The Fighter’s Mind
Sam Sheridan
The mental game, especially in combat sports, is an oft-discussed topic. But to a layperson it all sounds pretty vague, sometimes mysterious, and at times even absurd. What would motivate an individual to push his or her body to its absolute limit in order to gain a seemingly arbitrary prize? More than that, what is it that keeps the spirit going strong in those truly exceptional individuals at the top of their field even when the flesh has begun to yield to the ferocity of the contest? These are the questions Sam Sheridan looks to answer in his book The Fighter's Mind, in which he speaks to some of the world’s most prominent martial arts practitioners, coaches, and ultra-athletes to shed some light on what goes on between the ears of the world's toughest men and women.
Sheridan is no stranger to combat himself: in his previous book, A Fighter's Heart, he flew to Thailand to compete and train in Muay Thai kickboxing. He has sparred and competed alongside MMA (mixed martial arts) world champions in Iowa and boxed with Olympic gold medal winners. These first-hand experiences give his writing a more grounded feel—you know you're listening to the experiences of a participant in the pugilistic arts, not just an armchair athlete. Sheridan writes with a studious, impassioned enthusiasm, and inspires readers to experience the struggle for themselves in spite of its difficulty. While offering a wealth of insight, he doesn't hide that there is a certain visceral, phenomenal nature to the conflict which simply must be experienced and can only be truly understood and internalized firsthand.
The Fighter's Mind is an attempt to examine two seemingly diametrically-opposed concepts: the violence and the elegance that are simultaneously present in in-the-moment struggle. What results is a piece written from a surprisingly reflective, calm place, although upon further scrutiny I suppose it shouldn't be surprising. How else would a fighter maintain composure while feeling his face splintered by an opposing fist, other than by creating an emotional center of calm amid the chaos? How else could an ultra-marathon runner find the will to put one foot in front of the other, faced with the prospect of another 50km of ragged lungs and screaming tendons, other than by creating a deeply personal reason, a need to do so? The frank honesty of pain and conflict and the possibilities for self-discovery they pose are a recurring main theme in the book, and Sheridan's prose is suited to describing it, philosophical while pragmatically acknowledging the brutality inherent in the competitions he describes.
That's not to say that The Fighter's Mind doesn't offer up a thieves’ bounty of wisdom from a number of other diverse, wizened voices. Those interviewed range from famed MMA coaches Greg Jackson and Pat Miletich and combat legend Randy Couture, to chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin (who helps deliver my personal favourite chapter, where he ruminates on the process of learning and the art of remaining cautious on the verge of victory), to art critic Peter Schjeldhal and sports psychiatrist Michael Landon. A wide spectrum of perspectives is covered, from the ultra-practical to the calculatingly cerebral to the spiritual and even artistic. Sheridan does a great job of knitting them all together within a cohesive, entertaining, and eminently accessible narrative. I would not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone interested in the human mind and its ability to overcome and improve.
After all, we're all fighting something.
- Vincent Smith
Vincent
Smith is a taoist, aspiring writer, and dyed-in-the-wool psychology
geek at the University of Guelph. You can find his writing on video
games, comics, movies, and all things geek over at The Rogue's Gallery.
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Letters from Skye
Jessica Brockmole
Jessica Brockmole’s Letters from Skye is an entertaining story of love conveyed through letters written during the First World War. The story begins when David Graham, an American, writes a fan letter to Elspeth Dunn, his favourite author in Scotland, beginning a relationship filled with ups and downs. Years later, during World War II, Elspeth’s daughter, Margaret, begins to worry when Elspeth begins searching for what happened to her American lover. Elspeth is acting strangely and repeatedly goes missing, causing Margaret to worry and wonder about the mysteries of her mother’s past.
Letters from Skye is written entirely in letter form, and Brockmole does a fantastic job of expressing her character’s feelings through their intimate letters. She clearly did plenty of research into the First World War, which allows her to create an interesting but also horrifying atmosphere for her characters. If you are a fan of romance, quirky humor, and World War I, I would very much recommend this book.
-Wesley Wilson
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The Execution of Noa P. Singleton
Elizabeth L. Silver
The Execution of Noa P. Singleton is a riveting tale where little happens in the present, but the past is revealed in a way that keeps the reader guessing throughout the novel. It is the story of a young woman, Noa, who is on death row. The tale unravels slowly, driven by characters brimming with human weaknesses, from Caleb, Noa’s father, an ex-con who seems to really want to change and overcome his failures, to Marlene, the mother of the deceased, whose manipulations are the catalyst for disaster, to Noa herself, who refuses to do anything to help herself, and her lawyer, Oliver, who believes he can save Noa’s life.
This is a craftily wrought tale that keeps you wondering until the very last page.
- Elizabeth Dent
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May We Be Forgiven
A. M. Homes
This is the funniest book I have ever read! And apparently I am not the only one who thinks it’s hilarious and very well written. It just won this year’s Bailey’s (as in Irish Cream) Women’s Prize for Fiction, previously the Orange prize. The novel is a Canterbury Tales of twenty-first-century America, chronicling the comical adventures of Harold, a Jewish (Vu den?), divorced, and soon-to-be-laid-off Nixon specialist, as he attempts to make sense of and cope with the extremely violent and basically insane actions of his narcissistic and psychopathic—Is there a difference?—younger brother, a successful TV network executive, not to mention a large dose of sibling rivalry and adulterer’s guilt. Move over Gary Shteyngart and Michael Chabon, A. M. Homes is the great Jewish comic novelist! A provocative thought because she was adopted, but who cares? It only proves the case of Nurture over Nature.
