The Sports Gene: Inside The Science Of Extraordinary Athletic Performance (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
Finished reading "The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance / What Makes the Perfect Athlete" (2013) by David Epstein. As one who is perhaps biased towards sociologists/psychologists/scientists and against journalists, I wasn't sure whether to expect anything good from this book, of which I first thought would be all about glorified stories of extraordinary athletes and their Spartan training. Pleasantly, I was completely wrong.When it comes to sports science, especially physiology and genetics, this is perhaps the most comprehensive, well-rounded and rigorously researched books I have come across. I didn't expect Epstein to cover so much on sports and genetics, from the importance of sheer training to be natural advantages of one's physical features. It doesn't only explores; it investigates thoroughly all the research being carried out in the past and the present.Perhaps the only setback I have for the book is the focus on genetics. Genetics is something I don't really understand, and thus I can't always understand the genetics-laden content of the book.However, this book proves me wrong that books written by journalists aren't always bad, so David Epstein has done a huge favor for me. Thank you, Epstein.NEXT BOOK: "To Sell is Human" (2013) by Daniel Pink. The Sports Gene debunks popular myths on both sides of the nature/nurture debate.A few fun factoids:Sports specific skills like hitting baseballs and dribbling basketballs have little to do with innate reflexes and are instead largely determined by practice hours logged.That said, baseball players with better eye sight do much better because they can more clearly see what kind of pitch the pitcher is throwing.The NBA is mostly a tall men's club. The men who seem to defy this rule have ridiculously long arms. It's not about height, so much as wingspan.A higher center of gravity (longer legs) increases maximum running speed to a significant and measurable degree.A lower center of gravity increases maximum swim speed to a similar degree.People from warmer climates tend to have longer legs, because long legs radiate more heat. People from colder climates have shorter legs to conserve heat.Muscle mass maxes out at a 5:1 ratio of muscle mass to bone mass.Shorter arms provide favorable leverage in lifting sports.People vary wildly in the level to which their fitness level responds to training, and different people respond differently to different types of training. Training response is genetic. So, the guy who starts slow and makes a massive improvement may not be working harder than his teammates. He may just be a high responder.For me, the takeaway was this: "Where there's a will, there's a way" is too simplistic. People get different returns from equal effort. So, don't get down on yourself if you're not getting the incredible results you'd hoped for from your hardcore training regimen. You may just have the wrong length of arms.
What do You think about The Sports Gene: Inside The Science Of Extraordinary Athletic Performance (2013)?
Great book for anyone interested in sports or genetics. While the author mentions that of course all performance is a combination of nature vs. nurture, this book tells the nature perspective, explaining how genetics can partly explain athletic skill, the ability to improve through training, and even the motivation to train. I found it to be very fascinating! The book is told well, with many stories and examples, and told in a journalistic way. For audiobook fans, the narrator wasn't great for me, and particularly the attempt at mimicking researchers' native accents was cheesy. But it wasn't terrible either, it was a good listen, but I sped it up, and it was fine.
—benzion72
A book about genetics by a sports writer.David Epstein uses the typical approach of illustrating scientific findings with anecdotal evidence.The take home messages:Disregard the "10,000 hour rule", it derives from a very small study with musicians.Genetics plays a very important part when it comes to the question good athlete or Olympic medal winner.(Your genetic make up will make a big difference in determening the results you see from training in a certain sport.)Women are physiologically disadvantaged in certain sports, but they can shrink the gap by turning into men, meaning, by taking testosterone (as illustrated by the former GDR's doping programs).
—peinsznski25
I loved this book. In my top 3 for the year.
—rara
