Standing In Another Man’s Grave by Ian Rankin

John Rebus is a long-standing character in Rankin’s police novels; in fact, he’s been showing up for two decades, scattered throughout 14 novels.  Based in Edinburgh, Ireland, Rebus is old, cranky, avoids rules and management, drinks too much, is very hard on relationships, but is a tenacious, effective detective. Not only his saving grace on the job he’s clinging to, but as a reader, the bottom line is Rebus’ skill at police work is what keeps me coming back to Rankin’s books.

Pacing and detail keep the pages turning. Relax into Standing In Another Man’s Grave and appreciate that Ian Rankin is such a masterful writer Rebus comes alive in the motion picture in your head. I’m writing about him like he’s a real man; after years of novels featuring his character, friends and fellow officers, I am confident I could meet the guy at a local bar and hold my own in a conversation.  

You won’t find shoot-outs and wild car pursuits in a Rebus storyline. Satisfaction with a detailed, engaging, storyline you’ll happily immerse yourself in is the card Rankin plays. I enjoy hanging out with John Rebus. How many authors can keep a character at the top of their game for two decades?

$25.95 Little, Brown & Co.

The New Rules of Marathon and Half Marathon Nutrition: A Cutting Edge Plan to Fuel Your Body Beyond “the Wall” by Matt Fitzgerald The New Rules of Lifting for Life by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove

Fitzgerald, an expert distance runner and racer, advocates lots of carbohydrates and gels and sports drinks (which I personally would not suggest). At first glance, very old school and traditional. However, closer examination (meaning, reading his book), reveals him telling runners to get at least a half-decent protein load. Not the step I’d like to see, but at least he’s pointing in the pro-protein direction. Fitzgerald even discusses gaining 65% of his calories from fat for up to ten days, before a long event, and performed the experiment upon himself.

For those of us not in the hardcore running world none of this sounds like a departure from our normal, but for big-time running coaches, this type of advice is vastly different  from the usual long-distance-running protocol. I like Fitzgerald’s emphasis on nutrition’s importance, and his willingness to try different things and key in on how critical food is for running performance. He doesn’t suggest that any training program is more important than the food; good stuff.

Still not how I fed myself “training” for a marathon last fall, but a nice departure (in my opinion) from the old school pasta-feeds the night before a marathon. New rules indeed.

$17.99  DaCapo Press 

So there’s an indication of “new rules” for distance running slowly changing. What about Cosgrove and Schuler and their new rules of lifting? 

Their New Rules of Lifting For Life is aimed at middle-aged and older people looking for positive health and fitness change.  Get off those treadmills and ellipticals and into the area of the gym with weights.

As Schuler says, “resistance training can reverse aging at the cullular level.” As a 58-year-old, I surely am well aware I can’t stop the aging process, but we can help it happen as gracefully as possible. This is where the authors are headed with New Rules of Lifting for Life.

The bulk of the book is comprised of photo-driven exercises, logical and useful and easy to understand and try in the gym. I’m so happy these guys advocate dumbells and barbells over machines; their advice is logical and makes all the sense in the world. Recipes, nutritional advice, and general exercise philosophy round out the pages of New Rules of Lifting.

$28  Avery Books

Howard Cosell: The Man, the Myth, and the Transformation of American Sports by Mark Ribowsky

In today’s age of never-ending ESPN, and now 24-hour cable channels devoted to single sports, and YouTube, and all things Internet, I sound like a cranky old man when the topic of Howard Cosell and his historical importance comes along. Growing up as a child of TV in the 1960s and ‘70s, sports was a weekend viewing experience, with pretty much nothing else in-between. And if Howard Cosell was involved, it was must-watch sports television. Life was that simple.

Sports fans, and those vitally interested in cultural events and tides, will enjoy Ribowsky’s biography of the larger-than-life Cosell. He was as much a part of the big-time sporting landscape as many of the brightest athletic lights of the era - it seemed like Joe Namath, Ali, Mantle, and each of the biggest sporting events of two decades was interpreted and reported upon by Cosell. He made Monday Night Football the first must-see-TV of my generation. 

