Books I Like Part II
17 August 2005If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Body Revival/Brother Iron, Sister Steel by Dave Draper, 2000
Dave was a giant in his day and still possesses the finest over-60 physique I have ever seen. He looks fabulous today at 63 and who knew he was a good writer? He has a folksy writing style and tons of empirical knowledge to draw upon. A true purposeful primitive, it was a damn crying shame that his two books fell on deaf earshis message is too commonsense and practical in our go-go era. Body Revival is an old school how-to-do manual and Brother is a reflection on the innocent times. I would say that Body Revival is the closet of any book to mirroring my own philosophy and its total lack of success is the main reason Ive not gotten it together to pen my own. Highly recommended.
Muscle: confessions of an unlikely bodybuilder by Sam Fussell, 1991
Great semi-documentary by an Oxford educated Englishman who immersed himself in the Southern California bodybuilding scene. Humorous though exaggerated in spots, Fussell is a great writer and this spunky book even drew kudos from Camille Paglia, the older brother I never had. Describing his proper British mother visiting him in the bunker he describes his stark hovel and says, the only thing missing was a hunting rifle and a copy of the presidents travel itinerary. Great stuff and shows how even the best and brightest can be seduced by the lure of utter physical transformation using dark side tactics.
Underground Body Opus by Dan Dulchaine, 1996
The Merlin of drug use, Dulchaine died early and mysteriously. This is his masterwork; give the devil his due, Dulchaine was a very smart individual who knew every dirty trick and underground tactic. Kinda like reading the Satanic Bible, this is a perversely fascinating book by a plain spoken communicator. His ideas and approach lays waste to opponents and since he assisted more pro bodybuilders than you can shake a stick at, his dark side views cannot be lightly dismissed. Not for the faint of heart; this is fitness porno that proudly proclaims and champions all that is forbidden.
Power by Paul; The Secrets of my Strength by Paul Anderson, 1981
Homemade books put out in the eighties, Paul was likely the strongest man in modern history and these down-home gems describe how the prototypical purposeful primitive built his incredible power. Oddly underappreciated in the USA during his peak, Andy was ironically called the father of Russian weightlifting. Venerated in the old Soviet Union as a god, Anderson was summoned by Nikita Khrushchev in 1956 to the Kremlin. The Soviet tyrant venerated the massive strongman and with good reason: Paul was the most innovative trainer of all time and invented the power rack, partial rep training, upside down training and was the first to systematize and popularize the powerlifts. He had the same impact on strength sports that Elvis had on music. Both men roared out of the rural south in the mid-fifties and destroyed all preconceptions and razed the temple of orthodoxy to the ground.
The Strongest Shall Survive; Defying Gravity by Bill Starr, 1976
Bill Starr is arguably the best writer in the fitness game and a man I have read since the mid-sixties. Anytime I see his name, I read whatever is attached to it. No arm chair quarterback, Bill cleaned 446 and won the Pan Am Games back in the sixties. The Strongest Shall Survive is a book about football preparation and is still relevant today. Defying Gravity is about preparing for powerlifting and weightlifting competition. Starr has a wonderful ability to combine antecedents with science. He consistently comes up with commonsense ways to nurture improvement. He writes for MILO magazine currently and remains at the top of his formidable abilities.
Sliced by Bill Reynolds and Negrita Jade, 1991
Informative bodybuilding primer penned by a pro (Reynolds) writer who died early. Jade is smart as a whip and the two were totally sympacato. This book is a great 101 primer for folks past the beginner stage and interested in applying some basic bodybuilding tactics in order to take it to the next level. Some of the nutritional stuff is dated but the basic approach for getting sliced (losing body fat) is still relevant. This sucker is 300-pages and contains plenty of meat and substance. If you see it at the used bookstore pick it up.
Zen Meditation and Psychotherapy by Tomio Hirari, MD
Ever wonder what runs through a Zen Masters mind while deep in a Samadhi trance? I do and rather than get caught up in all the fuzzy mysticism and flowery language I turn to the guys who hooked up the Soto Zen heavyweights to electroencephalograms and recorded the results. Fascinating look at the cerebral function as revealed in brain waves during Zazen. Changes in respiratory rates, tidal volume and oxygen consumption, click stimulus, energy metabolism, relation to autogenic training all this and much more scientifically rendered and discussed. Takes the new age out of altered states and has immediate applicability for improved athletic performance.
Muscletown USA by John D, Fair, 1999
All the inside dirt about the Hoffman Iron empire that rose in the thirties, peaked in the 50’s and crashed in the 70’s. A regular tabloid expose that chronicles the rise and fall of the father of American weightlifting. All the rumors and personalities identified and airedprobably a little too inside baseball for the uninitiated but for those of us familiar with the times, the names and the players this is like reading a Jackie Collins novel.
ROCK/IRON/STEEL by Steve Justa, 1998
Highly recommended, Justa is a throw-back retro man who lives in a small town and uses primordial methodology to build ungodly strength. His feats are so numerous and impressive that its hard to pick one to share. How about wearing a 100-pound chain-mail vest all day long while working ten hours a day in a grain silo for a month straight? How about a 2-mile hike wearing a 200-pound vest? How about a 2000-pound deadlift lockout with a 10-second hold? Justa looks like Shrek and often smokes a cigar while doing his strength feats on his Nebraska farm. Plus, he writes like hes channeling Turgenev and has a complex system that is deceptively sophisticated. I love this guy and give his book my highest recommendation assuming you are a brute looking to become a brute-cubed.
Zen Training, methods and philosophy by Katsuki Sekida, 1975
The best verbal explanation of a non-verbal experience Ive ever encountered. Chapters include posture, the psychology of attention, breathing, counting and following breaths, working on koans, the tanden, Samadhi, three nen-actions, eon nens, existence and mood, pure existence, cognition and kensho, stages of Zen training and orientations. Sekida writes with authority and clarity and avoids the mumbo-jumbo mysticism that clutters up so many books about these abstract undertakings. This is the best how-to-do manual ever written on a system that often defies verbal explanation.
Beyond Bodybuilding by Pavel Tsatsouline, 2005
The only original treatise Ive read on this hackneyed topic over the past five years. Pavel steps outside the box to produce a great alternative approach to a subject that I had thought exhausted. I wrote an extensive review on this 325 page oversize monster awhile back I love the variety of odd exercises and balance of photos and text.
The Heavyhands Walking Book by Len Schwartz, 1988
Looking for a cardio alternative? This book is a great place to start particularly for overweight out-of-shape folks without access to cardio machines or gyms. Len advances the argument that small hand weights swung (not carried) can create a cardio effect that is far superior to jogging, running or any other leg-only aerobic activity. This approach is particularly applicable for hardcore weight trainers a little past their peak; these massive men sneer at cardio at age 30 then keel over from heart attacks at age 50. Im tired of writing great tribute pieces for prematurely dead powerlifters.
The Poliquin Principles by Charles Poliquin, 1997
A well thought out approach to weight training that is worthy of a read. I dont go along with all his techniques, conclusions or prescriptions but his is a consistent philosophy that contains some genuine thought provoking ideas. I suspect he and I have far more areas of agreement than disagreement. I like his voice and appreciate his depth and degree of commitment.
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