Books by John D. Barrow

2. John D. Barrow, Mathletics: A Scientist Explains 100 Amazing Things About Sport .  I found half of this book to be fun, a pretty high hit rate given its style of many short chapters.  I learned how basketball players create the illusion of “hang time” (their bodies are falling parabolically, but their heads don’t have to be), that Mark Spitz would not qualify for U.S. Olympic trials today, and why the best discus throws are into the wind.