Rating: 
Summary: A legend of our time
Review: Cassius Clay was born on January 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky to parents Cassius Clay Sr. and Odessa Clay. Clay was a shy kid growing up. You wouldn't find him bulling anyone when he was a child. One day when Cassius was 12, he went to the Columbia Auditorium riding his new red and white bike in Louisville. He and a friend went to a Home Show, which was a black trade show. When it was time to go Cassius found his bike missing. Cassius was angry, and from that day on, he wanted to box. Clay was very skinny and he would get beat very easily many times, but the thing that made him good was he was a very dedicated boxer. In 1960, when Cassius was 18, he qualified for the Olympics in Rome as a light heavyweight, weighing in at 178 pounds. Ali ended up winning those Olumpics and he was in his prime. Clay then recieved a $10,000 signing bonus. Later in life, Cassius had a big fight against Sonnie Liston who was favored over Cassius by many. Cassius wanted to shock the world and that he did. In the 7th round the himiliated Liston did not come out, he forfeited. After the fight Muhammad Ali announced that he had become Muslim. That is basically what you will be seeing Muhammad Ali dominating the ring. I would recommend this book becasue Muhammad Ali is a good person to look up to. He does what he feels is right and he succeeds at the same time. This book shows you how to be a better person and how to succeed. Overall, this is a very interesting book and it teaches you a lot, so read it!
Rating: 
Summary: ALI WAS UNIQUE: HE IS THE GREATEST
Review: He was; and will always remain the greatest of them all. Nobody exalted sports the way he did. Muhammad Ali is a living phenomenon: an institution. He is the most enduring legacy sports will ever have. Not just because he tamed formidable dinosaurs like Sonny Liston and George Foreman, but because of the way he comported himself: both in and out of the sporting arena.
Ali is the main reason why there is so much money in sports today. Nobody will ever define sports the way he did.
Rating:
Summary: Starts Out Slow; Informative Throughout; Exciting Finish
Review: I'm afraid "The Greatest" is not the greatest book on Muhammad Ali. It is tedious in its construction and rather boring for the first couple of chapters. However, it does manage to pick up some steam in the middle chapters, granting the reader some excellent insight into the behind-the-scenes happenings of Ali's boxing life. The author delves into his days with the Nation of Islam, his early marriages and even the intimacies involved in the boxing world. The final chapters of the book are very good, as we are given an almost round-by-round account of some of Ali's greatest matches, against Joe Frazier and George Foreman. If you can endure the slow beginning of this book, the finale is well worth the wait.
Rating:
Summary: Not a Very Good Book
Review: In my opinion, the Greatest by Walter Dean Myers is not a very good book, it is acceptable. Myers covers a few but not all things about Ali. Myers writes about great fights, but not about how Ali went to Sonny Liston's house in Miami and called him out. Myers does cover some interesting points about how Ali beat George Foreman and Joe Frazier. I wanted Myers to write about more than how Ali just won fights. To make it a more interesting book, he should have wrote more about Ali's life struggles. Most of the time, Myers would keep me interested by writing about good fights. If you only want to read about Ali fighting and not his personal life, then you should read this book. However, I do not recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: the greatest
Review: Muhamid Ali If you have read this book before you will agree it's a very good book. If you are a person who like boxing and, or Ali then read this book. it talks about how he faught his way to tha top of boxing and it tells you who he had to fight to get were he got and how he became a legend and the greatest boxer of all time. It talks about his life outside of boxing, like how he refused to be drafted into the Vietnam war and how he had to go thru struggles and how he over came them like when he went to jail and had to give up his boxing title and when his boxing license was token away it took him 3 years before he could step into the ring and box again. After he came back from those three years he wasn't as good as beforhe had slowed down and he couldn't take much pain as before most spectators said he was "past his prime". It also has what other boxers thought of him both in the ring and in person most of them did not like him most of them said he was to cocky. It doesn't all talk about boxing it has some things about civil rights and how Ali helped with the civil rights. if you have not read this book read it and i know you will like it.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest: Muhammad Ali
Review: Muhammad Ali grew up as a young poor skinny kid. He had gotten a new bike for his birthday and it got stolen while he was at a trade show. From then on he wanted to box. He won an Olympic Gold Metal for Lightweight boxing and much more. This book takes you through all of Muhammad Ali's life in great detail.
