What do you think?
Rate this book
100 Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know about Sport
From the author of 100 Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know, a companion volume perfectly timed for the Olympic Games. What can maths tell us about sports? 100 Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know About Sport sheds light on the mysteries of running, jumping, swimming and points scoring across the whole sporting spectrum. Whether you are a competitor striving to go faster or higher, or an armchair enthusiast wanting to understand more, this is a fascinating read with one hundred short pieces that range across a wide number of sports. Find - Why high-jumpers use the Fosbury Flop- How fast Usain Bolt can ultimately run and how he could break his records without running any faster- Whether there is a limit to human performance- Who the strongest man or woman is, pound for pound- Why there are so many different scoring systems in sport- If a 100-kilogram mass weighs more in London than it
320 pages, Hardcover
First published March 15, 2012
3 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
John D. Barrow
90 books167 followersJohn D. Barrow was a professor of mathematical sciences and director of the Millennium Mathematics Project at Cambridge University and a Fellow of the Royal Society.
He was awarded the 2006 Templeton Prize for "Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities" for his "writings about the relationship between life and the universe, and the nature of human understanding [which] have created new perspectives on questions of ultimate concern to science and religion".
He was a member of a United Reformed Church, which he described as teaching "a traditional deistic picture of the universe".
He was awarded the 2006 Templeton Prize for "Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities" for his "writings about the relationship between life and the universe, and the nature of human understanding [which] have created new perspectives on questions of ultimate concern to science and religion".
He was a member of a United Reformed Church, which he described as teaching "a traditional deistic picture of the universe".
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 5, 2013
Catchy title, and I thought the book would be interesting, but after reading about 1/3 of the book, I couldn't get myself to continue.
The book is based around a number of issues in sports and uses a lot of Math to address these issues. Maybe I'm not really good in Maths, but some of the presentation feels more like observations than anything else. For example, talking about Usian Bolt's 100m time.....I think if you are into sports, knowing his reaction time and improving it definitely makes him faster.
I think this book is a good book to have around just to read it from time to time, but nevertheless I was disappointed.
The book is based around a number of issues in sports and uses a lot of Math to address these issues. Maybe I'm not really good in Maths, but some of the presentation feels more like observations than anything else. For example, talking about Usian Bolt's 100m time.....I think if you are into sports, knowing his reaction time and improving it definitely makes him faster.
I think this book is a good book to have around just to read it from time to time, but nevertheless I was disappointed.
February 12, 2017
100 short chapters. Great preparation for any Olympic Games.
August 2, 2016
One of Barrow´s least interesting books.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews