A Sunday Times Book of the Year 'For anyone interested in Lee's legacy, this is a roundhouse kick of a biography' - Sunday Times 'At last, Bruce Lee has the powerful biography he deserves... It will thrill Lee's fans and fascinate the unfamiliar' - Jonathan Eig, author of Ali: A Life and Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig 'Meticulously researched' - Jimmy McDonough, author of Shakey: Neil Young's Biography and Soul Survivor: A Biography of Al Green 'You won't find a better match for a biographer with his ...
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A Sunday Times Book of the Year 'For anyone interested in Lee's legacy, this is a roundhouse kick of a biography' - Sunday Times 'At last, Bruce Lee has the powerful biography he deserves... It will thrill Lee's fans and fascinate the unfamiliar' - Jonathan Eig, author of Ali: A Life and Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig 'Meticulously researched' - Jimmy McDonough, author of Shakey: Neil Young's Biography and Soul Survivor: A Biography of Al Green 'You won't find a better match for a biographer with his subject than Matthew Polly and Bruce Lee... A definitive biography, told with passion and punch' - Brian Jay Jones, author George Lucas: A Life and Jim Henson: The Biography. More than forty years after Bruce Lee's sudden death at age 32, journalist and author Matthew Polly has written the definitive account of Lee's life. It's also one of the only accounts; incredibly, there has never been an authoritative biography of Lee. Following a decade of research that included conducting more than one hundred interviews with Lee's family, friends, business associates and even the mistress in whose bed Lee died, Polly has constructed a complex, humane portrait of the icon. There are his early years as a child star in Hong Kong cinema; his actor father's struggles with opium addiction and how that turned Bruce into a troublemaking teenager who was kicked out of high school and eventually sent to America to shape up; his beginnings as a martial arts teacher, eventually becoming personal instructor to movie stars like Steve McQueen; his struggles as an Asian-American actor in Hollywood and frustration seeing role after role he auditioned for go to white actors in eye makeup; his eventual triumph as a leading man; his challenges juggling a sky-rocketing career with his duties as a father and husband; and his shocking end that to this day is still shrouded in mystery. Polly breaks down the myth of Bruce Lee and argues that, contrary to popular belief, he was an ambitious actor who was obsessed with martial arts-not a great kung-fu master who just so happened to make a couple of movies. The book offers an honest look at an impressive yet flawed man whose personal story was even more entertaining and inspiring than any fictional role he played on-screen. Praise for Matthew Polly 'Hypnotic...Tapped Out manages to humanize a sport once demonized as "human cockfighting" by deconstructing the stereotype of the martial-arts tough guy.' - New York Times 'Tapped Out is a knockout for MMA fans, who will laugh at the intimate portraits Polly sketches of some of the sport's most famous personalities. But it also works for those not familiar with the sport...You won't be disappointed.' - OpposingViews.com 'A delight to read.' - TheFightNerd.com 'Polly's self-deprecation in the painful learning process stands out as much as the witty prose. His delivery is Plimpton-esque.' - ESPN.com 'Smoothly written . . . Polly has a good eye for characters.' - Publishers Weekly
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Add this copy of Bruce Lee: a Life to cart. $2.85, good condition, Sold by Goodwill of Colorado rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by Simon & Schuster.
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This item is in overall good condition. Covers and dust jackets are intact but may have minor wear including slight curls or bends to corners as well as cosmetic blemishes including stickers. Pages are intact but may have minor highlighting/ writing. Binding is intact; however, spine may have slight wear overall. Digital codes may not be included and have not been tested to be redeemable and/or active. Minor shelf wear overall. Please note that all items are donated goods and are in used condition. Orders shipped Monday through Friday! Your purchase helps put people to work and learn life skills to reach their full potential. Orders shipped Monday through Friday. Your purchase helps put people to work and learn life skills to reach their full potential. Thank you!
Add this copy of Bruce Lee: a Life to cart. $3.84, good condition, Sold by Zoom Books Company rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lynden, WA, UNITED STATES, published 2019 by Simon & Schuster.
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Book is in good condition and may include underlining highlighting and minimal wear. The book can also include From the library of labels. May not contain miscellaneous items toys dvds etc. We offer 100% money back guarantee and 24 7 customer service.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Bruce Lee: a Life to cart. $12.98, very good condition, Sold by Books Revisited rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Saint Cloud, MN, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by Simon & Schuster.
'Bruce Lee, A Life' by Matthew Polly contains a lot of errors, biased commentaries and ridiculous claims (Jewish ancestry, death by heatstroke, etc.). I do concur with some reviews that the occurrence of errors is as high as one per page. Also, I found it irritating and unbecoming that Mr. Polly included so many verbatim conversations (seems like every page), the book read more like a fiction than a biography. This is a perfect example of reputable publisher such as Simon & Schuster is capable of producing lousy books.
chinesecanadian
Nov 10, 2018
FULL OF ERRORS
I can't recommend this book for several reasons. I agreed with the reviews of Dublin-based Irish Times and Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. The former called it a "Door Stopper" while the latter called the book's controversial claim of Lee's death due to heatstroke bizarre. About 10% into the book, I had already found 21 factual errors and 16 contextual inaccuracies. I stopped counting after that.
The "Door Stopper" quip refers to the book's size (656 pages), which is a result of the author's liberal way in material selection and his fairly loose standards in fact-checking, evident in the level of errors and inaccuracies. Too many sidetrack stories with questionable relevancy were included, and most narrative was artificially stretched with unimportant details. The book is also filled with quoted dialogues but provided no substantiation as to the truthfulness of the spoken words - they're no better than just documented hearsay. This book is a good attempt to provide a comprehensive biography of Lee, but poorly executed.
