A brilliant, entertaining deconstruction of basketball, drawing on the expertise of board-game creators, magicians, therapists, and more
“Really novel way to approach the game, and pretty unique to basketball.” —Sopan Deb, New York Times
Basketball is the second-most popular sport in the world—an insanely complicated game built on a combination of athleticism, craftiness, rules, intangibles, and superstardom. However, while it’s enjoyable to watch, the real reason it works is because it’s a game of culture, art, and all the things that make us human.
Nick Greene’s How to Watch Basketball Like a Genius deconstructs the sport from top to bottom and then puts it back together again, detailing its intricacies through reporting and dozens of interviews with experts. These experts, however, are a diverse group: wine critics weighing in on LeBron’s ability to delegate on the fly, magicians analyzing Chris Paul’s mystifying dribbling techniques, cartographers breaking down Steph Curry’s deadeye three-point shooting. Every chapter treats basketball to a multidisciplined study that adventures far beyond the lines of the court, examining key elements of the sport from some surprising and revealing angles. There’s a reason it has conquered the world, and every game is a chance to learn about pop culture, fashion, history, science, art, and anything else that bounces our way.
Praise
“Really novel way to approach the game, and pretty unique to basketball.”Sopan Deb, The New York Times
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“How to Watch Basketball Like a Genius is a rewarding read for anyone who loves the sport. It approaches basketball from a number of unique angles that make it feel new and exciting. It is almost as if one is reading about the game for the first time. Greene has written one of the best basketball books of recent years, one that combines history, reporting, and analysis in a very exciting way. Even the most ardent basketball fans will be invited to rethink well-worn truisms about the game’s development, why it developed the way it did, and what makes it so appealing. By looking at the game of basketball, from its rudimentary beginnings to the way it is played today, Greene helps readers see the game anew.”FanSided
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Brooklyn Digest“A very insightful and engaging new book . . . The thing with this book that sets it apart is that the experts are not the usual suspects on ESPN, but a soap opera casting director weighing in on the game's most prolific floppers, magicians analyzing Chris Paul's mystifying dribbling techniques, cartographers breaking down Steph Curry's deadeye three-point shooting, and plenty more.”
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“How to Watch Basketball Like a Genius pulls off a rare trick: It makes you feel smarter as you're reading it, but it does so without ever making you feel like you weren't smart in the first place. I greatly enjoyed it.”
—Shea Serrano, writer for The Ringer and author of the New York Times bestseller Basketball (and Othe
“Nick Greene writes in a manner that's both entertaining and educational while making such an intricte game easily digestible even for the casual fan. This read has deepened my love and appreciation for basketball and certainly taught me so much about its rich history.”
—Kevin O'Connor, NBA writer for The Ringer and host of The Restart podcast
“A hilarious, smart, wildly unpredictable book that will forever change the way you look at basketball. Hoops nerds will enjoy learning more about the sport they love—from its gymnasium basket-brawl beginnings to an important cocktail napkin advancement and the results of a well-funded study on flopping—and casual fans will dig the way Greene jumps in and out of bounds with experts from other fields to educate, entertain, and find uncanny parallels to the game of life. I contend he could've found a way to work in eels and Pliny the Elder, but I guess he's left things open for a second book . . . ”
—Sarah Spain, writer for ESPN, TV personality, and radio host
