Synopses & Reviews
Asher Price has covered energy and the environment for the Austin American-Statesman since 2006. He studied English at Yale and has graduate degrees from Oxford and Columbia in public policy and journalism. More importantly for this project, Price is 6'2.5" with orangutan arms and ever-thinning hair.
Synopsis
By embarking on a quest to dunk a basketball at the age of 34, journalist Asher Price investigates the limits of human potential starting with his own.
We all like to think that (with a little practice) we could run faster, learn another language, orwhip upa perfect souffle. But few of us ever put those hopes to the test. In Year of the Dunk, Asher Price does, and he seizes on basketball s slam dunk--a feat richly freighted with distinctly American themes of culture, race, and upward mobility--as a gauge to determine his own hidden potential. The showmanship of the dunk mesmerized Asher as a child, but even with his height (six foot plus) and impressive wingspan, he never pushed himself to try it. Now, approaching middle age, Asher decides to spend a year remaking his body and testing his mind as he wonders, like most adults, what untapped talent he still possesses.
In this humorous and often poignant journey into the pleasures and perils of exertion, Asher introduces us to a memorable cast of characters who help him understand the complexity of the human body and the individual drama at the heart of sports. Along the way he dives into the history and science of one of sports' most exuberant acts, examining everything from our genetic predisposition towards jumping to the cultural role of the slam dunk. The year-long effort forces him to ask some fundamental questions about human ability and the degree to which we can actually improve ourselves, even with great determination.
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Synopsis
ASHER PRICE grew up in New York City and now lives in Austin with his wife and dog. He writes about energy and the environment for the Austin American-Statesman and plays pick-up basketball on the neighborhood court every Sunday morning.
About the Author
By learning to dunk a ball at the age of 34, journalist Asher Price investigates the limits of his potential—and our own.We all like to think we can run faster, pick up another language, or cook a soufflé. But very few of us ever really test ourselves. Seizing upon the dunk, which is richly freighted with distinctly American themes of culture, race, and upward mobility, Price asks: How much of our story do we weave with our own hands?
The dunk mesmerized Asher Price as a child, but even with his height (six foot plus) and impressive wingspan, he never really pushed himself to try it. Now, in this entertaining book of science journalism, Price spends a year remaking his body and testing his mind as he wonders, like most adults, what talent he has left behind.
In the tradition of the best books that pit men and women against their own abilities—such as Joshua Foer's Moonwalking with Einstein and George Plimpton's Paper Lion—Year of the Dunk takes the reader from hot Texas training sessions with an Olympic gold medal high jumper to a Cambridge, England, lab devoted to the study of jumping insects as Price meets with athletes, scientists, and physiotherapists in this exploration of potential. A shadow narrative emerges about Price's own past as a cancer survivor. Learning to dunk takes Price down all sorts of avenues—biology and physics, race and gender, and, briefly, the history of one of sport's lightning moves. It forces him to ask some fundamental questions about human ability and the degree to which we can actually improve ourselves, even with great effort.