Marshall Thornton

Marshall Thornton

About

Marshall Thornton is an award-winning screenwriter, playwright and author living in Long Beach, California. He has an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA where he won the Carl David Memorial Fellowship for his romantic-comedy, Husband Material, as well as a BA in Creative Writing from California State University at Long Beach. He has had plays produced in both Chicago and Los Angeles. Marshall has published in literary journals and is currently exploring the world of on-line downloadable fiction.

Learning to Breathe Fire: The Rise of CrossFit and the Primal Future of Fitness

Learning to Breathe Fire: The Rise of CrossFit and the Primal Future of Fitness

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<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

Reviews

From Sensual Reads...<br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:normal;font-size:14px;border-collapse:collapse;"></span><p style="margin-top:15px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:15px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;line-height:13pt;">Set in the 1980s, Nick Nowak, a Chicago private investigator, returns with three stories. In the first story, he is called in to investigate the murder by a young man of his stepfather. The young man is refusing to defend himself or even to talk to his lawyers. In the next story, he is hired to investigate the murder of a porn star while in the third story , he is searching for the only surviving victim of a serial killer. The three stories are tied together with Nick’s struggle with his relationship with Detective Bert Harker. He knows he cares for the man but then his ex, Daniel Laverty returns. Now Nick is faced with choosing between the two men.</p><p style="margin-top:15px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:15px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;line-height:13pt;">Nick has a different way of looking at his life and the relationships he has than most people do. To Nick, sex can mean many things – it can mean only pleasure or it can mean pain or it can mean nothing. Nick searches and struggles for meanings in his encounters and relationships while trying to make a living as a private investigator. To further confuse him he now has two men in his life. Boystown 2 is an intriguing set of tales that takes us into his life and his feelings while at the same time we are on the front line for compelling investigations with disturbing outcomes. Nick has fast become a favorite character and we will all be anxiously awaiting the next set a tales in the life and times of Nick Nowak. Marshall Thornton has a winner with Nick Nowak.</p><br /></div>