Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Really stellar autobiography, one that illustrates Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's thoughtfulness, and the deep impact that the Civil Rights movement in America had on his personal development. It's extremely depressing to realize that all of the things he talks about from the 1960s -- race riots over the police killing Black children, casual racism and microaggressions, institutionalized racism, attacks on celebrities of color -- none of those have changed at all. He does an amazing job relating his show more personal story to the context of the history he's lived through, while talking about the hard work and dedication required to achieve extraordinary athleticism. His journey to Islam and to changing his name was particularly moving. It is a fairly slow paced book, but the work is worth the time. show less

"Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court" is an engaging and candid memoir that chronicles the life of basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It delves into his childhood struggles in Harlem, his exceptional basketball career, and the challenges of fame and identity. The book stands out for its introspection, addressing themes of racial inequality, political activism, and personal growth. Kareem's inspiring journey from a talented athlete to a socially conscious individual makes show more this memoir a compelling and thought-provoking read for all audiences. show less

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse’s Mycroft and Sherlock: The Empty Birdcage is the third novel in their series focusing on Mycroft Holmes. The book begins in 1873 with Mycroft undergoing an experimental procedure to fix his pericardium before he meets with Cyrus Douglas in Austria, where Mycroft worked to obfuscate an impending financial collapse in order to strike at Count Wolfgang Hohenlohe-Langenburg, who had previously run afoul of Mycroft. Meanwhile, Sherlock has departed show more Cambridge and is investigating a series of murders the newspapers have named the Fire Four Eleven killings after the note the killer leaves at the scene. One of the victims was a distant relation to Queen Victoria and she asks Mycroft to examine the case, so he aids Sherlock’s work while looking into Ottoman arms merchant Vizily Zaharoff, a creditor of Count Hohenlohe-Langenburg, and the employer of Bingwen Shi, the fiancé of Mycroft’s former love, Ai Lin. As Mycroft investigates, he worries about the Germans arming themselves and how Deshi Hai Lin’s shipping business is involved while hoping to help Ai Lin out of the love he once felt for her. Sherlock, still a young man and only just beginning to learn his trade as a detective, often acts rashly, going against the more circumspect methods Mycroft would prefer. The story builds upon the extensive groundwork Abdul-Jabbar and Waterhouse built in their previous two novels while being one of the stronger Sherlock Holmes pastiches, using this early period to do something unique that enhances the canon without bending it too far. show less

This second novel in the series starring Mycroft Holmes draws his brother Sherlock into the tale, with uneven results.

The first thing you need to understand is that this is NOT the Mycroft Holmes depicted in the canon - the brilliant but misanthropic plotter, the languorous, corpulent spider at the center of a web of international affairs that he manipulates by the sheer force of his intellect, the man who Sherlock describes as possessing "a specialism in omniscience." As reimagined by show more Abdul-Jabbar and Waterhouse, this Mycroft is no less brilliant but still young, working his way up through the government ministry of war, worldly, popular with his peers, engaged in the world, and quite the athlete, especially when it comes to brawls. His "Watson" is Cyrus Douglas, a Trinidadian shop-owner who functions as Mycroft's best friend, voice of reason, and conscience.

Mycroft is also, in this universe, the consistently frustrated and disappointed elder brother of Sherlock, as unpleasant a sibling as you could hope to have: arrogant, disrespectful, idle, sullen, and ungrateful. Tasked with finishing up his college degree, the only thing this youthful Sherlock seems to know for sure is that he could care less about earning a college degree - he'd much rather be doing chemistry experiments, reading the agony columns in hope of some interesting problem to tax his intellect, manipulating people for the fun of it, or practicing his fighting techniques with syncophantic peers.

As in the previous novel, the plot is a ridiculously overcomplicated affair, this time featuring a gruesome serial murderer hunting the city's limited Asian population, boys (alive and dead) covered in puncture marks as if from repeated injections, mysterious Chinese characters etched into the walls of subway platforms, a beautiful Chinese woman who's father is up to something, creepy oversized porcelain dolls, Shanghaiid sailors, Australian gold coins that shouldn't exist, punt races on the Thames, opium dens, and a possible impending international economic collapse ... and if all that leaves you winded, wait until you try to keep it all sorted out as the various plots straight as they start to interwine in increasingly preposterous ways.

What I liked about the novel: (1) The writing is uncommonly good, especially the dialog and the historical detail. Cliched dialog is one of the banes of Holmes pastiches, but the authors have done a good job of making this feel original and genuine; (2) We aren't just repeatedly told that Mycroft is brilliant - we actually get to enjoy watching him make some fairly spectacular deductions; and (3) the interplay between the Holmes boys is cleverly conceived and rather fun.

What I didn't like about the novel: (1) the senselessly complex plot - assuming I actually understand what was going on, this has to be one of the most ridiculously over-complicated and inefficient crimes I've ever encountered! (2) Mycroft & Douglas are constantly getting physically attacked upon the most unlikely provocation, as if the authors - straining to add excitement - have only this one trick up their sleeve; and (3) overuse of deus ex machina - waaaay too many coincidences! Most readers are willing to suspend a measure of disbelief in return for narrative flow, but at some point even I found myself thinking: "All this you figured out because you happened to oversee a conversation/a woman coming out of a store/a carriage leaving a neighborhood?" Clues are meant to be meticulously ferreted out - they shouldn't hit the detective in the forehead the pianos falling out of so many upper-story windows.

Based on the creativity and originality of the writing I may read the third book in this series, but it makes me sad to think about out just a little editing could make these so much better. show less