Mi Vida

by Earvin "Magic" Johnson, William Novak

He's faced challenges all of his life, but now Magic Johnson faces the biggest challenge of all, his own brave battle with HIV. In this dramatic, exciting, and inspirational autobiography, Magic Johnson allows readers into his life, into his tirumphs and tragedies on and off the court. In his own exuberant style, he tells readers of the friends and family who've been constant supporters and the basketball greats he's worked with. It's all here, the glory and the pain the character, charisma, and courage of the hero called Magic.

Genres: Sports, Biography, Basketball, Nonfiction, Memoir, Magic, Autobiography

445 pages, Paperback

First published April 25, 1983

About the author

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. is an American retired professional basketball player and current president of basketball operations of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played point guard for the Lakers for 13 seasons. After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA draft by the Lakers. He won a championship and an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in his rookie season, and won four more championships with the Lakers during the 1980s. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award. After protests from his fellow players, he retired again for four years, but returned in 1996, at age 36, to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time.

Since his retirement, Johnson has been an advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention and safe sex, as well as an entrepreneur, philanthropist, broadcaster and motivational speaker. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_J...]

Reviews

[JACK C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this book because I love biographies and I love sports. I knew some about magic Johnson but here is where his story began. He was born into a large family of four kids later to have five he was the second youngest in his family of 3 boys two girls. His dad had 2 jobs and his mom had to handle five young kids. When magic was in grade school he would wake up at five and go to the school basketball courts because if he went after school there were older kids that wouldn't let him play. Magic said that is the reason he was in the NBA. Magic had gotten so good the older kids let him play and playing with older and better kids made him better. He was six six in sixth grade and he could dunk in seventh grade he became so good he played on varsity in eighth grade. He was recruited by his dream college Michigan state as a junior and took the offer and played for them for four years and started every game. He was drafted by the lakers 1st round second pick. He played for the lakers 12 years and his second year they traded for Shaquille O'neal and they were Called nba most dynamic duo. After the nba magic has fund for sick kids with cancer and has basketball camps. I really think you should read it.

[Aurélien Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

12 years in NBA, 5 rings, elected 3 times MVP, 12 selections for the All Star Games, the king of blind passes and legendary captain (with Larry Bird) of the 1992's Dream Team, Magic Johnson truly is a basketball legend. He reveals himself here, in an autobiography written a year after his retirement as a player.

We follow his journey, from the happy kid from Michigan who got an autograph from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the incredible player (he received his nickname, 'Magic', while still playing in high school) who will make all his career at the Lakers, playing alongside... Kareem Abdul-Jabbar! Here's a incomparable champion who, despite the typical shortcomings of athletes evolving at this level (arrogance, egotism, obsession with money) nevertheless has the humility to open about his weaknesses, his errors and fears while playing in the NBA.

He retells the important games of his career, the most crucial playoffs (against Philadelphia, the 'Bad Boys' from Detroit, Boston, Chicago...). He dedicates whole chapters to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ('my most important teammate'), Larry Bird ('the only player I feared'), Michael Jordan (the young guard who would succeed him) or, again, one of his coaches, Pat Riley ('Mr Intensity'). He also recounts, of course, the tragedy which stroke him: getting HIV. In a blunt chapter we feel must have been difficult to write, he tells how his sexual life (unprotected, with easy women he met in multiple hotels while on tour with the Lakers) will put a final stop to an otherwise exemplary career. Sharing then the pen with his wife, he tells the beginning of a new life when he campaigns not only for a better recognition of HIV victims, but, also, to raise funds for research.

Here's a generous autobiography, frank, which will strike by its sensible and moving side.

[Ange G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magic Johnson is truly a magical human. His vulnerability, humility, kindness, love, and determination are truly inspirational. He has always taken every obstacle with stride and finds the positivity in every situation. Him showing up to every practice as if it’s a game…only a fraction of what makes him one of the best NBA players of all time.

