If you asked a group of 100 college basketball fans to write down their top-five college basketball coaches of all-time, Bobby Knight will appear on every fan’s list.

Knight is memorable for accomplishing great things (three national championships and eleven Big Ten titles) and some of the most controversial moments in college basketball history.

The Power of Negative Thinking bundles all the negativity you sense in Coach Knight and explains how you can push yourself into achieving great things in life. It’s an odd method, but Knight’s “realist” common sense approach is refreshing in a book in this genre.

Knight shares anecdotes about his time coaching against Michael Jordan in college, what he learned during his time at Texas Tech and memories of Keith Smart’s shot that won Indiana a National championship in 1987.

I grew up in Indiana. Bobby Knight is beloved to this day for what he accomplished as the coach of the Indiana Hoosiers. Even when he was going through the drama that ended his tenure at the university, he was supported. The first day he was announced as the coach of Texas Tech, Indiana fans crashed the Texas Tech athletic store’s website from excessive traffic.

I cannot explain to you in words how much The Power of Negative Thinking reads like a Bobby Knight speech. While reading this book, you will hear him reading the book to you in his voice. His dry humor and the method in which he tells stories, jump off the page.

I would describe this book as the “anti-inspirational” book, but the results are the same. He explains that more games are lost by mistakes than won by great plays. If you prepare yourself to not make mistakes, you will do great things in your life. He even describes how someone can benefit from being insecure.

This book is all about realizing your faults and making sure that they never get in your way. It’s a breath of fresh air from the normal, “if you can visualize it, you can achieve it” malarkey most inspirational books jam down your throat.

If you want a book about leadership and achieving your goals with basketball anecdotes baked in Coach Knight’s wit, you will enjoy The Power of Negative Thinking.