Year of the Dunk: A Modest Defiance of Gravity

by Asher Price | Biographies & Memoirs | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0804138036 Global Overview for this book
Registered by FeistyPom2Love of San Ramon, California USA on 1/29/2015
Buy from one of these Booksellers:
Amazon.com | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT | Bol.com
This book is in the wild! This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by FeistyPom2Love from San Ramon, California USA on Thursday, January 29, 2015
Amazon Editorial Review:

"By embarking on a quest to dunk a basketball at the age of 34, journalist Asher Price investigates the limits of human potential—starting with his own.

We all like to think that with a little practice we could run faster, pick up another language, or cook a soufflé. But few of us have ever put those hopes to the test. Asher Price seizes on the dunk, richly freighted with distinctly American ideas of culture, race, and upward mobility, as a gauge to determine his own hidden potential. In this highly readable, humorous, and often poignant journey into the pleasures and perils of exertion, Asher introduces the reader to a memorable cast of characters who help him understand the complexity of the human body and the individual drama at the heart of sports.

The dunk mesmerized Asher Price as a child, but even with his height (six-foot-plus) and impressive wingspan, he never really pushed himself to try it. Asher spends a year remaking his body and testing his mind as he wonders, like most adults, what untapped talent he still possesses. Throughout, Asher recalls an earlier test of his physical limits. Drawing on his experience of being diagnosed with cancer as a young man, Asher asks: How much of our story do we control?

In the tradition of the best books that pit men and women against their own abilities—such as Joshua Foer's Moonwalking with Einstein and George Plimpton's Paper Lion—Year of the Dunk takes the reader from hot Texas training sessions with an Olympic gold medal high jumper to a Cambridge, England, lab devoted to the study of leaping insects as Asher meets with athletes, scientists, and physiotherapists in this exploration of potential. Along the way he dives into the history and science of one of sport's most exuberant acts, examining everything from our genetic predisposition towards jumping to the cultural role of the slam dunk. The yearlong effort forces him to ask some fundamental questions about human ability and the degree to which, even with great determination, we can actually improve ourselves."

Journal Entry 2 by FeistyPom2Love at Livermore Premium Outlet Mall in Livermore, California USA on Friday, January 30, 2015

Released 9 yrs ago (1/30/2015 UTC) at Livermore Premium Outlet Mall in Livermore, California USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I left this book on a ledge near a water fountain between the Tommy Hilfiger Store & the Brooks Brothers stores.

Are you sure you want to delete this item? It cannot be undone.