Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections on and Off the Court

Reader reviewed by JJLR

Review of Wooden

By: John Wooden

           

In the book Wooden, by the legendary UCLA basketball
coach John Wooden, life lessons are given throughout. At first this book
appears to be about only basketball but in reality it is much more. Wooden
gives examples of how he perceived different situations and how those who read
his book can become better people.

            John
Wooden was born in rural Hall, Indiana in 1910. This was where he began his
observations on how his parents, teachers, and coaches handled lifes situations.
These observations would effect how he lived out the rest of his life. He later
went to the Purdue
University and became an
All-American guard there. From there he became a coach at UCLA where he coached
from 1948 until 1975 all the while winning 10 national championships: the most
ever won by any one NCAA Division One basketball coach to date. After his
coaching career was over he traveled the country giving motivational speeches
to groups of all ages who wanted to learn from his many life-enhancing instructions.
On June 4, 2010 John Wooden died of natural causes, almost fittingly, at the Ronald Reagan
UCLA Medical Center at the age of 99. Even though Wooden is gone his
ideas still live on today because of their timeless meanings and through his
great book on how to live life: Wooden.

            This book is not written
in the traditional chapter by chapter style that readers are accostomed to.
Each example Wooden gives the reader has a title explaining the next section of
the book. These sections last from one paragraph to multiple pages depending on
how important that lesson was to him and how he believed a reader could use it
in their lives. Wooden also reveals the key to success in his book in the form
of a pyramid along with a rational of each block that forms it. These examples
are helpful to anyone who reads this book no matter their athletic or
intelectual abilities.

Our opinion of Wooden was that it was a
well put together and informative book. These smaller sections made it more
interesting, easier to comprehend, and easier to read than a traditional book.
Overall this book made a large impact on each person that read it and will
continue to do so for the rest of our lives because of these quality life
lessons Wooden has given us here in his book.

            We enjoyed this book very
much the entire time we read it. Each and everytime you picked it up you would
wonder what new life lesson you would learn and be able to incorporate into your
everyday life. Because of this we would highly reccomend this book to anyone
who likes sports, wants to become more successful in life, or even just become
a better person all around.  If you fit
into one of these categories, or even of you dont, this is an amazing book
that you will definetly take great life lessons away from; so enjoy a
spectactualr book and begin reading Wooden today.

Reader reviewed by Dani

John Wooden was a coach for UCLA basketball. He won ten national championships and gives tips on how to live a good life on and off the court. He was a very successful man.


We enjoyed Wooden very much because it was an easy read. What we liked about this book is that it had segments of helpful tips instead of chapters. Also, we liked how it made you think of your life and possibly how to change it. We would recommend Wooden to anyone who has an interest in sports, and wants to read an experienced coachs observations on life, sports, and coaching.

Reader reviewed by Chubs

Wooden by Steve Jamison

In Wooden, the short biography of Coach John Wooden, readers learn through him simple and straight forward ways to live the most meaningful life. Coach Wooden lived what he preached. His message spread to all parts of the country. Wooden was an extremely selfless person who put others above himself at all times. He did his best not to complain and to stay positive about every situation. Not simply athletes, but all people can find inspiration in this book.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It gave me insight to many different things in my life. I actually took a step back and looked at my life from someone elses shoes for once. It made me realize that I am not even close to an ideal person. There are few people, either living or dead, who could put themselves on Coach Woodens level. He was and still is a very humble man, a quality to be admired. He has a lot of small things to remember about life. Some of these concepts seem almost too simple to be relevant to life.

Coach John Wooden learned everything he knew from his father. He respects his father more than any other person. One thing that Johns father said was to abide by the two sets of threes. They were, 1) Never lie. 2) Never cheat. 3) Never Steal. And the second set was, 1) Dont whine. 2) Dont complain. 3) Dont make excuses. These are simple things to follow. But we have all broken them numerous times and not even realized it.

I recommend this book to all athletes, even hockey players. Woodens philosophies are for all sports, not just basketball. And all people can follow his life goals. I believe that if everyone was a John Wooden, we would have a perfect world. This book should not only be read by athletes but by all people. It talks about teaching, mentoring, and coaching. At some point in our lives, everyone will have done at least one of these three. Even if it is a younger sibling looking up to you or a student asking for help on their next exam. This book should be remembered for its profound but very accurate outlooks on life.