Buy new:
$34.99
FREE delivery Wednesday, May 8 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon
Sold by: markable
$34.99
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Wednesday, May 8 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$34.99 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$34.99
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon
Ships from
Amazon
Sold by
markable
Sold by
markable
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$29.95
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
Book is in like-new condition. Pages are crisp and clean with no markings. Binding is tight. Thank you for your interest! All items are shipped from an Amazon warehouse, and qualify for Prime shipping! Please be sure to leave a review/rate your item after purchase! Book is in like-new condition. Pages are crisp and clean with no markings. Binding is tight. Thank you for your interest! All items are shipped from an Amazon warehouse, and qualify for Prime shipping! Please be sure to leave a review/rate your item after purchase! See less
FREE delivery Thursday, May 9 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$34.99 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$34.99
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Chocolate Thunder: The Uncensored Life and Time of Darryl Dawkins Hardcover – January 1, 2003

by Darryl Dawkins (Author), Charles Rosen (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 20 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$34.99","priceAmount":34.99,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"34","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"99","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"kiB5mFaW63drFRYC01GIVbdYoZeftmQdC0D3012LNCnUMHlOFwnGnM7qaosNb7QTMatUoo%2FlLPS2qtaiPghAQ8bLMXpUQYNhQjI%2B1zZaNeIAFqBBYq7du64j1wflJyPF5QUlcGjkxsuFTYaWtQpNMWmUEYViY1Hwrs62T2JyVbykM63z4HZdqPI1SkEkHPiN","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$29.95","priceAmount":29.95,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"29","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"95","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"kiB5mFaW63drFRYC01GIVbdYoZeftmQde%2FcFwjgGwWmSqhU0nUEEtrvlwXt35X%2FMNuVPHD30%2F3IBYBXvoHmojq5YRW8Qi4eiYqoPPQfGyczB%2B23NnTPlPOtgif2uPD4sbyXcLVYJdZzMuJdJSk2phaQgbZszr9lb1d1NO4QeeEWSAriWvldCfH6NRXspYkBo","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

The former NBA star, celebrated for outrageous acts on and off the basketball court, writes about his life in the NBA and about the people and places visited along the way.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    238 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Sport Media Pub
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 2003
  5. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0973144327
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0973144321
  8. See all details
Next page
The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this shocking, and shockingly entertaining, memoir of a life in basketball, Dawkins, a former NBA star with the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets in the 1970s and '80s, takes readers from his earliest days in a poor Florida backwater through his first games as an 18-year-old NBA whippersnapper to later years of hard playing and harder partying. Dawkins has many professional claims to fame-he is generally credited with elevating the dunk to an art form and being the first to jump from high school to the NBA. But the best reason to read this book has nothing to do with who Dawkins is and everything to do with what he says. In an age when even athlete bad boys tend to be bland clich‚-machines, Dawkins is a throwback, a tell-it-like-it-is chatterbox who follows the one-jaw-dropping-anecdote-deserves-another school of thinking, whether he's comparing the merits of pot and cocaine, recounting his childhood pastime of shooting at roosters, giving his estranged wife a broken nose (it was self-defense, he says) or describing the things that affect his play. (He writes, "Me and Kelly were fucking so much that I could hardly shoot the ball, but I was rebounding like I was on welfare and the ball was made of gold.") He gets away with most of it because of a lighthearted tone and a playfully unapologetic style, resulting in a book that is as likely to make readers laugh as make them cringe. The book's messy, rambling charm wears thin toward the end, when Dawkins begins to feel like a caricature. But he redeems himself with straight talk about serious issues, too, like the double standards of race in basketball. Raw, provocative and as unsubtle as a shattering backboard, this is a look at how it used to be-from a man who was most definitely there.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sport Media Pub; First Edition First Printing (January 1, 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 238 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0973144327
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0973144321
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 20 ratings

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
20 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

