Originally planned to coincide with the 2020 Olympics, but postponed when that competition was delayed, it is out now: Total Olympics, a book about the highs, lows, and oddities about the Olympic athletes and the competition itself.

An attractive volume, a chunky hardback with no dust cover, the book is a bunch of short snippets of stories, about 300 pages and nearly as many entries of the best, the brightest, the bravest, and sometimes the least admirable people in Olympic history. You are bound to find something you didn't know in this wide-ranging volume, which covers all of the modern Olympics since 1896, including the short-lived "Intercalated Games" for off years, and a few looks back at the original events, though that history is a bit less reliable.

The stories are collected into six topics: Forgotten History, Legends, Wild and Strange, First, Discontinued Sports, and Forgotten Heroes. There is some bleeding over, but no topic choice can be too hard and fast. You will find out things about people from Jim Thorpe to Ian Thorpe, from Muhammad Ali to Suzy Chaffee, from John Carlos to Tommie Smith, from John and Sumner Paine to Babe Didrikson Zaharias. You will learn about sports from curling to auto racing.

I enjoyed this book, written in a light, enjoyable style. The detail is limited, with so much to cover, but the reach is admirable. I am a fan of the events and a student of history but this book told me a lot of things I didn't know; like how pistol dueling used to be an Olympic event (they used dummies).

If you enjoy watching the Olympics and revel in the international nature of the games, you will enjoy this book. It is heavy on the USA, but that is the target audience and you get a look at a lot of international competitors along the way. Good stuff.

Disclaimer: I received this book as a free review copy and did not buy it myself.