This collection features Davis Miller’s celebrated trilogy of award-winning Muhammad Ali pieces, including the classic My Dinner with Ali,” together with a provocative new essay called The Yin and Yang of Muhammad Ali.” There are also two pieces about Miller’s unusual relationship with boxer Sugar” Ray Leonard, and he continues to explore the Bruce Lee phenomenon. Now collected for the first time, these brilliant pieces form a haunting meditation on fighting, living, friendship, and love.

Zen of Muhammad Ali: And Other Obsessions

Sports & Outdoors

Miller, Davis

Biographies

Vintage, U.K.

Muhammad Ali is the one of the most famous figures in the history of sport. This is the story of his friendship with the author, a sportswriter. A unique and compelling story, rich with anecdotes and insights, it explores the nature of hero-worship, friendship and the relationship between fathers and sons.

The Tao of Muhammad Ali

Author of the immensely successful The Tao of Muhammed Ali, Davis Miller now turns his attention to another cult figure: film star and martial arts superhero Bruce Lee. As before, he brilliantly combines biography—in this case, the fullest and most revelatory to date—with coming-of-age autobiography.

The Tao of Bruce Lee

Humor & Entertainment

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.

Individual Sports

GRAND CENTRAL PUB.

The Tao of Bruce Lee: A Martial Arts Memoir

In this companion volume to his critically acclaimed first book, The Tao of Muhammad Ali, Davis Miller turns his attention to a second iconic figure of the twentieth century--and another of Miller's own seminal influences: film star and martial arts legend Bruce Lee. Just weeks after completing Enter the Dragon, his first vehicle for a worldwide audience, Bruce Lee--the self-proclaimed world's fittest man--died mysteriously at the age of thirty-two. The film has since grossed over $500 million, making it one of the most profitable in the history of cinema, and Lee has acquired almost mythic status. Lee was a flawed, complex, yet singular talent. He revolutionized the martial arts and forever changed action moviemaking. But what has his legacy truly meant to the fans he left behind? To author Davis Miller, Lee was a profound mentor and a transformative inspiration. As a troubled young man in rural North Carolina, Miller was on a road to nowhere when he first saw Enter the Dragon, an encounter that would lead him on a physical, emotional, and spiritual journey and would change his life. As in The Tao of Muhammad Ali, Miller brilliantly combines biography--the fullest, most unflinching and revelatory to date--with his own coming-of-age story. The result is a unique and compelling book.

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Crown/Archetype

Muhammad Ali is the greatest boxer the world has ever known and the most charismatic athlete of all time. Adored by millions, Ali is a role model and symbol of courage to us all. Davis Miller was a small, sickly child mourning the loss of his mother when he first encountered Ali. From this meeting, there developed a strong personal relationship that has lasted more than thirty years. Brilliantly weaving Ali's story with his own coming-of-age memoir, Miller captures the true meaning of hero worship, fathers and sons, and strength through wisdom.

Community & Culture

Three Rivers Press

In this companion volume to his critically acclaimed first book, The Tao of Muhammad Ali, Davis Miller turns his attention to a second iconic figure of the twentieth century--and another of Miller's own seminal influences: film star and martial arts legend Bruce Lee.Just weeks after completing Enter the Dragon, his first vehicle for a worldwide audience, Bruce Lee--the self-proclaimed world's fittest man--died mysteriously at the age of thirty-two. The film has since grossed over $500 million, making it one of the most profitable in the history of cinema, and Lee has acquired almost mythic status.Lee was a flawed, complex, yet singular talent. He revolutionized the martial arts and forever changed action moviemaking. But what has his legacy truly meant to the fans he left behind? To author Davis Miller, Lee was a profound mentor and a transformative inspiration. As a troubled young man in rural North Carolina, Miller was on a road to nowhere when he first saw Enter the Dragon, an encounter that would lead him on a physical, emotional, and spiritual journey and would change his life.As in The Tao of Muhammad Ali, Miller brilliantly combines biography--the fullest, most unflinching and revelatory to date--with his own coming-of-age story. The result is a unique and compelling book.