Rating: 
Summary: Determination + Talent = Champion
Review: Muhammad Ali may not have been the biggest, meanest boxer of all time, but he definitely has to be one of the most determined athletes ever to set foot in a ring. This is why Myers, like Ali himself, refers to the boxer as "the greatest." Through easy reading, Myers paints a picture of what life was life for working class blacks in the near South (Louisville KY) in the 1950's. He describes the fighters who came before Ali (heroes like Joe Louis and Archie Moore), and goes into detail describing both the person and the boxing style of Ali's opponents--Liston, Frazier, Foreman and others. Myers also details the mental strategies and physical competency of Ali. It is here that the reader realizes that much of Ali's game was fought outside the ring, with not only the next opponent, but also the press, the public, an the government. Viet Nam, the draft, the Nation of Islam, the skewing of the military to induct more minorities, and the subject of 'conscientious objection' are touched upon, giving young readers a sense of the social history of the period, without the ho-hum of a history book. Myers also dissects the boxing industry, where young talent is often beaten to a senseless pulp for the sake of audiences, the mass media, and a few dollars. Myers does an excellent job of conveying the fact that the boxer from Louisville was the greatest in his determination to win, not because of his physical ability, but because of his mental agility. Myers also notes Ali's negative trait of verbally insulting and intimidating his opponent. His vicious assaulting of his opponents (especially the racial insults he spewed at Joe Frazier) set the stage for the trash-talking which is now rampant in sports at all levels. This book will intrigue a variety of students in middle school and up. It is easy to read, with enough black and white photographs and large page margins to attract even reluctant readers. It is a good introduction to what actually goes on in professional athletics, the physical and mental game of winning.
Rating:
Summary: Determination + Talent = Champion
Review: Muhammed Ali may not have been the biggest, meanest boxer of all time, but he definitely has to be one of the most determined athletes ever to set foot in a ring. That is why Myers, like Ali himself, refers to the boxer as "the greatest." Through easy reading, Walter Dean Myers paints a picture of what life was life for working class blacks in the near South (Louisville, KY) in the 1950's. He describes the fighters who came before Ali (the heroes like Joe Louis and Archie Moore), and goes into detail in describing both the person and the boxing style of Ali's opponents--Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, George Foreman and others). Of course, Myers also details the mental strategies and physical competency of Ali. It is here that the reader realizes that much of Ali's game was fought outside the ring, with not only his next opponent, but with the press, the public, and the government. The subject of the war in Viet Nam, the military draft, the Nation of Islam, the skewing of the military to induct more minorities, and the subject of 'conscientious objection' are all handled in an introductory fashion, which will give young readers a sense of the social history of the period without the ho-hum of a history book. Walter Dean Myers' book, The Greatest, also dissects the boxing industry, where young talent is often beaten to a senseless pulp for the sake of audiences, public approval and a very few dollars. I have already recommended this book to several students who think a career in professional athletics could be within their grasp. Myers does an excellent job of conveying the fact that the young boxer from Louisville was the greatest in his determination to win, not because of his physical ability, but because of his mental agility. The one negative trait of Muhammed Ali which Myers noted was the way he insulted his opponents. His vicious slurring of his competitors, especially some of the black fighters, set the stage for the trash-talking which is now rampant in sports, professional and amateur, alike. He may have been first in a long list of other traits, but this one is nothing to be proud of. It was the beginning of a very negative type of competitive spirit which has now permeated sports, school, music, and the very fiber of today's society. This book will intrigue a variety of students in middle school. It is easy to read, with enough black and white photographs and large page margins to attract even reluctant readers. The book includes an Index (very small print); a list of Photo Credits; a Bibliography; and a Fight Chronology. It is a good introduction to what actually goes on in professional athletics, and appropriate for students, grade 5 and up.
Rating:
Summary: THE GREATEST MUHAMMAD ALI
Review: The book"THE GREATEST MUHAMMAD ALI" is one of the best books ihave ever read. When I first read this book I coudn't put it down. this book only took me a week to read and also you get information you never herd of like I never knew that Muhammad Ali's real name is Cassius Clay. When Muhammad was young he used to get beat up and his bike was stolen. After he got beat up he started taking boxing lessions. He lost most of his boxing matches when he was young. In the book you lean about others like Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson Ali never misted a practus. The reason I liked the book is because I took boxing lessons and now Iknow how to protect myself if I need to. Also you get good information on the boxers Ali's life. In the book they say that Ali has skills of most of thebest fighters that ever lived.Reading this book helped me change the way I look at things like the way I treat people andto be tough competitor at sports I play. It also helped me see how his life was as a African American boxer. I'm glad I found this awesome book to read because it made me want to be a boxer.
Rating:
Summary: THE GREATEST MUHAMMAD ALI
Review: The book"THE GREATEST MUHAMMAD ALI" is one of the best books ihave ever read. When I first read this book I coudn't put it down. this book only took me a week to read and also you get information you never herd of like I never knew that Muhammad Ali's real name is Cassius Clay. When Muhammad was young he used to get beat up and his bike was stolen. After he got beat up he started taking boxing lessions. He lost most of his boxing matches when he was young. In the book you lean about others like Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson Ali never misted a practus. The reason I liked the book is because I took boxing lessons and now Iknow how to protect myself if I need to. Also you get good information on the boxers Ali's life. In the book they say that Ali has skills of most of thebest fighters that ever lived.Reading this book helped me change the way I look at things like the way I treat people andto be tough competitor at sports I play. It also helped me see how his life was as a African American boxer. I'm glad I found this awesome book to read because it made me want to be a boxer.
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