The Football Fanbook

Great pictures and information! It's perfect for any age and for any level of football understanding!

A fun book for kids who are interested in football.
My daughter is just starting to learn the sport so she can talk with her Dad about it. Funny enough I think this would be a great book for me for that reason too.
Quick to read, easy to find facts and information and just fun and colorful to flip through.

The Football Fanbook is a quality sports book broken down into 7 chapters. Described as a guide to help the reader understand how the game of football really works, it does so much more. 1) Know These Numbers: Interesting stats that aren't just the score of the games. Photos and stats together really put you in the action. 2) Obscure Facts: How many cows does it take to make enough Super Bowl footballs? Who invented the Nerf football? 3) Skills to Master: Step by Step directions on everything from throwing a spiral to folding a paper football. Great Diagrams! 4) Think Like A Coach: Like the book says, this is a crash course in NFL Coaching 101. Talks about specific offensive and defensive strategies. Check out the humorous bubble thought on the player pics! 5) He Reminds Me Of...: 1 on 1 matching of modern day players to old-time greats. 6) Team Tidbits: 1 page highlights for each of the 32 NFL teams to include a little history, trivia, and photos. 7) Talk the Talk: All the vocabulary you need to sound like a true football fan. Get in the know so you too can say Alligator Arms...Icing the Kicker...Pancake...Zebras. Overall, this book has a fantastic layout and the photos are awesome! My 9 year old football fanatic loves this book!

I would like to start with a couple of disclaimers.
1. I am not a child. I haven't been one for some considerable time. I am however a British adult who has only recently got into (American) Football having given up fighting my brother's attempts to get me interested a few years ago and, since attending 7 live games in the London International series, I now have the basics off pat. The reason I wanted to read this book was that, even though I now "get" the game, there is a whole lot of history I feel is missing in my overall knowledge of the sport itself. I also want to be able to talk the talk and feel more included when we meet up with other more hard core fans of the game without resorting to stop the conversation and ask for explanations of some of the terms being used.
2. I read an ARC of this book in PDF format so I have no idea what the finished product will look/feel like. I am only able to comment on what I saw on my screen and the actual content rather than the overall technicolour finished article.
Right. That's the boring bit out of the way. I have explained my reasons for wanting to read this book and I can report that I have come out the other side with what I feel is a whole better knowledge and understanding of the NFL, its current and past players, its history, a greater understanding of the actual game, and I also have a bunch of fun facts to inject into conversations at appropriate moments. I was actually quite proud of myself and my existing knowledge as I did find myself smiling on occasion when I read something I already knew.
We start off with a bunch of stats; games, seasons and career over various categories. All very well explained and illustrated. Then we have some facts, some very interesting, others rather amusing. Some that spring to mind now include the Brown's name and their helmets and my favourite one the "Steagles". I was also quite happy to see the mascots used in the illustration for the never played in a superbowl fact. I am a bit of a mascot fan, sorry! Then we go on to skills to master, again some more interesting than others, yes I have a Fantasy team - and have won the Lombardi Trophy in my league the past two years (thanks mostly to my co-manager-brother). The strategy parts were also quite interesting and well explained for the layman (me). Then we come to the current / past comparisons. I was pretty chuffed to actually recognise most of the current guys and it was interesting to see them compared with others that have gone before, some of whom I had also heard of. Team Tidbits came next, a page per team so limited space but all the important stats were there, a couple of the famous players, and a little interesting story. If I had had this a few years ago, it would have made picking my team to follow a little easier. Finally, we have what all good books of this ilk should end with; a glossary of football terms. Some I knew, most impressively the Flea-Flicker (everyone knows the Hail Mary, surely), some I have squirrelled away to bring out at a later date.
All in all, I now know an awful lot more about NFL. I can't speak for the completeness of my new-found knowledge as I obviously don't know what I still don't know. But, what I do know is what I have learned is interesting, insightful and I am assuming accurate, and I am looking forward to the new season so I can put my knowledge to good use.
So, if you are like me, a new adult to the sport and wanting to know a bit more, ignore the fact that this is targeted at children and dive in. Fun facts, stats and explanations presented in an easy to understand (but not at all patronising) way.

My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

The Football Handbook is the perfect book for the young NFL fan. Sections include: Know these numbers, Obscure facts, Skills to master, Think like a coach, He reminds me of..., Team tidbits, and Talk the talk. Great for the beginner NFL fan or the diehard fan.

My 7 year old son is starting to get into football (thanks to his dad)! This was the perfect book to learn a little more than he already knows! He loved reading it and I can see him rereading it over and over!