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Kareem Abdul Jabbar Books in Order

Browse Kareem Abdul-Jabbar books in order, with quick summaries, series background, and where to start across his memoirs, histories, and mysteries.

Last updated: July 1, 2026

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18 books

Giant Steps

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

1983

In this early autobiography, Abdul-Jabbar reflects on basketball, race, Islam, fame, and the pressures that came with being Lew Alcindor and then Kareem. It is the story of a superstar trying to define himself beyond the court.

Black Profiles in Courage

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

1996

Abdul-Jabbar profiles Black Americans from Crispus Attucks to Frederick Douglass, Lewis Latimer, and Duke Ellington. The book is a clear, accessible reminder that American history has always been shaped by figures too often pushed to the margins.

A Season on the Reservation

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

2000

After retiring from basketball, Abdul-Jabbar volunteers as an assistant coach for the Alchesay Falcons on the White Mountain Apache reservation. The season becomes a thoughtful look at basketball, cultural difference, adolescence, and what it means to step outside your own experience.

Brothers In Arms

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

2004

This history recounts the story of the 761st Tank Battalion, the first all-Black armored unit to see combat in World War II. Abdul-Jabbar and Anthony Walton follow the men's training, battles, and fight for dignity in a segregated Army.

On the Shoulders of Giants

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

2007

Abdul-Jabbar returns to Harlem to explore the Harlem Renaissance and the artists, athletes, writers, and thinkers who shaped it. Part history and part personal journey, the book shows how that movement helped shape his own sense of self.

What Color Is My World?

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

2012

Framed by a story about two curious twins, this lively children's book spotlights Black inventors whose work changed everyday life. Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld mix fast facts, humor, and history to celebrate creators too often left out of the spotlight.

Sasquatch in the Paint

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

2013

Theo Rollins shoots up six inches before eighth grade and suddenly everyone expects him to be a basketball star. While juggling school, science club, and a theft accusation, he has to figure out who he is beyond his height.

Mycroft Holmes

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

2015

Fresh out of Cambridge, young Mycroft Holmes travels from London to Trinidad with Cyrus Douglas after alarming reports reach them from the island. What starts as rumor and folklore turns into a dangerous mystery involving disappearances, violence, and the machinery of empire.

Stealing the Game

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

2015

Chris Richards wants to help his admired older brother, Jax, but a park game gone wrong reveals debts and trouble he barely understands. As basketball, loyalty, and bad choices collide, Chris has to decide how far family responsibility should go.

Writings on the Wall

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

2016

In this essay collection, Abdul-Jabbar tackles race, politics, religion, sports, parenthood, and the country's sharp divides. He mixes personal experience with plainspoken arguments about what equality might look like in everyday American life.

Becoming Kareem

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

2017

Written for young readers, this memoir follows Lew Alcindor from a shy New York City kid to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He writes about racism, family, mentors, faith, and the people who helped turn talent into purpose.

Coach Wooden and Me

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

2017

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar looks back on the 50-year bond that began when Lew Alcindor arrived at UCLA in 1965. Part memoir and part portrait of mentorship, it shows how John Wooden's lessons shaped his life on the court and far beyond it.

Kareem

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

2017

In this memoir, Abdul-Jabbar reflects on the people and beliefs that shaped him, from family and basketball to Islam. Written near the end of his playing career, it offers a personal look at fame, discipline, and identity.

Mycroft and Sherlock

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

2018

A string of grisly London murders draws young Sherlock into the opium underworld, while Mycroft follows clues from a wrecked cargo ship and a mysterious woman. Their separate investigations converge into a dark conspiracy that forces the secretive brothers to rely on each other.

The Empty Birdcage

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

2019

In 1873, a killer called Fire Four Eleven leaves no marks on the bodies, only a calling card. As Sherlock pursues the murders and Mycroft is pulled into another dangerous case, the brothers uncover a wider scheme shaped by greed, money, and power.

Black Cop's Kid

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

2021

In this short, deeply personal essay, Abdul-Jabbar looks at race through his childhood in New York and his father's work as a Black police officer. It is a compact memoir about loyalty, justice, activism, and growing up between competing worlds.

Champion

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

2025

When high school star Monk Travers is caught tagging a rival school, his place on the team is suddenly at risk. A punishment project on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's life as an activist pushes him toward a deeper understanding of community, history, and responsibility.

We All Want to Change the World

by Kareem Abdul Jabbar

2025

Looking back at protest movements from the 1960s to the present, Abdul-Jabbar blends history with his own memories of activism. The result is a personal, wide-angle book about how public protest can pressure a country to change.

Where should I start?

If you want his life story first: Becoming KareemGiant StepsKareem
If you want sports, mentorship, and character: Coach Wooden and MeA Season on the Reservation
If you want history and social justice: On the Shoulders of GiantsBrothers In ArmsWe All Want to Change the World
If you want his mystery fiction: Mycroft HolmesMycroft and SherlockThe Empty Birdcage
If you want books for younger readers: What Color Is My World?Sasquatch in the PaintStealing the GameChampion

Author bio

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. in Harlem on April 16, 1947, and grew up in Manhattan. Long before he became famous for the skyhook, he was a shy, bookish only child who paid close attention to the world around him. His father worked as a transit police officer, a part of family life that would later echo in his essay Black Cop's Kid.

Books were always part of the story.

At UCLA, where he studied history while playing for John Wooden, that habit of reading and digging into the past stayed with him. He wrote Giant Steps while he was still an NBA star, and after retiring from basketball in 1989 he gave more of himself to writing. He has said that retirement gave him the time to find a fuller, more mature voice on the page.

That second career turned out to be no side project.

His books range across memoir, history, essays, children's literature, and mystery, but they keep circling some of the same questions. Who gets remembered. Who gets erased. What do talent, fame, and citizenship ask of a person. In On the Shoulders of Giants, he links the Harlem Renaissance to his own upbringing in New York. In Brothers In Arms, he helps recover the story of the 761st Tank Battalion, the first all-Black armored unit to see combat in World War II. In Coach Wooden and Me, he writes with warmth and clarity about mentorship, grief, and a friendship that lasted half a century.

He has also written especially well for younger readers. Becoming Kareem retells his early life in a direct, honest way, making room for shyness, racism, faith, and the awkwardness of growing up unusually tall. What Color Is My World? shines a light on Black inventors whose work shaped everyday life, and the Streetball Crew books use school, friendship, and pickup games to talk about pressure, loyalty, and self-respect.

Then there is the mystery side of his bibliography. With Anna Waterhouse, he created the Mycroft Holmes novels, beginning with Mycroft Holmes and continuing through Mycroft and Sherlock and The Empty Birdcage. Those books imagine Sherlock Holmes's older brother as a younger man moving through Victorian politics, colonial power, and dangerous investigations. Readers who come for the Holmes connection often stay for the history, the pace, and the way Abdul-Jabbar brings race and class into the frame.

His essay collections show the same mix of curiosity and conviction. Writings on the Wall and We All Want to Change the World take on race, protest, equality, religion, and public life in plain language. He does not write like someone trying to sound lofty. He writes like someone who has spent a long time thinking, reading, and arguing things through.

His public life has been wide, too. He served as a U.S. cultural ambassador, made documentaries, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. Today he still writes about sports, politics, history, and pop culture, and his Skyhook Foundation focuses on educational opportunities for underserved children.

The basketball career made him famous. The books show how wide-ranging his mind always was.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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