Everywhere, things spin--wheels turn, motors hum, tornadoes roar. This book explains the history and basic physics of spinning objects, from yo-yos, drills, propellers, and washing machines, to ballet dancers, dust devils, and bacteria. The book gives instructive, entertaining accounts of everyday sights: Does a curve ball really curve? Why do figure skaters tuck in their arms? Can you make a disposable pen fly? And how does a falling cat always land on its feet? Answers to these questions (and many others) tell the amazing story of spin.

Part sports journalism, part history, part memoir, this many-sided narrative follows one season with the Blue Devils of Moscow, Idaho-a rural American Legion baseball team. Showcasing baseball's enduring place in American life, the author draws on the lore ofthe game, and conversations with diverse fans and players-an outdoorsman juggling his son's game schedule with bear hunting; a bewildered German college student, holding a baseball for the first time; former St. Louis Cardinal pitcher and Yale baseball coach John Stuper; and the proud owner of a Derek Jeter jersey in Hokendauqua, Pennsylvania, to name a few.