The Possible Dream

By Wilt Chamberlain and Richard Freed

 

    

Ranking

This book is my favorite of all of my books.  To understand why is to know the story behind it.  My wife worked for 8 years to find this, contacting Wilt's lawyer, Sy Goldberg, the Lakers, Jerry West, the publisher, editor, and countless others.  This book is only at one library in the nation, and they do not loan it out on inter-library loan and they do not photocopy it.  She ended up finding it on Ebay, when the publisher decided to auction off his copy.

This book was created in response to the public's interest in Wilt's house.  Its profits went to charity.  There is no Library of Congress number, no title page, and no useful publisher information.  It appears that it was sold from a guy's house.  When you write the address, it is returned because the person no longer lives there (as my wife learned).

The 48-page book tells how the house came to being - Wilt's vision, dealings with contractors and interior decorators, selecting land, etc.  Mostly it goes room-by-room with detailed descriptions and many photos.  

It is not a "basketball book," per se.  It is a book about the house of a professional basketball player.  When you think about it, it is not uncommon for Chamberlain, who had diversified interests beyond the basketball court and who later wrote a book about his opinions on various topics (A View from Above).  This is not a book for the casual basketball fan, the serious basketball fan, or even the basketball historian.  This is a book for hard core Wilt Chamberlain fans, and the most serious of collectors.  It is nearly impossible to find.  If you want it, you had better be seriously dedicated or have a wife as great as mine (in other words, you had better be dedicated, because the latter is not going to happen), and you had better be ready to spend triple-digits.

Introspection:  5
Insight:  N/A
History:  1972
Readability:  5

Chamberlain House: The Possible Dream.  Wilt Chamberlain and Richard Freed.  Published by Wilt Chamberlain and Phil Jaffe. 1972.

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