What We Think About When We Think About Soccer

Simon Critchley is Hans Jonas Professor at the New School for Social Research. His books include Very Little Almost Nothing (1997), Infinitely Demanding (2007), The Book of Dead Philosophers (2009) and The Faith of the Faithless (2012). Recent works include a novella, Memory Theatre, a book-length essay, Notes on Suicide and a book on David Bowie. He is series moderator of The Stone , a philosophy column in The New York Times and co-editor of The Stone Reader (2016). He is also 50% of an obscure musical combo called Critchley & Simmons. Ponders End, their new album, was recently released.

"Simon Critchley beguiles as he illuminates." David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas

"Simon Critchley is a figure of quite startling brilliance" Jonathan Lethem, author of The Fortress of Solitude

"[Critchley] approaches every subject be it suicide or soccer with the same intellectual rigor. The writing is not only deep and philosophical, but approachable and conversational." Los Angeles Times

Critchley makes the sport's myths tangible without removing our sense of awe. Rolling Stone

"No one else thinks quite like [Critchley]." The New York Review of Books

"In this irresistible treatise on how soccer came to be the dominant sport around the globe . Critchley s depth and range of knowledge is remarkable. Publishers Weekly (Starred review)
 
"We have to admit that, like many Americans, what we mostly thought about when we thought about soccer was, 'Why the heck don't they just catch the ball and run?'  That was before we read Simon Critchley's phenomenology of 'the  beautiful game.'  Now we know, among other things, what it's like to be a ball, and it turns out that from the ball's point of view, it really is quite poetic.  This is not only a fun book about soccer; it's also a fascinating work of phenomenology and aesthetics by a first-rate philosopher." Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein, authors of the New York Times bestseller Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar

This slim book will provide many pleasures anyone who is passionate about a game and is willing to read a smart assessment of what it means to be a fan will find much to admire. Kirkus Reviews

"Brilliant. . . Critchley offers a thoroughgoing and often very personal report." LA Review of Books

Critchley has written a beautiful book about the beautiful game about the way that soccer, at its best, can be elevated to an art form that enchants us, unites us, and occasionally appalls us.  Like any form of art, soccer has something to tell us