Let me guess, you probably thought there was never going to be another book recollection. Figured since it’s been like September since you’ve seen one of these come through that I’d tossed away the reading light and spend my free time watching cartoons on the boob tube. Truth is, I’ve actually been reading a book just taking a really really really long time to get through it. A big thanks to the Peoria Plague for allowing me to get the task done – a silver lining in every cloud. One of my favorite authors A.J. Jacobs brings us today’s recollection. If you don’t recall his other reads, check out his link here, here her…
Huge thanks to my brother Ron who made me aware this new book was on its way. The latest offering could not have been more tailor made for me if I’d been able to pick his next topic myself! His latest self-experiment is to become the embodiment of health and fitness. A book devoted to experimenting with various theories and products to transform himself into an in the back of old comic books (the guy kicking the sand, not the puny dude whining because he got sand in his shorts). Anybody who reads this blog knows I also enjoy trying different things to tune my body for whatever activity my Life List has set in front of me. Last year being a huge hurdle in that journey getting through two half marathons and the previous year of dropping some major poundage to enable it. Add in all the experiments on what to eat, lift or stretch and you can compile quite a few years of successes and … sigh failures. Now here was a book that chronicled a similar journey written by the king of guinea pig journalists. I could hardly wait to start reading it knowing the minute I cracked it open I’d never put it down until every page was consumed with vigor and laughter…. well, that is what I thought. The truth was I did put it down… a lot. Granted a lot of that was due to some busy times but it was a HIGHLY anticipated read. Thinking back it is hard to determine exactly what the issue is. At first I thought it was due to not getting much out of it while compiling the takeaways, but after doing that realized it was a pretty healthy list so doubt that is the problem. Maybe it was a majority of experiments didn’t interest me. That can’t be it because that is the part I enjoy – experiencing something I would never do myself from a safe distance away. Was it not believable? Don’t think so – talk about similarities, he was on the same weight loss journey that I was on at about the exact same age (41 vs 43 when I did it) and his numbers were slightly off of mine (I beat him actually! hehehe).
If I have to provide a hypothesis I’d have to say depth and sadness. On the depth front he tended to rush through some of the experiments. The book was set up in chapters devoted to a specific topic like the brain, the feet, the ears and yes, even the gonads. On average, those chapters only really lasted on average about 10-15 pages and then on to the next topic. This provided a much too convenient stopping point where longer chapters tend to extend my reading window. As mentioned, I found myself putting this book down all the time. It is hard to really get the experience out of such a short time – divide that up into an understanding of the experiment (intent of the product or test he was going to try), some details on the highlights and the results and you do not have much time to put yourself in his shoes make you a passive observer at best. I was hoping to spend time mentally comparing and contrasting with all my experiences. Now, this may be a completely different experience for a casual reader so take that within context. I am eager to have someone else read this book and let me know their opinion. Okay, now for the more difficult part. There is an undertone of this book that I couldn’t shake. This is not something I really want to go into detail here because I get very uncomfortable. In short, here is a guy on a journey to become the embodiment of health but the people around him seemed to be going through a quite different experience. While writing this book (and soon after) A.J. lost hist Grandfather and Aunt. Add to this recollections of some lost acquaintances and an expert he had planned to interview make it all more difficult to get through. I’m leaving it there but I think it did have an impact on my overall feeling of the book.. and maybe the title now that I look at it.
In summary, I did not get the amount of enjoyment I had anticipated out of it. This could be setting the bar to high (think Expendables 2) or too much going on at the same time. Maybe a a second account will help set me straight but for now that is where I am. I still had some laughs and man, do I feel for what his wife has to go through during these experiments. I’m still eager to see what he comes out with next!
Hit the Jump for the takeaways (oh.. for the record, just crossed over 100,000 words for this year’s blog posts!)
