A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more



or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering
Sell Us Your Item
For a $1.40 Gift Card
Trade in
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Start reading A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Color:
Image not available

To view this video download Flash Player

 

A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton [Paperback]

John McPhee
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)

List Price: $16.00
Price: $10.98 & FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $5.02 (31%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Want it Wednesday, May 22? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition $9.99  
Hardcover --  
Paperback $10.98  
Audio, Cassette --  
Unknown Binding --  
Image
Save on Popular Books This Summer
Browse our Bookshelf Favorites store for big savings on popular fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and more.

Book Description

June 30, 1999
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.
 
 

Frequently Bought Together

A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton + The Headmaster: Frank L. Boyden of Deerfield + Oranges
Price for all three: $32.96

Buy the selected items together


Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

First published in 1965, A Sense of Where You Are is the literary equivalent of a harmonic convergence, a remarkable confluence of two talents--John McPhee and Bill Bradley--at the beginning of what would prove to be long and distinguished careers. While McPhee would blossom into one of the best nonfiction writers of the last 35 years, Bradley segued from an all-American basketball player at Princeton, to Rhodes Scholar, to NBA star, to three terms in the U.S. Senate. McPhee noticed greatness in Bradley from the start; the book is an extension of a lengthy magazine profile McPhee wrote early in Bradley's senior year; the title comes from Bradley always knowing his position in relation to the basket. What's so noteworthy about the book is the greatness it promised--both for writer and for subject, a greatness both have delivered through the years again and again. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Immensely well-written, inspiring without being preachy, and contains as well the clearest analyses of Bradley’s moves, fakes, and shots that have appeared in print.”—Rex Lardner, The New York Times Book Review

Product Details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (June 30, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0374526893
  • ISBN-13: 978-0374526894
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John McPhee was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and was educated at Princeton University and Cambridge University. His writing career began at Time magazine and led to his long association with The New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer since 1965. The same year he published his first book, A Sense of Where You Are, with FSG, and soon followed with The Headmaster (1966), Oranges (1967), The Pine Barrens (1968), A Roomful of Hovings and Other Profiles (collection, 1969), The Crofter and the Laird (1969), Levels of the Game (1970), Encounters with the Archdruid (1972), The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed (1973), The Curve of Binding Energy (1974), Pieces of the Frame (collection, 1975), and The Survival of the Bark Canoe (1975). Both Encounters with the Archdruid and The Curve of Binding Energy were nominated for National Book Awards in the category of science.

Customer Reviews

This book is a must read for all aspiring young athletes and their parents. Karner Blue  |  7 reviewers made a similar statement
John McPhee's books pack powerful character studies into deceptively simple language. karl b.  |  3 reviewers made a similar statement
If I tell you that this is a McPhee book, and if you've read McPhee, I can basically stop there. Stephen R. Laniel  |  1 reviewer made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
John McPhee's profile of Bill Bradley at Princeton is classic McPhee: the careful, meticulous observer;the passionate but objective reporter; the master wordsmith. For anyone who hasn't read McPhee, this is a great introduction to his work (it's also McPhee's first book, and has been in print every year since it was written in the mid-'60s).

What do you call this book? Sports writing? A detailed profile? Both, I guess, and it really provides insight into Bradley's character, intelligence, and ethic of hard work and determination. McPhee has a great way of reporting the archetypical anecdotes to illustrate specific points--in this case, what a careful student of the game (and of life) Bill Bradley is. There's a great climax here, too, as we follow Bradley's career to his final game, in many ways the perfect ending to a stellar college career. Other nice touches are the photographs and the printing of an updated essay McPhee wrote about Bradley when he was campaigning for senate reelection. If enough people read this, Bradley will be a shoo-in for president.

Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars a sense of grace December 10, 1999
By karl b.
Format:Hardcover
Curious about Bill Bradley, the man? Sometimes a sense of the man can be had by looking at the youth. This book was written in 1965 after Bradley had finished his Princeton career and was on his way to Oxford. John McPhee's books pack powerful character studies into deceptively simple language. On the surface this is a book about basketball (it's a good book about basketball!), and about excellence through dedication and discipline . The ironic title refers to Bradley's always being aware of where he was on the court in relation to the basket, and to his deep sense of social responsibility for his gifts of privilege, intellect and ability. The portrayal is of a decent, conscientious young man, undistracted or affected by intense celebrity-- whose success in athletics and academics was as much a function of attitude and determination as any innate talent
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Written when Bill Bradley was still a student at Princeton, the book is a synthesis of McPhee's interviews with and observations of the three-time All American. It creates a picture of Bradley as a person of character who brings his personal integrity to whatever he does and who succeeds as a result of hard work applied in accord with his personal principles. We learn, for example, that as a youngster Bradley apparently had no special basketball ability, but he decided he wanted to play and literally taught himself the game piece-by-piece, constructing his jump shot, for example, from five separate pieces and being so aware of his movements that when he missed a shot he knew which of the five pieces he had not performed correctly. And this same dedication shows through in Bradley's pursuit of his education and in his private conduct: while a student at Princeton he taught a Sunday school class for some of the town's children, and even after a Saturday night away game (followed by a six hour bus ride, reaching campus after 4 a.m.) there was never any thought of not teaching the class the next morning. This inspirational book, A Sense of Where You Are: a profile of William Warren Bradley, gives us a very clear sense of who he is, a man of honor.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring, A Great Read
I have always loved the game of basketball, mostly because I was a tall kid and playing time came easier to me than most. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Bradley Bevers
5.0 out of 5 stars A Sense of Where You Are
"A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton" by John McPhee is an extremely well written book that chronicles Bill Bradley's college basketball career and his time at... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Ben Farber
4.0 out of 5 stars A description of mastery
I read A Sense of Where You Are because it is listed in the bibliography Mastery. It isn't a guide to mastery; it illustrates mastery using Bill Bradley as an example. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Steve Brooks
5.0 out of 5 stars The Book That Started It All
If you love McPhee, you owe it to yourself to see where he started, with this loving and obsessive portrait of Princeton varisty basketball player Bradley (later the legendary NJ... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mikey C.
1.0 out of 5 stars Propaganda - over 200 pages of bragging about the main character
After 50 pages of non-stop bragging about the central character, I started skipping ahead to see if anything of interest would happen. Unfortunately, it never does. Read more
Published 10 months ago by M. Sumpter
4.0 out of 5 stars Deliberately Stubbornly Great
I can't exactly say how I came to hear the two of them recommend this book, but when Robert Greene and Paul Graham both say something is good, I don't need to be told a third time. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Ryan C. Holiday
5.0 out of 5 stars Real Superman
John McPhee starting out as a writer profiles Bill Bradley and his Princeton Tigers basketball team, through the Ivy League and into the NCAA Tournament, leading up to Princeton... Read more
Published on March 11, 2011 by Brian
4.0 out of 5 stars A very good journalistic work
Bill Bradley was born in a small Missouri town, the son of the town's banker, who taught him discipline, hard work, and a love of learning, and his wife, a fiercely competitive but... Read more
Published on August 22, 2010 by Darryl R. Morris
5.0 out of 5 stars What I Liked, What I Didn't Like
What I Liked:

-Felt inspiring.
-Bill Bradley.

What I Didn't Like:

-The chapters after the "Profile" chapter seemed to 'lose steam'/didn't seem... Read more
Published on August 1, 2010 by WEEATHERHEAD
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Reading! Felt Like I was With Frazier & Debusschere on a fast...
Dollar Bill never really lived up to the hype of his pro career.
But he did have success on the court. His life at Princeton was interesting. Read more
Published on June 20, 2010 by Performing
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews




What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Forums

There are no discussions about this product yet.
Be the first to discuss this product with the community.
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 



So You'd Like to...



Look for Similar Items by Category