Giant Steps (book)  Giant Steps: The Autobiography of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Bantam Books, 1983) is a best-selling book by basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Written with former "Crawdaddy" magazine editor Peter Knobler, it covers Abdul-Jabbar's career, his conversion to Islam, his social growth, and his feelings about American racial politics. The title "Giant Steps" pays tribute to the 1960 album of the same name by jazz musician John Coltrane.