Howard Cosell: The Man, the Myth... is entertaining reading. But more than that, Ribowsky peels back the public image to reveal a life, and a man, none of us knew a thing about in that era. Sure, it’s nostalgic for me, but I’m confident the book will prove to be rewarding for many. Cosell is an American icon, love or loath him. He was also so very human. 

$18.95  trade paperback, W.W. Norton

Food and Cooking: Catching Up

At times, books I’m interested in appear in spurts. Setting them aside for when “I have spare time” mostly amuses myself. The highly desired “spare time” rarely presents itself. In an effort to catch up with some piles of worthy titles, what follow are some speed write-ups regarding books regarding food I’ve spent significant time with, and appreciate. You should too.

Sweet Potato Power: Smart Carbs - Paleo and Personalized is so much more than what the title may imply. Author Ashley Tudor jumps into the current hot topic of “smart cabs.” If you’re paying attention, notably in the worlds of CrossFit or Paleo, there’s a pretty sharp division between strict Paleo-ites (who must think of this particular style of eating as if it’s a religion), and those of us more interested in health, coupled with athletic performance. Certainly the topic of safe starches has been debated at length by Robb Wolf, Paul Jaminet (author of The Perfect Health Diet), Abel James and various guests on his excellent “Fat Burning Man” podcast, and many other smart people. Google the topic and decide for yourself.

Me, I’m all about sweet potatoes and white rice surrounding my workouts. How much, when and which is a different discussion. Happily for us, Tudor isn’t afraid to take a stand, and come right out and talk about why we need safe starches. She writes from a very science-based foundation, yet is a gifted writer enabling all of us to understand and be energized to continually turn the pages of Sweet Potato Power.

This book is about so much more than the wonderful sweet potato, or safe starches, or even carbohydrates and food. Ashley Tudor brings into focus the deep connection between truly healthy, logical eating and performance in life. She talks about blood and cholesterol, about glucose and insulin, about exercise and adrenal glands. In other words, real life. Sweet Potato Power is one of the best books to come my way in a long time that applies to all of us. You don’t have to be a “Paleo person” or a CrossFitter or an athlete or “health freak” to witness the logic and understand the appeal of adding sweet potatoes to your life, while at the same time understanding how to delete some of the crap you’re putting into your body.

Of course recipes are included. Unlike many books, these are simple and realistic and don’t appear to have been added ‘cause the publisher’s marketing department thought it would be a good idea. Many of them easily fit into my life; all are appealing. I also enjoy seeing more references in the back of the book than I do recipes! Yes, science is real.

I’m not doing justice to Sweet Potato Power and Ashley Tudor. She does a great job in the episode of the Fat Burning Man podcase she's a guest on. Find that and listen to her interact with host Abel James. Great stuff. Buy a copy through the Amazon link on the right side of my website. Or buy two and give one as a gift; it’s that good. Everyone reading my site owes it to themselves to own and read the book.

$29.95  Victory Belt Publishing

The Table Comes First by Adam Gopnik is a bestseller I was unfamiliar with until the trade paperback edition landed in my mailbox. What a treasure. He subtitled this treasure as “Family, France, and the Meaning of Food.” Think of Gopnik is your tour guide into an immersion in the world of high-end food, those trips to France you dream of but don’t take. But, and here’s the crucial difference, he’s not a foodie, not a gourmet snob.

I believe Gopnik is well aware of the changing values food carries in society, worldwide, and is curious and watchful. He’s paying close attention to how Americans regard food and eating, and how these habits have and are changing. Writing with personality and character, Gobnik delves into food history, culture, travel and even a snippet of nutrition here and there. 

What a wonderful book for that easy hour, or while traveling or visiting. Pull up a glass of wine, or a cup of good coffee, and enjoy.

$15.95  Vintage Books

Meat. All cuts of meat, all forms of red meat. This is Michael Symon’s world, and opening the cover of Carnivore brings the reader smack into his meat-loving environment.