[Sudharshan]

My Life by Magic Johnson
A review by Shawn.Theaver
“My life” by Magic Johnson with William Novak my review to the book would be 4 out of 5 stars just because it was a little scrambled but I can relate to him, I always dreamed of playing in the NBA just like Magic. The biggest connection I have with Magic is probably how I'm doubted a lot in my basketball skills and talent just like he was when he was young. He had the chip on his shoulder to prove everyone wrong. This book was about his fight through the mountains of obstacles and about his childhood and the racism he received through half of his life. In this book, he explains how he got through all of it and his life throughout the NBA career. I had parts that I liked and parts that I didn't that is really what made me decide on how I was going to review the book. I really liked the parts where he explains his basketball journey and that got me motivated, I would always believe that players in the NBA especially the all time greats had natural talent but Magic was different.
Although Magic had a lot of talent sports wise, he never had a special talent where as soon as you see him play you could say “Ohh yeah I will see that kid in the NBA in a few years”. He had to work for everything he got, that was one of the main ideas of the book. After reading all of it I gained 2 life lessons. One was to set a goal that you want to achieve and you have to be willing to work for it. Two was that without hard work being put into whatever you're doing, there is no point in doing it, hard work gets you to places you could only imagine about. These 2 things were Magic’s main points in the book. Magic incorporated the first life lesson I talked about by giving us the example of when he first wanted to achieve something “ When I grow up, I’m going to live in a big mansion with a gigantic bathtub just like that one. Next time that commercial came on, I turned to my sister Pearl, who’s a year ahead of me, See that bathtub I said. Someday I’m gonna have one just like that in my house”. (Johnson 5)
Even though this quote was in the very beginning it stuck with readers for a long time and this quote was referred to at the end when he actually has a huge bathtub and a mansion to live in. So the quote shows how his goal early in his life was to become rich and have a great future and at that time he just didn't know how he was going to do it all he knew was that he wanted to be rich. So he achieved this goal by playing basketball for a career. A connection to this quote is that everyone wants to achieve something, everyone has one dream or something that they want to achieve to start everything off or you base all your life around it. For Magic, it was about getting rich so he played basketball to get rich.
First he played basketball in 3rd grade, he knew he liked playing it but when it really got serious was around 7th or 8th grade “when I made the team in middle school, I was thrilled and I really took it seriously because it was fun and I dunked for the first time and I was a monster out there I would avg like 28 points”.(Johnson 79) That quote explains how he got interested and found out that he might have a future in basketball. This quote is also one of my favorites in this book but it is not the 2 main ones by using this quote I help other readers kind of understand this book. This quote explains how if you like something and you're good at it you should pursue it, I made a connection to myself if I’m good at something like way better than other people I should pursue it. This can be something in school or it can literally be anything.
Another one of my favorite quotes that I found really interesting was “When I was in grade school he would wake up at five and go to the school basketball courts because if I Went after school there were older kids that wouldn't let me play” ( Johnson 127) this quote was the life lesson number .2 I was talking about it earlier how the book taught me a few things this was one of them. This quote explains hard work and how he really worked hard even from his childhood and throughout his life. The connection I made from this quote is to be successful you need to work very hard. I also am a fan of basketball and I really found this meaningful. This helps other readers work harder in whatever they pursue. This review sums up how I rate this book ⅘ only because it was not what I expected and it had a lot of sidetracks about his wife and in some parts of the book the wife was the narrator, that being the bad part the parts I really liked how he incorporated the lakers and when they have parts where they talk about Magic’s teammates like Kareem “ The Goggles” or James Worthy. I found those parts of the book very interesting because My favorite team in the NBA would be the Lakers and the top 5 lakers would be 3 of these guys so it was pretty special to learn about them and understand how they played like the “Showtime Lakers”. This book really went in depth about his life, This book also talked about the process of his doctor telling him that he has HIV and then he still manages to play in the Olympics and win a gold medal. In conclusion, this book is mainly about how Magic has had many obstacles and problems in his life to face and how he defeats them and still keeps a smile on his face like the Magic we know.

[Dana Almdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this after watching a documentary on the Lakers. I love Magic’s story and his role in advocacy. This book showed what a role model he is for every generation and that there is always a human being behind every disease, and we should not judge. Would read this book again!

