RIT Libraries Recent Acquisitions - Sports

Confident Powerboating : Mastering Skills and Avoiding Trouble Afloat / Stuart Reininger

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: A practical how-to guide to handling and avoiding powerboat problems and emergencies With no secondary method of propulsion, poorer stability profiles, and enough speed to get themselves into trouble fast, powerboats are far more susceptible to emergencies than sailboats. Confident Powerboating addresses your safety concerns, providing a detailed guide to avoiding problems, coping with difficult situations, and responding to emergencies effectively. Also, each section contains several anecdotes of problems encountered and resolved (or not).

Added: Thursday, Sep 4 2008

Olympic Industry Resistance : Challenging Olympic Power and Propaganda / Helen Jefferson Lenskyj

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: A critical look at the Olympics in the postbribery, post-9/11 era, particularly at consequences for host cities and so-called "Olympic education" for schoolchildren.

Added: Monday, Aug 25 2008

Letterati : an Unauthorized Look at Scrabble? and the People Who Play it / Paul McCarthy

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: This guide charts the development of competitive Scrabble in North America and the control of the game exerted by Hasbro, Inc., the holder of the game's trademark. Through more than a hundred interviews, the evolution of Scrabble from the hustler-populated game rooms of New York City in the 1960s, before the organized game even existed, to the 2004 National Championship, where more than 800 players vied for $89,000 in prize money is detailed. Examining its origins, strategies, changes, and the business behind it all, this is a comprehensive look behind the game of Scrabble.

Added: Tuesday, Aug 19 2008

Skateboarding Skills : the Rider's Guide / Ben Powell

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Action sequences show all the techniques and tricks -- from basic to advanced. Skateboarding's popularity continues to soar -- it has now surpassed basketball in popularity among North American youth. Skateboarding Skills is an ideal guide both for first-time riders learning the necessary skills, and for more experienced ones wanting to perfect a maneuver or master a move. Written in an easy-to-follow style and packed with color photographs, Skateboarding Skills features:<ul> <li>A review of safety issues-from avoiding an injury to landing safely on a fall</li></li> <li>A guide to purchasing and maintaining equipment</li></li> <li>Clothing guidelines -- skate shoes, helmet, and pads for knees, elbows and wrists</li></li> <li>Tricks, techniques and maneuvers for all levels from powerslides to kickflips</li></li> <li>37 action photo sequences graded according to level from basic to advanced</li></li> <li>Tips from the pros, plus a glossary of skateboarding jargon and slang.</li></li> </ul> Since the sequences progress in difficulty, skateboarders can move on to the next level when ready or return to an earlier one and practice it, making Skateboarding Skills an ideal handbook for a skyrocketing sport.

Added: Wednesday, Aug 6 2008

Game on : the All-American Race to Make Champions of Our Children / Tom Farrey

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: A first-of-its-kind investigative book on the least examined and most important topic in sports today. Youth sports isn't just orange slices and all-star trophies anymore. It's 14-year-olds who enter high school with a decade of football experience, 9-year-olds competing for national baseball championships, 5-year-old golfers who shoot par, and toddlers made from sperm donated (for a fee) by elite college athletes. It's a year-round "travel team" in every community--and parents who fear that not making the cut in grade school will cost their kid the chance to play in high school. In short, a landscape in which performance often matters more than participation, all the way down to peewee basketball.Much as Fast Food Nation challenged our eating habits and Silent Spring rewired how we think about the environment, Tom Farrey's Game On will forever change the way we look at this desperate culture besotted by the example of Tiger Woods. An Emmy award-winning reporter, Farrey examines the lives of child athletes and the consequences of sorting the strong from the weak at ever earlier ages: fewer active kids, testier sidelines, rising obesity rates, and U.S. national teams that rarely win world titles.He dives into the world of these games that are played by more than 30 million boys and girls, and along the way uncovers some surprising truths. When the very best athletes enter organized play. The best approach to coaching them. And the powerful influence of wealth and genetics. Farrey has written a surprising, alarming, thoughtful, and ultimately empowering book for anyone who wants the best for the newest generation of Americans, as athletes and citizens.

