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BEST: Robert Cherry - Wilt: Larger Than Life (2004)
This was the first year that I succumbed to my obsession with basketball in book form (ok, so I read a Top 50 rating book a couple of years ago but this was the first dip into the hardcore). Now, I pretty much knew what I'd get with the training and fundamental books, but I had no clue how the basketball bios would turn out. I mean, I figured atheletes are only really relevent for a decade or so and then what do they do for the rest of their lives? Well, I was happily surprised by both of the b-ball bios I read this year but I especially loved "Wilt: Lager Than Life." It completely changed my perception of the man and proved how he really was both a huge man in terms of size, skill and life - a fascinating life that dealt with so much more than I expected it to.

                         

RUNNER-UP: Adolfo Bioy Casares - The Invention Of Morel (1940)
Cassie signed us up for a book club where we would read books related to our favorite tv show, Lost. I thought it sounded a little lame (and it was) but the selected book was awesome. "The Invention Of Morel" involved a deserted island, a fugitive protagonist, a mad scientist, and time travel ... pretty much everything that makes Lost great. And at a breezy 100 pages, how could anyone go wrong with ingredients like this?

WORST: Jon Oliver – Basketball Fundamentals (2004)
It's no secret that I love basketball. I've even played several seasons in ZogSports here in the Manhattan area. And while I've done okay, I always thought I would do so much better if I had some sort of basic training. So I grabbed the first book I could find in a local Barnes & Noble that dealt with the fundamentals of the sport. Unfortunately, this book was so pendantic and yet just sort of explained what was happening with each skill. It never talked about the discreet elements involved that one should pay attention to and the photographs never really answered any of my form questions. Just a turd of a book.

                         

RUNNER-UP: Marc Canter - Reckless Road: Guns N’ Roses and the Making of Appetite for Destruction (2007)
I'm of two minds about "Reckless Road" ... it's really just a picture book about the infancy of Guns N' Roses before they recorded Appetite for Destruction. And the photographs are phenomenal: clear, candid and completely honest. It's also a great touch how Canter (who is Slash's best friend in real life) throws in ticket stubs and set lists of all the early gigs to really make the reader feel like he's part of each show. But this book is so horribly written. I'm not joking, there are misspellings, grammatical mistakes, and any time the author means to say "their" he uses "there." For such a professional polish and production this book has, it's so confusing how no one felt like editing the copy.