Josh Chetwynd – författare

A quirky, trivia-packed history of the unsung heroes of sports-balls! You may fancy yourself a sports fan, but chances are you don't know: A fish eyeball was used as the center of some nineteenth-century baseballs The race to make better billiard balls led to the invention of plastics The Nerf ball was originally created to be part of a board game featuring cavemen Balls are the unsung heroes of sports. They are smacked, flung, dribbled, crushed, thrown, and kicked. They're usually only the subject of scrutiny when something goes wrong: a tear, the application of an illegal foreign substance, or a dent from overuse. Nevertheless, if you're watching nearly any major sporting event from around the world, you're likely following the ball wondering where it will go next... The Secret History of Balls mines the stories and lore of sports and recreation to offer insight into 60 balls-whether they're hollow, solid, full of air, or stuffed with twine or made of leather, metal, rubber, plastic, or polyurethane-that give us joy on playing fields and in every arena from backyards to stadiums around the globe.

Nice is the secret ingredient to a better life. It makes us happy. It may even be what makes us civilized—when we say thank you, shake hands, send flowers, we’re doing the nice things that bring people together.?A compulsive and chunky book for lovers of trivia, popular history, customs, and culture—and a perfect gift to say “you’re nice”—The Book of Nice is an entertaining, quirky compendium of those signs, traditions, and expressions that we so often take for granted, yet turn out to be quite fascinating. It’s about why we cover a yawn (originally to prevent evil spirits from entering our bodies, now to hide the impression that something’s boring us). About holiday traditions—it’s thanks to Guy Lombardo’s December 31 broadcast in 1929 that we now sing “Auld Lang Syne” on New Year’s Eve. About customary offerings—the wedding cake evolved out of the Roman use of wheat as a symbol of fertility (and it’s much tastier than bits of grain). And about those simple yet essential niceties—how Thomas Edison championed an obscure term, “hello” (if Alexander Graham Bell had gotten his way, we’d all be saying “ahoy”). Why not put a little nice in your day?

A smorgasbord of vignettes and tidbits about the quirky—and sometimes downright odd—origins of various kitchen inventions, products, and foodstuff, How the Hot Dog Found Its Bun includes seventy-five short essays that will dispel popular myths and draw lines between food facts and food fiction. Charming text combined with simple line illustrations makes this an attractive gift book and go-to source book for all food and trivia buffs.

Few people associate baseball with Great Britain, but for a brief period in the 1930s, America's pastime nearly gained a foothold with the British populace. Though never as popular as the beloved football clubs, or even greyhound races, baseball teams like the West Ham Hammers developed intense local followings, and played some excellent baseball--in 1936, the Hammers defeated the U.S. Olympic team. The outbreak of World War II ended the rising popularity of baseball among Britons, but speculation remains that, under different circumstances, British baseball could have flourished.This book traces the history of baseball as a popular British sport, concentrating on one particularly successful and notable team, the West Ham Hammers. It places the West Ham club within the historical context of 1930s Great Britain, and covers team management, major players (e.g., Roland Gladu, the "Canadian Babe Ruth"), and the fans, many of whom still cling fondly to faded memories of the club and West Ham Stadium. Eight appendices include team rosters, British baseball rules, and year-by-year records from 1890 to 2005.

With the success of The Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic, baseball in Europe has begun to receive more attention. But few realize just how far back the sport's history stretches on the continent. Baseball has been played in Europe since the 1870s, and in several countries the players and devoted followers have included royalty, Hall of Famers from the U.S. major leagues, and captains of industry.Featuring approximately 80 new interviews and 70 new photos and images, this second edition builds extensively on the previous edition's country-by-country histories of more than 40 European nations. Also included are two new appendices on European players signed by MLB organizations and European countries' performance in worldwide rankings.