continue to write this annually. That being said if this is an almanac the authors left out autumn. It would be like an almanac of winter, spring, and summer with some references to the fact that there is another season, but no in depth analysis of that season.
So this is what you must know before buying this book.
If you don't know this before buying you could end up like me and spend an entire day pissed off!!!
In this Almanac these are the players that they give a treatment of.
Kobe Bryant
Tim Duncan
Chris Paul
Gilbert Arenas
Amare Staudemire
Allen Iverson
Gerald Wallace
Leandro Barbosa
Stephen Jackson
Stephan Marbury
Lamar Odom
Joe Johnson
Lebron James
Carmelo Anthony
Tracy McGrady
Kevin Garnett
Yao Ming
Josh Smith
There may be a few that I have missed but I am doing this from work (SHAME ON ME) and have to go from memory.
So there are a lot of players missing, which well... is to be expected however there is nothing about my three favorite players, and this left me depressed.
No Dwyane Wade (Seriously how do you leave off the best player in the NBA completely? Check out his per this year, and did you not watch the olympics?)
No Steve Nash (a man who has revitalized basketball, and has spawned an infinite amount of fan boy copy cats)
No Deron Williams
No Paul Pierce (Such an interesting guy, how does he get left out?)
The only thing you said about my favorite player is that Dwyane is boring as hell, couldn't believe it.
PROS: The book is wonderful, funny, I took it to a pick up game last night, and everyone there started reading and loving the book. This is an awesome book and you should buy it with the caveat...
Cons: All cons can be avoided if you know the information I provided above. I was waiting to see how my favorite stars where treated, and like a kid who has his heart set on a gift at christmas time, I was sad when I ended up getting a lot of cool gifts just not the ones that I really Really Really wanted. I was so Dying to see the style guide on Wade. I was so excited to see what his spirit animal would be. I was stoked out of my mind to see where they put him in history, and all I got was a little noise from the other chapters, and the statement in the book that he is explosive but boring as hell.
Because you broke my heart oh almanac you, I can only give you 1 star, and because I loved the book so much, I gave you 2.
P.S. if the bloggers at freedarko will write a style guide and treatment of Dwyane Wade I will print it out, and glue it into my book. I will then modify this ranking to a 6. DO WE HAVE A DEAL?
Wonderfully done November 14, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is a stimulating treat to the eye and mind. The artwork is stunning. The writing is both insightful and funny. Even the statistical graphs are slickly done and fun to look at. You might find a couple misnomers, as a Blazers fan I think their take on Joel Przybilla (p.138) is off-target. No worries though, my quibbles are microscopic compared how much I have enjoyed reading this. There is no other book like it. Great for intellectual basketball fans, but any who appreciate a finely put together piece of work should take a look. More FreeDarko books, please!
|
|
|
|
Copyright 2008 BetterEditor.net
| |
