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Summary: This is and inspirational book
Review: The heart and soul of a champion: his life, his career, and his game. To understand basketball, you have to understand Larry Bird. Arguably the greatest all-around player the game has ever known, he led the Boston Celtics from the basement to three world championships, collecting three NBA Most Valuable Player awards along the way. Yet, despite these massive accomplishments, Bird has rarely talked to the press, and much about the man has remained a mystery. Now in Drive, the long-silent superstar sets the record straight, revealed a side of himself, and of basketball, you've never see before. Larry Bird grew up in the small town of French Lick, Indiana. His family was not very well off. Infact, they would occasionally stay at his grandmother's home. When Larry was twelve he found that he had a God-given ability to play basketball. He knew he was blessed and knew he had to do something about it. Everyday Larry would practice, practice, practice. Shooting foul shots, threes, it didn't matter, he just love the game. Even when he broke his ankle he would still shoot free throws every day. Larry's father committed suicide when Larry was still young. This broke his heart, but he knew his father did what he thought was best for the family. Bird was a celebrity on his High School basketball team in French Lick. The population of the town was only 2,100, but 4,000 people attended his last HS game. After high school he enrolled at Indiana, but never played, dropping out and then hitch-hiking home. He waited a year to be eligible to play at Indiana State. He brought respectability to the Indiana State program which ended in losing to Magic Johnson's Michigan State team in the NCAA Tournament Title Game in 1979. Larry left Indiana State with a career scoring average of better than 30 points a game, fifth all-time in NCAA history, and a 3-year school record of 81-13. Larry was named the 1978-79 Sporting News Player of the Year and won the Naismith and Wooden Awards. He was the number six pick in the 1978 draft by Boston, as a junior, but he joined the team a year later, because he chose to stay in school for his last year of eligibility. His stellar play in his first year led to his Rookie of the Year selection in 1980. We all remember his ability to hit the remarkable shot and don't forget his commercials with Michael Jordan where he makes the unbelievable shots. NBA players probably still have nightmares of his smooth jumper that would fall with deadly accuracy from ten feet or twenty feet. There may never be another with such a consistent sweet stroke. However, the legendary Celtic charm could not jump. He was slow, uncoordinated, but if you gave him a locomotive to pull he could do it for you. I'm not saying he was buff or strong or anything, I just mean he was a workhorse. He would not give up. Bird's all-time stats are an impressive: 21,791 points (11th. all-time), 1,556 steals (8th all-time), 0.886 FT Percentage (fourth all-time), 8,974 rebounds, 5,965 assists and 897 games played. He has a career 24.3 scoring average to lead the Celtics all-time list. Larry Bird was a successful player due both to talent and hard work. He was usually the first Celtic to arrive on game day when he would practice hitting jump shots for hours from everywhere on the floor, including dozens of free throws. This effort and ethic of work that he showed is an example I would like to follow. After reading this book I thought to myself, am I going to play varsity this year, and I going to achieve this goal and be able to dunk on DEC. 20 this year. Birdman has gone from a small town gangly country boy to an impressive person and player. The time he put in, the commitment he showed to his team. He played his entire career with the Celtics. This shows me how a player should be, faithful to your duties, contracts, and other commitments. He didn't just give up on basketball after his marks forced him to drop out, he prevailed and continued basketball and then went to college. As his marks were so poor this shows me another basic fundamental to make it far in basketball, grades. Although my goals say I will play at college level, I will never be able to achieve this without the proper grades to do so. Academics are a very important part of my future. This book is and awesome book in which I give five stars to. It was well worth my time to read and I hope to read it over again. It has inspired me to do my best and anything is possible if you work hard enough for it
Rating: 
Summary: LARRY BIRD SCORES ON THIS BOOK
Review: THIS BOOK IS A GOOD READ ABOUT THE LIFE OF THE NBA SUPERSTAR. MOST OF IT'S CONTENTS ARE CONCERNING HIS CAREER, HIS LIFE OFF THE COURT IS MENTIONED VERY LITTLE BUT THAT IS WHY IT IS CALLED A PRIVATE LIFE. HE DOES A VERY GOOD JOB GOING THROUGH HIS LIFE IN BASKETBALL MENTIONING HIS OPINIONS AND INSIGHT ON SEVERAL OPPONENTS, TEAMATES, COACHES, AND WORK ETHIC. I REALLY ENJOYED THIS EASY READING AND INTERESTING STORY. JUST WISH IT WAS A BIT LONGER. RECOMMENDED FOR ALL NBA FANS.
