Fable - Shop now
To share your reaction on this item, open the Amazon app from the App Store or Google Play on your phone.
Your audiobook is waiting!
Enjoy a free trial on us
$0.00
  • One credit a month to pick any title from our entire premium selection to keep (you’ll use your first credit now).
  • Unlimited listening on select audiobooks, Audible Originals, and podcasts.
  • You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
  • $14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel online anytime.
Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company
List Price: $18.00
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible’s Conditions Of Use. and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company

How Basketball Can Save the World: 13 Guiding Principles for Reimagining What's Possible Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 48 ratings

A thought-provoking exploration of how basketball—and the values rooted in the game—can solve today’s most pressing issues, from the professor behind the popular New York University course

NBA and WNBA superstars, Hall of Fame players, coaches, and leading cultural figures have all dropped by New York University Professor David Hollander’s course “How Basketball Can Save the World” course to debate and give insights on how the underlying principles of the game can provide a new blueprint for addressing our diverse challenges and showing what’s possible beyond the court.

Now, in How Basketball Can Save the World, Hollander takes us out of the classroom to present a beautiful new philosophy with contributions by many of his past guests and based on values inherent to basketball, such as inclusion and the balancing of individual success with the needs of the collective. These principles move us beyond conflict and confusion toward a more harmonious and meaningful future:

  • Positionless-ness: In basketball, players aren’t siloed into just one position or responsibility. In life, we can learn to be more adaptive to the challenges we face by embracing a positionless mindset.
  • Human Alchemy: We talk a lot about team chemistry, but team alchemy means the creation of something totally new—a team far greater than the sum of its parts.
  • Sanctuary: Basketball offers players a critical space to feel safe, free, and expressive. Fostering similar spaces in the real world can encourage people to be their best, happiest, and most productive selves.
  • Transcendence: Basketball is about defying gravity, becoming weightless, and flying higher than anyone ever has before. By seeking out this principle, we can elevate ourselves and those around us to a new plane of experience.

Whether you’re a seasoned veteran of the game or have never set foot on a court, How Basketball Can Save the World will empower you to become more resilient, tolerant, and wise in your relationship with yourself, others, and the world around you.

Read & Listen

Switch between reading the Kindle book & listening to the Audible audiobook with Whispersync for Voice.
Get the Audible audiobook for the reduced price of $6.00 after you buy the Kindle book.
Audible Free Trial
Discover top titles, podcasts, and more on Audible. Try 30 days free.

Product details

Listening Length 7 hours and 32 minutes
Author David Hollander
Narrator Leon Nixon, David Hollander
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date February 07, 2023
Publisher Random House Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B09SGS5N7P
Best Sellers Rank #41,476 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#19 in Philosophy of Society
#31 in Basketball (Audible Books & Originals)
#93 in Social Philosophy

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
48 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers

Customers say

Customers find the book accessible and engaging. They appreciate the author's passion for the subject and the clear vision it provides. The book provokes thought and makes them appreciate basketball more.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

5 customers mention "Readability"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book accessible and readable. They say it's fantastic and a great read.

"...But this really should be mandatory reading for any human being who is curious, thoughtful, and ever-searching for meaning...." Read more

"...to know about Basketball, along comes David Hollander with a brilliant book that beautifully depicts the importance of the sport...." Read more

"A must read for all. Hollander has provided a brilliant, concise and accessible book on how basketball can really save the world." Read more

"Had a great journey reading this book...." Read more

3 customers mention "Clarity"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the author's passion for the subject and find the book concise and accessible. They appreciate the vision as valid, hopeful, and doable for us, our children, and the whole world.

"...The writer's passion for the subject is so evident and infectious. I highly recommend." Read more

"What an incredibly valid, hopeful and do-able vision for us, our children, the whole world. I wish EVERYONE would read this book RIGHT NOW."" Read more

"A must read for all. Hollander has provided a brilliant, concise and accessible book on how basketball can really save the world." Read more

3 customers mention "Thought provoking"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book thought-provoking and emotional. It presents a new way to understand the world and our relationship with other sentient beings. They say it brings joy and makes them appreciate basketball.

"...This presents a new way to understand the world, our relationship with other sentient beings, our place in the cosmos, and well... BASKETBALL...." Read more

"...This has elevated near the top. It's clever. It's emotional...." Read more

"Had a great journey reading this book. It brought me joy, made me think about society, made me appreciate basketball at all levels and made me yearn..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2023
    I am really loving this despite being a basketball newbie. I am always interested in finding new ways to look at old problems and I actually found these principles relevant and applicable to my non-profit work. The writer's passion for the subject is so evident and infectious. I highly recommend.
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2023
    If you are a basketball-lover this is a must read. But this really should be mandatory reading for any human being who is curious, thoughtful, and ever-searching for meaning. This presents a new way to understand the world, our relationship with other sentient beings, our place in the cosmos, and well... BASKETBALL. I hope more and more people read this book because I believe sharing ideas like this is our greatest hope for a sustainable future and a more compassionate path forward.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2024
    Agrado
  • Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2023
    Just when you thought you knew all you needed to know about Basketball, along comes David Hollander with a brilliant book that beautifully depicts the importance of the sport.

    I strongly recommend "How Basketball Can Save the World: 13 Guiding Principles for Reimagining What's Possible" to any high level basketball player or professional athlete who is currently pivoting into a new career and trying to understand how to positively transcend the characteristics they have learned throughout their sports careers into various new sectors.

    The awareness David Hollander displays in this book will not only radically strengthen the mindset for future athletes to confidently innovate, but also validates the importance of multi-faceted systems thinking in this new social age.

    Read it in one sitting. Couldn't put it down.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2023
    What an incredibly valid, hopeful and do-able vision for us, our children, the whole world. I wish EVERYONE would read this book RIGHT NOW."
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2023
    I'm an avid sports/basketball reader, probably have over 100+ in the vault now. This has elevated near the top.

    It's clever. It's emotional. It's truly one of the more sincere attempts to "save the world" on something all people can get behind.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2023
    A must read for all. Hollander has provided a brilliant, concise and accessible book on how basketball can really save the world.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2023
    Had a great journey reading this book. It brought me joy, made me think about society, made me appreciate basketball at all levels and made me yearn for my days as a hooper…

Top reviews from other countries

  • Stefano Bartolotta
    2.0 out of 5 stars Populist
    Reviewed in Italy on July 28, 2023
    I gave up after reading 4 of the 13 principles. At the beginning, it's interesting, maybe a bit too idealistic, but some daydreaming can be OK sometimes, right? Then, after a while, it takes a bad turn and gets way too populist. Its statements are food for people with no culture who are proud of their ignirance. Pathetic. I give two stars because it's well written and the parts about basketball history are interesting, but its messages are a no-no.