Zen of Muhammad Ali: And Other Obsessions [Unabridged] [Paperback]

Davis Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 26, 2002

This collection features Davis Miller’s celebrated trilogy of award-winning Muhammad Ali pieces, including the classic “My Dinner with Ali,” together with a provocative new essay called “The Yin and Yang of Muhammad Ali.” There are also two pieces about Miller’s unusual relationship with boxer “Sugar” Ray Leonard, and he continues to explore the Bruce Lee phenomenon. Now collected for the first time, these brilliant pieces form a haunting meditation on fighting, living, friendship, and love.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Davis Miller writes profoundly and beautifully.” – Joyce Carol Oates

From the Author

Ever since my first book, THE TAO OF MUHAMMAD ALI, was published in 1997, readers have asked me time and again where to find the magazine stories on which that book was based. I can now suggest exactly where to look -- at this volume. The first section of THE ZEN OF MUHAMMAD ALI AND OTHER OBSESSIONS comprises three of my Ali stories, as well as a new piece called "The Yin and the Yang of Muhammad Ali" that I consider to be among my most powerful work.

In addition, I've hand-picked seven directly and indirectly related stories, including an essay titled "Bruce Lee, American" that helped inspire my second book, THE TAO OF BRUCE LEE. The result is a volume about fighting -- fighting of all kinds -- public displays and personal struggles.

Recognizing that many readers are intrigued by the particulars of how and why stories come to be written -- and how they are expanded into books (and, in some cases, edited from book chapters into magazine pieces) -- I've penned either opening or closing "insider" comments on the writing process and on the origins and histories of these works. I hope that you'll enjoy THE ZEN OF MUHAMMAD ALI AND OTHER OBSESSIONS. In many ways, it is my personal favourite among my first three books.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Vintage, U.K. (March 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0099429527
• ISBN-13: 978-0099429524
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.5 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #955,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( A ) > Ali, Muhammad

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review - The Zen of Muhammad Ali, March 12, 2004

By 

LP (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zen of Muhammad Ali: And Other Obsessions (Paperback)

Keen to find out a little about boxing, I bought `The Zen of Muhammad Ali' by Davis Miller on a whim and was pleasantly surprised on a number of levels.

Davis Miller's enthusiasm for his subject is contagious - He's followed/studied Muhammad Ali with an adoring, but objective eye since 11 years of age.

Also (and this can sometimes be rare in this genre) Davis Miller can really write! It's truly wonderful, even as a part-time, half-arsed martial artist, to come cross an author who can write in a beautiful, concise and honest way about this stuff we spend so much of our time (and money) doing. Using Sugar Ray Leonard as an example, the chapter `Rapture' adroitly plumbs the depths of what motivates people to study boxing (and other martial arts).

The book is subtitled `and other obsessions' - These obsessions include an informative chapter on Bruce Lee, a short story entitled `American Video', and a beautiful chapter called `Ellen's, December 1971'. Read it and weep.

This is well crafted, sensitive writing with a distinctly American flavour - Good Americana of the Jack Kerouac/Norman Mailer/Steely Dan variety as opposed to the other rubbish that is trotted out daily to us in `The Rest of The Free World'.

Worth a read.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful, March 25, 2004

By 

Will (Charlottesville, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zen of Muhammad Ali: And Other Obsessions (Paperback)

The four Ali stories are the most intimate I've read about any celebrity. They possess a seemingly timeless beauty. The ones about Davis Miller's own life are sad and lovely and we feel ourselves inside his life. A wonderful, highly recommended read.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite books, January 17, 2004

By 

Bodhidharma (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zen of Muhammad Ali: And Other Obsessions (Paperback)

A wonderful collection of Davis Miller's essays and memoirs, some of which bacame the basis of his books "The Tao of Muhammad Ali" and "The Tao of Bruce Lee". The contents of this book are very well organized and are poignant, funny and provocative (especially the chapters titled "The Yin and Yang of Ali" and "Bruce Lee, American") in parts. Overall a very well written book by Davis Miller and I am eagerly awaiting the publication of his latest book "The last days of Bruce Lee".