Changes

Every sport at the summer Olympics is covered in the book and apart from the opening and closing ceremonies and the medals ceremony they're in the book in alphabetical order – although if you're looking for, say, shot put you'll need to know it comes under athletics or to look it up in the index. It's about the disciplines rather than the individual events. I've been right through the book but I thought the best way of assessing it was to look at a sport I know well and another where I'm an innocent.

I've followed diving for decades now. There's a look at the contenders, with the Chinese figuring large in the Beijing Games. Here in the UK , we've got great hopes for Tom Daly at the London Games. There's the background to the sport, why you might enjoy it and the basics of what an athlete is looking to perform. Stick men Stickmen illustrate the basic dives and the positions and rotations. There's enough there for you to follow what's happening particularly with the added detail of the finer points which the judges are looking for and it's all finished off with stories of the great and the good of the sport. It's just eight pages in all but it should be enough to capture your interest.

I like the idea of canoeing but I don't know much about it. It's divided into sprint and slalom with sprint being the older discipline in Olympic terms. Germany was dominant in Beijing and that's apparently unlikely to change, although Russia has a good history. There's a history of the sport and some details of those who have made it famous. In ''Canoeing Basics'' there's enough information to let you follow what's going on and I'm pretty confident now that I could recognise an Eskimo roll (I thought it was an ice -cream desert…dessert…) even if I wouldn't like to tackle it. The distinctions between sprint and slalom are explained (slalom's what happens on white water) and then we're onto the finer points we're to look for. It's eleven pages this time, but in that sort short space , I know enough to make watching the sport ''interesting'' rather than confusing.

I've enjoyed the book and if you're serious about watching the Games it could be your bible for seventeen days. Children who are interested in the Olympics might enjoy [[The Story of the Olympics by Richard Brassey]]. You might also enjoy [[Wind Driven: Barbara Kendall's Story by Wendy Kendall]].