[Terry Killens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dribbling down the court with 5 seconds on the game clock Magic Johnson pulls up and shoots the shot with one second to go game and the shot goes. In this book this was common to happen in Magic Johnson's career but there is a lot of stuff that you might not know about and that’s why I recommend this book My life by magic johnson to you ,because this 6 dollar book is truly inspiring and I recommend it to you If you like sports basketball in general and if you know who he is but you want to learn more about what he went through in life read this book.
When I was picking to read this book I wanted to read something about a basketball star not just anyone and I got that and extremely more. I rated this book five out of five stars because of the way this book kept me intuned meaning by how it really showed that life is a game of ups and downs but the way you go through it is the succeed through life is the way you go about which is basically if you go though life negative it will come out negative but if you go through life as a positive human being you will come out successful and really liked that because it is good advice and it is true if you don’t think that is true then life will be pretty hard for you.
This book was easy for me to understand because of all the connections I made, like when Magic Johnson was going through the hiv and other bad things going on in his life. I felt this book was easy to connect with because it said things that as a kid you may think like when he was dreaming about how he would get that big houses with the huge bathtub in the future. And one connection I made was how everyone turned against him and when I read about this it made me think of the movie mean girls when at one moment things are going in a positive direction and things are good in life where everyone loves you and wants to be around you. And in one moment things change and when you need all the people that were there before and how there is no one here now which made characterize that he feels abandon. In this book a lot of my connections were from quotes Magic had said, like when he was talking about the commercial he saw of the big houses and he says, “The next time that commercial came on, I turned to my sister Pearl, who’s a year ahead of me.”see that bathtub?’ I said. “Someday I’m gonna have one just like that in my houses.” “Yeah, right,” said Pearl, and I never mentioned it again. But today I have a big house with a huge bathtub that reminds me of the one in that commercial. And Pearl has even been in it”(Johnson 23). This quote is basically saying that he remembers the tub he saw on tv and he always told himself that he will have that same tub. And with this quote it help me make a text to self of when I was younger and when I went to florida and saw a lamborghini and I told myself one day I will have that car. I also made another connection using a quote when, Magic was talking about how he narrowed his college decision down to two choies Michigan and Michigan state he states, “After a few months I finally narrowed the field down to two choices, both of them close to home: the University of Michigan and Michigan State”(Johnson 108). This quote is just saying, after getting all these offers I decided chose to colleges that were closer to home. I made text to self connection about this quote because my dad was a pretty good football player back in the day and he wanted to stay close to home in Cincinnati so he narrowed down to Penn state and Ohio State, exactly how magic narrowed his choice down.
In this book I love the way Magic Johnson set up the book as on telling us what went on during his life before became this big time basketball star, like when he was talking about how some of you people that help him get to the place he is at today and how they passed away really early in their lifetime like his friend Terry Furlow who took him under his wing when was in highschool and showed him the ins and outs of the game he explained, “During my highschool years Terry took me under his wing and more or less adopted me as his little brother. “Young fela,” he said, “you’re gonna hang out with me.” After the pickup games, the two of us would play one-on-one. I thought Terry was a terrific shooter. For weeks on end he destroyed me every single time we played. It was always 15-0. It was a couple of months before I finally scored my first points against him”(Johnson 95). This quote is saying when he was in highschool he met a friend kind of like a younger brother that showed him the game and help him succeed through it. This quote is perfect evidence for why I like the way he told his story through his life because it showed what made him the man he is today, and it help all of us as the readers know why he is in the position he is in today. I also liked how he made the story visual for the readers, like the amount of detail he used to show what was going on at a certain time, like when his wife was pregnant with their first son and how he dealt with still playing basketball games as his wife was in labor it states,”We knew we were having a boy, but we didn’t tell a soul. Although the due date was June 15, the doctors examined Cookie and assured us that an earlier induction would be fine. So right after the Chicago-Portland game on the night of June 3 I flew back from Chicago on a private plane provided by NBC. A few hours later, Cookie and I went to the hospital”(Johnson 670). This quote is saying that he needed to fly home right after the game because the baby was gonna come early and he didn’t want to miss the birth of his first boy. This is a good example for how made it visual for us to understand what was going through because he provided us with times and dates and what he was doing at the time to help us play a movie through our head about what he was doing.
In conclusion this book was a good book that I understanded perfectly and I recommend this book to all people. I would take this book over most of them on the market right now, this book reminds me of an espn 30 for 30 story and I you like those and you like basketball and you like Magic Johnson you will definitely like this book ,and you will need to get this book immediately.