Symon is an accomplished chef. He owns several restaurants, is a big shot on cooking shows on TV. With Carnivore, he presents recipes that are useful and relatively do-able for most of us. I’m not much of a hand in the kitchen, possessing only basic skills, but sharing Symon’s his passion is how I take inspiration and ideas from the book. I’ll personally ever try few of these recipes, but when friends and children visit, all of whom are better in the kitchen, this will be a book I’ll get out and present for ideas. Just turning the pages makes my taste buds fire up!

$35  Clarkson Potter

Meat Eater - Adventure From the Life of an American Hunter chronicles the life of Steven Rinella. This guy is the real deal, growing up in Michigan where fishing and hunting was a way of life. He’s an energetic writer, host of a television show, and still an “into the wild” hunting guide. Meat Eater is fun reading, as Rinella keep the stories moving with no bullshit or macho pretension. If you enjoy hunting at all you will like this book; for much more of Rinella, find some of the episodes of the podcast he’s a guest on. These are two to three hour long rambling interviews long on personality and wonderful stories. Highly recommended, as is this book. 

$26  Spiegel & Grau

I’m guessing visitors to Seattle the last few years who spend any time walking the streets will have run across Josh Henderson and his Skillet Street Food Airstream trailer serving locally legendary burgers. They certainly appear appetizing to me, but Portland is as close as I’ve come to Seattle (yet). It’s on the list.

The recipes in The Skillet Cookbook: A Street Food Manifesto are appealing, interesting, and happily range far from his burgers. He’s considered a gourmet food truck, a designation that only a few years ago would have been considered strange. Most appealing and interesting to me are Henderson’s thoughts about street food trucks as a cultural wave, their current place in our society and where he thinks they’re all headed. I very much like the trend. The Skillet Cookbook has the same effect on me as a good travel guide; I want to go to Seattle! For now, I’ll let Josh Henderson transport me there with his book. Nicely done. 

$18.95  Sasquatch Books

I’m including Glamping with MaryJane because I associate camping so closely with food and eating and drinking. So does MaryJane Butters, a life-long advocate of organic food, farming and living with magazines and retail businesses to her credit. She also enjoys campy, retro designs, and combining glamour and camping: thus Glamping.

There’s no succinct way to describe the book. Part style guide, a bit of life lesson, fun recipes, imaginative photography, and basically a window into a fun world of camping where nobody gets dirty or mosquitoes don’t exist, I like Glamping with MaryJane as a very fun coffee table book. This is camping with trailers; there are several in here that would look wonderful attached to my Honda Element.

Search Google Images with “glamping” and you’ll find endless photos of luxurious camping set-ups, unlike anything you’ve seen or probably experienced before. Fun and interesting, provoking photographs. Share with friends and you’ll discover much common ground, and likely end up on a camping trip unlike any you’ve taken before. The more I leaf the pages of Glamping the more I’m enjoying it and finding things I missed.

Basically, if this cover appeals to you, get the book ‘cause you’ll enjoy it.

$24.99  Gibbs Smith

The Aztec Diet: Chia Power - The Superfood that Gets You Skinny and Keeps You Healthy by Dr. Bob Arnot

I’ve read several of Dr. Arnot’s books in years past. Long before my Paleo - Primal - Performance days, I considered him a decent mainstream nutritional voice, and still do. Arnot commands great exposure through relatively mainstream outlets.

However, as nutritious as chia seeds are, that’s all they are: little seeds. I've eaten bags of the little suckers. They're good in yogurt... if I ate yogurt any more. I guess it’s ok from a marketing perspective that the Aztec-chia connection powers this book’s title, but I’m afraid it’s misleading. The truth is that The Aztec Diet: Chia Power... is about eating non-processed foods. Yes, beans and whole (“super”) grains are extolled, and I personally wouldn’t advise people to base segments of their meal planning around them, but overall, The Aztec Diet is yet another “here’s the secret to simple eating that will burn your bodyfat off and increase and maintain your health” book. It's a decent title that will attract some attention; but remember, all the Aztec people are long-ago dead.

In my world, meat and vegetables and quality dietary fat will win the day. Oh, and get a bunch of intense exercise, too!

$25.99  William Morrow