Book Review: Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook (4th Ed.)

Over the summer, I found myself struggling a bit with some of my long runs while preparing for my first half-marathon. The truth of the matter was that I just didn't know quite how to properly fuel myself for long runs, and was learning as I went.

A conversation with an old college friend who has been running marathons for over ten years now turned me on this book as a resource to help solve my problems.

Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook is an all-in-one tome for athletes and aspiring athletes looking for solid nutrition advice. It's not a diet book, although there's a fair bit of diet advice, nor is it a recipe book, although there are several chapters filled with recipes.

What this book is, however, is a solid guide for anyone looking for evidence based guidelines for how to fuel an active body while achieving whatever your weight goals are. When to eat, what percentage of carbohydrates/fats/proteins to eat, and how much to eat are all topics that are covered well in this tome.



It's more of a reference manual than something that needs to be read cover to cover, but that's all right. just keep it on a shelf and refer to it when needed after skimming the Table of Contents and reading whatever chapters are relevant at the time. As for me, since I'm kicking up my marathon training program, this will definitely get some use for good food choices and snacks I can make at home.

Book Review: MindWar (MindWar Trilogy Book #1)

Mix some elements of The Matrix with  Ready Player One, and a throw in a bit The Last Starfighter for good measure. That's a decent summary of the feel for MindWar, the first book in the Mindwar trilogy from Andrew Klavan.

Our protagonist, Rick, is the former star quarterback for his high-school team, cut down and crippled from a severe auto accident just days after his father had run off with an old flame, leaving Rick, his mother, and his eight-year-old younger brother to fend for themselves. Rick is angry, in pain, grieving, and finds his only comfort in the virtual worlds of his Xbox.

But all that changes when his gaming prowess makes him the ideal candidate for the MindWar project. Somewhere, a shadowy, brilliant Russian oligarch is plotting to destroy the United States using a networked virtual world from which he can infiltrate any electronic system. All Rick has to do is infiltrate this virtual world, find out what the bad guy is up to, stop him, and get back before his mind disintegrates. No problem.

The book presents a fast-paced, easy read that's appropriate for older teens, but still enjoyable for adults. There's plenty of action, and good pacing from the virtual world to the real world and back again. Klaven generally stays away from technical details that could pull knowledgeable readers out of the story, although there are a few slip-ups with an aircraft where he seems to forget whether it's a single- or multi-engine aircraft.

An interesting inclusion is a couple pages of discussion notes at the back of the book. The book itself could best be described as "Christian literature adjacent." What I mean by that is that one or two characters are overtly Christian, but Christianity, or religion in general, isn't a central theme of the story. The author also doesn't beat the reader over the head with extra scenes of characters praying or quoting scripture which would make no sense in context. The discussion notes add an element that would make this a good pick for a youth group or other reading club.

While MindWar is clearly the start of a trilogy, it also gives a solid resolution, while still setting up the next book in the series. I'll definitely be putting the remaining books on my To Read list.

Book Review: The Speed of Sound By Eric Bernt

I’m not quite sure what to make of The Speed of Sound, the first novel in a planned series by Eric Bernt. On the one hand, it’s got all the requisite elements that make a good thriller: a shadowy conspiracy, multiple factions, and an interesting technical McGuffin. On the other hand, most of the characters just aren’t that interesting, the plot tends to drag from perspective to perspective, and everyone we meet for any length of time is blandly hypercompetent at what they do.


The story revolves around two main characters. One, Skylar Drummond, is a young doctor taking her first big post-graduation job at Harmony House, a place that’s one part research lab and one part assisted living for its high-functioning autistic residents. The other is Edward “Eddie” Maxwell Park, a Harmony House resident since he was eleven years old.

In my opinion, the book does an excellent job of is putting readers into Eddie’s world. Chapters from his perspective are just slightly off, reflecting the unique way he sees the world. Although Eddie is incredibly brilliant within his small interest, he is also extremely sheltered and childlike in his responses to everyday things. How much of this would ring true with parents and loved ones of actual neurologically atypical people I can’t say, but the author certainly seems to write Eddie from an honest place. We don’t feel sorry for him that he’s different. Concerned, sure, particularly when he becomes a lost, childlike adult in New York City, but he’s not a character to be pitied. We want him to succeed, and to realize his dream of hearing his deceased mother’s voice.

