The Tao of Muhammad Ali

The critically acclaimed #1 international bestseller
It begins in 1964, when a sickly twelve-year-old boy stares at a TV image of the soon-to-be-greatest athlete of all time. It grows into a unique and powerful relationship that lasts for more than thirty years and forever changes the author's life. An original and inspiring coming-of-age story now lets you journey with them and experience...The Tao of Muhammad Ali.
There are those who study faults in the earth's crust or the habits of storms or galaxies. Others meditate on a single social movement or the work of one man. For Davis Miller, the path to enlightenment coursed through the phenomenon known as Muhammad Ali.
Through Ali's influence, Davis teaches himself boxing and the martial arts. Practicing these disciplines, Davis begins to wake and to feel, for the first time, that he is living in each moment. Later, as a young man, Davis comes to understand that Ali taught a generation a new way to see not only boxing, but the world. Because of Ali, Davis evolves from an adolescent paralyzed by sorrow to become a writer who chooses the writing life as part of his personal spiritual odyssey.

To Miller, a contributing editor to Sport magazine, it seems as if Muhammad Ali has always been a part of his life?even as far back as January 1964, when the author "had just turned twelve and was the shortest and skinniest and sickliest kid in town." It was then that Miller first saw Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, on TV, in connection with his fight against Sonny Liston. Ali was, as always, supremely confident: "I'm young and handsome and fast and pretty and can't possibly be beat," Miller heard the boxer say. For Miller, "the voice was cooking with the cosmic." In this engaging blend of autobiography and portrait, Miller goes on to tell of meeting Ali in person, in 1975, at the boxer's training camp in Pennsylvania, where the writer sparred with the champ and took a punch that dazed him. Although Miller has met other boxing legends, Ali, he says, is in a class by himself?not only for his consummate skill and self-assurance but for other qualities as well, such as the quiet, sure, unmistakable way he befriends and enlivens others, seemingly relieving them at least in part of their troubles and worries. The author leaves no doubt that his admiration for and friendship with Ali has had a benevolent?perhaps salvational?effect on his own life. While the exact nature of Ali's effect on Miller remains unclear, the picture of Ali presented here offers many clues?the man Miller portrays so vividly is, though physically slowed by Parkinson's syndrome, full of charm, wit and religious fervor ("I've been everywhere in the world, seen everything, had everything a man can have. Don't none of it mean nothin'.... The only thing that matters is submitting to the will of God"). Told in clean, spare prose, Miller's warm celebration of Ali will have readers cheering for the man who calls himself "The Greatest of all Times"?and for his Boswell too. Simultaneous Time Warner AudioBook.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Miller's spiritual journey with friend Ali.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

With his role as torch bearer for the start of the Atlanta Olympic Games, Muhammad Ali's career has come full circle. He burst into the public eye as an Olympic gold medal winner in 1960, and since then millions of words have been written about him. What is it about this man that has captivated the world for so long? Miller attempts to answer that question in this fascinating study. Like many baby boomers, Miller has watched the changes in Ali's life over the decades as he has marked his own evolution. Unlike most of us, however, Miller met Ali more than 20 years ago and has enjoyed a friendship with him ever since. Using his unique perspective to help personalize Ali's impact on the culture at large, Miller examines key events in his own life by exploring what he calls the "Ali factor" in his decision-making process. A shy, reclusive child, he worshiped Ali; that led him to an interest in martial arts, which led, in turn, to an exhibition with Ali, which led to an article on the experience, which led to a desire to write, which--after a long, strange trip--led to this book and a career as a writer. Ali's life has been documented many times over--most notably by Thomas Hauser--but never has anyone captured the essence of his ongoing appeal as well as Miller. A poignant and, at times, unforgettable portrait of the sports legend. Wes Lukowsky