Starting Strength

I think "life changing" and "universal" are contradictory. A person who is ready to pick up the bar, for instance, would benefit from Rippetoe's Starting Strength but if you don't pick up the bar it's just another book (you might get something from just plain lifting Schwarzenegger's Modern Weighlifting though, if not the Misner, Thorne and Wheeler book Gravitation.) Similarly Super System will change your life if you are serious about playing poker, otherwise it's just a fun read like the D&D Monster Manual I'd say that Ashcroft and Mermin's Solid State Physics was a great adventure even if I didn't end up doing physics in the end, but I was a grad student in condensed matter and I took Ashcroft's class. When I was wanting to explore the edges of applied philosophy and literature I felt Alain Badiou's Being and Event was meaningful to me but a lot of people would say it is obscurantist French trash like Derrida and if you believe that I can't change your mind.…

Influence - Psychology of persuasion Gun Germs and Steel Hero with a thousand faces Starting Strength

Starting strength is better for natural strength training. Mike Mentzer is well known to have abused steroids to get his physique which is something I wouldn't be willing to do.

Also read Starting Strength. I'd been lifting before I read it but my technique was very poor. The most I got out of the book was cues (such as actively push legs out when squatting to avoid cave in). Would definitely recommend!

Starting Strength stands out for me too. Starting a strength training routine has been a wonderful experience that I would highly encourage to everyone.

In no particular order: Politics and philosophy: Ishmael - Daniel Quinn (even though in the end, it's just a cute, in essence a softies introduction to anarchist communism) On property - Proudhon (Meta, ye oldist anarchy) Das Kapital (If you read Marx, also read on Marx, can't stress this enough) Beyond good and evil (but in his thought in general) - Nietzsche (Mainly for showing there are no absolutes, moral is what we make of it, and in that moral we can excel) And so, so many others, philosophy really adds up, just keep on reading, there's fundamental books for sure, but every publication adds up in some respect. Sports and nutrition: Starting Strength (for making me bad ass strong in the last couple years) 'Paleo' diet (for showing an extreme solution for a more simple problem, that actually worked and made me not fat anymore) Some random books that made a huge impression the last years: The Alchemist, for showing how humble you can experience the wonders of life Siddhartha, same really. A short summer of anarchy (biography of Durrutti, rise of anarchism in 30s Spain, out of print)…

Getting Things Done http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Habits_of_Highly_Effe... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People) Starting Strength http://startingstrength.com/ (controversial :-P) The Paleo solution http://www.amazon.com/Paleo-Solution-Original-Human-Diet/dp/... (http://www.amazon.com/Paleo-Solution-Original-Human-Diet/dp/0982565844)

Starting Strength was definitely my best book of 2011. I went from a reasonably out of shape cube denizen who strained at a 125 pound low bar back squat to a 300 pound low bar back squat in just seven months. Rippetoe makes it very clear how any idiot can pick up a lot of strength in a very short period of time. Great Book.

In a similar vein, I'd recommend Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. Before SS, my martial arts instructor always chided me: "Crazybear, don't power through the disarm. There are lots of guys bigger than you. Get the leverage right." Now he tells newbies: "Don't power through the disarm, it won't work on a guy like Crazybear. Get the leverage right." It's a simple how-to guide to getting strong. Just follow the program he gives and you become stronger - it's time tested and works well for pretty much everyone. Be really careful with deadlifts, particularly if you have back issues.

Currently reading Little Brother by Cory Doctorow - an OK book - and keeping Starting Strength by my side as a reference. Starting Strength is a great introduction to weightlifting and getting stronger, I highly recommend it.