Ben Lyttleton

Surely the definitive work in its field. There are wistful trips down memory lane (famous English defeats), fun explorations of expert takers, and serious, rigorous analysis of just what makes A Good Penalty. It's a shame England actually won a shootout in 2018 to take some of the shine off. The main drawback, however, is that almost every chapter makes you want to drop the book and watch the damn clips on YouTube. Sorry Mr Lyttleton!

This unusual book explains the science, and more, behind soccer. It covers such topics as why the soccer ball is round, how to have healthy grass for the soccer field, languages around the world, and filming the event. There is a class schedule at the beginning that lists such subjects pertaining to soccer as biology, math, art, religious studies, psychology, business studies, and engineering. How the authors connect all of these topics to soccer is impressive and interesting.

Just in case show more your child resists reading an educational book disguised as entertainment, the authors have extensively discussed vomit and urine as it relates to soccer. You will learn more than you expect. Although there is a fair bit of humor interjected into the content, it is extensively well researched and written. Each chapter ends with a quiz of five or six multiple choice questions. The level of knowledge is quite high. The answers are in the back of the book.

Some tidbits that caught my attention were:

The lawn mower was a spinoff of an invention to cut off the tufty bits of cloth from soldiers uniforms.
Some languages have original words that exist nowhere else. For example in the Philippines they have a word for taking a bath with your clothes on. In India and Bangladesh they have a word for the sound, sight, or motion of a big person's buttocks rubbing together as they walk.
Since cameras broadcasting a soccer game are scattered in and around the field, they receive different lighting and so must be color adjusted to match each other.
The book also contains helpful information on meeting personal goals and motivation. It's quite amazing how much has been packed into this 198 page book. Although the vocabulary is quite rich and some of the concepts are a bit challenging, I think kids aged eight and up who enjoy trivia, science, and soccer will love this book. More than a few adults we'll find something interesting here as well. show less

This book is a great book for children to learn about various subjects through their favorite topic, soccer! The comical illustrations throughout the book liven up the content and make it more engaging for kids. I love that it covers a wide variety of subjects such as; language and the origin of different words, water and how it effects your body, healthy kid-friendly smoothie recipes, life lessons (loosing being as important as winning), historical facts, biology, film studies, engineering, show more the environment, and more. The book further interacts with kids by including end-of-the-lesson quizzes. Overall, I loved the book. A local youth center just opened up and I donated it to them for their members to enjoy. Hoping that by the time my son is old enough to read these sorts of books, I'll remember to purchase him this one! show less

I like the premise of this book and the fact that it connects soccer to a variety of subjects, from Linguistics to Physics to Anatomy. It gives a lot of nonfiction information and does so with humor. The book looks at different school subjects from the lens of soccer and I suppose that rabid soccer fans may like it. However, I had a really hard time getting through this book. It may be because I am not a huge soccer fan. I am curious to see how my 5th graders take to it and I will update show more this review if they feel differently. show less