Following his death, Kobe Bryant‘s book Mamba Mentality: How I Play, began selling out at bookstores across the nation, but now, it’s reportedly back in stock at some locations across the U.S. Recently the Barnes & Noble book store in Greenville, North Carolina shared that it has restocked the highly in-demand book.
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Bryant died in a tragic helicopter crash on Jan. 26, along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven other individuals. The following day, NBC News affiliate, NBC 4-NY reported that some book sellers were already running out of the book.
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Mamba Mentality is a book that chronicles Bryant’s journey through basketball in photos, while also containing insight and words of wisdom from the NBA legend.
The photographs were the work of Andrew D. Bernstein, who had followed Bryant from the very beginning and snapped some incredible shots of him. However, while speaking to the Boston Herald, Bernstein revealed that he had no idea Bryant was planning to use his images in Mamba Mentality until the book was already being put together.
“Little did I know, honestly, until he and I started to do the book together, he told me that he used my photos, even as a kid, and as he started playing, he used my photos to study how players played, to study their moves, their expressions, how they were locked in,” Bernstein said. “As we started editing photos to the book, he started showing me by breaking down, dissecting my photos.”
In addition to working for the NBA, Bernstein is also the Lakers official team photographer, which is how he had access to getting some amazing photos of Bryant. When it came to the book, he says that the late Laker chose each picture himself, and wrote every single word.
“He was completely immersed. If you knew Kobe, Kobe didn’t do anything half-a—ed,” Bernstein said. “He went in full bore on everything, and his obsession was contagious. Kobe has a great quote: ‘If you’re not obsessed with what you do, we don’t speak the same language.’ I love that quote because I had to rise up to the challenge throughout my career of being as obsessed with my craft as he was with his craft.”
Notably, while Mamba Mentality can be found at some book stores, it is still sold out online at Amazon.
