Vince Carter: The Air Apparent

Geoff Hamilton, a former columnist for the Queen’s Journal, is a
Toronto-based freelance editor and writer.

This short biography of Vince Carter offers a bare-bones account of his
middle-class upbringing and rise to fame as a basketball player. The
rather minimal text is subordinated to large, glossy pictures that show
Carter in action as both a college player at North Carolina and an NBA
star with the Toronto Raptors.

The book’s easy-to-read prose and abundance of striking photos make
it accessible to even the youngest fan. Those who have followed
Carter’s career closely may find much of the material familiar, but at
the very least the book provides a sort of compendium of known facts.
Harris’s engaging commentary on Carter’s struggles in college and
acclimatization to the NBA does provide some credible insight into the
young man’s growth as a player.

The book takes us only to the end of the 2000–01 NBA season, so the
breathless predictions about Carter’s future are obviously
out-of-date. The implication of the subtitle—that Carter is in line to
rival the legacy of Michael “Air” Jordan—is sadly poignant now,
given the string of knee injuries that have clouded the prospects of the
Raptors’ star. Other young players, most notably Kobe Bryant and Tracy
McGrady (a former teammate), are now generally regarded as the “heirs
apparent” to Jordan’s throne. Nevertheless, this is an attractive
book, sure to be valued by fans and collectors.