Review: Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work

Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work by Steven Kotler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you read this book, prepare to be provoked. It delves into many taboo topics, like microdosing LSD, and engaging in super risky behaviors. It doesn't promote these things but it does promote the pursuit of the flow state that these things produce (think: all systems in blissful sync). The authors call this state ecstasis. I really enjoyed the content, both the historical context and the futuristic posturing. The simple idea that we are limited by three things - geography, religion and the state - was somewhat arresting. I have a list of things to research and I will most certainly look for another book to read which addresses this same topic, so it planted a few seeds - something I consider the hallmark of a good read. Riveting though it was, I do believe the authors are too caught up in technologistics. There are many people who are content and who like the unhacked version of themselves - not all of the achievers in the world want to "steal fire". Or do they? See.....I just have to get another book on this topic!

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Review: The Road to Sparta : Retracing the Ancient Battle and Epic Run That Inspired the World's Greatest Foot Race

The Road to Sparta : Retracing the Ancient Battle and Epic Run That Inspired the World's Greatest Foot Race by Dean Karnazes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If you are curious about the history of Greece, this is the book for you. I am more interested in what makes Dean Karnazes tick, so I'm going to pick up one of his other books. This I did not find compelling. The writing was a bit flat but mostly I chose poorly. Ancient Greece and the ancient battles - Marathon, Thermopylae, etc - hold no special place in my heart and occupy no real estate in my brain. I think I'll go back to 2005 and read UltraMarathon Man!

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Review: What Doesn't Kill Us: How Freezing Water, Extreme Altitude and Environmental Conditioning will Renew our Lost Evolutionary Strength

What Doesn't Kill Us: How Freezing Water, Extreme Altitude and Environmental Conditioning will Renew our Lost Evolutionary Strength by Scott Carney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fascinating book which reports in detail on the emerging science of "biohacking", through author Scott Carney's direct experiences while following Wim Hof (aka the Iceman).

Carney exposes himself to extreme environmental conditions using The Wim Hof Method. He steps into Wim Hof's world as a critic but he comes out of it as a true believer. He doesn't just summarize Hof's ideas and methodology, he gets in to the whole idea of controlling your own immune system and self-healing. The book is packed with science but it never, ever gets boring because Carney continually returns to the individual stories - the moving accounts of the people who have completely or partially cured themselves of very serious diseases.

After training and conditioning using Hof's methods, the author climbs Kilimanjaro along with Wim Hof and twenty others. The group did this in two days - shirtless. Most will take 6 days in order to not DIE from acute mountain sickness. And most will be fully dressed for the sub-freezing temperatures.

I think we will be hearing a lot more on cold therapies, meditation, and deep breathing. These are a proven path to returning to the conditions that once threatened our existence, and through them we can tap in to extraordinary personal powers.



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Review: The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40

The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40 by Jonathon M. Sullivan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of those books that just grabs ya by the wrist and won't let go, especially if you are a grey hair who wants to get stronger. It contains the most sensible, honest exercise/strength training advice you'll ever read. Sullivan and Baker speak directly to seniors who want to get stronger. It inspired me and it changed my entire approach to fitness. And, what matters most - I am stronger, now. I will never go back to a gym routine of bouncing from one convoluted machine to the next. I'm gonna keep on raising that sublimely simple albeit heavy bar.

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The Case Against Sugar

The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes appeared on shelves during interesting times in America.  Some might think that we are a nation already too distracted by political discord to care much about the history of the sugar industry.  Not true.  His central message – sugar is the real villain; do not trust what you are told by or about the sugar industry – is especially well-occasioned.

There are 384 well-researched pages, which recount the abuses, the bully-marketing and manipulations, and the pseudo-science behind this mega-monopoly's death grip on the American food industry.

We are a nation reeling from a loss of trust in our (heretofore) primary sources of reliable data – main stream media, science, education.  There is a now a collective discomfort with received wisdom, which actually offers auspiciously fertile ground for the evidence on the sooty shenanigans of the sugar business.  This book fits hand-in-glove with our nation’s (general) rude awakening.  We are paying attention now, and it is just in time to hear Mr. Taubes preach it. 