[Brian Berrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1992 this book is dated and focuses heavily on the events in Magic's life at that time, mainly his contracting the HIV virus. These are both understandable. In fact, I enjoyed researching him further on the Internet to see what has happened to him in the last 20 years.

The book is a fun read about the life of this amazing athlete who conquered everything in the world of basketball from high school championship to college championship to multiple NBA championships to NBA MVP awards to a gold medal. Amazing! Given he is still alive and still doing commentary on TV 20 years after getting HIV when back then it was a death warrant is equally amazing.

If you are interested in sports or basketball, I'm sure you'll enjoy this book. Happy reading.

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is exactly what I want from an athlete's autobiography. These days every athelete has an autobiography even the least interessting ones. this one offered however offered more content than just basketball. I love how he dedicated a big part of the book to Aids and his attempts to fight it in the USA. This book gave me a newfound respect for earvin Johnson.

PS: as a boston fan I really liked how he went in depth about the celtics and his rivalry with larry Bird

Next up for me will be: "when the game was ours" by larry Bird and earvin Johnson

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mi vida es una autobiografía de Earvin Johnson, más conocido como Magic, jugador de la NBA de la década de los 80 y principios de los 90, participante del Dream Team de Barcelona 92, ganador de 5 títulos y 3 MVP de la NBA, entre muchos otros logros en el baloncesto.

Cuenta la vida de Magic desde sus principios en Lansing hasta su positivo en el virus del VIH, que lo acabo forzando a retirarse prematuramente del baloncesto; pasando por todo su periplo en la universidad y en la NBA. En ciertos capítulos, cuenta con el punto de vista de su mujer, el único diferente al propio Magic de todo el libro (quitando el prólogo precioso realizado por Gonzalo Vázquez)

A los amantes del baloncesto en general y de la NBA en particular les encantará esta biografía, sobre todo si estás familiarizado con la carrera de Magic y el Showtime de los Lakers. La biografía cuenta anécdotas y describe la relación de Magic con muchas de las principales figuras de la época: Pat Riley, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan... Con su capítulo especial para Larry Bird, su gran rival histórico, y para las batallas legendarias de los Lakers contra esos Celtics que empezaron a forjar lo que es hoy la NBA.

Una cosa que me ha gustado es la naturalidad con la que trata el positivo en VIH, como acepta su responsabilidad y trata de concienciar a todo el mundo, especialmente a la comunidad negra, de evitar el contagio. Un pero que le podría poner a nivel personal es que me habría gustado un orden algo mejor en la parte de la NBA, en la que va realizando saltos hablando de compañeros, rivales... Quizás le habría sentado mejor una narración lineal en la que ir hablando de los diversos personajes que influyeron en su carrera según fueran surgiendo en la narración.

Pese a esto, es un libro muy recomendado para amantes del baloncesto y la NBA, especialmente si te interesa la década de los 80 y los Lakers del Showtime.

[Joel Cigan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only read this autobiography because I was interested in how Magic Johnson contracted HIV. The book spends a chapter discussing “Magic and Women” where he discusses how lots of college-educated women would wait for him after each game when The Lakers were a Hollywood team in the 1980s using the ploy of an autograph to get into his hotel room. Apparently, he was considered a “sex object” or a “conquest.”

I wish he would have answered the questions regarding why he never wore a condom, why none of the women he slept with got pregnant and what they gained by sleeping with him. He goes so far as saying that some women would have sex with him in groups.

Magic had tons of family support and support from his girlfriend/wife, Cookie. Even after contracting HIV, none of his family or friends seemed to be bothered with his promiscuity. Maybe he should have taken advice from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of his teammates who considered basketball more of a job and had other hobbies like reading books.

This book doesn’t really answer my questions and there is no psychological exposè on the WHY questions for all the women that slept with him. These women came from all walks of life and were there at the hotel after every game. Hence my 2/5 star rating.

