“Shields has located a charming narrative inside the roar of Ichiro Mania.” -- FFWD
“Shields has put together a book that delivers a straight-up dose of Ichiro to his readers. Future volumes by other writers--some ponderous, pretentious, and overwritten, no doubt—can try to tell us what it all means. Baseball Is Just Baseball is an ethereal joy unto itself.” -- James Norton, Flak
“Deliciously wonderful. It looks nice, it feels nice, and it is filled with nice things.” -- Elizabeth Miller, Powells.com
“There's a scene in the New York art-house classic, Downtown 81, wherein a curbside hooker asks the late graffiti superstar Jean-Michel Basquiat if he'd ‘like to go out.’ Basquiat replies, ‘I'm already out.’ Your reaction to Basquiat's line ought to tell you whether to pick up this book. If you think the utterance is mundane and obvious, then stick to your John Irving novels. But if, like me, you found it to be funny and clever, then you'll probably dig Shields's little book.” -- Mike Seely, Tablet
“David Shields's sense of postmodern irony is so advanced that I can't be sure whether he's serious.” -- Robert Lipyste, The New York Times