Added: Wednesday, Jul 30 2008

For Girls Only

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Added: Monday, Jul 28 2008

A Champion's Mind : Lessons From a Life in Tennis / Pete Sampras with Peter Bodo

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Pete Sampras is arguably the greatest tennis player ever, a man whose hard-nosed work ethic led to an unprecedented number one world ranking for 286 weeks, and whose prodigious talent made possible a record-setting fourteen Grand Slam titles. While his more vocal rivals sometimes grabbed the headlines, Pete always preferred to let his racket do the talking. Until now. In A Champion's Mind, the tennis great who so often exhibited visible discomfort with letting people "inside his head" finally opens up. An athletic prodigy, Pete resolved from his earliest playing days never to let anything get in the way of his love for the game. But while this single-minded determination led to tennis domination, success didn't come without a price. The constant pressure of competing on the world's biggest stagein the unblinking eye of a media machine hungry for more than mere athletic greatnesstook its toll. Here for the first time Pete speaks freely about what it was like to possess what he calls "the Gift." He writes about the personal trials he facedincluding the death of a longtime coach and confidantand the struggles he gutted his way through while being seemingly on top of the world. Among the book's most riveting scenes are an early devastating loss to Stefan Edberg that led Pete to make a monastic commitment to delivering on his natural talent; a grueling, four-hour-plus match against Alex Corretja during which Pete became seriously ill; fierce on-court battles with rival and friend Andre Agassi; and the triumphant last match of Pete's career at the finals of the 2002 U.S. Open. In A Champion's Mind, one of the most revered, successful, and intensely private players in the history of tennis offers an intimate look at the life of an elite athlete.

Added: Monday, Jul 28 2008

Baseball : a History of America's Game / Benjamin G. Rader

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: In this third edition of his lively history of America's game--widely recognized as the best of its kind--Benjamin G. Rader expands his scope to include commentary on Major League Baseball through the 2006 season: record crowds and record income, construction of new ballparks, a change in the strike zone, a surge in recruiting Japanese players, and an emerging cadre of explosive long-ball hitters.

Added: Monday, Jul 28 2008

Surfing : a Beginner's Guide / Alf Alderson

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Surfing: A Beginner's Manual is aimed at anyone who is interested in learning to surf. Alf Alderson takes you through all the vital steps to becoming a surfer: you will learn where to surf, when to surf and how to surf safely. You will learn the foundations such as choosing the correct equipment, which is essential to make any progress as a beginner; pre-surf preparation, including getting fit with tips and advice; and your first surfer steps on the beach and in the ocean. All these stages lead up to you catching your very first wave and catching the surfing bug. The sea is renowned for its beauty, but infamous for its dangers. Alf provides you with transferable skills to safely enjoy your new hobby. Safety features heavily in the book, and you will learn all the basic common-sense aspects of surfing that even the most experienced surfer forgets. The revised and updated edition will now feature sequential colour photographs of professional surfers. Green conscious surfers will love the updated Green Seas section, which will feature updated organizations and discusses potential impact of global warming/rising sea levels on surfing in the future. A larger Appendix will also be added with more web-based information that is vital for any beginner. Table of contents: 1. Equipment. 2. First Steps. 3. Into the Surf. 4. Surf Manoeuvres. 5. Safe Surfing. 6. Waves and Weather. 7. Surfboard Design. 8. Care and Repair. 9. Green Seas. 10. Surfing Associations. 11. Surfspeak. The easy-to-follow instructions and photo-sequences will have you riding your first wave - in a weekend.

Added: Monday, Jul 28 2008

Powering Up : Are Computer Games Changing Our Lives? / Rebecca Mileham

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: When it comes to computer games, the numbers are astounding: the world's top professional gamer has won over half a million dollars shooting virtual monsters on-screen; online games claim literally millions of subscribers; while worldwide spending on computer gaming will top £24 billion by 2011. From techno-toddlers to silver surfers, everyone's playing games on their PCs, Wiis, Xboxes and phones. How are we responding to this onslaught of brain-training, entertaining, potentially addicting, time-consuming, myth-spawning games? In Powering Up, Rebecca Mileham looks at the facts behind the headlines to see what effect this epidemic of game-playing is really having on us and the society we live in. Is it making us obese, anti-social, violent and addicted… or just giving us different ways of getting cleverer, fitter and more skilled? She examines the evidence, from experts and gamers alike, and asks some controversial and thought-provoking questions: <ul> <li>Are car-driving games turning us into boy racers? </li><li>Could becoming a virtual bully help children solve classroom disputes? </li><li>Should you feel remorse for killing pixel people? </li><li>Does it matter if you cheat in a single-player game? </li><li>Can games get ex-prisoners back to work? </li></ul> If you're part of the gaming revolution yourself, or are just curious to know what's fact and what's fiction in the media coverage of this topic, then this is the book for you. About the author Rebecca Mileham has written for the Sunday Times, She magazine, and for museums all over the UK. In ten years at the Science Museum, London, she developed exhibitions on topics as diverse as Charles Babbage's Difference Engines, robotic submarines, face transplants and the male pill. http://www.rebecca.mileham.net/

Added: Tuesday, Jun 24 2008

The GPS Handbook / Robert I. Egbert and Joseph E. King

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Updated with information on the latest models of GPS and new technology such as sophisticated downloadable maps, this new edition provides all the information needed to work any GPS unit in the outdoors.

