Second Coming: The Strange Odyssey of Michael Jordan from Courtside to Home Plate and Back Again by Sam Smith

Truman Capote spent six years working on "In Cold Blood," and agonized over the fact that he couldn't fairly publish it until there had been a conclusion to the story.  This attitude is rare these days; most writers seem to want to strike when the iron is hot and don't always care if the ending is neatly tied up in a bow.  Such is the case with "Second Coming," and the book suffers greatly as a result.  A sequel to "The Jordan Rules" by the same author, the book is endlessly fascinating and makes for good reading.  But I have two elephantine complaints.  The first, referenced above, is that the author just couldn't wait to spill everything about the behind the scenes drama and dysfunction; thus, the book was prematurely finished after Jordan returned from baseball for a few games at the end of the regular season in 1995 and the failed playoff run.  The story of Jordan's return did not end there!  He went on to win titles the next three years in a row.  It is not an academic complaint; the whole tenor of the book is informed with the notion that the comeback was suspect based on its lack of immediate success.  It would have been a dramatically different book if Smith had waited even a year to publish, after the Bulls won a record number of regular season games and a championship! This leads naturally into my second--can't be overstated--criticism: the implication that Jordan was washed up after his return from baseball.  While Smith never comes right out and says this, the vapor is in the air, and "Second Coming" proves that the pressure to "publish or perish" can lead to the death instead of a good idea.
Buy "Second Coming" on Amazon

The Jordan Rules: The Inside Story of a Turbulent Season with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls by Sam Smith

"The Jordan Rules" is the most famous (or infamous) of all the books about Michael Jordan.  It was published in 1992, shortly after the Bulls' first title.  It caused quite a stir when published; I was in college at the time and remember hearing about it even though I wasn't a Bulls fan at the time.  Sam Smith was a reporter for the Chicago Tribune who traveled with the Bulls.  His level of access to the principles makes this book a veritable treasure trove of fascinating behind the scenes details.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and would highly recommend it to any sports fan.  That being said, the Bob Woodward expose style of writing doesn't necessarily speak very highly of Smith's character, in my opinion.  Simply having access, based on the needs of a journalist, and using that access to spill all of the juiciest details you know are two different things.  While Michael Jordan doesn't necessarily come off badly in the book, he was angered by it and its easy to see why.  The Bulls GM, Jerry Krause, was not exactly pleased either.  Still, what the subjects might consider invasion of privacy makes for fascinating fodder for the reader.
Buy "The Jordan Rules" on Amazon

Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller by Janet Leigh and Christopher Nickens

This book was written in a breezy and informal way, while I would have preferred a bit more of an academic approach.  Still, Janet Leigh offers some interesting insights into the film and the book contains a fair amount of enjoyable detail for the casual  fan. 
Buy "Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller" on Amazon

Ultimate High: My Everest Odyssey by Goran Kropp

About a Swede who biked from Sweden to Mt. Everest towing all of his supplies, then climbed Everest without supplemental oxygen (a nearly impossible task).  There was a ghost writer who apparently did most of the writing, then it was translated into English by another party.  His expedition occurred in 1996, at the same time as the events chronicled in Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.  Considering the magnitude of his feat, the book is written rather breezily and it covers large portions of time in a few short pages.  By the time Kropp started climbing Everest though, I couldn't help but be drawn into the adventure and ended up admiring him.  After a bit of research I discovered the sad information that he died climbing a mountain in Washington state in 2002.  It's too bad, because it seems he was a good guy and became a bit of a philanthropist after his climb of Everest.  He wasn't exactly rich so its admirable that he used his success to help others.
Buy "Ultimate High" on Amazon

Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival by Norman Ollestad

A good book, and one that proves again that you can't judge a book by its cover.  It looks like it's about a plane crash in the San Gabriel Mountains of California, and it is...but the "memoir" in the subtitle is more revealing than the photo and other crash/survival text on the front cover.  The first chapter starts with the plane crash, and each chapter after that (until near the end) alternates back and forth between childhood memories of Ollestad's loving, adrenaline junkie father, and the crash.  I've got a few quibbles with the ending, and I think the epilogue should have at least referenced his mother and stepfather who were major characters in the book, but I enjoyed it and read it quickly as a result.
Buy "Crazy for the Storm" on Amazon

Car Guys vs. Bean Counters by Bob Lutz

In the late 1990s and early 2000s I often wondered why GM car interiors were so bland.  This really baffled me.  My parents had a Chrysler 300M, Motor Trend's Car of the Year when introduced, and it was nicer in almost every way than GM products, but particularly in the interior.  Bob Lutz explains why this was the case and how he changed it; GM cars now have interiors on par with the best in the industry.  Basically, Lutz explains how GM was a leviathan populated by people more afraid of making a mistake than they were in striving for product excellence.  When he became Vice Chairman of Product Development in 2001 he changed much of the culture.  I was excited to get my hands on this book and it did not disappoint.  What is disappointing is that Lutz was the exception rather than the rule in the American car industry.
Buy "Car Guys vs. Bean Counters" on Amazon

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

Superficially a true crime book about two heinous murders committed in modern times by adherents of a Mormon splinter sect, it's as much or more a thorough and fascinating history of the origins and violent early history of the LDS church.  Krakauer does his usual superlative work in explaining how critical polygamy was in early Mormonism, why the church was forced to disavow it, and how the disavowal led to modern Mormon splinter sects or "fundamentalism."  It's an excellent read and highly recommended.
Buy "Under the Banner of Heaven" on Amazon

The Grizzly Maze by Nick Jans

Timothy Treadwell is the subject of The Grizzly Maze.  (See the Grizzly Man post below).  Jans is a great writer and I very much enjoyed this book.  By the end, it is, perhaps, a bit redundant, maybe in an effort to pad the length.  Still, it is excellent, and I look forward to reading more of Jans' work.
Buy "The Grizzly Maze" on Amazon

Touching the Void by Joe Simpson

This is a classic of the adventure/climbing genre, and rightly so.  From my perspective, the early portion of the book about an extremely difficult climb in the Peruvian Andes was a bit of a slog.  I'm not that familiar with climbing terminology and sometimes it's hard to visualize what is being described.  The latter 2/3 of the book deal with the writer's devastating injury high on the mountain, his mental and physical turmoil, and his almost unbelievable fortitude in fighting for survival.  It is beautifully written and well worth reading.
Buy "Touching the Void" on Amazon