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| The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup | 
 enlarge | List Price: $14.95 (€11.81)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 15 reviews)
Sales Rank: 159376
Category: Book
Authors: Matt Weiland, Sean Wilsey
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Studio: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Label: Harper Perennial
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.1
ISBN: 0061132268
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.334668
EAN: 9780061132261
ASIN: 0061132268
Publication Date: June 1, 2006
Release Date: May 12, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Thinking Fans Guide to the World Cup July 27, 2006
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
A mediocre effort I have to say. It's a good idea in principle, but in most chapters there seems to be a tenous link between the author and the country being written about. Merely travelers who happen to have been there for a game. To get to the true soul of the country a writer from that country should have been chosen. Though it might have been hard to find a togolese writer, there is surely one writer from a newspaper that could've been found. Instead they get a Kenyan to write about Togo. That's stupid, and falls for the lazy perception that all of Sub-saharan Africa is somehow the same. It's not, there's great difference between East and West Africa. It would be like asking a Russian to give insight into the role of soccer in England. Hopefully this book just suffers from a first edition sloppiness, and hopefully the publishers put better effort for a new edition in 4 years time.
 Great context to the World Cup July 14, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Not only were the essays well written, but they also helped provide some context to the teams which competed in Germany. The stories of national pride, political history, and intertwined factions that surround the sport across the globe gave me some rationalization for the hours and hours spent watching matches during June and July! Highly recommended, even after the tournament!
 In World Cup withdrawal? Give this one a read. July 12, 2006
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
OK, here's an (approximate) scorecard for this book's chapters on 32 nations in the World Cup (some categories overlap so totals are more than 32):
Good essays that teach a LOT about soccer in a country .... 25.5
Examples: France, Brazil, Germany, Costa Rica
Meandering, non-soccer essays, still interesting for good writing ... 5
Example: Portugal
Cheap shots at the United States: 3 *
Example: Iran, United States
Meandering, non-soccer essays ... 1.5
Example: Czech Republic, Ecuador (.5)
Hilarious, read-it-aloud to your friends ... 1
Example: Australia and the Soccceroos!
Final score: This book is flawed, but a winner.
By the way, Dave Eggar's essay on the United States has an excellent section on how Americans hate diving and a passage that I would dismiss as pure conjecture, saying soccer was thought to be the sport of Communists (a sport invented, or at least codified, in the United Kingdom -- ?).
It's interesting to note that the Australia chapter also notes suspicions of soccer as ominously Mediterranean. It seems that in the U.S. and Australia, soccer certainly did seem foreign.
TTFGttWC may not have predicted Zidane's head [...] but it does in fact state (page 125):
"Wayne Rooney [is] very strong, incredibly skillful, and as alikely to get a red card, possibly for swearing, as he is to score one of the best goals you've ever seen."
The writer got that one correct!
Do read the remarkable tale of the Socceroos. Their history is hilarious and indicative of FIFA politics. This chapter may be a good illustration of the value of TTFGttWC. It's typical of the sort of thing soccer nuts already know but we newer fans don't. TTFGttWC will fill in the gaps in many folks' knowledge.
* In a book edited by Americans no less!
A fun way to experience the World Cup July 8, 2006
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought this book for my sister who is a soccer fan, but I had to buy another one. I particularly enjoyed the articles that explained how much soccer means in the particular country. As the tournament has gone on, I have returned to sections. This book has increased my understanding of the game, and what more can you ask?
Hit or miss essays, but factwise and fun and worth buying June 20, 2006
This book seems to be single-handedly responsible for touching off a lot of World Cup hysteria. Everybody I know has either heard of it, bought it, or read or plans to read it. The book begins with an introduction about football-soccer, recapping the recent World Cups. The tone throughout the essays is the typical postmodernist voice--literate, mildly political, urban, and internationalist. These are not scholarly essays on sport, but rather personal reminiscences of the intersection of football-soccer and each person's life.
There are tables listing each group, the dates and locations of matches, the referees and their bios, and sample tables of countries ranked by GDP, crime, etc.
There is a winking insouciant tone, with some essays being relatively flippant and political. For example, Eric Schlosser's essay mentions football-soccer only in passing and is really an essay about crime in Sweden. It is completely inappropriately included here, in my opinon, and pales in contrast to the Germany essay, a tender reminiscence of being East German and Germany's changing luck in the World Cup. Personally, I feel it's the best one.
This book is relatively cheap and serves as a conversation piece to such an extent that regardless of the variegated qualiy of the essays, it's worth buying and ultimately enlightening. Argentina's Maradona gets a loving portrayal here, and many of the good essayists display an honesty about the game in terms of rooting interests and appreciation that will set you lightyears ahead in your game knowledge.
Definitely get this book.
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