Review: Hoop Genius: How a Desperate Teacher and a Rowdy Gym Class Invented Basketball

Hoop Genius: How a Desperate Teacher and a Rowdy Gym Class Invented Basketball by John Coy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book is a very short story about why basketball was invented. It would make a good book to carry with me for those times when I am subbing and have some extra time for a read-aloud. There are two things about the book, though, that leave me a bit unsatisfied.

First of all, the rules that Naismith came up with are included on the fly leafs (leaves?), but they are not part of the text of the story. It would have been interesting to me to have them included in the story - and the reason those specific rules were added. Did Naismith come up with the whole game at once? Did he find that parts of the game worked well, but some things had to be tweaked a bit, in order to work better? It seems a bit unrealistic to think that the whole game was worked out overnight and they just started playing it the next day - in mostly final form.

Secondly, it would be interesting to add a few words about how the game had changed: major modifications (e.g., for women to play), rules changes, how the game has evolved. I suppose that would have made the book too long for a short read aloud, though. Maybe I will look up some of the books mentioned in the bibliography.

I am not a huge fan of the illustrations, but they do show movement well. Was this really a college class? Many of the players seem to be sporting mustaches.



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