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The Ball: Discovering The Object Of The Game (2012)

by John Fox(Favorite Author)

3.75 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0061881791 (ISBN13: 9780061881794)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Harper Perennial

review 1: I saw John Fox speak and do a reading at Porter Square Books in Cambridge before I read The Ball. He was engaging, lively, and humorous, and his book is as well. The premise is simple: during a game of catch, Fox's soon asked, "Why do we play ball?" Fox, an archeologist and sports fan who'd studied ancient Mayan ball games was stumped. So he set out to find out why.The ensuing chapters are less an answer to that specific question than descriptions of the sport-by-sport case studies Fox undertook to answer it. For example, one chapter is devoted to the murky origins of baseball, our "national past time" which can actually be traced back to British children's games. Another chapter explores the rise of soccer through rugby like mob football games played between European vill... moreages. Fox travels to Scotland to witness the centuries old tradition in person and his play-by-play of this event is the book's most entertaining section. The closest Fox comes to really answering the question of "Why do we play ball?" is perhaps in his first chapter, in which he goes to Florida to watch dolphins, the second most playful animal behind humans, in action. Through this experience Fox plausibly suggests that ball play developed as a way to test and improve our hunting, communication, and survival skills. In the end, however, the question is one without a concrete answer. Instead, Fox uses it as a spring board for an entertaining and informative ride that explores the power of the human connection to sport.
review 2: This book sets out to answer the innocent question of Fox’s seven year old son, “Why do we play ball, anyway?” The author has done a tremendous amount of research, some of it by physically visiting places where embryonic versions of our modern ball games are still played—going to the Orkney Isles, France, and the interior of Mexico in an attempt to show how interwoven playing ball is with being human.I particularly enjoyed his advancement of the theory that it was man’s development of his ability to throw a rock, in order to hunt more efficiently, that was the first step of early humans toward becoming modern homosapiens. Fox offers as proof the research of the evolutionary biologist, William Calvin from the University of Washington. Calvin believes, “The motion itself may have promoted the first lateralization of a function to the left brain, a spark that set in motion the development of language, tool use and much more.” As he continues to explain this theory Fox offers this gem, which made me laugh out loud, “Now you’ve got a not-so-smart, mostly upright, well-fed primate with a killer fastball and reproductive advantage. Add a lump of chaw and you’ve got your average major-league pitcher!” (pg. 34) The result of his efforts is a work that is usually enlightening and often humorous though I did think that he got off track a couple of times and digressed on topics too peripheral to his central theme.If you want to learn why it is so easy to lose yourself in a game of catch, this is the book for you. less

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