On Easter weekend 1988, then struggling writer and movie store clerk Davis Miller drove to Muhammad Ali's mother's modest house in Louisville, knocked on the front door, and waited for an answer. It had been over two decades since he d first glimpsed The Champ on a black-and-white television when Miller was an eleven-year-old boy, shattered by the unexpected loss of his mother and he felt the time had come for him to personally thank the man whose fearlessness, grace, and tenacity gave him the power to overcome a near-paralyzing depression. When the door finally opened, Miller would not only get to meet his spiritual constant but also begin a surprising and tender new friendship that would forever transform his life.
Today, more than twenty-five years later, the two still share an uncommon bond, the sort that can be fashioned only in serendipitous ways and fortified through shared experiences. Miller now draws from those remarkable moments to give us a quietly startling portrait of a great man physically ravaged but spiritually young. Beginning with a series of three interconnected anecdotes about Miller's first meeting with the champ which formed the basis of "My Dinner with Ali," a legendary piece of sports journalism that was anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing of the Century Approaching Ali continues as a historic tribute, composed of linked vignettes spread out over decades, that is unlike anything else that has been written about one of the world's most famous and loved men.
As readers will discover in these pages, Miller is the Everyman, Ali the Superman in physical decline. Commingled together, the two voices form the all-time most intimate portrait of Ali's day-by-day life in his postboxing career. Through Miller s eyes, we witness the aging and ailing Ali playing mischievous tricks on unsuspecting guests, performing sleight of hand for any willing audience, and walking over ten miles each day to enjoy an ice cream sundae and talk with strangers. Miller goes on to reveal a side of the boxing legend we never knew was there, whether it be Ali handing out hundred-dollar bills at a Los Angeles bus stop, showing a group of inner-city children the ocean for the very first time, or unexpectedly cracking jokes with the distinctly insightful words he is still able to summon.
Following in the grand contemporary literary tradition of writers such as Gay Talese, Tom Wolfe, and Nick Hornby, Miller gives us a series of extraordinary insights into a man that he has been approaching nearly his entire life. The result is both a new introduction to the human side of a boxing legend as well as a loving and beautifully written reclamation of Muhammad Ali s life after the ring."

Approaching Ali: A Reclamation in Three Acts (Thorndike Press Large Print Biographies and Memoirs)

Thorndike Press Large Print

A portrait of the former boxer focuses on his journey of spiritual discovery, his life in recent years, and his roles as loyal friend, patient teacher, and spiritual advisor.

Warner Adult

The single most intimate look at Muhammad Ali’s life after boxing, told through the story of an unexpected friendship.
On Easter weekend 1988, then struggling writer and movie store clerk Davis Miller drove to Muhammad Ali's mother's modest house in Louisville, knocked on the front door, and waited for an answer. It had been over two decades since he’d first glimpsed The Champ on a black-and-white television―when Miller was an eleven-year-old boy, shattered by the unexpected loss of his mother―and he felt the time had come for him to personally thank the man whose fearlessness, grace, and tenacity gave him the power to overcome a near-paralyzing depression. When the door finally opened, Miller would not only get to meet his “spiritual constant” but also begin a surprising and tender new friendship that would forever transform his life.
Today, more than twenty-five years later, the two still share an uncommon bond, the sort that can be fashioned only in serendipitous ways and fortified through shared experiences. Miller now draws from those remarkable moments to give us a quietly startling portrait of a great man physically ravaged but spiritually young. Beginning with a series of three interconnected anecdotes about Miller's first meeting with the champ―which formed the basis of "My Dinner with Ali," a legendary piece of sports journalism that was anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing of the Century―Approaching Ali continues as a historic tribute, composed of linked vignettes spread out over decades, that is unlike anything else that has been written about one of the world's most famous and loved men.
As readers will discover in these pages, Miller is the Everyman, Ali the Superman in physical decline. Commingled together, the two voices form the all-time most intimate portrait of Ali's day-by-day life in his postboxing career. Through Miller’s eyes, we witness the aging and ailing Ali playing mischievous tricks on unsuspecting guests, performing sleight of hand for any willing audience, and walking over ten miles each day to enjoy an ice cream sundae and talk with strangers. Miller goes on to reveal a side of the boxing legend we never knew was there, whether it be Ali handing out hundred-dollar bills at a Los Angeles bus stop, showing a group of inner-city children the ocean for the very first time, or unexpectedly cracking jokes with the distinctly insightful words he is still able to summon.
Following in the grand contemporary literary tradition of writers such as Gay Talese, Tom Wolfe, and Nick Hornby, Miller gives us a series of extraordinary insights into a man that he has been approaching nearly his entire life. The result is both a new introduction to the human side of a boxing legend as well as a loving and beautifully written reclamation of Muhammad Ali’s life after the ring. 25 photographs

Approaching Ali: A Reclamation in Three Acts

Liveright

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Books by Miller, Davis

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Miller, Davis. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Zen of Muhammad Ali: And Other Obsessions

The Tao of Muhammad Ali

The Tao of Bruce Lee

The Tao of Muhammad Ali

The Tao of Bruce Lee: A Martial Arts Memoir

The Tao of Muhammad Ali

The Tao of Bruce Lee: A Martial Arts Memoir

Approaching Ali: A Reclamation in Three Acts (Thorndike Press Large Print Biographies and Memoirs)

The Tao of Muhammad Ali

Approaching Ali: A Reclamation in Three Acts