Praise for STRONGER
“When I heard about STRONGER, I was in heaven. The history, science, and practice of lifting weights, all in one place? That’s my kind of book! It tells the inspiring stories of athletes and scholars such as my friend Jan Todd, the pioneer of women’s powerlifting, and it shows the powerful research that proves that building strength and muscle could be a type of medicine for all kinds of people. Even if you’ve never picked up a weight — STRONGER is for you. But be careful: Something tells me that by the time you finish, you’ll find plenty of reasons to try out resistance training.”
—Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Governor of California, seven-time Mr. Olympia, and bestselling author of The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding and Be Useful
“STRONGER is at once a meditation on the relationship between soul and body and a practical guide to growing old. It is thoughtful, richly reported, and totally compelling. The first thing I did after finishing it was buy a set of weights.”
—Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction
“I started lifting weights in 1956, when I was fourteen. When STRONGER is in readers’ hands, I’ll be eighty-three—I’ll still be lifting. From the Histories by Herodotus to Pumping Iron—from ancient Greece to Arnold Schwarzenegger—this is the enlightening history of weight training. I’m a full-time writer. I spend every day sitting on my glutes. Do your glutes a favor—read STRONGER.”
—John Irving, National Book Award-winning author of The World According to Garp, Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Cider House Rules, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Chairlift
“Through meticulous research and first-rate storytelling, STRONGER will reshape how you think about health, longevity, and what matters as we age. Cardio, core, yoga exercises—sure they're good for you. But this book shows how developing and maintaining muscle might just be the most important thing a person can do to preserve and protect their health.”
—Guy Raz, creator and host of the podcasts How I Built This and Wow in the World, and author of the New York Times bestselling books inspired by both podcasts
“STRONGER is a pioneering narrative—a fascinating exploration, years in the making, of a hugely important part of human life and culture. It raises the question that great books do: Why has this not been written before?”
—William Langewiesche, author of American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center and Aloft: Thoughts on the Experience of Flight
“If history, anthropology, and lifting are down your alley, you will enjoy STRONGER. Find out how our ancestors have shaped our views on muscle and strength in unexpected ways.”
—Pavel Tsatsouline, founder and CEO of StrongFirst.com and author of Kettlebell Simple & Sinister
“In these burning times, STRONGER offers a reminder that we can still have influence on the most vital and intimate world we inhabit from cradle to grave: our bodies. Reading it, one has to wonder, who wouldn’t want to be strong?”
—Rick Bass, author of With Every Great Breath: New and Selected Essays and the Story Prize winner For a Little While: New and Collected Stories
“The very definition of cutting-edge… STRONGER is an elegant, sophisticated, and substantial piece of work… It’s absolutely enthralling, written with a masterly zip and zing — an eye for the arresting visual detail and an ear for the striking quotation.”
—Bruce Bawer, The American Spectator
Events
February 13: Hanover, New Hampshire— Dartmouth College guest lecture in “The American University Athlete in the 21st Century,” an interdisciplinary course examining college sports in the contexts of history, identity, physiology, cognition, and economics.
March 11: Austin, Texas—Book launch event: The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Kinesiology and Health Education guest lecture with special guests Mitchell Hooper and Martins Licis. (Two hundred people showed up for this event—and you can watch the video here.)
April 2: San Francisco, California—Commonwealth Club, conversation with Guy Raz. (If you weren’t one of the 90 people in the room that night or the 40 more who joined online, you can watch the full conversation between me and Guy here.)
April 3: Oakland, California—Clio’s Books.
April 5: Santa Rosa, California—Gym event at Santa Rosa Strength.
April 22: St. Louis, Missouri—St. Louis County Library. (This library has a fabulous author series—and 160 showed up for a really fun conversation that night.)
Los Angeles, California— Pharos Athletic Club. Date and other venues TBA.
Palm Springs, California— Pharos Athletic Club. Date and other venues TBA.
New York City, New York— Cornell University Medical School, David Rogers Health Policy Colloquium, fall semester guest lecture. Date and other venues TBA.
More details on more cities coming soon . . .
