About
Charlie Lovett is Writer-in-Residence at Summit School in Winston-Salem, NC. His plays for children have been seen in over 1,000 productions in all 50 states and five foreign countries.
He is the author of 11 previous books, including works on Lewis Carroll and the acclaimed memoir Love, Ruth.
The Program is his first novel.
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>
Reviews
<strong>Kirkus Reviews</strong> (April 1, 2011)<br /><br />This dynamic theater story stars Aggie, a girl whose enthusiasm, mad
talent and diva qualities lead her astray. Steamed that she doesn’t get
the lead in the school’s production of <em>Hello, Dolly</em> and
convinced it’s because she’s fat, Aggie writes a roman à clef musical.
It features two girls, the fat one an undisguised Aggie, the thin one
suspiciously similar to the girl playing Dolly, Cynthia of the recent
boob job. Aggie’s friends (techie Suzanne, ever-loyal Elliot and
lyricist Cameron) support Aggie’s hostility toward Cynthia despite
knowing it’s unfair: Cynthia’s nice and actually deserved the lead
because of her singing skill. They mount a major production of Aggie’s
show that, astonishingly, succeeds. Aggie’s almost failing math, Cameron
comes out to his parents (and it goes badly) and Aggie resents the
parental support that Karl, her father’s partner, gives Cameron—Aggie’s
possessive of her stepfather’s attention. The prose, sometimes
unpolished and forced but always infused with warmth, brims with
musical-theater references. Unlike most arcs about fat teens, this one
never equates emotional growth with weight loss; Aggie’s refreshingly
non-symbolic fatness is just part of her. Like Elphaba in the song that
Cameron rewrites, Aggie tries defying gravity—and succeeds, musically,
socially and romantically. Given the ratings of <em>Glee</em> and the emerging popularity of teen lit combining queer themes and musicals, this should be a hit. <em>(Fiction. 13 & up)</em>
