Customer Reviews

The Winter Olympics: An Insider's Guide to the Legends, Lore and Events of the Games Vancouver Edition

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Those lucky enough to live in and around Seattle have enjoyed the wit and wry humor of Seattle Times columnist Ron C. Judd for years. He has brought the full force of his writing talent to his latest book, an historical, personal and journalistic look at the Winter Olympics. The book is out just in time for the Vancouver Games, which will begin Feb. 12 in British Columbia. Anyone planning to attend should pack this book, which also features a collection of Judd's previous Olympic columns from the Seattle Times.

Ron covers all the basics and helps explain the ins and outs of the Winter Games. Some of these sports are, how to put it?, arcane to the American taste buds. But Judd has made even the most extrinsic accessible through compelling writing. You will learn about long forgotten historical anecdotes that bring the Winter Games to life; the book will broaden your understanding of what's taking place whether you're on site or watching on TV or the Internet.

The book is buttressed by beautiful photos from Dean Rutz, who is considered one of the top newspaper Olympic photojournalists. Rutz is a colleague of Judd at the Seattle Times where they have collaborated for the past 10 years to bring Pacific Northwest readers as good Olympic coverage as anywhere in the country.

Even if you're not a huge winter sports fan the book is worth a read simply because of its lyrical quality.

It might be cold outside, but you'll feel warm and fuzzy while turning the pages and ski jumping into the world of the Winter Games.

THE WINTER OLYMPICS: AN INSIDER'S GUIDE TO THE LEGENDS, THE LORE AND THE GAMES provides an insider's guide to the Winter Games, blending anecdotes and reporting with biographies of athletes and their achievements, profiles of individual sports, and discussions of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Highlights form all previous Winter Games accompany stories and discussions of history and events in this recommendation for any sports collection.

The book is fine, but it's a general overview of winter Games, not a highlight of the 2010 Vancouver games. It was written before the games, and only tells a little of the plans. The title is misleading.

As mentioned on its back cover,"The Winter Olympics: An Insider's Guide to the Legends, the Lore, and the Games" by Ron C. Judd features highlights from ALL the previous Winter Games from 1924 to 2006 and includes behind-the-scenes stories, memorable moments, profiles of legendary competitors, fields of play, record books, history's hits and misses for every sport, and details for spectators to enjoy the Vancover games (including maps of the Vancouver Venues).

The book itself is divided into two main parts: Ice Sports (i.e., skating, ice hockey, curling, bobsledding, etc.) and Snow Sports (i.e., skiing, biathlon, slalom, snowboarding, etc.) Each subsection covers a specific sporting event as a Spectator's Guide, which in turn, is broken down even further to include Field of Play; Format, Rules & Strategy, Training & Equipment, History's Hits & Misses and Olympic flashbacks, and when these venues will appear on TV for the Vancouver games. Each are accompanied by amazing full color (and B&W) photographs.

I found this book to be an interesting read, and -- despite it being full of details and specifics -- could barely put it down! It was very well-written and informative.

My only complaint -- albeit a minor one -- is that they don't have a separate table listing just the medal winners/records for each individual Winter Olympics. Otherwise, I would definitely recommend adding this book to your Olympics memorabilia!

I found myself referring to the book almost every night during the Vancouver Games. Whatever event we'd be watching became more interesting with this wonderful book to educate and enlighten. I suppose its shelf life, like the 2010 Olympiad, is over but I still find myself leafing through it at night while watching TV.