Got this book from Jim. Read it while on recruiting duty. Very interesting book for two reasons. Every other chapter tells the very interesting story of a Nazi General kidnapping on the island of Crete during WWII. The chapters in between are various collections of health and fitness stories that provide examples of natural born heroes and how to master old secrets of strength and incredible endurance. The WWII story was very interesting. Some of the chapters in between were much better than others. Definitely recommend. Will probably use this book as a gift to others in the future.

I enjoyed this book tremendously, it's a great mix of a number of interesting topics and introduced me to a element of WWII that I knew almost nothing about. It also gave me a interest about finding our more about Crete! ( )

Now I want the training plan, though obviously that's not exactly the point... ( )

2015, Nonfiction ( )

Okay, I’ve started and deleted this book review several times. Why? Definitely not because I did not like the book … I enjoyed it very much. It’s just that the book is so crammed full of different things I have no idea how to offer a book description.

1. It’s about WWII and how the resistance fighters on Crete foiled Hitler’s attempt to capture the island in “24 hours”.
2. It’s about fitness gurus past and present.
3. It’s about how a rag-tag group of villagers; some British intellectuals and Aussie farm boys bested the Nazi invaders and kidnapped a German general.
4. It’s discusses nutrition idea past and present.
5. It’s about using fascia as opposed to muscle, parkour, martial arts and natural fitness methods.
6. It’s about Lawrence of Arabia, Bruce Lee, Arnaold Schwarzenegger and many other people famous and otherwise.

Intrigued yet?

It sounds like a lot! It is, yet Mr. McDougall makes it work in a well-written, comprehensive and interesting book. Mr. McDougall intersperses the history with examples of ancient and modern fitness techniques and theories that are aimed at the “everyman”. We can all be “heroes”.

In “Born to Run” Mr. McDougall took me to Mexico and introduced me to barefoot runners and ultra-marathoners. In this book he took me to the Greek island of Crete to meet “Natural Born Heroes”. I am not an athlete nor am I a runner so why do I find Mr. McDougall’s books so riveting? He is a natural born storyteller. If you are curious about fitness or if you need a little inspiration this would be great book to pick up. Even if you are not and you just want some interesting history and some background on health, fitness and diet (and the billion dollar industry it has become) it is definitely a very readable and interesting book.
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