The Mamba Mentality: How I Play

WHY: Whilst I had always heard about Kobe Bryant in the periphery of pop culture, I resolved to better understand what “The Mamba Mentality” was after his tragic passing last year. Basketball as a sport is something I'm slowly gaining more interest in, and I've also been reading various sport biographies/ autobiographies for personal interest.
CONTENT: Unlike other non-fiction books, there were countless short (1-page) chapters preceded by an image from Kobe's playing career, sometimes with handwritten notes on the photograph. Whilst I initially found these bite-sized gems of raw information refreshing, it became monotonous after a while, especially with the lack of timeline structure. Interestingly, there were a lot of features on specific coaches, teammates and opposition players.
WRITING: A great foreword, and then Bryant has a very clear, easy-to-understand voice throughout the text.
WHO: I would have given this a 4/5 if I was a basketball player/ fan, especially during the second section “Craft”. Honestly, I got a lot of surface-level knowledge on the sport of basketball and its characters during Kobe's era, but some of the terminology flew past me, and I felt as if I had to create my own understanding of “The Mamba Mentality” from the disparate headings.