Customer Reviews

Muhammad Ali: Through the Eyes of the World

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Following the recent release of Hollywood's horrible 'ALI' movie, we have yet another book attempting to ride the Ali bandwagon. The best thing about this book is that it contains a lot of cool photographs that I hadn't seen before. Very little of the text is new or insightful, though. With few exceptions, these people just retrace the same old tired topics. Ali refused to go to Vietnam, Ali won the heavyweight title, Ali is funny, Ali is kind, etc... True, but how many different times do I need to hear somebody say this? Of all the people chosen to comment in this book, few of them have anything unique to say about the man. In addition, a lot of these people don't really seem to know fact from legend. For example, several references are made to the story about Ali throwing his Olympic medal into the river. This is complete fiction, dreamed up for the '70's book and movie, "The Greatest". In reality, he just lost the medal somewhere. There are a few good entries here, such as the ones by referee Arthur Mercante, Bert Sugar, Angelo Dundee, daughter Hana, ex-wife Veronica, and several people who fought against or helped train Muhammad. These cover less than 1/2 the book, though. Instead of getting some comedian who's never even met the man, why not get Joe Frazier or Ken Norton or George Foreman or Ali's current wife Lonnie or his best friend Howard Bingham to comment? How about his brother, Rahman? Leon Spinks, even. The editing is atrocious, at least in the hardcover edition. If you really want to read something about Ali that's well written and well researched, I would suggest the great books 'Muhammad Ali, His Life and Times' by Thomas Hauser and 'King of the World' by David Remnick.

Muhammed Ali: Through the Eyes of the World by Mark Collings and Lennox Lewis helped me tremendously to understand the life of Muhammed Ali. This book kept me interested throughout. What was unique about this book that kept me wondering what was behind the next page was that it was told from many people's eyes, not the authors'. From his opponents to his four wives, you got the story from everyone. When someone's story started to get old, here it was, a new story. The different commentaries give you his whole life story. You hear about the way he fought, how he loved kids, his love for entertaining, his generosity, you hear it all. After reading the book I had the feeling that I knew Ali as a person. I give this book five stars. If I could, I would give it more.

"Muhammad Ali: Through the Eyes of the World" is a fine documentation, which tells the story of a fine man. It was a good effort by Lennox Lewis, (a heavyweight champion), and Mark Collings; although that I didn't come across any new event or issue regarding the life of this greatest champion that sports has ever known. However, since most books that bear Ali's perspectives are hard to find in continental Europe, I was more than glad to lay my hands on this one.
I have either heard or read every story that I found on the pages of this book, yet, the refreshment it offered was great. I had a satisfactory pastime with it; and I guess that you'll cherish it too.
No matter how much you know about The Greatest, this book will certainly knit-up your weekend. The chapters are well-arranged, and the overall documentation is cute.

I just got done reading the King of the world by David Remnick and he did a wonderful job portraying that first part of Muhammads life. But This book, Through the eyes of the world, did so much more for me to understand the life of Muhammad Ali. It is absolutly astonding how people pictured him and how they admire him now. There is no specific writer, it's all comwntaries from different people, actors, writers, poets, photographers, trainers, etc. This book shows whaty kind of a man he truly was, not the man that the public wants you to think he was. He was a man that stood up for himself better than anyone. He got Boxing out of control of the mob and defied how the white man wanted black boxers to act. Some comentaries in this book are short and some are long, but all give very good and detailed explainations and descriptions of how they viewd Muhammad Ali. I give this book a definate 5 stars. I would give it 6 stars if I could. What the heck, I'd give it 100 stars. In fact I do, I give this book 100 stars.