Did you read Sports Illustrated a couple of weeks ago? In the September 26 issue there was a big article about Yao Ming, which was actually an excerpt from Brook Larmer's forthcoming book called Operation Yao Ming.

Larmer is a former Newsweek bureau chief, and this is his first book. And make no mistake: This is serious, professional journalism. The research and reporting is absolutely relentless.

Consider this: Larmer's competition in telling the story of Yao Ming is, well, Yao Ming himself, who conspired with Ric Bucher to write a pretty good biography.

This book blows Yao's own book out of the water. Not even close.

Here are just some of the things I learned from the excerpt:

• Yao's family was essentially punished for much of Yao's childhood, because in her youth Yao's mother was a vocal leader of Mao's Red Guard. According to Larmer, she led public denunciations of one-time party secretary Zhu Yong. After humiliation and what sounds to me like torture (she did not, according to the book, lay a hand on him), Zhu Yong "confessed" and was sentenced to "reeducation camp" where he was spotted knee deep in an icy stream, pulling rotten grass out of the water, with his frost-bitten hands cracked and bleeding. He was in the camp for five years. When Zhu Yong returned to power as a sports administrator, Yao's mother was subjected to menial jobs and the family made far less than the average Chinese family, despite being the preeminent athletic family.

• Yao's parents were united as a couple after the Communist Party made clear they would like them together (presumably to create a tall young athlete), and a friend convinced them they could "make do" with each other.

• Yao has always wanted to be an archaeologist.

• Yao was not very into basketball as a youngster. Two things that made him like it more: his dad would give him prizes for making baskets, and his mom took him to see the Harlem Globetrotters.

• The lame high-five that Yao Ming's family managed on live TV when he was picked first overall was contrived at the suggestion of NBA personnel. In fact, the family was worn down from negotiating their way into the NBA through Chinese and American red tape. At one point Yao's mother reportedly told officials that if Yao Ming didn't make it to the NBA that year, he would never play basketball again.

• In China and in Houston, Yao would sometimes avoid going home to avoid his overbearing mother. In addition to the suburban home where he lives with his parents, Yao now also spends time in a downtown Houston apartment that he has rented.