This book has it all: exploits in the American health system; the dangers (and delights) of Internet sex; a faux-English public (private) school replete with athletic competitions on Fields Day; an executive mental health facility known as The Lodge Inc. whose therapy options oscillate between tennis lessons and psychosurgery, and an aging, dyspeptic dog, the family’s emotional glue. But wait, there’s more: nursing home weddings, a Bar Mitzvah in a South African village, and Nixon’s role in the Kennedy assassination! It never stops. Every page is hysterical. ‘Nuff said—you must read this book! And may we all be forgiven.
- Brian Ostrow
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Evil in All Its Disguises
Hilary Davidson
Hilary Davidson’s third novel finds travel writer Lily Moore on a junket with a group of journalists to Acapulco with the intention of writing about a chain of hotels that, it turns out, belongs to Lily’s criminal ex-boyfriend Martin. Lily arrives and soon finds that one of her fellow travel writers has disappeared and hotel staff seem to be keen on sabotaging any of Lily’s attempts to leave the resort. Hotel manager Gavin’s suspicious behaviour, off-hand insults, and clumsy flirtations beckon the reader to wonder what alternative motives he has in planning this trip for the unsuspecting journalists, but his true target is Lily.
This is the third installment in Lily Moore’s adventures, so it was a bit difficult to truly connect with the characters, although Davidson does a decent job at catching the new reader up on Lily’s own personal circumstances, which have catapulted her into new, mysterious waters. Reading the novels in sequence would probably connect the reader better to Lily’s personal story, which contains an even larger mystery that overshadows the events in Acapulco.
Throughout the book, I was reminded of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot mystery Evil Under the Sun. Although Davidson does not offer Poirot’s deductive logic and red herrings, she does give the reader an “Old Hollywood” suspense novel based on revenge, murder, money, and betrayal.
- Krista Kermer
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Betty Goes Vegan: 500 Classic Recipes for the Modern Family
Annie and Dan Shannon
Growing up, I learned to cook from my mother’s Betty Crocker Cookbook. For the longest time it was the only cookbook in the house and the definitive guide for all recipes from raisin cookies to pot roast.
I was delighted to learn that authors Annie and Dan Shannon decided to resurrect those old classics with a vegan twist. In their introduction, they eloquently describe their goal: “We wanted to show that you can make anything vegan and that no animal ever needs to be force-fed, confined to a crate or cage, or boiled alive, or to endure any of the other nightmares animals face to satisfy our culinary desires.”
Well organized and easy to read, this large tome contains gorgeous photographs on quality paper, a table of contents, an index, and a listing of the recipes in front of each section. I especially enjoyed the authors’ witty commentary. Some of my favourites: “Hope this isn’t too braggy, but these vegan chicken strips are even better than squirrels and kittens hugging”; “Okay, this lasagna isn’t totally green colored, per se. But it does have green vegetables in it and is a great way to recycle leftover chili into something completely new.”
I’m planning to replace my tried-and-true pancake recipe with “Whole Wheat Banana and Chocolate Chip Pancakes.” I’m also intrigued by the “Fresh Lemon and Asparagus Soup,” which could easily be called asparagus chowder. A recent convert to quinoa, I plan to make the “Rainbow Quinoa,” but without the Himalayan salt.
So many recipes, so little time....
- Joanne Guidoccio
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A Delicate Truth
By John Le Carré
Because governments are so inefficient at everything, and making war is expensive, why not privatize the military? With tongue in cheek, John Le Carré, master spy novelist, attacks that question in A Delicate Truth. Set in Britain and Gibraltar circa 2008, this story shows what might happen if England’s Junior Foreign Minister answered “Yes” to privatizing the armed forces and military intelligence. The Junior Minister in question (a pugilistic Scot named Fergus Quinn) does so by stealth with an American-British military contractor, Ethical Outcomes (don’t you just love corporate branding?).
The result of their first joint operation, which is to extract a high-profile Islamist terrorist from Gibraltar, is, well...inefficient: they can’t even find the terrorist, but Ethical’s trigger-happy mercenaries gun down an innocent Muslim woman and her child. Furthermore, the fallout puts a career Special Forces soldier into guilt, poverty, and deep depression for not being able to save the two innocents. From there, two British bureaucrats then struggle to right this wrong, at great cost to their own careers and personal safety.
For me, this book was a page-turner, but the moral quandaries of the two bureaucrats—young Toby Bell, Private Secretary to the Junior Foreign Minister, and sixty-year-old Kit Probyn, who was the Minister’s “eyes and ears” at the ill-fated Gibraltar mission—fill every sentence with tension. I was forced to think, “What would I have the guts to do in this situation?”
Toby and Kit act with integrity against the odds, and the results are chilling, if effective. Le Carré (interviewed on CBC radio) has said this novel is a symbolic study in miniature of Britain’s involvement in the Iraq War. So while I was on the edge of my seat reading A Delicate Truth, the story is also a practical warning and a morality tale for “inefficient” governments everywhere.
- Bob Young
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