Total Basketball: The Ultimate Basketball Encyclopedia FROM THE PUBLISHER
Total Basketball is the fifth book in the successful series of Total encyclopedias, following Total Baseball, Total Football, Total Hockey and Total Tennis. Combining original essays from award-winning authors, historic feature articles from the archive of SPORT Magazine, the most comprehensive statistical register available covering every player in NBA history, biographies of the top players in the game, plus complete results, award winners and records, Total Basketball sets the standard in the feild of basketball reference books.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
At 1488 pages, Total Basketball is a reference work whose ambitious goal is to do no less than cover the entire history of basketball from creator James Naismith's first peach basket games in the 1890s to the opening tip of the 2003 season. To this end, it does a fairly good job. The first section is composed of articles divided into chronological categories spanning from the early days (1891-1945) to the "modern game" (1970-2003). There are also special sections for featured articles: leagues other than the NBA, college basketball, and international basketball. The majority of this work's gross tonnage, however, is made up of the player register-a list of nearly 5000 players from all the leagues covered by the book. Each player entry includes all the subject's statistics as well as a computed score called Points Created, which combines positive stats (points, rebounds, assists) with negative ones (missed free throws, turnovers) and gives a score between 0 and 1000. The Points Created system is unique to Total Basketball and a good way to compare or rank players across many years, but it is questionable as to how many readers, other than true fanatics, would find it useful. The NBA's own Official NBA Encyclopedia is comparable, but Official's articles are generally better written and its content is better organized, all of which makes it a bit more serviceable as a reference book. Still, Total Basketball is a very good companion for serious basketball fans and is recommended for any sports collection.-James Miller, Springfield Coll. Libs., MA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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