[Reid Colquitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magic Johnson: My Life by Earvin Johnson and William Novak is an autobiography that tells Magic Johnson’s life life in a very inspiring way. Magic Johnson has gone through a lot of hard times like his fights with HIV and other things on the basketball court too. Magic Johnson was one of the best basketball players to live, and his life is so fascinating to learn about. Magic tells the readers important life lessons and how he has gone through these many challenges in his life. Magic Johnson is a great person to read about because he was a great basketball player and hero.

I would highly recommend this book to people because Sports is a very big part of my life. Magic Johnson though was not just a great basketball player, you can learn about Magic’s life and his great story. Magic inspired lots of people and will probably inspire you. If you don’t know much about this man than I would recommend to read about his life. Magic is an idol to me and even though I knew a lot of things about him, I know a lot more now. What I liked about the book is that I personally like basketball and Magic Johnson. I did not dislike this book one bit.

[Ryosei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now, Magic Johnson faces his greatest challenge: his courageous battle with HIV. In this dramatic and exciting autobiography, Magic Johnson takes readers into his life, his triumphs and tragedies on and off the court. In this dramatic and exciting autobiography, Magic Johnson takes readers into his life, his triumphs and tragedies on and off the court. All the glory and suffering, personality, charisma, and courage of the hero that is Magic are here.

[Júlia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Al curru he fet revisió de correccions de la nova edició d’aquest llibre. Una redacció (molt llarga) de 4t d’ESO sobre la vida d’aquest tiu (que clarament és Leo) amb molts fun facts sobre els Lakers i el mundillo de la NBA, i que parla de les dones d’una manera que, després de 30 anys, no ha envellit gaire bé.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has conflict everywhere. This book is about the famous Magic Johnson. He struggles on the basketball court, with his family, and is having conflict by being forced to stop playing basketball

[Jenna Altomare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic memoir where Magic shares personal stories and lessons on leadership, resilience, and facing challenges. It's a must-read for basketball fans, packed with inspiration and insights for success both on and off the court.

[Jake Tian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A stimulating recap of an enviable career and a transparent review of Magic's life

[JD' · Rating 3 out of 5]

Magic Johnson, played basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers and I always thought he was the greatest basketball player to ever play the sport. The athlete spoke on a talk show in May 2016 of the 1992 Dream team Olympic basketball team and a scrimmage where he trash talked Michael Jordan, who everyone else, besides me considers to be the greatest.
"I never talked trash but one time in my entire life with Jordan. My first ever time talking trash. We’re with the Dream Team and, for three days in a row, we had came into a tie. What Coach Daly did, he split the team up East versus West. So Barkley, Jordan, Larry Bird, Pippen, and Patrick Ewing all played in the East, and then we had the West guys—myself, David Robinson, Malone, Mullin, Drexler, and John Stockton.


So we would play everyday. Tie. This is the fourth day, and we got out on them about 12-2. So I said, ‘I’m going to really rattle [MJ's] chains.’ So I went over to him, tapped him on the shoulder, and said, ‘Hey man, if you don’t turn into Air Jordan, we’re going to blow you out today.’
They broke the huddle, he hit a 3, and he’s looking at me. [sticks tongue out] He came down again, hit another 3. [sticks tongue out again]
So the greatest shot—now, I’ve been involved in all three of them. First, Dr. J walked out of bounds in air, reverse layup. Michael Jordan in 1991 came down on us with the right hand and tongue out, he switched in mid-air to the left, and spun it against the glass. But this was the greatest shot I had ever seen.


[MJ] came down the right side, took off, David Robinson took off, and [MJ] said, ‘Okay, I’m going to just sit here in the air, because I know David Robinson is going to go down.’ So David Robinson went to the ground, [MJ] 360’d, tongue moving, and dunked it. In a practice game! I was like, ‘Oh my goodness!’ I was just stunned. All of us were stunned to see him hang in the air that long and 360. Michael Jordan is so incredible. There will never be another one."
Michael Jordan would say of the Dream Team practice that it was the greatest game he played. Don't talk trash. The Bible says let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth. Magic Johnson learned he has a way with words and he also learned never to upset or anger Jordan by trash talking him again. In James it says our mouth can start a fire. Magic with his trash talking set Jordan on fire.
"The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." Pr 18:21
http://www.complex.com/sports/2016/05....

