Sitting comfortably

If you can take your mind off the matches in the Euro 2000 football
championship, you might find yourself watching the referee, the coach or the
crowd. But it’s unlikely that you will ponder the design of the stadium. Simon
Inglis thinks you should. In Sightlines he tells us that every city has
a stadium and every stadium has a story. Tracing engineering and aesthetic
design from ancient Olympia to modern-day Sydney, here is the social history of
the vast arenas so many people visit simply to look at other people. Published
by Yellow Jersey Press, £18, ISBN 0224059688.