Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant Audio CD – Unabridged, October 25, 2016

Add supreme self-confidence to the above formula and you have the making of a superstar, as this biography so clearly delineates. An NBA veteran father, a domineering mother, some childhood years in Italy, high school back in Pennsylvania, Shaq, Phil Jackson, sexual assault charges, and Kobe's often polarizing competitiveness, are among the topics dealt with in depth. Sharper editing would have improved the book, for there are imprecise references scattered about (who's "he" ?) and repetitiveness that even includes a few whole sentences reoccurring word-for-word. Nonetheless, Lazenby now has three rather definitive sports bios under his belt, for Kobe, Jerry West, and Michael Jordan, with the latter probably the best one.

Kobe Bean Bryant’s story was captivating, personal, and full of life lessons. The author did much research capturing all angles of Bryant’s career and personal journey.As a Kobe fan through and through, I greatly appreciated learning more about his approach to his work, life, and career. Sometimes seen as extreme, Kobe’s style of competition and decision making made him exactly who he was—the Black Mamba!I highly recommend reading this book. No one could have willed themselves to achieve what Kobe did during his life.

This is the best write about Kobe I've come across. He's my favorite player of all-time and I consider myself a walking Kobe encyclopedia, this book covers more about his life/career than anything out currently. The first 100 pages or so talk about his family growing up and a lot of details about his dad Jelly Bean I hadn't known before. Highly recommend.

7 chapters dedicated to Kobe's parents before he even touches a basketball. Only 5 chapters dedicated to Kobe's life after the dynastic run with Shaq. There seems to be so much out there written on Kobe's early years and his first few years in the league, but such a drought on the majority of Kobe's adult life. The author has done a fantastic job covering #8, but such a poor job covering #24.

I had to purchase this after the loss of Kobe 💔. My significant other Leon Douglas is mentioned throughout the book especially the "Red Bicycle" chapter. He played with Kobe's Dad, Joe "Jellybean" in Italy and knew him as a child. Reading this book brought all of the stories that I'd heard to to a vivid reality. 💜

A really great really feel like I got a lot of insight as to what made Kobe Bryant take seeing some perceptions reinforced some debunked all in all a great story. Even more interesting to read now that he is gone truly missed truly an all-time great.

Excellent read. In depth look on Kobe’s life from a very young age, his life in Italy and Philadelphia, his family and his rise as a professional. Would highly recommend.

The author adopts the “show, don’t tell,” approach to great effect. His is one plausible portrait of Kobe—the willful, flawed, ever-evolving genius.

I really enjoy all literature about Kobe Bean Bryant. Magazines, articles, books, I've enjoyed them all. This book is something I can add to that collection. Biographies are a tricky one as it always ends up being someone else's version of someone's story but I feel like a great job has been done here.Nothing is hidden away in this as it talks about the controversial 2002-2004 years as well as the years post-Shaq and even life without Phil. There are a lot of things that I didn't know about him purely because as popular and known all over the world Kobe is, he's still one of the more secretive people we've ever seen.Any Kobe, Lakers, or overall basketball fan should have this in their collection. It's quite the detailed read.

Just what he wanted

This book was bought as a Birthday Present for my daughter who is a great fan of the LA Lakers.I hope she enjoys it as it arrived way too late for her special day, it was due between February 27 to March 10& finally arriving on Tuesday 17th March, 2020.I looked inside to see a section with coloured photographs & quite impressed with it.

Libro molto interessante. Inizialmente sembra perdersi in storie e aneddoti che appaiono inutili ai fini della comprensione della "persona" Kobe, ma poco a poco i tasselli vanno al posto giusto e si comprende il perché della fame di competizione che lo ossessionava.

Antes la mesa de la cocina estaba coja y se me derramaba la sopa cada vez que comía. Desde que compré el libro la mesa sigue coja pero por lo menos tengo un libro más para decorar las estanterías.