Why Michael Couldn't Hit, and Other Tales of the Neurology of Sports: And Other Tales of the Neurology of Sports [Hardcover]

Harold L. Klawans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1996

This work explores and explains the neurological twists and turns that helped make some of the world's greatest athletes as successful as they are, or, conversely, those neurological factors that eventually ended their careers. Sports covered include baseball, track and field, basketball, golf and boxing. Individual athletes featured include Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, and Wilma Randolph.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A professor of neurology at Rush Medical College in Chicago, Klawans is that rara avis, a scientist with an interest in sports. He has combined the two to produce this enlightening study based on the successes, failures and tragedies of major sports figures such as Michael Jordan, whose unexcelled abilities in basketball did not carry over to baseball; Primo Carnera, the boxer whose acromegalic gigantism caused his death; Muhammad Ali, proof positive that the aim in boxing is to cause brain damage; Wilma Rudolph, who overcame crippling polio to become an Olympic running champion; and Babe Didrickson Zaharias, in Klawans's view the greatest athlete of this century. Readers also learn about the development of the neurological system and the ways drug therapy may help those with certain neurological disorders. A superb contribution by a writer who can make recondite physiological information comprehensible to lay readers. Photos.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This is a fascinating study by a well-known neurologist/pharmacologist (Toscanini's Fumble and Other Tales of Clinical Neurology, Contemporary Bks., 1988. o.p.). Klawans explains how achievements and disappointments in certain sports can be traced to events of the brain. Specifically, an athlete develops skills at an early age, so trying to foster new talents later is next to impossible. Michael Jordan, who is referenced in the book's title, is a good example. The author chronicles the experiences of several competitors, including Roger Bannister, who utilized his knowledge of the nervous system to break the four-minute mile, and Babe Didrikson Zaharias's heroics in more than one sport. Incidentally, Michael couldn't hit a baseball because of his reflexes. (You have to read Chapter 4 to believe it!) Worthwhile for public libraries.?Larry Robert Little, Penticton Pub. Lib., British Columbia, Canada
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 308 pages
• Publisher: W.H. Freeman & Company; 1 edition (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0716730014
• ISBN-13: 978-0716730019
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,559,156 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A trifling investment of fact..., May 9, 2005

By 

A. D. Fails (Pierce, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Why Michael Couldn't Hit, and Other Tales of the Neurology of Sports: And Other Tales of the Neurology of Sports (Hardcover)

This is the fifth book I've read by the late Harold Klawans, a practicing neurologist and writer of both fiction (mysteries, which I have not read) and non-fiction (clinical neurology written for the lay reader). Dr. Klawans owes success in this second venue to his lucid and amiable style, much like his better-known colleague, Oliver Sacks. In "Why Michael Couldn't Hit," Dr. Klawans uses a series of contemporary and historic sports figures to teach on a variety of neurologic concepts. Not surprisingly, these are stories about motor disorders, Dr. Klawans' specific area of expertise.

The titular story is the one that is most likely to attract the curiosity of the potential reader, as Dr. Klawans uses Michael Jordan's disappointing performance in Major League Baseball to discuss the important concept of motor learning in the human brain. Of the interesting stories in this book, however, I found this one the most disappointing, inasmuch as Dr. Klawans uses it to elaborate on his ideas about the nature of Parkinsonism (ideas he also outlined in an essay from "Strange Behavior"). It's not that these are clearly wrong so much as that they are unsubstantiated and yet delivered with an air of certainty and authority that might be mistaken for proof. This highlights another of this book's weaknesses: although he has provided a list for people interested in further reading, this list is not a bibliography (in the scientific writing sense); repeatedly during my reading, I was left with a sense that I wanted questionable statements footnoted so that I could verify their confident assertion. As Mark Twain once noted about science: "One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture on such a trifling investment of fact."

"Why Michael Couldn't Hit" has much to offer the reader, so long as (s)he maintains a healthy level of scepticism where Dr. Klawans strays too far into speculation. For the reader new to Dr. Klawans, I actually recommend two out-of-print books: Toscanini's Fumble and Newton's Madness.