Name: A sense of where you are
ISBN: 9780374526894

A sense of where you are

When John McPhee met Bill Bradley, both were at the beginning of their careers. A Sense of Where You Are, McPhee's first book, is about Bradley when he was the best basketball player Princeton had ever seen. McPhee delineates for the reader the training and techniques that made Bradley the extraordinary athlete he was, and this part of the book is a blueprint of superlative basketball. But athletic prowess alone would not explain Bradley's magnetism, which is in the quality of the man himself--his self-discipline, his rationality, and his sense of responsibility. Here is a portrait of Bradley as he was in college, before his time with the New York Knicks and his election to the U.S. Senate--a story that suggests the abundant beginnings of his professional careers in sport and politics.

What Hacker News says

dayofthedaleksOct 2020

Consider reading John McPhee’s ‘Levels of the Game,’ about tennis. Or ‘A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton,’ about basketball. Both are about so many other things too.

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stinkytacoSep 2018

Oh, I watch soccer, though less now since I did the above self assessment and decided the hours I spending watching it were probably not really making me happier. And I can admire Robben cutting in diagonally from the wings on his weak foot to create an opening or even Suarez's almost instinctive genius. But firstly, I will never be Robben. Secondly, the level I play at has limited tactical sophistication (the traditional 4-4-2 formation has given way to more of a 0-5-5 or 5-5-0 depending on where the ball is). Thirdly, I'm "good enough" for my level.

Off topic, but if you're interested in sports theory and writing, Suarez always makes me think of John McPhee's "A Sense of Where You Are", a profile of Bill Bradley when he was at Princeton. Probably one of my top 5 favorite sports books or articles.

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cafardJun 2021

My recollection is that Bill Bradley's A Sense of Where You Are wasn't bad. But I must have read it forty-odd years ago, and don't remember whether he had a ghost-writer.

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