[Maisin Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read My Life, by Earvin “Magic” Johnson. This book included Earvin Johnson, his wife, Cookie, and his dad, Earvin Sr. It starts with his 4 years in high school and ends with him playing his last game as a professional basketball player, or from 1977-1992. Earvin decided to write a memoir of his life after he was drafted with the first pick in the 1979 NBA Draft to the Los Angeles Lakers. This was the start of his professional basketball career. In college, Magic, Michigan St., beat Larry Bird, Indiana St., in the 1979 National Championship...the start of one of the greatest rivalries in sports history. He then went on to win 4 NBA championships in the 1980s with the Lakers, beating the Celtics, Larry Bird’s team, in 2 of those championships. On November 7, 1991, Earvin announced to the world that he was diagnosed with HIV. He has his own foundation which raises money for AIDS/HIV research, Magic Johnson Foundation. Even after he was diagnosed with HIV Magic still got the opportunity to play on the 1992 U.S. Olympic “Dream Team.” This team had 11 of 12 players inducted in the Hall of Fame (Christian Laettner wasn’t inducted).

This book was great from my standpoint. Earvin knew how to get you to keep reading with the perfect mix of basketball and his personal life. He also knew when to be funny and when to be serious. Towards the end, he also got emotional and inspirational when talking about the Magic Johnson Foundation and his fight against HIV and AIDS. The only bad thing with this book was that Earvin got a little too deep with the little things that don’t matter, like when he talked about hotels and bus trips when he’s on the road.

I loved this book because of how Earvin kept me reading with a mix of basketball and personal life. He did this when he was diagnosed with HIV and switched from a basketball perspective to an everyday person perspective, talking about his personal life. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes sports and inspirational stories.

[Thomas Fawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Life Earvin "Magic" Johnson by Earvin Johnson, was a great biographic book, it was about the NBA all star.
It talks about how his life, from when he was a kid was just completely focused on 1 thing.
It brings up his childhood, how and where he grew up, and what it was like for him. Personally, I think "Magic" Johnson is a great idol to those that would like to successfully make it something they want to achieve. Not only sports reading this book showed me that there are always ups and downs in life, and if you want to make it somewhere, never to give not even if you start to think that it's not meant for you, never give up. There were many times in this autobiography that I was amazed that he never broke on the inside, he had to go through some rough things throughout his life, but he still worked on getting better and never quitting.

This man has been trying to make positive changes in other teens lives too, so this proves that he is trying to make it so teenagers don't make some of the same mistakes as he made. Which by doing this helps by providing knowledge from his life and telling them if he could go back he would never had some things, and I'd agree too, I think everyone has things in their life they'd want to go back in time and erase but never have the chance to because time machines aren't real. This amazing auto biography talks about his career in the NBA, and an illness he contracted, and still has to this day. Just because he as it, it still hasn't stopped him from doing the things he loves, like showing up on NBA halftime reports and other things like these too.
And yes I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested to learn about a life of an NBA all star, and how he got to be who he is today.

[Jeanette Pacheco · Rating 5 out of 5]

I almost gave this book 4 stars, but then remembered it was written more than 30 years ago, and things were very different.

I was a kid in third grade when Magic Johnson was diagnosed with HIV and remember hearing about it. I also remember my second grade teacher, a black male, talking about Magic Johnson.

I grew up in an age when HIV and AIDS were very prevalent in our society and anything I touched or ate that was bad, a friend may say, “don’t touch that” or “don’t eat after them, you might get AIDS.” I feared HIV and AIDS growing up, but only because it was during a time when so little was known about the virus and the disease.

This book was very eye opening, but also a great read as a sports fan! I enjoyed learning about Magic’s upbringing, youth, and college experience. Learning more about his personal life was probably the best part for me, but I also enjoyed learning a little bit about Larry Bird, Kareem, Michael Jordan, and so many other athletes I grew up with.

