Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 16-20 of 21
 An insider's look at the NBA February 13, 2008
Hizon (Makati Philippines)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Keith Glass takes us behind the scenes on what goes on behind the glitz of an NBA game. He gives us lots of behind the scenes action, insider information and laugh-out loud anecdotes, which are all fun to read. However, that lies the shortcoming of this book. It is just that. Full of anecdotes. According to the cover copy, it's about the incredible truth about the NBA. The problem is, the book is so scattered, there's no central topic, even if Keith Glass said it's about NBA player's sense of entitlement, it doesn't come out that way since there are chapters that digress from this subject. Reading the book, it switches from an autobiography, to the pratfalls of being an honorable agent to stories about his clients to an advice on how to improve the US Men's Basketball team. The topics meander and Glass seems to be trying hard to be a comedy writer in his next life. Still, Taking Shots is an enjoyable if not (very) light read. It is not in the level of Terry Pluto's Loose Balls or as controversial as Phil Jackson's last book. The supposed subject on what makes the NBA fail today (as written in sleeves) is not discussed in-depth and if it was discussed, the writing is not that clear to be understood what the point is all about. Keith Glass, being an agent, should've called his agent so he could've secured a good editor for his book.
First half 5 Stars, second half 1 March 27, 2009
K. Martinson (Mass)
The first half of this book was tremendous. If he stopped after his chapter on Mark Eaton and Chuck Nevitt it would be a 5 star book.
The book just really slows as it enters the second half and turns into Larry Browns Autobiography.
The first half is a must read though!
OK , but a disappointment December 13, 2007
Olaf
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
My largest disappointment with this book was the lack of focus on the agent aspect of Glass's life. The stories were about his clients, and there are some situation he's found himself that are the result of being an agent, but they often weren't about actually what it was like to be an agent. Negotiation tales were vague and general, most of the players he told stories about were non-stars if not entirely unrecognizable.
His portion of the book that addressed what was wrong with the NBA was hardly a revelation; I think most people know that the basketball being played in the NBA is lousy, so that assessment from Glass is not shattering any illusions. Further, his suggestions for how to "fix" the NBA are pipe dreams, at best, even if some would make sense.
There is enough humor and behind-the-scenes type of stories to keep the book interesting, but there's an awful lot of pages for what seems like very little substance. The content does not live up to the expectations created by the title.
Finally, and this is a very picky detail, there are typos galore in this book. I generally thought books had editors to catch such things, but there is a variety of glaring errors throughout.
 Eh... April 9, 2008
Postman35 (USA)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I read a ton of books, mostly history and sports books. This book does have some interestng stories, he tries to hard to preach and the book never seems to flow. Granted, I bought it for 6 bucks but it's simply not worth the cover price.
 So Bad March 15, 2007
J. Hartig
6 out of 12 found this review helpful
This book is bad. I find myself spending half the time reading the book, and the other half scratching my head. There are no real Tall Tales or Bizzare Battles as the title suggests. He spends a chapter here talking about Mahmoud Abdul Rauf, then a chapter there about some Greek guy who hereprestented. Both chapters are complete non-stories (The Abdul Rauf story has passed and been covered, and noone cares about the Greek guy), but are described in painstakingly minute detail.
There are many typos. I mean words in there twice, sentences that don't make sense when due to words being in the wrong places, and my favorite, misspelled names. I mean if the book is about Basketball and Basketball people, shouldn't the author spell their names right, or at least get an editor to fix them if they're wrong? (Myles Brand, Eric Dampier, Amare Stoudamire off the top of my head)
The author complains about how the NBA can be a ripoff (read the description), but frankly, I think the agent in him might be using this sorry excuse for a book to rip off NBA fans.
Showing reviews 16-20 of 21
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