The illustrated encyclopedia of sport - Karine Delobel

The book is divided into nineteen main sections, each covering a major group of sports such as Track and Field. Cycling, Snow Sports of Motor Sports, and each category is then broken down into individual events or sports. So Aquatic Sports, for example, covers Swimming, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo, Apnea Free Diving and Diving, while Racket Sports covers Tennis, Raquetball, Table Tennis, Badminton and Squash. In all, over 100 sports are covered, plus many variants - the entry for Sailing for instance covers all categories of competition, from Olympic dinghy racing to ocean racing. The amount of information in the book is quite simply mind-boggling - this is the place to look if you want to know the specifications for the boules used in Petanque, the dimensions of a Polo field, the sequence of moves a gymnast follows when executing a reverse double salto in the pike position, how to read the scoreboard in a baseball stadium or what Tsukidashia means to a Sumo wrestler. All the information is clearly organised and set out under headings such as The Competition. Awarding Points, Basic Positions, Equipment, etc. and the text itself is a model of concision and clarity.;The lavish use of diagrams to illustrate every aspect of a sport, from the layout of the playing area, to the footwear used, to typical sequences of movement or play makes every page a pleasure to look at and will enable the reader to grasp the essentials of any sport within a matter of minutes. The Visual Encyclopedia of Sport should find a place on the bookshelf of anyone who enjoys sport of any kind, whether as a spectator or a participant - there is quite simply nothing else like it for range and depth of coverage.