He's read the "Hunger Games" trilogy and "Decoded," Jay-Z's biography. He's also pored over Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" and "West by West," Jerry West's biography.
For LeBron James, the playoffs mean a farewell to technology and a warm welcome to literature. This year, as James tries to guide the Cavaliers back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2007, he's reading another science fiction thriller.
LeBron just told me he's been reading the book Divergent. (During playoffs he cuts off sports TV except watching games with the sound off.)
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) May 4, 2015
Many people are familiar with the "Divergent" series, a group of post-apocalyptic dystopian novels, because they have been adapted into a set of movies. The first film came out in March 2014 and the second, "Insurgent", was released in March 2015.
"[T]he reading has given me an opportunity to, just for those couple hours of the day or those 20 minutes, 25 minutes before the game, an opportunity just to read and think about something else and get a sense of what else is going on besides the game of basketball," James said in 2012. "It's made me comfortable. I'm not saying it's the trick. It's just something that I decided to do at the beginning of the postseason, and it's worked for me."
James discussed his habit in an interview with Oprah after he and the Miami Heat won the 2012 NBA championship:
Coincidentally, "Divergent" is set in Chicago, where James will be traveling later this week. The Cavaliers are taking on the Chicago Bulls in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
For the record, James briefly broke his "no technology" rule over the weekend:
LeBron on Chris Paul game winner:“I called him from my wife’s phone. I told him how amazing he was. And I hung up on him. That’s the truth.”
— Teddy Greenstein (@TeddyGreenstein) May 4, 2015