No dry, boring science lectures here: Physics is exciting when it helps you throw a perfect spiral Sean Connolly, author of the bestselling and award-winning The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science, The Book of Potentially Catastrophic Science, and The Book of Perfectly Perilous Math, tackles his next great subject: the science behind kids favorite sports. Ever wonder how Michael Jordan seems to float through mid-air on a dunk? Or how bike gears help you ride uphill? Or why a belly flop hurts so much? With The Book of Wildly Spectacular Sports Science, kids learn by doing in a fact-filled and whimsically illustrated tour through the physics and physiology of athletic excellence.

Covering a wide range of athletic interests from hang gliding and motor racing, to wiffle ball and gymnastics, to the Big 4 of baseball, football, basketball, and hockey this book explains the enduring mysteries of sports through 54 hands-on experiments. Kids will test air resistance with a trashcan-lid ping-pong paddle; mimic the momentum of a pitcher s windup with a miniature trebuchet; or give new meaning to Newton s Second Law of Motion with a powerful popsicle-stick karate chop all the while building on an existing passion for sports to kindle interest in how success or defeat on the field depends so much on science."