About this item
Sports fandom is either an aspect of a persons fundamental identity, or completely incomprehensible to those who arent fans at all. What is happening in our brains and bodies when we feel strong emotion while watching a game? How do sports fans resemble political junkies, and why do we form such a strong attachment to a sports team? Journalist Eric Simons presents in-depth research in an accessible and brilliant way, sure to interest readers of Jonah Lehrer and Malcolm Gladwell. Through reading the literature and attending neuroscience conferences, talking to fans, psychologists, and scientists, and working through his issues as part of a collaboration with the NPR science program RadioLab, Eric Simons hoped to find an answer that would explain why the attractive force of this relationship with treasured sports teams is so great that we cant leave it.
About the Author
Eric Simons writes about science, sports, and nature. In the Secret Lives of Sports Fans (2013) , he investigates the scientific roots of a universal passion, and turns up some curious aspects of human nature taking place in the bleachers. His first book, Darwin Slept Here (2009) combines history, biography, travel adventure, and ostrich recipes to tell the story of Charles Darwin's four years in South America. He lives in San Francisco.
