The "Academic Preparation" Book Club

[TastyBeans]

The universe in a nutshell by stephen hawking is a great introduction to theoretical physics

[Mark Rippetoe]

How useful is theoretical physics?

[Jonathon Sullivan]

How useful is theoretical physics?

Depends on what you mean by "useful."

[Mark Rippetoe]

Serious question. What does it inform down the chain?

[TastyBeans]

How useful is theoretical physics?

Not that useful, not for barbell mechanics at least. Interesting though, yes. And who knows, maybe in the future the theoretical knowledge can be turned into something useful. Just like the theory of relativity has been applied in GPS-technology.

[Matt Neilsen]

Interesting. I'd disagree with a couple, Supertraining by Verkhoshanksky and Siff and The Weightlifting Encyclopedia: A Guide to World Class Performance by Arthur Drechsler being not particularly useful. But this is a nice start.

Thanks Rip. Interestingly, I pulled both of those recommendations from a post you did in 2009. Here's the quote in full:

"You need both of Starr's books, Brooks and Fahey, Siff's Supertraining (even if you can't read it, you need to try), Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy, Gallwey's The Inner Game of Tennis, Dreschler's The Weightlifting Encyclopedia, McDonald's The Ketogenic Diet, Muscletown USA, Dorland's Pocket Medical Dictionary to read on the pot, and David Willoughby's The Super Athletes if you can find a copy."

I would expect your thoughts to change over the years, but out of curiosity, what has changed your recommendation regarding Supertraining and The Weightlifting Encyclopedia? I'm guessing you initially recommended them, not because you agreed with everything, but because they represented a concerted effort to understand (and the process of understanding was itself worth it). Would you agree with that?

I would add
Introduction to Material Science by Callister
Mechanics of Materials,
and Introduction to Engineering Thermodynamics

An advanced understanding of solid mechanics isn't necessary per se, but it will certainly instill a method of learning that exercise physiology seems to lack. Also, when you understand solid mechanics and dynamics, it's like when Neo sees the Matrix code for the first time.

I think you'd need to include The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn. Since in my opinion it is directly applicable to what Starting Strength is doing.

I'll think of some others later.

Mechanics of Materials is by James M. Gere, after Stephen Timoshenko.

That being said, I would add Beer and Johnson's Statics and Dynamics.

Mechanics of Materials by Riley, Sturges, Morris

Introduction to Engineering Thermodynamics by Moran and Shapiro

I was hoping someone would jump in with a statics/dynamics/materials recommendation - thanks guys!

Pluripotent, I'll also add the Kuhn book - sounds like one I'd like to read for myself.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I would expect your thoughts to change over the years, but out of curiosity, what has changed your recommendation regarding Supertraining and The Weightlifting Encyclopedia? I'm guessing you initially recommended them, not because you agreed with everything, but because they represented a concerted effort to understand (and the process of understanding was itself worth it). Would you agree with that?

Quite honestly, 8 years ago I was not ready to completely trust my own opinion of these books. They are regarded as canon in the field, and they should not be. Supertraining is exactly as useful as theoretical physics, and Dreschler's book is merely the record of the conventional wisdom.

[Matt Neilsen]

I always advocate for reading the Western Canon. Turn the TV off forever and tackle the books that built the west. I'm trying to help folks do that with the service I built at Intellectual Linear Progression - Intellectual Linear Progression We go throught the western canon in order so we can see the great conversation that takes place between these authors. Each month we meet in an online Socratic Seminar and hash out these ideas with a trained interlocutor. Our Chief Interlocutor right now is Karl Schudt, SSC. He's too damn smart.

We start with Homer, then read Sophocles, Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Herodotus, then Plato. We just build from there.

I'm too old to go to Saint John's College, so I made my own.

Scott, thanks for the recommendation. I took a look at your website and I really like what you guys are doing.

[Will Morris]

Without context, Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy may not be as useful as something along the lines of "Clinically Oriented Anatomy" by Keith Moore and Art Dalley. I have both of them on my desk at all times.

[CJ Gotcher]

They are regarded as canon in the field, and they should not be. Supertraining is exactly as useful as theoretical physics, and Dreschler's book is merely the record of the conventional wisdom.

I've been surprised the number of times someone (usually a kettlekultist or Westside advocate) has justified their argument by saying "Have you read Supertraining? It's in there- as a coach, you've got to read it." I have.

I've not been surprised at all how many times, when pressed, they reveal they haven't actually read the book.

I personally would not recommend the Paleo sources for nutrition, or Good Calories/Bad Calories by Taube. Paleo works for some people, but not for any of the reasons advertised (evolutionary alignment with your ancestral heritage). I've talked about it elsewhere. As for Taubes, he is, in my opinion, one of the worst kind of science journalists: eloquent, opinionated, cherry-picking, pre-decided, and utterly wrong on a lot of issues.

Gropper's is good. I found the first half of the Precision Nutrition text to be a good basic primer for those unfamiliar with nutrition, and Dr. Israetel's last two e-books to be convincing and well-defended. Others with a deeper grasp of the field (the RNs and nutrition experts among the SSCs) would most certainly have better recommendations, though.