Why Michael Couldn't Hit

“A fascinating study . . . Klawans explains how achievements and disappointments in certain sports can be traced to events of the brain.” —Library Journal

The author who told us why Toscanini fumbled and why Newton raved takes us on a tour of the great brains of great athletes—baseball players and basketball players, track stars and golfers—to show how both accomplishment and tragedy may be the result of some unusual neurons.

In Why Michael Couldn't Hit, Dr. Harold L. Klawans joins his two lifelong passions for neurological discovery and sports. And his arguments about the way the two are linked will give every sports fan a new outlook on what happens on the track, the baseball diamond, or in the arena. A deft and fascinating exploration, the book reveals that the twists and turns of athletes' brains have at least as much to do with their stardom as the strength and coordination of their muscles. It's an entirely original perspective on a topic that has always captured the American imagination: the breathtaking sight of athletic grace, force, and skill.

“A graceful and witty writer . . . who is an ardent and keenly analytical sports fan as well . . . Every reader will have his or her own resonances to these tales.” —Oliver Sacks, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

“Klawans is that rara avis, a scientist with an interest in sports. He has combined the two to produce this enlightening study based on the successes, failures and tragedies of major sports figures.” —Publishers Weekly

“An eclectic mixture of anecdote, history and neurology.” —Nature Medicine