Review: If you want to learn about soccer, but know nothing about it, here's a book for you

OK, so you're a parent -- mom, dad, doesn't matter -- and your son or daughter has a sudden hankering to play soccer.

You know, the sport where you can't use your hands, and where you spend all game trying to score a goal by kicking the ball into the net.

Yeah, that soccer.

And guess what? You get to coach the team!

Hip, hip hurray!

Trouble is, you grew up playing or watching football, basketball and baseball and don't know squat about soccer, other that it's a sport you completely don't understand.

So where do you start?

Sure, there are lots of videos on YouTube -- and many of them do offer some very useful tips on drills and skills.

But too often, those videos start out at step 5 of 10, and you're only at 0. Or maybe even minus-1.

Anyway, don't be afraid to pick up a book that lets you take your time and really get a handle on soccer -- yes, most of the world calls it football -- so you don't feel like a complete idiot when you look at your young charges on that first day of practice.

A great place to start is the "Soccer for Dummies" book (Wiley, softcover, 378 pages, $22.99).

This book, like so many others in the "Dummies" series, presumes you know nothing -- nada, zilch -- about soccer as you turn to the first page.

You'll quickly feel less than intimidated as you read about the game of soccer -- its history, its rules, its plays.

Best of all, you'll find a chapter dedicated to coaching, with special attention given to how to keep the game fresh and exciting for young players.

In the process of getting more familiar with soccer, you'll find yourself locking into those TV channels that broadcast the games from England, Germany, Spain, Brazil or other parts of the world.

And maybe, just maybe, you'll consider yourself a connoisseur of what is hailed as the most popular sport in the world.