C. R. Webster
5.0 out of 5 stars Great story of an overcomer
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2010
Verified Purchase
Bought this book after meeting Darryl Dawkins who was an outpatient in a Pennsylvania hospital. In spite of his "status", he took time to give an autograph for one of our grandsons (we asked him for one) and when we told him we had 3 grandsons who were his fans, he gladly gave us 3 addressed to each of the boys. We wanted them to know the whole story of this gentleman par excellance!
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Jay
5.0 out of 5 stars Great insight from an honest player.
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2016
Verified Purchase
Maybe too honest. LOL... But I'd expect nothing less from Darryl. Great insight!
Helpful
 Report
Rick Deeds
5.0 out of 5 stars Better than expected
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2015
Verified Purchase
The original high school to nba star, very fun to read. Interesting points of old school nba
Helpful
 Report
J. S. Share
4.0 out of 5 stars A real original he was
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2023
Verified Purchase
There has never been another basketball player quite like Darryl Dawkins. One of the first players drafted directly from high school to the NBA, dawkins lasted an amazing 14 years as a player though he never seemed to reach anywhere near his full potential. Did he actually sleep with 1000 women? He says he did but like much of this colorful tell it all book who knows? At least he names names and offers a personal perspective on his past coaches. Teammates and opponents.
Helpful
 Report
Per Bernstein
5.0 out of 5 stars THE GREATEST SPORTS BOOK OF ALL TIME
Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2019
I couldn't rate this higher.

Buy five and pass them out to your best friends.

“Breaks of the Game” by David Halberstam, “The City Game” by Pete Axthelm, anything by Ring Lardner or Jim Murray, these are the faces of sportswriting Rushmore. But got dam if this isn't the greatest sports book of them all. Just a treat.
Helpful
 Report
e_j_buster
5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Chocolate Thunder!
Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2011
In basketball, the most important play is the slam dunk. Darryl Dawkins shattered at least two backboards during games in his NBA career via the slam dunk. So it is reasonable to call him the greatest basketball player who ever lived.
Nobody knows how many backboards Dawkins has shattered in community centers and church gymnasiums throughout the world. But I would guess that it's in the hundreds. To my knowledge, Michael Jordan has never shattered a backboard.

During the peak of his career, Dawkins was a real prankster. While he was on the road with the 76ers, he would break curfew and sneak into the local community centers in the middle of the night and shatter their backboards, leaving funny notes at the front desk saying stuff like, "backboard needs repair" and "broken glass on gym floor." He was a really funny and creative basketball player.

This book tells the whole story.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
COOL JEWEL
4.0 out of 5 stars AN ENTERTAINING READ
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2004
Verified Purchase
DAWKINS TELLS THE STORY OF HIS LIFE IN THIS EASY TO READ TALE. I FOUND HIM TO BE FUNNY, CANDID AND INTERESTING. HE USES A LOT OF WORDS AND TERMS THAT MAY NOT BE FOR ANYONE UNDER 18. DAWKINS WAS PURE POWER FOR THE 76ERS DURING HIS CAREER WITH THEM. HE COULD BREAK BACKBOARDS AND SHATTER THE GLASS AROUND THEM. HE WAS STRONG AS A BULL BUT GOT IN FOUL TROUBLE VERY OFTEN. HE CAME TO THE PROS STRAIGHT FROM HIGH SCHOOL. VERY UNUSUAL FOR THE TIMES. HIS LIFE OFF THE COURT IS MORE INTERESTING THAN ON. HIS VARIOUS ADDICTIONS TO ALCOHOL, DRUGS AND SEX HURT HIS PLAY WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH MORE THAN IT WAS. I LIKE THIS BOOK BUT BE AWARE OF THE LANGUAGE AND SEX TERMS.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Johngy's Beat
3.0 out of 5 stars Solid, but lacking the 'Thunder'
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2006
Verified Purchase
If you want an entertaining look at Darryl Dawkins and basketball, this is a good choice to read. Dawkins takes the reader on a fast-paced, fun ride through the many stops on his roller-coaster career. This is not to say thet Dawkins isn't honest about the sometimes painful truth. He does admit some less-than-flattering things, but mostly he just glosses over his own weaknesses or shortcomings. Given his history and reputation, this was pretty much expected.

Dawkins does succeed in shedding some light on some interesting teams and people. He also shows some serious insight and reflection at various times of the book, just not nearly enough times.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report