That dream, and Eddie’s solution to accomplishing it, is the principle driving force of the book. For to hear that voice, he has worked out a way to reconstruct and replay sound echoes of past events. This technology, of course, has application far beyond Eddie’s ideas, and its completion sets off a cross-country race between multiple factions to acquire the device.

Skylar, meanwhile, is a far less interesting character. Her desire to work at Harmony House comes from guilt over the death of her autistic brother, she initially sees Eddie as similar in kind to her brother, and is able to break through some of his walls using techniques that she learned in dealing with her brother. She sees the potential in the device, and sets off on the run with Eddie after the first demonstration of the working prototype reveals a murder plot.

The author, Eric Bernt, is primarily a writer of movies and TV shows. Perhaps that’s one of the big reasons why the plot shifts scenes so often, and at times feels more like a screenplay than a novel. This is definitely a story that would work as a TV movie or miniseries, where characters and locations can be quickly identified visually.

I did enjoy The Speed of Sound, and will be looking for the next installment of the series. It’s an enjoyable read, with an interesting hook, just not great. Let’s say 3.5/5, and call it good, shall we?

Book Review - Tanker Pilot: Lessons From The Cockpit by Mark Hasara

It’s a rare memoir that can straddle appeal to both general and special interest audiences. Tanker Pilot: Lessons From The Cockpit by Mark Hasara is one such book. Mark packs lessons from his career as a USAF KC-135 pilot in a way that is both revealing to any avgeek with an interest in the inner workings of military aviation, and valuable to anyone seeking new perspectives on learning, leadership, and life.

Air Force tanker crews have a saying: “No one kicks ass without tanker gas.” Mr. Hasara’s career, which spanned from the late ‘80s during the end of the Cold War to the early ‘00s with the War on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq, is peppered with specific anecdotes proving the truth of that statement. I knew air tanking was essential to military operations, I just didn’t realize how essential until reading this book.

For examples, there’s a story in the book from the 1991 Gulf War where Mr. Hasara’s flight picks up a group of F-16s returning from strikes into Iraq. Without in-flight refueling, none of the aircraft would have been capable of making it back to base. A much later chapter discussing the logistical planning required to get U.S. Navy F/A-18Cs safely from aircraft carrier to strike target and back during the Second Iraq War is even more illuminating. Strike aircraft loaded down with weapons burn a lot of fuel.

Mr. Hasara was also an avid photographer during his career. The book contains two fantastic picture blocks featuring air-to-air pictures taken by him and other aviators during some missions. These pictures are a treat for anyone interested in military aviation, depicting some fantastic candid aviation moments.

A Kadena based KC-135R refuels an 18th Aggressor Squadron F-16C. The Young Tigers were one of the squadrons that Mr. Hasara was assigned to during his career. Public Domain Wikipedia][[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[

One of the other neat things about this book is the inclusion of a life lesson at the end of each chapter. Each anecdote is selected not just for its own interest and the coherence of a career narrative, but also to illustrate a lesson that extends far beyond the cockpit. Just because we may never find ourselves at the controls of a multi-million dollar flying fuel station doesn’t mean that the lessons learned there can’t translate into our daily lives.

One particular quote from an early lesson that has stuck with me: “Disciplining ourselves through creating habits leads to healthier and happier lives, increased productivity, and greater effectiveness in our work.” Talk about a lesson that dovetails with what I’m trying to do in my own life with running, Bullet journaling, and other focused productivity improvements!

I won’t be passing this particular book onto my kids. Mainly because this is the rare book in my collection where I want my children to each have their own copies. These are going to be tucked away in a drawer, along with a few similar items, waiting for the right time to be presented to each child.

Definitely a worthwhile purchase for anyone with an interest in military aviation, and also well worth the time for anyone looking to improve themselves.

Book Review: Daughters of the Night Sky

Daughters of the Night Sky by Aimie K. Runyan paints a tale of love, comradery, and inevitable loss, set against the backdrop of World War II on the Eastern Front. Based on the actual exploits of the Night Witches – Russia’s all female volunteer pilot squadrons – the book tells a story that few Westerners know much about.

