About
Athird-generation native Arizonan, Susan Wells Bennett was born andraised in Phoenix. As a child, she wrote a letter to then-PresidentCarter that was published in a local daily newspaper. From then on, shewanted to be a writer when she grew up – that, or President. Atsixteen, she left Arizona to attend Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri,for two years. Returning to Arizona, she attended Arizona StateUniversity as an English major. She spent a fair amount of the nextdecade trying to escape the Southwest, but never succeeded.Susan workedin and around the real estate and home-building industries for themajority of the last two decades, a career that evolved into a positionas a writer and editor for one of the nation’s largest homebuilders. In2009, with the support of her husband, she began writing novelsfulltime. To date, she has completed four novels and is working on herfifth.She has no plans to run for political office in the near future.
Learning to Breathe Fire: The Rise of CrossFit and the Primal Future of Fitness
Description
<p><b>The absorbing, definitive account of CrossFit's origins, its explosive grassroots growth, and its emergence as a global phenomenon.</b><br /> <br />One of the most illuminating books ever on a sports subculture, <i>Learning to Breathe Fire </i>combines vivid sports writing with a thoughtful meditation on what it means to be human. In the book, veteran journalist J.C. Herz explains the science of maximum effort, why the modern gym fails an obese society, and the psychic rewards of ending up on the floor feeling as though you're about to die. <br /> <br />The story traces CrossFit’s rise, from a single underground gym in Santa Cruz to its adoption as the workout of choice for elite special forces, firefighters and cops, to its popularity as the go-to fitness routine for regular Joes and Janes. Especially riveting is Herz’s description of The CrossFit Games, which begin as an informal throw-down on a California ranch and evolve into a televised global proving ground for the fittest men and women on Earth, as well as hundreds of thousands of lesser mortals. <br /> <br />In her portrayal of the sport's star athletes, its passionate coaches and its “chief armorer,” Rogue Fitness, Herz powerfully evokes the uniqueness of a fitness culture that cultivates primal fierceness in average people. And in the shared ordeal of an all-consuming workout, she unearths the ritual intensity that's been with us since humans invented sports, showing us how, on a deep level, we're all tribal hunters and first responders, waiting for the signal to go all-out. </p>
Story Behind The Book
This is an omnibus of the Brass Monkey Series, which includes Wild Life, Charmed Life, Night Life and New Life. This series follows the adventures of the denizens of the Brass Monkey Bar, on the outskirts of Sun City, a retirement community in Arizona.
