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The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life's Journey

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I have always been curious about the man who calls himself Muhammad Ali. Curiousity then turned into fascination when I saw Will Smith's fantastic portrayal of Ali. And then finally, When I saw this book I felt the urge to read it.

The book is nothing short of fantastic. It takes you on a journey through the remarkable learnings of this great man and moves you to tears at some points. It's not a very intense read and as the publisher mentions, its more of a compilation of abstract values Ali has learned and picked up over his life. He talks about these values and peppers them with anectodes and incidents in his life.

Whatever you may think of this man, this books is as close to heart as it gets. I was touched by his honesty and and simple logic to life. It will show you a man who is a giant. A giant with the soul of a butterfly.

No matter who you are or where you are from or what you think of Ali, you can benefit from this book. If only to show you a side of Ali you never saw or (like me) be taken through a powerful journey, this book will be a great read for you.

I bought this book because I was a big Muhammad Ali fan--not only of his boxing, but of his life--and found that I am a bigger fan for having read it.

There are great messages spread like little nuggets of knowledge throughout the book. Ali says the way he judges if he's doing and good with his life is by asking himself if he would be happy with the way he lived today if he died tonight? His life story is broken up with mini lessons from Sufi wisdom and other teachings that apply to his life.

Ali speaks with great depth about his relationship with God and elaborates his thoughts on the role of religion in our lives. One of his great messages is a message of tolerance (he says no one religion is better than the other and they all have the same basic messages, to love our fellow humans).

And while this book is not written with the hand of a literary pro, that might be what's best about it. It's a simple read from a complex man. The book is moving and worth a little time and thought.

Some of the treasures of this book are the apologies Muhammed makes to certainpeople he feels that he hurt in his lifetime. I won't give them away here to spoil it, but they are pretty surprising. Also quite interesting is Ali's ranking of his toughest fights. Surprisingly--Kenny Norton's name does not make the list.

The physical layput of the book is very interesting. The pages alternalte betwwen parch paper and tradtional book pages. The chapter layouts are disjointed but make for interesting visual as you read.

One one criticism is that the flow of the book is a bit disjointed at times so that you dont know where Ali is going with the flow of the chapters. maybe that was done on purpose, but I found it a little off kilter at times.

The graphics in the book have the look and feel of the 'SHROUD OF JESUS' imprint.

Read this book if you are looking for inspiration from a man who could have sounded bitter about his life but chose to meet the challenge head on and live life to the fullest

ln this book we get a look at Ali now, the man he has become over the years. He reflects back through life, talks about his life today, the Parkinson's, and all the things he has learned along the way. This book makes you love him, it really does. lt's sprinkled with little quotes of sufi wisdom and stories, a few photos, poems etc. When you get to the page titled 'happy memories' its very moving....You see why he is such an inspiration to so many, someone who stood up to everyone no matter what they thought, never let anything get him down, and took pride in his race. lf your looking for the best Ali book, as far as details and tons of info. then without a doubt read 'the greatest-my own story' written by Ali himself. You cant get a better picture of him than through his own words and perspectives. Other books about him tell from the authors perspectives of Ali and his actions, ld much rather see it from Ali's view. "Of all the men i have fought, Liston was the scariest, Foreman was the most powerful, Patterson was the most skillful. The toughest was Joe Frazier."

This beautiful summary of Ali's life is not just a gift to his kids but to all of America as well. In his own simple words, Ali shares with us his greatest triumphs and his worse agonies. It is all done with the same Ali, verve, upbeat spirit, and of course with smatterings of his homespun poetry. It is a superb collection of wisdom and witticisms that greatly enriches all who read them. The arc of the amplitude of his life is breathtakingly wide in scope. And I am fortunate in having had the good luck to have met him on three different occasions, and to have been touched by his style, grace and confidence on many others. All have been memorable experiences for me personally.

Some of the things he shares in this short volume come as a surprise even to me, one who kept up with his career almost religiously. For instance, I never knew that the Nation of Islam was against his refusal to go to Vietnam, and that he was expelled from the sect as a result of it? Nor did I know that he was refused a seat in a Louisville restaurant in 1960 while holding both the key to the city and while wearing his Olympic Gold Medal? Nor did I even know that he had actually denounced Malcolm X and "sided" with Elijah Muhammad in the feud between his two spiritual leaders: the feud that ended in Malcolm's death? Nor did I know that he was a Sunni Moslem? Or that he had thrown his Olympic Gold Medal into the Ohio River?