One thing that Daughters of the Night Sky isn’t, is an aerial action thriller. To me, the air portions felt like the weakest parts of the book, serving mainly to move the plot of the characters along. Basic terminology mistakes, such as saying that German planes would “stall their engines” in trying to engage the Night Witches’ slow Polikarpov U-2 biplanes, take focus away from the story being told.

Combat isn’t the focus of the book, however, so I’ll leave my criticism of the author’s aviation errors at that. Instead, the focus is on the life of Katya Ivanova as she goes through the war, moving from initial navigator training through to the end of the war with the women of her squadron. Along the way we’re introduced to her comrades and squadron mates, and the man she falls in love with and marries.

In reality, the women of the 588^th flew near constant night bombing missions. Often flying eight or nine sorties a night, their primary role was to harass the nearby German camps and degrade the effectiveness of the enemy soldiers. By the end of World War II, their squadron had flown over 23,000 missions. For this, a squadron comprising a total of 261 women suffered 32 fatalities and 28 destroyed aircraft.

Katya and her squadron mates must deal with much more than German bullets, however. Sexist officers at every level cause nearly as many problems for the squadron as the enemy. The challenges push Katya and the others to work even harder, and show they are better than the male squadrons.

In the book, the author carefully tiptoes around the reality that the Easter Front was essentially two of the most grotesque mass-murdering tyrants the world has ever seen throwing bodies at each other. None of the main or supporting cast women that we meet are especially enthusiastic Communists, and several have a secret or two revealed along the way. It’s an understandable author’s decision not to include any particularly patriotic defenders of Stalin’s regime in the book, but it does detract a bit from the historical realism. It’s difficult to believe that none of the women who volunteered for flight duty were hardline Party supporters.

If you’re looking for descriptions of dramatic dogfights, tense cat and mouse battles with German fighters, and dramatic bombing runs, this book is going to be a disappointment. However, as historical fiction, it’s excellent and well worth anyone’s time.

Book Review: Pride And Prejudice And Zombies

Some things just make obviously good combinations. Chocolate and peanut butter, RPG mechanics in shooters, and twisty mountain roads and motorcycles all come to mind. Other combinations are less obvious, but still great when discovered. Peanut butter on hamburgers, and rogue-lite mechanics in shooters come to mind here. A further addition would be Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the unique mash-up of Jane Austen’s classic romance novel into a world filled with zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith. It shouldn’t work at all, but it does.

Given that the book came out in 2009 and already saw a big-screen adaptation in 2016, I’m hardly an early discoverer of this novel. In fact, the book has been sitting in my “To Read” list on Goodreads for at several years, which really just shows how long it takes for something to bubble up to the top of the list. Or something. My reading backlog is only slightly more manageable than my gaming backlog.

At any rate, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, for those unfamiliar with the story, re-imagines the Bennet sisters as trained zombie hunters, defending their little part of England from the shambling menace which has come to threaten all of England. The other characters have been similarly re-imagined, all while keeping their essential characteristics that made the original book such a classic.

In a lot of ways this book is the most well done version of the old Jr. High-school boy routine of re-imagining some boring piece of historical literature to involve more action in some form or another. 

Romeo and Juliet with automatic weapons (okay, that’s one’s been done), or modern day Macbeth (wait, that’s been done too!) All right, let’s just call Pride and Prejudice and Zombies another entry in a long line of remixing the classics.

The point is, it works. The original gist of Austen’s classic story is still there, just with the addition of zombies which the book very properly never names a such, preferring such properly British euphemisms as “Manky Dreadfuls” and “Shambling Menace.” There’s also a particularly well done sword fight between Elizabeth and Lady Catherine which would have been perfectly at home in a piece of Chinese cinema such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

I can’t speak to the quality (or lack thereof) of the resulting movie adaptation, having not seen it. I expect that, as usual, the book is better than the movie. For the book, at least, I’ll have no qualms handing it to my teenage sons in a few years, if a straight dose of Regency Romance isn’t to their tastes.