The author studied applied physics, aerospace engineering and journalism at Harvard, Stanford and Columbia, respectively.  So, he’s no slouch.  It is also not his only book on why America is getting fatter and fatter. He has applied himself to this topic and his honest interest in it can be seen in his careful attention to chronology and his passionate but evenhanded delivery.  The chemistry of sugar, for those of us who are not “sciencey”, can be off-putting, but Taubes has made it highly approachable and crystal clear without sacrificing any content.  His criticisms are grounded in well-referenced facts and are delivered in non-polarizing language.  Amen, for that.

When marveling over the deceits of the sugar industry, which as Taubes points out are most analogous to the deceits of the tobacco industry, I was reminded of Nassim Taleb’s observations (Black Swan and Anti-Fragile) about the inner circle of experts and policymakers:   

“With….. dietary advice reversing after 30 years of fatphobia, macroeconomic analysis working worse than astrology, microeconomic papers wrong 40% of the time, the appointment of Bernanke who was less than clueless of the risks, and pharmaceutical trials replicating only 1/5th of the time, people are perfectly entitled to rely on their own ancestral instinct and listen to their grandmothers with a better track record than these policymaking goons.”  Nassim Taleb

I don’t know about you but I wish I had listened to my grandmom’s warnings about sugar. The lies we have been told by our betters and the lies we tell ourselves are thriving still.  This quote from Taubes captures it:

“By specifying energy or caloric content as the instrument through which foods influence body weight, it implies that a calorie of sugar would be no more or less capable of causing obesity, and thus diabetes, than a calorie of broccoli or olive oil or eggs or any other food. By the 1960s, the phrase “a calorie is a calorie” had become a mantra of the nutrition-and-obesity research community, and it was invoked to make just this argument (as it still is).”   Gary Taubes

If you still believe that a calorie is just a calorie – read this book.  You will come away with the right information to fix that common delusion.  Two thumbs up for The Case Against Sugar and for Mr. Taubes, who has delivered the depth and breadth of research needed for a serious do-over.

Review: Alas, Babylon

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'll start on a positive note. It was an uplifting story because after a nuclear holocaust in which only one small town in Florida is spared, people figure things out, cooperate, and rebuild. Not a spoiler, by the way, since this info can be found on the back cover. I liked the fact that this book demonstrated how people, in the absence of a government, can come together, DIY-style, and get things done.

Now for the not-so-positive notes. The writing is stiff and unimaginative. It was not easy to finish. Part of the problem is that it was written and published in the late 50's. However, the bigger part was simply the way the words came together, sentence after sentence. They made me yawn.

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The Triple Package

From the author of Tiger Mom, this book on achievement within distinctly different cultural groups in America steps into the abyss more commonly known as political incorrectness, but does it thoughtfully and successfully.  It is a scholarly approach (over 80 pages of end notes and references) to a tender topic – why some cultural groups in America succeed while others do not.

Amy Chua and her husband, Jed Rubenfeld, co-author this brave book, which is a bestseller. Its central tenet is that a cultural group succeeds in America when it preserves within its culture these three critically important things:

1.     A sense of superiority – a feeling of being distinct and special from other groups in America.

2.     An air of insecurity – a belief that they have to work harder to prove their worth, that there are many others who are better, that they need to strive more.

3.     Impulse Control – the ability to postpone rewards, a pragmatic and consistent self-regulation in this era which pushes immediate gratification.

The authors cover many different distinct groups:  Mormons, Cubans, Nigerians, Chinese, African American, Evangelical Christians, Jewish, Korean and more.  They discuss how these cultures hold fast to this Triple Package and how some, through complacency, had it but lost it.  They do not make the mistake of oversimplifying or painting with too broad a brush.  Remember, there are 80+ pages of research-referencing notes.

Importantly, they chart the history of America’s exceptionalism and they trace the trajectory of those things which contributed to its decline – all of it fitting snugly into the Triple Package premise.  It totally worked for me.

Two thumbs up ~ highly readable and very motivating!