Back from the Dead is an autobiography with BOUNCE. And that’s despite Bill Walton’s book beginning with him immobilized on the floor, suffering from severe back pain, and besieged by suicidal thoughts provoked by the hopelessness of lying on that floor for some two and a half years. “Bounce” is just Walton’s exuberant nature. His Back from the Dead is a love song celebrating basketball, the Grateful Dead, his bicycle, his family, healers, and other people who’ve earned his admiration, as well as a great advertisement for his native San Diego—listening to him makes one wonder why anyone ever lived anywhere else.

Raised by a music teacher and a librarian, Bill is a man attracted to sound and language. His ear is irresistibly drawn to music and also to superlatives and hyperbole. His way of communicating can most flatteringly be described as enthusiastic. Back from the Dead is interesting, fun, full of emotional highs and lows. It displays a contrasting combination of candor (e.g., blunt criticism of former teammate Tommy Curtis’s playing style) and reticence (e.g., not one mention of his first wife, mother of his four sons).

Surgery eventually succeeded in raising Bill off that floor where his back pain had pinned him for so long. Then, after all that suffering, his first bike ride months later ended in a broken pelvis and sacrum. It’s easy to envision that feelings of futility and desperation could accompany such a setback. Bill, though, recovered yet again, and I saw him not long after at the start line of Chris Kostman’s Mount Laguna Bicycle Classic, out there ready to enjoy another superb day on his bike with similar folks full of energy and good spirit.

That’s Bill Walton. Survivor and Celebrator of the Ceremonies of Life. ( )

BACK FROM THE DEAD by Bill Walton is a great memoir about an amazingly complex and unique life of a man who appreciates life and always looks to makes more out of it. Blessed with height, natural talent, and a burning desire for success of every team he plays for, Bill's adult life begins with lots of triumphs and accolades and he is riding high, but his body starts to break down at about the moment he reaches the pinnacle of success in basketball. He has spent the next almost forty years trying to find a way to live life with a body that is constantly breaking down. Bill throws in some of his political thought into the book, along with his love of music, particularly the Grateful Dead. The book shows how blessed Bill feels to have his life, his family, and his friends no matter the obstacles that are thrown his way.
You can't help but want to meet Bill after reading this book, he seems like such a kind and inspiring person. He writes in a passionate yet clear style. I have read many sports memoirs and stories and I consider his book among the top ones. He is able to recount games and series with all of the action and emotion there was and yet doesn't linger any longer than necessary. The way Bill describes all the people that he appreciates around him makes me want to meet (or have met) them all, particularly Maurice Lucas, John Wooden, and Dr. Jack Ramsey.
For any basketball fan or any reader who enjoys a good memoir, this book is a treat!
Thank you to Simon & Schuster, Bill Walton and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ( )