The Sporting Life (Accidental Scientist)

By revealing the science behind sports, "The Sporting Life" will enrich your experience of your favorite pastime, whether you're a casual Sunday-morning softball player, a competitive runner, or just an armchair athlete. You'll gain new insights into your favorite sports while examining human physiology, physics, aerodynamics, and new technologies. Discover how gymnasts and divers control their spin as they fly through the air, or exactly what happens when a bat (or a racquet, golf club, or even a foot) hits a ball. Drawing on the Exploratorium tradition of "hands on, minds on" exploration, "The Sporting Life" also includes experiments that help you plumb the limits of your body and the characteristics of your equipment. You'll also find dozens of entertaining sidebars and anecdotes from the world of sports, all of which will change the way you play the game.