A Game Plan for Life - John Wooden

After eight books, many of them bestsellers, A Game Plan for Life was the one closest to John Wooden's heart: a moving and inspirational guide to the power of mentorship. The first half focuses on the people who helped foster the values that carried Wooden through an incredibly successful and famously principled career, including his father, his college coach, his wife, Mahatma Gandhi, and Mother Teresa. The second half is built around interviews with some of the many people he mentored over the years, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton. Their testimony takes readers inside the lessons Wooden taught to generations of players, bringing out the very best in them not just as athletes but as human beings. In all, this is an inspiring primer on how to achieve success without sacrificing principles and how to build one of the most productive and rewarding relationships available to any athlete, businessperson, teacher, or parent-that of mentor and protege.

Praise for A Game Plan for Life

-My time learning from Coach Wooden-sitting and asking him questions, soaking up his answers-has provided some of the most significant lessons in my life. Any way that you can be mentored by a giant like him, including reading A Game Plan for Life, will provide great lessons for you, too.--Pat Summitt, women's basketball coach, University of Tennessee

-Few coaches have affected their players' lives so fully as John Wooden, so here's a natural question: Who mentored the mentor? Well, John Wooden is glad we asked.--Bob Costas