Allen St. John,Ainissa Ramirez
In the bestselling tradition of ,Freakonomics, and ,Scorecasting, comes a clever and accessible look at the big ideas underlying the science of football.Â  ,Â , Did you hear the one about the MacArthur genius physicist and the NFL coach? Itâ€™s not a joke. Itâ€™s actually an innovative way to understand chaos theory, and the remarkable complexity of modern professional football., Â , In ,Newtonâ€™s Football,, journalist and ,New York Times, bestselling author Allen St. John and TED Speaker and former Yale professor Ainissa Ramirez explore the unexpected science behind Americaâ€™s Game. Whether itâ€™s Jerry Rice finding the common ground between quantum physics and the West Coast offense or an Ivy League biologist explainingâ€”at a granular levelâ€”exactly how a Big Mac morphs into an outside linebacker, ,Newtonâ€™s Football, illuminates footballâ€”and scienceâ€”through funny, insightful stories told by some of the worldâ€™s sharpest minds., Â , With a clear-eyed empirical approachâ€”and an exuberant affection for the gameâ€”St. John and Ramirez address topics that have long beguiled scientists and football fans alike, including:, Â , â€¢ the unlikely evolution of the football (or, as they put it, â€œThe Divinely Random Bounce of the Prolate Spheroidâ€), â€¢ what Vince Lombardi has in common with Isaac Newton, â€¢ how the hardwired behavior of monkeys can explain a head coachâ€™s reluctance to go for it on fourth-down, â€¢ why a gruesome elevator accident jump-started the evolution of placekicking, â€¢ how Teddy Roosevelt saved football using the same behavioral science concept that Dreamworks would use to save ,Shrek, â€¢ why woodpeckers donâ€™t get concussions, â€¢ how better helmets actually made the game more dangerous, Â , Every Sunday the NFL shares a secret with only its savviest fans: The game isnâ€™t just a clash of bodies, itâ€™s a clash of ideas. The greatest minds in football have always possessed an instinctual grasp of science, understanding the big ideas and gritty realities that inform the gameâ€™s rich past, as well as its increasingly uncertain future., Â , Blending smart reporting, counterintuitive creativity, and compelling narrative, ,Newtonâ€™s Football, takes gridiron analysis to the next level, giving fans a book that entertains, enlightens, and explains the game anew.,Praise for ,Newtonâ€™s Football,Â ,â€œIt was with great interest that I read ,Newtonâ€™s Football,. Iâ€™m a fan of applying of science to sport and ,Newtonâ€™s Football ,truly delivers. The stories are as engaging as they are informative. This is a great read for all football fans.â€,â€”Mark Cuban,â€œA delightfully improbable book putting science nerds and sports fans on the same page.â€,â€”,Booklist,
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, â€œThis breezily-written but informative book should pique the interest of any serious football fan in the twenty-first century.â€,â€”,The American Spectator,
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, â€œThe authors have done a worthy job of combining popular science and sports into a work that features enough expertise on each topic to satisfy nerds and jocks alike. . . . The writers succeed in their task thanks to in-depth scientific knowledge, a wonderful grasp of footballâ€™s past and present, interviews with a wide array of experts, and witty prose. . . . [,Newtonâ€™s Football, is] fun and thought-provoking, proving that football is a mind game as much as it is a ball game.â€,â€”,Publishers Weekly
Sports,Sports,Science,Football,Nonfiction,Science,Physics,History
Newton's Football: The Science Behind America's Game