Added: Thursday, Jun 12 2008

What Now? / Ann Patchett

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Based on her lauded commencement address at Sarah Lawrence College, this stirring essay by bestselling author Ann Patchett offers hope and inspiration for anyone at a crossroads, whether graduating, changing careers, or transitioning from one life stage to another. With wit and candor, Patchett tells her own story of attending college, graduating, and struggling with the inevitable question, What now? From student to line cook to teacher to waitress and eventually to award-winning author, Patchett's own life has taken many twists and turns that make her exploration genuine and resonant. As Patchett writes, "'What now?' represents our excitement and our future, the very vitality of life." She highlights the possibilities the unknown offers and reminds us that there is as much joy in the journey as there is in reaching the destination. As Luck Would Have It: An Essay by Ann Patchet<img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/g/01/books/harper-gms/patchett-large.jpg" border="0" hspace="5" vspace="5" align="right"> Writing a book isn't the kind of thing I do without knowing it. I've written five novels and a memoir. I'm working on another novel now. I'm closely acquainted with a process which consists of the search for a good idea followed by a lot of hard work. But the creation of What Now? was more akin to finding a baby under a cabbage leaf than it was an act of labor and delivery. If someone hadn't pointed it out to me, I feel certain I would have walked right by it. What Now? started out as the commencement address I gave at Sarah Lawrence College (my alma mater) in May of 2006. I make a lot of speeches and for the most part I talk off the cuff, a knack I picked up in high school as a forensics and debate champ. The only speeches I write in advance are the ones given for convocations and graduations because I've found that people like to keep a copy as part of the memorabilia of the day. I had originally composed a very dull and ponderous talk for the occasion because I wanted to sound smart (I was going back to college, after all) but as luck would have it, I ran into my friend and former writing teacher Allan Gurganus just before the big day. When I showed him the speech I planned to give, he sent me back to my desk to start over again. Every sentence regarding this book could begin with the phrase, As luck would have it... If I hadn't shown my speech to Allan, who hadn't looked over my homework in more than twenty years, I would have been just another boring graduation speaker. But Allan set me on a new course, telling me to talk about myself, my work, and my own struggles, the exact topics I had wanted to avoid. I hope that I will never be too grown up or successful to disregard good advice when I hear it, and this was good advice. I went back to work. The new speech, delivered in a giant tent during a crashing thunderstorm, seemed to hit all the right notes. The graduates broke into cheering bedlam, my back was slapped many times, and I marked the day down as a good one. End of story. Except, as luck would have it, copies of the speech started making the rounds, and it wound up in the hands of an editor who thought it would make a fine little book in the tradition of Anna Quindlen's triumph, A Short Guide to a Happy Life. Once again, not my idea, but one worth listening to. The new format gave me the extra room that graduation speeches don't allow (nobody likes a long-winded speaker) and Chip Kidd's brilliant design gave additional resonance to my words. I looked at the end result with no small amount of wonder. When the first copy came in the mail, I gave it to my 86 year old mother-in-law who was visiting from Mississippi. After she read it, she said she wanted copies for all of her friends. "We're going through a real period of What now? ourselves," she told me. "At our age we're all wondering what's going to happen next. The question is always there. It's just that sometimes you hear it a little louder." "Wow," I said. "That's really good. I wish we could have used that on the jacket." It is my sincere hope that my mother-in-law is right, and this book will serve a purpose not just for graduation, but for life. Given its history, it seems that anything is possible.

Added: Thursday, Jun 12 2008

Summer By the Seaside : the Architecture of New England Coastal Resort Hotels, 1820-1950 / Bryant F. Tolles, Jr

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Summer by the Seaside is a lavishly illustrated work on the origins, evolution, and gradual decline of the resort hotel phenomenon and its architecture along the New England coastline and on its offshore islands. In this indispensable, breakthrough volume, Bryant F. Tolles, Jr., the recognized expert in this popular field, examines the landmark hotels, extant and not, in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. Together these hospitality enterprises helped define the upscale tourist industry and key aspects of New England social, cultural, economic, and architectural history between 1820 and 1950. Exhaustively researched and beautifully assembled, this stunning and informative volume is the definitive work on the history of travel and tourism in coastal New England during this period.

Added: Wednesday, Jun 11 2008