As a sports historian, Jones has done a thorough job, but it’s for MMA fans only.
An overview of the sport known as mixed martial arts and some of its players, from fight-fan Jones.
Mixed martial arts is a furious style of fighting that combines a variety of traditions—sambo, jiujitsu, muay thai and taekwondo, as well as catch wrestling and boxing—into an acrobatic display of violence. One reason for the sport’s appeal is that it is real, as opposed to the sham antics of professional wrestling: The blows are true, and the blood is, too. Jones surveys the origins of the sport in sometimes-breathless prose, with all its infighting and rough-and-tumble antics. He profiles many of the fighters and gives highlights of their great matchups. Details are likely to appall readers who are not already enthusiasts: “Sonnen struck Silva’s body and face nearly 300 times,” in a match that was merely minutes long. And can Jones really be serious when he writes, “It is well known that many boxers have suffered long-term effects due to repeated punches to the head, but the sport of MMA is still too young to know what a career of taking strikes to the head will do”? Duh. These fighters wear minimal gloves, and one look at their faces in the many photos that accompany his book will let readers know just what is going on.
As a sports historian, Jones has done a thorough job, but it’s for MMA fans only. (Nonfiction. 10-18)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4677-0934-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Millbrook
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
This absorbing history examines the lives and work of eight innovators in the design and manufacture of musical instruments. From Avedis Zildjian, who brought his family’s centuries-old cymbal-making business from Turkey to Boston, to Robert Moog, whose electronic synthesizer rocked the music world, VanHecke’s portraits celebrate the inquisitive scientific tinkering, dedication to craft and business moxie that rendered Steinway pianos, Hammond organs and Fender guitars both household names and performers’ favorites. The writing’s freshest when VanHecke changes it up with bits of cultural trivia, like Beatles lore. (It’s dullest when awash in the minutiae of cousins, marriages and succession.) Examining the effect of the Great Depression, the World Wars and immigration on these family businesses vibrantly contextualizes those issues for kids. Numerous well-captioned photos and period illustrations, sidebars and clearly labeled diagrams of the musical instruments expertly extend the text. Students and teachers of music are the natural audience for this unique treatment. (introduction, endnote, quotation sources, bibliographies, websites, photo credits, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59078-574-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In a helter-skelter scrapbook format, Cleare, a veteran mountaineer, profiles five of the world’s most renowned mountains—K2, the Eiger, the Matterhorn, Everest and Mount McKinley—and identifies some of the major historical expeditions to their summits. Top-to-bottom views of each peak are provided via single, double or (for Everest) wall-poster-sized triple foldouts. Along with those, dozens of smaller captioned photos, maps, images or realistic reconstructions depict noted climbers of the past, local wildlife, old- and new-style climbing gear, wind and weather patterns, climbers’ camps, glaciers and rugged landscapes. Likewise, each peak receives an introductory passage of dramatic prose (“Mount McKinley is a colossal, icy complex of ridges, spurs, buttresses, and hanging glaciers,” forming “a crucible of particularly evil weather”). This is accompanied by assemblages of captions and commentary in smaller type that detail its challenges and the often-unhappy history of climbers who faced them. The level of detail is specific enough to include views and comparisons of the actual routes up each mountain, and readers are expected to be clear on the difference between a cirque and a serac, or a “technical” and a “nontechnical” climb. Armchair climbers who can weather the random-feeling arrangement of pictures and the overall absence of narrative flow are in for thrills. (Informational browsing item. 11-13)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7534-6573-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Kingfisher
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
