The author of this piece might surprise you. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played 20 seasons of basketball with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers. He was a record six-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), a record 19-time NBA All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA Team member, and an 11-time NBA All-Defensive Team member.
And just in case you are tempted to have a “big, dumb jock”stereotype about him, he is a regular contributor to Time magazine and has written more than seventeen books, including several in the tradition of Sherlock Holmes. In addition to his fiction writing, he frequently writes about race, religion, and (of course) basketball.