Review: The Psychology of Sports Fans

The Psychology of Sports Fans by Aaron C.T. Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A very short introduction to key ideas in the psychology of sports fans. I found it a bit too thin and repetitive. It provides a good overview and summary of the ideas relevant for sports fan psychology, but there is not much in the way of argument for these claims. The author doesn't go into any great depth of explanation-- after all the book is only about hundred pages long. There are some good references and recommended readings. However, I didn't care for the way the citations were used in the text. The author makes a claim and provides a footnote to a citation. But these are too loose/generic: the citation could be to a book but there is no page number. It is often not clear how the cited work connects to the claim in the text insofar as the title of the article or book doesn't necessarily connect in an obvious way. I would have liked some more context and specific page numbers to see if the work is worth checking out myself.

I think this book is a nice quick overview of ideas relevant for a discussion of the psychology of sports fans, but I think for any one looking for something more substantial, there are other books better suited to that task.

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Review: Last Argument of Kings

Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Abercrombie doesn't pull any punches in this last book of the trilogy. It's gritty and violent -- a bit too violent for my taste. It is surprising but in that great way that is obvious once it happens but that you don't really see coming. The characterization and story telling are top-notch. The last third of the book or so is mostly mopping up, tying up ends and that can get a bit tedious at times. The specific ending, the circularity of it, was near perfect. It wouldn't not have made sense to have a fairy tale ending of any kind, and this is not. And it would have been too much for it be a complete wipe out. There is an edge to nihilism here, though, that bothers me: nothing really changes, no one matters, so just get as much power as you can and survive. There are some glimmers of hope and a few of the main characters try to better and do seem to genuinely care; but in the end this hope and caring mostly don't play enough of a role.

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