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Summary: LARRY BIRD SCORES ON THIS BOOK
Review: This book is great for any fan of Larry Bird. But, if you are not, you will become aggravated by reading this book. Grammatical errors and poor writing are littered throughout this entire book. Larry is my favorite athlete of all time, yet I still think he sounds like a moron in this book. Rich Garces is so good.
Rating: 
Summary: It's called organization, Larry
Review: This book is great for any fan of Larry Bird. But, if you are not, you will become aggravated by reading this book. Grammatical errors and poor writing are littered throughout this entire book. Larry is my favorite athlete of all time, yet I still think he sounds like a moron in this book. Rich Garces is so good.
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Summary: Bird is God
Review: This book tells the greatness of Larry Bird. Excellent ! A MUST READ
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Summary: Great Basketball Book!
Review: This book truely is a great basketball book. Obviously written by one of the NBA's greatest players, you get to be in the mind of Larry Bird, and see for yourself what he was like, from his point of view. The book spends the majority of the time on his NBA because of the success he had as a player. I really liked the fact that Larry gave his respect to his opponents and their fans, and that he didn't write from a egotistical stand point. There were only two things that I think could've been better the book, the first was that it didn't really talk too much his work ethic in his high school years. It did mention it occasionaly, and obviously we know he had a great work ethic, it just didn't mention it much. The other thing was the Indiana State-Michigan State rivalry. Again, it mentioned it, but it didn't talk about it that much. Overall, I loved the book and I think you will too! Read it!
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Summary: Can't wait to read it again!!!!
Review: this book was fantastic. the name of this book says it all. Drive. the story of drive and deterination to over come obstcals, to be one of the best pro players of all time
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Summary: I love Larry, I sort of liked Drive
Review: This book was, in a word, harmless. It pretty much tells the story of Larry's life in monotone, without evidencing much emotion one way or the other. To be truthful, love him though I do, it reads exactly in the same flat sense as Larry interviews: without much emotion, steadily, even-handedly, and passionlessly. There is no gossip or bad-mouthing whatsoever in this book, to the point where you start to question the Birdman's candor, since he can't find anything bad to say about anyone. The name dropping got to be too much, too, until you were awash in characters (many of whom were just mentioned once or twice, never to show up again), and had trouble remembering which guy came from where. [Lucky for me I remembered a lot of the Celtics games from being a Boston fan back in the day- I can't imagine the torture of sorting out the names for the uninitiated.] The end seems rushed, too, and drops away from the linear style of the rest of Drive, lapsing into stream-of-consciousness essays on a random variety of topics. It is filler, really, to achieve a certain number of pages, and the book would have been better if Larry had waited a couple of years. That way he could have written about his career's end and filled the rest of the pages of his autobiography with a recounting of actual basketball tales and events, instead of hollow ruminating on topics any number of players could have commented on in the same fashion.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: this is a Great Book on one of Basketball's Greatest Player's&minds.Bird tells of his Nba Career&His Relationships with Indiana State,The Boston Celtics,Magic Johnson&His View on the NBA on a Whole.Bird was something else on the COurt&Off as a Coach.A Must Read.
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Summary: Great story....Poorly told
Review: to any larry bird fan this is a very good book. if you play basketball it is ok. And if you are just an average reader who reads this book for whatever reason, then this book is Ok. The story without a doubt is inspirational to young basketball players, however the story is weakened by its lack in structure. bird constantly bouces from subject to subject in one paragraph. The book is definetly worth a look.
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