Everyone who knows me, knows that I have very little interest in sports. However, I like to follow the Olympic Medal count and I do love a good sports story.I was thrilled to read this football book:
Fourth Down and Inches: Concussions and Football’s Make or Break Moment by Carla Killough McClafferty is a fascinating look at the connections between football and concussions. It has been in the news for a while, but this book begin in 1905 when, as the 1905 football season ended, nineteen players were dead and countless others were critically injured. Apparently, there has been a very long history that we are only now taking seriously.
The book begins with a history of football, football injuries and the efforts made by President Teddy Roosevelt and working with Yale, Harvard and Princeton advisers and coaches to make college football less deadly. McClafferty then explains what a concussion is and what medical science is still learning about what happens when a person has a concussion. She then connects it to football,helmet construction and research that is going on to better protect players. The book explains CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy and has some really cool photos of real brains.
This book is a must for middle and high school libraries and would be a great resource to get football fans reading more non-fiction.
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