The Zen Of Muhammad Ali: and Other Obsessions - Softcover

Miller, Davis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099429527 ISBN 13: 9780099429524

Publisher: Vintage, 2002

Synopsis

Collected here for the first time are the best of Davis Miller's essays and memoirs. The volume contains his celebrated trilogy of award-winning Muhammad Ali pieces, including the classic 'My Dinner with Ali', together with a provocative new essay called 'The Yin and the Yang of Muhammad Ali'. There are also two pieces about Miller's unusual relationship with another boxer, 'Sugar' Ray Leonard, and he continues to explore the Bruce Lee phenomenon - as he did in his acclaimed bestseller The Tao of Bruce Lee. The Zen of Muhammad Ali tells us about fighting, living, friendship and love. The pieces are arranged - each with an illuminating new note - to form a unique and haunting book.

About this title

Review:

'Davis Miller writes profoundly and beautifully.' -- Joyce Carol Oates

'Nobody has ever written so purely about Ali before.' -- Los Angeles Times

Easygoing but unflippant, formless yet rigorous. Solid reporting and sumptuous storytelling. Miller's is an American voice attractive to Brits. -- Tim Birch, Guardian

One of the greatest pieces of sports writing of the 20th century. Miller writes with intelligence, humour and passion. Peerless essays. -- Highbury and Islington Express

a martial arts FEVER PITCH -- The Times

engaging . . . often poetic -- Desmond Barry, Observer

From the Author:

Ever since my first book, THE TAO OF MUHAMMAD ALI, was published in 1997, readers have asked me time and again where to find the magazine stories on which that book was based. I can now suggest exactly where to look -- at this volume. The first section of THE ZEN OF MUHAMMAD ALI AND OTHER OBSESSIONS comprises three of my Ali stories, as well as a new essay called 'The Yin and the Yang of Muhammad Ali' that I feel to be among my strongest writing.

In addition, I've hand-picked seven other directly and indirectly related stories, including a piece titled 'Bruce Lee, American' that helped inspire my second book, THE TAO OF BRUCE LEE. The result is a volume about fighting -- fighting of all sorts -- public displays and personal struggles.

Recognizing that many readers are intrigued by the particulars of how and why stories come to be written -- and how they are expanded into books (and, in some cases, edited from book chapters into magazine pieces) -- I've penned either opening or closing 'insider' comments on the writing process and the origins and histories of these works. I hope that you enjoy THE ZEN OF MUHAMMAD ALI AND OTHER OBSESSIONS. In many ways, it is my personal favourite among my first three books...

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0099429527
• ISBN 13: 9780099429524
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176