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Wilt: Just like any other 7-foot
black millionaire who lives next door, by Wilt Chamberlain and David Shaw.
1973. This is my favorite book by Wilt that I have read. It is a pure
biography that goes up to the his final season in the NBA. Lots of great stories. |
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This book is all about Wilt's
house, Ursa Major -- how the concept came to be, the design, the
struggles, and a detailed room-by-room description with numerous photos.
This book is out-of-print and
extremely hard to find. You cannot get it through inter-library loan
(only one library has it and they won't loan it out). If you can
find it, expect to pay a lot of money. If not for 8 years of hard
work by my missus, I would not have this. |
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A View from Above, by Wilt
Chamberlain. 1991 A very witty book. Wilt tells many stories and shares
his views on a variety of issues. Whether you agree with his opinions, he is a very
entertaining and witty author. And yes, this book contains the famous 20,000 line. |
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You can order it by calling 800-280-1776.
It can be ordered from Amazon.com
or a major bookseller, such as Barnes and Noble or Borders. However, if you order it from
the 1-800 number, the charities that benefit from this book will be
guaranteed their
money.
This is an o.k. book, but you need to take
it with a grain of salt. This is a basketball-themed follow-up to A
View from Above, in that it's Wilt's opinions about the current state
of basketball. Since it was opinionated, some of the facts aren't
accurate. It is still a solid read, though I prefer the previous two
books more. |
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Books
About Wilt |
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I added this section
because many fine books have been written about him. |
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Wilt: Larger than
Life by Robert Cherry. 2004. In my opinion, this is the
very best book pertaining to Wilt. Written after Wilt's death, the
author performed exhaustive research and interviews with numerous people
who knew Wilt and the result is a very balanced book. Wilt's
achievements and his generous character are shown as well as his insecurities
and faults. You will come away from this book liking Wilt even more
than if you read Wilt's books. A supreme read. If you want to
learn about Wilt, read this. |
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Wilt, 1962, by Gary
M. Pomerantz. 2004. Another excellent book, this time
focusing on the magical night in Hershey, Pennsylvania when Wilt scored
100 points. The book tells the background of the players, coaches,
management, announcers, and even the town and specific fans. The
theme of the book is how the game fired the shot signifying a new era in
the NBA and how old stereotypes would be broken and how Wilt's game
ushered in these changes. It also follows up the game and tells what
happened to many participants in the years to follow. |
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Season of the 76ers,
by Wayne Lynch - This book covers the magical 1966-67 Sixers, one of
the greatest teams in history. It goes through the background and
the season. The game-to-game or season details could be much
stronger, and the guy is a SERIOUS Sixers homer (and I'm a Sixers fan, and
it's obvious to me), referring to players as "Wilt",
"Billy", "Luke", etc. Still, it is a fine read,
if you want to learn about this mighty team. |
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The Pivotal
Season, by Charley Rosen. This book covers the 1971-72
Lakers - Wilt's 2nd title team. The book is a character assassination
on Wilt and is full of half-truths and downright lies. Go to
Amazon.com and read my
review to see some of them spelled out. There is some
useful information in this book, but the author's blind hatred of Wilt
keeps him from being objective. It was nice seeing him try to
whitewash the fact that Wilt was the Finals' MVP, though. |
