Picking up White’s Sports Almanac 2008 instantly reminded me of my youth, happily watching Back to the Future 2 (the one where they actually go to the future) and Marty gets a sports almanac to try and cheat with his bets in the past (or is it the present?).

I always wondered what a sports almanac was – you never seemed to get them over here, I had no idea what one was. To me it was all completely foreign. So when I picked up this lovely looking effort, I couldn’t keep the thought of Marty Mcfly and Doc. Brown far from mind.

White’s Sports Almanac is an extremely comprehensive collection of facts and figures from the last year of sporting events. It focuses mainly on football, but also looks at a whole host of other sports as well, and has all the results from all major sporting events last year, from the obvious (we all know who won the FA Cup) to some more obscure results and statistics (does anybody actually know who won the Rowing World Championships this year?).

Another impressive feature of it is a calendar at the beginning, which spans the sporting year, from August 2006 to July 2007. It gives a list of each day, and what happened in sport on those days. It also gives comprehensive write ups on the major sports personalities of the year, such as Roger Federer and Cristian Ronaldo. As well as this, it has a load of random facts and figures at the back, and gives a whole host of website addresses to find out information out about almost any sport.

It’s obviously not a book you read front to back, and is clearly a book which can be used to check facts and figures. So if you’ve bet a fiver with the know-it-all from your local that Waterford Utd came bottom of the Irish Premier League, then you can check it up in here and win your cash. It also makes a great coffee table book, good to pick up and glance through, reading the various facts and figures on offer.

Overall, I would recommend the book to those who really enjoy their statistics, or those who just want to know the odd interesting fact when they’re supping a cup of Nescafe. Unfortunately, you will not be able to do what Marty Mcfly tried to do, and fly back to the past to whack your bets on. The books good, but it’s not a bloody time machine man.

Book courtesy of Lydia Drukarz at Carlton Books

Paul Maughan