Recent readings...
"The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid - A Memoir" by Bill Bryson
Bryson is quite possibly the funniest author I have ever had the pleasure to read. On my recent trip to VA I was belly laughing on the planes and in the airports (ensuring lots of looks from the public). This is a look at growing up in the 50's through the through Bryson's wit and insight and is as educational as it is funny - (in case you couldn't tell - I like the book). I have read other Bryson books: In a Sunburned Country, A Walk in the Woods, and I am currently reading a Brief History of Nearly Everything and Lost Continent is on deck.
Practical Programming by Rippetoe and Kilgore
Just like Starting Strength - I do recommend this book as a good resource on understanding training adaptations and programming, but I don't agree with everything in the book. It is a good resource for basic programming and periodization with good recommendations for beginner, intermediate and advanced trainees.
Anybody else reading anything good?
Those books look great!
ReplyDeleteI am reading the Maker's Diet my Jordan Rubin, Fascinating and highly practical!I recommend it!
Clinical Applications of Neuromuscular Techniques by Leon Chaitow and Judith DeLany Walker. There are two books, the Upper body and the lower body. BEST NMT books I have ever seen. Tons of new and improved techniques.
I read over Christmas "Naim Suleymanoglu The Pocket Hercules" by his first WL coach Yazan Turkileri. Fascinating biography and an inside look not only at the Bulgarian training system at that time (Suleymanoglu's training from a junior to elite level is presented in good detail) but also a fascinating history lesson about the Bulgarian government's efforts at that time to "ethnically cleanse" the country of the ethnic Turks...Suleymanoglu, himself an ethnic Turk, was a hero to Turks everywhere and he eventually suceeded in defecting to Turkey where he finished out his career. His success and fame and defection were major factors in exposing the Bulgarian government's activities and helped to change the horrible conditions ethnic Turks were enduring in Bulgaria. Available from Dynamic-Eleiko.com...the translation into English is a little rough in places but it is a fascinating read.
ReplyDeleteRandy H.
Thanks guys - those look like some good reading as well - too many books too little time.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently reading "The Real Work" by Gary Snyder and "Imperium" by Ryszard Kapuścińsk.
ReplyDelete"The Real Work" is a series of interviews with Snyder, who's probably best know for his post-Beat generation poetry, but whose work in the 60s, 70s, and 80s can be read as precursor to many topics that became fashionable only much later, such as environmental consciousness, chaos theory, de-centered political units (regionalism), etc. However, the root his work is an extended mediation on how one should live out one's life according to set of values and principles.
"Imperium" is a collection of writings from Polish journalist Kapuściński in which he recounts his numerous journey throughout the ex-Soviet Union. He always seeks the less-traveled path through the far-flung reaches of the old Soviet Union (aka the imperium). He "lifts the veil" for us Western readers by giving us a view of the SU that remained inaccessible to most us. Salman Rushdie wrote about him: "One Kapuściński is worth more than a thousand whimpering and fantasizing scribblers."
(Kapuściński died two weeks ago. I'll be re-reading all of his books now.)
Brett,thanks for mentioning Bill Bryson. So many people have told me that I really should read his books, and now I'm going to do it.
P.S. While neither of the books I mentioned is explicitly related to
"physical strategies," they are part and parcel of a more comprehensive (I'd use the word "holistic" if it hadn't been cheapened by chronic overuse) view of a balanced development of all facets of a person.
Forget to mention that I'm going to check out "Naim Suleymanoglu The Pocket Hercules." Thanks for the tip. Sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteA couple of my friends from college were mentioned in Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods." Small world.
ReplyDeleteI'm just about to finish John Eldredge's, "The Way of the Wild Heart" about what it means to be a real man. Great stuff but very challenging read--a real thinker.
Haven't read any training books in a while. Just going back over the same old texts--the ones from Sportivny Press--Medvedyev, Laputin, etc.
Walk in the Woods was laugh out loud funny...especially the bear encounter. Brett...do I get credit for turning you onto that book? I seem to recall recommnending it to you sometime around the time you were planning your big own big Walk in the Woods a few years back.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I also just recently finished Roman's "The Training of the Weightlifter"...not an easy read, for me at least.
Randy H.
Randy,
ReplyDeleteI read Walk in the Woods in late 2003 or early 2004 - my trip to Glacier was this past August 2006 -A great read - In The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid you learn more about Steve Katz. Good stuff.
Thanks hawkeye - that seems like some heady stuff!
"Thanks hawkeye - that seems like some heady stuff!"
ReplyDeleteI'd describe them as simple, but not easy ;-)
Brett,
ReplyDeleteI came to the realization this morning (just before I read your post, I think it was just before)that my life has become one long "senior moment" punctuated with increasingly infrequent moments of clarity. I completely fogged on when your hike was. However, I refuse to do the Daily Jumble, Crosswords or Sudoku. Remembering where I put my glasses is plenty of mental exercise for me.
Randy,
ReplyDeleteDude - you're killing me! I am having those infrequent moments of clarity now - Oh what the future holds!! ;)