About
Venita lives in Southern California with her husband. She currently has three books available at Amazon and in most book stores, Mixed Nuts, a light-hearted comedy set in the 1960's and Dead on the Money, a mystery set in the 1940's which is the sequel to Initials For Murder, published as an e-book in 2004. She sings lead vocals in a cover band with her husband and they write music together under the name, White Smoke.
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
If you take away the voodoo, it's a pretty good example of my own family.
Reviews
Review from Dear Author:
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">I can honestly say I don’t think
I’ve ever read a book quite like yours before. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">The Beals live in a upper middle
class neighborhood in the mid 1960’s. Frank is a jingle writer who is having
more than a little trouble coming up with a shoe polish jingle. Trying to keep
up with the neighbor’s expensive tastes is a full time job in itself. But when
Frank butts heads with a Voodoo practicing Brazilian gardener, he gets much
more than he bargains for, especially when he is distracted by all the spells
flying back and forth, with a force strong enough to turn his wife into a
love-starved siren and his children into well-behaved angels.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">I loved picking out the jingles and
slogans from past and present ad campaigns. Lots of them took me back several
years and I found myself humming “Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special
orders don’t upset us…” along with several other TV jingles. After suffering
through Susan’s safety compulsion, I’m glad it turns out for the best since
it’ll get the family into the neighbor’s pool! Tito and Tilly are funny as well
as Frank’s attempts to hurl the voodoo back at his neighbor. The peacock scenes
are a scream.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">~Jayne </span></p>