Although the book only reflects it indirectly, Ali is proof, that, whether black or white, we are all still part of the "American racial holocaust": A part of the Big American racial lie. The truths that Ali could not reveal directly in this book is common knowledge to all the world, that:

America hated Ali the same way it hated Dr. Martin Luther King, not for his arrogance, nor for his refusal to go to the war, but for being a proud black warrior in a "white only world." And then he used his pride and his boxing skills to take over the stage of America's drama of heroism, formerly reserved for white males only (or occasionally for others designated American "sanctioned Heroes," of which Ali clearly was not one). America's highly touted religion freedoms ceased to apply when this "proud black warrior" at center stage in the American drama, where he was not supposed to be, chose to exercise that freedom to, first become a Muslim, and then to refuse to go to war to kill others at the U.S. behest.

For exercising his religious freedom in these two ways, many interpreted both of his actions as the supreme insult to the nation's sensibilities. As a result, America tried to take away everything he had: his livelihood, his title, his fame, his money, the best years of his youth, his pride, his confidence: I know, I visited him in his home in Chicago during the Christmas of 1969 when he was in the deepest part of his "in country exile." But even though they took away everything else, they could not take away his pride or his confidence or his belief in his new found God.

America was most gleeful about dragging him off center stage, but even off center stage, his quiet strength grew to even greater proportions than his physical strength: Ali became larger than life outside the ring, not within it. When America saw that his quiet strength was greater than his pugilistic prowess, they knew they could not defeat him, in or out of the ring. Thus, there was no choice but to capitulate: After the Supreme Court Decision, America "ate crow" but they did not apologize for stealing the best four years of his youth, or taking away his title. They just cheered wildly when Joe Frazier beat him. This humbled him enough for white America to embrace him, but still without apologies. It was done as much to continue making money off of him, and so that they could now claim him as their own, and then be able to bask in his larger than life aura, as to redeem America's much embarrassed soul.

Because America's past is so ugly, it is very much the American way to pretend that nothing at all has ever happened in the past. The "bad Ali tape" was simply erased from the collective cultural memory banks: no apologies necessary, the same as it was done for Dr. Martin Luther King: one day King was a villain, the next a martyr, the next day a hero? Such is the nature of true "Black" heroes in America: Muhammad Ali, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charley Parker, Sugar Ray Robinson, Malcolm X, Paul Roberson, WEB Du Bois, Eldridge Cleaver, Stokley Carmichael, Fanny Lou Hammer and on and on.

But the racist American system can never "own" Ali, no matter how many Olympic torches they allow him to carry around the stadium, because he beat the American system in the same way he beat all of his opponents in the ring: fair and square. He looked it in the eye and refused to buckle. And this book proves that Ali won, this, his most important bout, with the strength of his character

It is very heartening to feel the gentleness and deep caring for humanity from such a powerful man like Mohamed Ali. Reading of this book fills you with hope, love and light.

It is a wonderful book to read, it brings into context the man behind that face that shook the world. It is a spiritual journey into Muhammad's soul, a man that has devoted his life to helping others and to standing behind what he believed in. A great book to make you feel good about the world.

As if it hasn't been an honor enough simply sharing the planet with this remarkable man, now reading this book was like spending a couple evenings with the great one, sitting at his feet as he unleashed a flurry of wit, wisdom and insightful philosophies of his life, sprituality, and his views of the world. Ali is a very wise man indeed, and as he states in this book, if he had not been the greatest fighter of all time, he would have been just as great at what ever he set his mind to do. This is a loving, caring, and very compassionate man of peace and love, and this memoir is a testament to that. As a kid, Ali was my hero. As a grown man, he remains just as big a hero, even bigger still, and I do not take for granted that we still have him with us. The world would become a much emptier place without Muhammad Ali, and may he live long and happy. I fought back some tears reading this book, and could barely put it down. Do yourself a favor and spend a couple nights with the greatest.

I grew up with Muhammad Ali and only knew of his character from what the press was showing us. I have a new found respect and gratitude for reading about the true person behind the persona. Muhammad Ali is truly a spiritual being and a role model for all.

A third of this book is pure junk, purely awful. A third of it is okay, interesting in spots. A third of it gets you inside the soul of a great man, and you come away with a new idea of who he was and what it takes, in the heart, to be like that. Most great athletes are interesting because they're great athletes, though, objectively, reading about them, reading what they have to say, their athletic greatness, you have to say, is coincidental to who they are as men. With Ali, it seems different. You're tempted to believe he was a great fighter because he was a great man. This book helps one understand that.