Different Dude

by Rod Benson

Oh snap fam! You did it! You balled hard enough

to get paid! 

Now what?

It's time to start living the dream, son! Everything

you've been waiting for is just around the corner. Take 

that ball and you dribble. You score. You get that girl

and you drink that shot because you're the man 

now. Nah, you're the man for life!

Don't worry about the rest of it. We promise

if you just keep working, like so hard, you'll be

famous! Or at least famous enough! 

Are you ready for a better life?

Are you ready to become a Different Dude? 

389 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 7, 2023

Reviews

[maht0m · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met Rod on Threads and was lucky enough to get an advance digital copy for free to read. man I loved this book. It was hilarious, had some heavy and serious moments, and most of all highly entertaining. I didn’t want to put it down and can’t wait for another one. I finished this book in 3 days.

I’ve always enjoyed our interactions online but knowing who he is and more of us story made me like him even more. The writing is authentic and you can hear his voice like he’s just telling you the stories right there w you. he really is a different dude but in the best way possible

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is easily my favorite athlete memoir/biography that I have ever read. This isn’t your typical myth making and brand protection or some messy confessional about bad deeds, it’s just a man reflecting on how basketball changed his life, but also the person that basketball turned him into. Rod has been refreshingly honest since before I started following him because of an E:60 segment with Bill Simmons ~2008. I knew a number of these stories from following him online via his blog or his Hoop Stories series, but I didn’t realize then how authentic he is. I’ve enjoyed Rod’s writing for over a decade and a half at this point. I had to support as soon as I found out about this book and it did not disappoint.

[Stephen Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly fun read from an insightful, insider angle

I've been a fan of Rod for nearly 20 years now, through his writing, socials, and even clothing brand. This book is more of that, telling a free-flowing, funny, awkward, random story about being a professional basketball player for teams I had never heard of before him. This book won't change your life or teach you how to be someone completely different, but it will open your mind a bit to enjoy the ride and look for other ways to succeed/live. This is 110% worth a read, even if you never owned any Boom Tho apparel like I did.

[Kate O'Malley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a delight! Almost a memoir? But better. Rod Benson is a charming storyteller. Sometimes light hearted, sometimes poignant, sometimes tense, but generally unflinching and disarmingly vulnerable.

I listened to the audiobook and Benson’s narration is really special. It feels like a conversation with a friend. One of those really good, up all night, intense conversations.

A series of seemingly simple vignettes, that together, add up to a fascinating examination of how circumstances, choices, perceptions, and behaviors come together, change, evolve (or don’t) to make a complete and compelling life.

And it’s about basketball.

[Joe_galindez · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Oh, he does cool art installations," was my first thought when I met the author on Threads. "He's very tall," came a while later and "He was a pro athlete," followed some weeks afterward. It was still later that I discovered that he'd written a book, not only about his basketball career but also about his fashion endeavors, his blogging and writing, his experience as a Millennial, and so on. Rod does a lot of things and remembers them with deep clarity.

I approached "Different Dude" as a reader of fiction and was surprised to find that it ticks many of the boxes of the picaresque genre: The story is told in the first person as series of loosely-connected adventures. There is a simplicity and honesty to the writing, with many satirical elements. Finally, the hero is a rogue who lives by his strength and his wits.

I don't know if this is a plus for people who like biographies but I enjoyed my time with the author as he told of his travels and his struggles. He's not afraid to look silly (like the time he accidentally let a homeless man live out of his mom's car) and he's not afraid to be vulnerable (like the time he described the aftermath of his retirement from basketball.) In general, he's not afraid to be a "different dude", nevermind what some NBA executives and teammates had to say.

In terms of criticism, I would have liked follow-ups to some of the stories. That the episodes are told out of chronological order also makes it hard to get a sense of Rod's character development. Then again, this adds to the book's value on subsequent readings. The marketing was also a bit confusing and made it sound like it was a self-help tome. They're in the book too, as some of the satirical elements I mentioned.

I strongly recommend "Different Dude" to picaresque fans, Generation Yers looking to connect with a different slice of the experience, and people who know Rod (no matter where they met him) and maybe want to figure out why he continues to meme about Twilight.

[Dexter · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Jackie Chan showed up on page 17, I wasn't even surprised anymore, in a good way. Right out the gate, this thing is curveball after curveball, if I might be permitted to mix sports metaphors. This is not a memoir, and it's about 'basketball' only in the sense that basketball is a way of looking at life. The book is a weird ride, where you see what hyper-specific proficiency and fame does to a young black man. It goes back and forth from the mundane to the surreal, sometimes on the same page. If you love college basketball, I recommend it. If don't care about college basketball at all (me), I recommend it even more.

[Carly Molstad · Rating 5 out of 5]

raw honest vulnerable real

Artist and athlete Rod Benson takes us on a wild ride through his life so far with stories of love and basketball

Wins and losses, brushes with fame and fortune, what happens in public and private —

Words ain’t enough
Rod zsorryon Benson is a different dude

Looking forward to seeing what he does next!

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given this book by a colleague and had no idea what it was about. I started reading it and found it to be hilarious - a ton of short vignettes from a former professional basketball player who played college at Berkeley. His stories going from high school, to college, to the D league, to the NBA, to international (not linear) were laugh-out-loud funny. Really enjoyed this read.