About the Author

Francois Fortin heads the editorial group that created the Firefly Visual Dictionary. Creating Sports spanned five years by a creative team of 40 editors, writers and illustrators.

Reviews

A colorful and impressive reference to 125 amateur and professional sports.--Athletic Business (11/01/2003)

A sure winner for any sports reference collection.--American Libraries (05/01/2001)

A valuable classroom resource. Coaches will find it helpful. All sports fans will find it interesting and exciting. Highly recommended.-- (11/28/2003)

Attractive illustrations and the inclusion of many newer and extreme sports make this volume highly recommended for purchase for both reference and circulating collections in school and public libraries.--Booklist (12/01/2000)

Comprehensive and reliable... The usefulness of this book is extensive and long lasting.-- (03/01/2004)

Impressive book ... the quality of illustrations in Fortin's book are superior. This book should be popular for fans of the Olympics.-- (02/01/2001)

The Olympic moto is citius (swifter), altius (higher), fortius (stronger). The moto of Sports: The Complete Visual reference might be 'bigger, brighter, better.'... the visuals are knockouts... I've never seen anything to match this effort in terms of thoroughness and lucidity... Every school library should have one.-- (08/18/2000)

This book is designed to provide the reader with the history, rules, strategies, and equipment for 127 sports played worldwide. A combination of graphics, concise text, and photos enables the reader to quickly find visual guidelines and information about a variety of sports, including the classic Olympic events. Each category (Track and Field, Snow Sports, Ball Sports, etc.) is subdivided into individual events, featured on two or three colorful pages. Traditional as well as less traditional athletics are covered, such as BMX racing, inline skating, snowboarding, and skateboarding. The format is easy to use and complete with a detailed table of contents and index. A good, up-to-date reference source for public and school libraries.-- (07/01/2000)

This book is perfect both for open-minded young people who have yet to decide on their sport of choice and adults who still can't follow Australian-rules football and curling.--Chicago Tribune (12/10/2000)

This volume delivers with flair. Promising to cover the "evolution of each sport into its current form," it looks at 127 mainstream and extreme sports -- from lawn bowling and apnea freediving to fencing and rock climbing. Know a student interested in BMX competitions? Choose from half pipe, street, or flatland. Have trouble understanding the scoreboard of a particular sport? Look no further. Entries under color-coded categories such as racket, equestrian, ball, nautical, and motor, cover the rules of the game, scorekeeping, and technological and equipment changes over time. Court/playing surfaces, sizes and types, the correct form and training regimens of elite athletes, safety equipment, history, and the responsibilities of the umpire or referee are also discussed. The thousands of full-color and black-and- white illustrations, photographs, and diagrams of the physical environment, equipment, and techniques are the backbone of this title. The detailed table of contents and accurate index facilitate access. This is a stunning visual guide packed with information that will provide answers to reference questions and hours of browsing pleasure.-- (11/01/2000)

True sports fans know the rules to their favorite games and they will scream or even throw things at a TV set if they think a bad call has been made. But even these die-hard aficionados can't be familiar with the rules for every sport played around the world. This illustrated encyclopedia details more than 100 sports, including all the Olympic competitions as well as motor sports, rock climbing and in-line skating. For each sport there are diagrams, photographs and drawings showing the technique, practice location, tactics, equipment, modifications and other details (such as a typical training schedule). While many fans may not need this reference volume for their favorite sport, this book would enhance almost anyone's viewing of the Olympics, where there are so many events with different rules. Intriguing details and descriptions abound. For example, there is a sport known as apnea freediving. In this event, divers first perform special respiratory exercises in order to take in as much oxygen as possible. Then, the divers hold their breath before descending to the designated depth and then resurfacing. Other interesting facts: handball originated in Egypt and was later played by the Romans. Leonardo da Vinci recognized the principle of parachuting, but the first parachute fall was not recorded until 1797. The illustrations are excellent; the step-by-step figures of the different techniques and routines enable readers to perfectly visualize the moves as if they were watching someone perform in front of them.-- (09/11/2000)

You'll appreciate this beautiful book... Whatever your sport, you'll find it in this excellent book and you'll enjoy learning something new.-- (12/01/2003)

This book is great, fun, and easy to read; the perfect lap reference.--Wayne Janes"Toronto Sun" (09/17/2000)