Magic Johnson is so much more than HIV. The first few paragraphs are written to explain how I first came to know this very talented man and athlete. Edited 10/26/2024

[Malachi (Mitt) Romney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basketball superstar Johnson's straight talk on AIDS gives his autobiography its thrust and power. Born in Lansing, Mich., son of an hardworking auto assembly-line worker and a pious Seventh-Day Adventist, Johnson comes across as a modest, straightforward, upbeat guy in this high-spirited if sanitized self-portrait. Fans will enjoy his replays of key games and seasons, as well as his frank impressions of his former Los Angeles Lakers teammates, coach Pat Riley, the Boston Celtics' Larry Bird and other players. Johnson discusses his on-again, off-again relationship with his wife, Cookie, whom he married just a month before he tested positive for the HIV virus. The strongest sections describe his retirement, his coming to terms with his condition and return to play, his role as an AIDS activist and the birth of his second son earlier this year. An epilogue contains the rousing speech "A Message for Black Teenagers."

[Al Steele]

One of the biggest books i ever had to read , my coach forced me to read it because he didn't want non of us to get get off into woman on games. This book was very influencing i hate that i had to read tons of pages. But its a good book for basketball players it may take time but once you realize.As a young person you have nothing but time on your hands. Magic Johnson one the greatest went through it all this should give teens a state of mid to use protection . You know it a great book once your mom makes you finish it. This book comes across many ways either to have you understand or get you to realize what you are doing with woman now a days. This show how it a cold world and all people want to is take your money and take advantage of you until they see you dead . Now this is a great book for our boy basketball time, i like that it come from a line of basketball, but i hated that book was to long to get across some books just need to dive into the conclusion!

[Brett Hess · Rating 2 out of 5]

For the biography book in class i read about Magic Johnson. Magic is arguable the best point guard to play the game. He came from a family of hardworking idividuals, his father didn't see him play much as a kid because he worked so much. He went and played at Michigan St. In the championship game he played his rival for the first time, Larry Bird. Bird went to the Boston Celtics and Magic was picked by the lakers. They continued there amazing rivarally. They would meet several times in the NBA Championships

I didn't really like this book. I really like Magic Johnson and would like to read a good book about him but this one just wasn't it. I will keep looking for a good one and will post it when i find it. I would not reccomend this book.

[Jordan Vander Meulen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about Majic johnson who has grown up in a hard working family. Majics dad only saw his son play basketball a few times. Later in life he goes to the college of michigan state. They do good and make it to the championship game. There he plays Larry Bird his rival.( also another amazing basketball player) He then goes professional and is picked up by the Lakers. Majic and his wife have an on off relationship during this time. After he retires from the NBA he has become a AIDS speaker. I liked this book. it was clear on what he did in his life and what he does.

[Thomas Colburn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a former NBA star Earvin ''Magic'' Johnson. This book tells you about his entire life from when he was a little kid until now. It talks a lot about his friends and even his wife.He has always loved basketball since he was a little kid. Now he is considered one of the best players of all time. To tell you the truth, I am not a very big reader. but, when I find a very good book, I get hooked. I was so hooked on this book, I could never put it down. This book to me is a 10 out of 10.

[Kym Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very candid account of his life up to the point where he had to deal with the reality of contracting the HIV virus. Good read.

[Derrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the book is very great because i like books about athletes on there life and how they made to the pros.The was about how magic grew up in a small home with a lot of family memebers and how his single mother had to take care of his brothers and sisters,Also he tells us on how he worked hard at basketball to make it to the pros.When he maid it he said it was a blast wining championships and partying after every game until he was dignose with HIV.

[Xander Echt · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Life is a great book. If you love basketball then this is definitely for you. This shows how basketball was 45 years ago. Basketball is a lot different now. Magic Johnson explained his life very well in the book. Especially when he was a kid. He also explained his very well when he got diagnosed with aids.

[Gabriel Joseph]

I read this book when i was in 8th grade. The year was 1993. So ummm, i dont have that much to say. I liked it then, but who knows now. I mean come on, i am about to be 30 years old.

[Wordbomar · Rating 5 out of 5]

reccomended to anybody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!