Bird Watching: On Playing and Coaching the Game I Love by Larry Bird

Bird Watching: On Playing and Coaching the Game I Love Reviews

• 
  Paxton Holley

  One of my favorite basketball players reflecting back on his career and talking about coaching in the NBA. Great book. Lots of insights. Bought off the shelf the year it was released.
  
  Update 2020: Re-Read this. Still holds up. I enjoy reading Bird’s thoughts on basketball, the League, and now coaching. Great read.
• 
  Kurt Vosper

  A good book about Larry Bird. Written in his words, mainly about the end of his playing career and the post playing days. Not as engaging as the Dr J or Michael Jordan books. It does seem when reading it that Larry feels misunderstood by a lot of his peers but you can also see by what he says that a lot of that may have been his fault as he didn't feel he had to explain himself to anyone. Sad circumstances about his relationship with the Celtics at the end. Overall a good read for a fan.
• 
  adrian

  Reading this book really gave me a few insights inside one of the many games that i love. Larry Bird stayed true to who he was and conquered the game via playing and coaching, i do wish him luck now that he owns teams.
• 
  Jeff

  Good story about Bird, I was hoping it would have gone into more detail though.
• 
  Cameron Chase

  One of the things people know about Larry Bird was that he was an incredible basketball player, and captured many young fans in the world. He did it with his creativity and passing, one of the things that he was great at. But, one of the things that was never suspected, was Larry making a book about himself. It didn’t really seem like his personality, making a book about his own life. But it still works. He does talk a lot about his positives in the NBA, like his success in winning championships and winning MVP, but he also talks about his negatives, like his back problems and how the management was falling apart at the end of his career. He doesn’t do it in order though, just in selective chapters he will talk about a specific thing, and it’s quite interesting to hear from his perspective. It’s quite an enjoyable book, to be honest. The way he talks about a subject is very interesting to hear from him. And there are loads of interesting topics from him, from when he was a coach and when he was a NBA player. The only thing that I don’t like is how Larry sometimes goes off track sometimes, which is annoying. Other than that, the book is absolutely amazing and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the opinions of Larry Bird.
  
• 
  Susan Sanders

  Read aloud to Paul while in car or while he was cooking.
  
  Larry comes across like as asshole in this book. He does not care about salary, but when he negotiated he wanted what Ewing got. He did not get on his players until he told them they played like they did not care. Constantly contradicted himself. Ugh
• 
  Simon Sweetman

  More towards his coaching years than the playing years (because those had been largely covered already). But still some good tough insights in here. Unremarkable prose and emotionally very withdrawn, but what a legacy still.
• 
  Brian

  A first hand account from Larry Bird of his NBA playing career and coaching career, with many interesting observations about his competition, players he played or coached, and what the future holds.
• 
  Justin Massey

  I enjoyed it. A lot of interesting thoughts/quotes from Mr. Bird in this book.
• 
  Denny Troncoso

  I enjoyed the story. The book gives you a glimpse inside Larry Birds mind. It is not for those looking for his workout routine even though its discussed briefly.
• 
  Michael

  My largest problem with this book was that I listened to the audiobook, which was not read by Mr. Bird, and while the reader wasn’t bad, it wasn’t Larry. Whereas had I read the book, my mind could have better heard the words in Larry’s voice.
  
  Anytime Larry Bird wants to talk about Basketball I am up for listening.
• 
  Arthur

  This was a great book that really explained who Larry Bird was as a person and his difficulties with coaching and injuries. I liked the way he gave his perspective on things and how he had such a close bond with his teammates. Through and through this book was very good and the subject was very good.
• 
  Mirageboys

  Loved reading about all of the personalities and behind the scenes for both the Indiana Pacers and Boston Celtics, as well as his memories of competing in the Olympics. If you love the NBA, Larry Bird or the Boston Celtics -- this is a must read.
• 
  Chris

  A great follow-up to "Drive", Larry takes us into the days following his retirement, and through his coaching journey. Again, well worth the read for basketball fans, but a definite must-read for fans of one of the greatest players in NBA history.
• 
  Mike

  One of my favorite Celtics. Written with Jackie MacMullen, one of the great sports journalist out of Boston, this is a must read for any Celtic or Larry Bird fan.
  
  A book about how the game is supposed to be played. By a player who did!
• 
  Mike

  A good look into the NBA, but Larry seems a little pompous.
• 
  Jovan Johnson

  i love his basketball skills
• 
  Jefe

  I really like this book. However it was written nearly 20 years ago and so some of the references are out of date. But it is so much fun to read Larry birds on words.
• 
  William

  Bird Watching is a good book about Larry Bird and his life around basketball. It mostly talks about his life after basketball and a lot about him playing in the olympics. It is a very good book for a fan to read.