Why this book:  Strongly recommended by my friend Jay.

Summary in 3 sentences:  Fascinating combination and convergence of several themes and stores:  The Cretan resistance against Nazi occupation, specifically focused on a single operation – the kidnapping of a German general; the experiences of the author with a couple of fellow British aficionados of the Cretan resistance traveling to Crete to retrace the steps of the resistance fighters on that one famous exploit; the evolution of the concept of fitness and ‘the hero’ over centuries and millennia; modern day research into a healthy diet and and physical fitness which indeed makes more sense than what most of us have grown up with.  All these themes are tied together in this book.

My impressions:  I started by trying to read it, but struggled a bit, since the author was going back and forth between his multiple themes.  He just seemed to be all over the place, and I couldn’t follow it.  Jay told me that didn’t surprise him, especially if I were trying to read the book in 10-15 minute increments.  He  noted that the whole requires a more extended visit to the book than brief, incremental reading sessions.  So I bought the book on audible – listened to it while driving and loved the story and message.  If your attention span is compromised, for whatever reason, I recommend listening to it. It’s very engagingly told as a recited story, and fun to listen to.

The story of the Cretan resistance and the kidnapping of the German general begins and concludes the book, and it ties the entire book together.  McDougall frequently leaves  Crete and WW2 and take us on what seems to be a digression about how concepts of fitness have evolved, and then he comes back to our heroes planning and conducting amazing operations against the brutal Nazi regime in Crete.  The British Special Operations Executive (SOE) commandos helped organize and support the Cretan resistance to sabotage Nazi efforts to make Crete a reliable logistics support base for their Eastern Europe offensive.  They made life difficult for the Nazis in Crete, thus providing  critical support to the Allied fight against the Nazis.  Many argue that the tenacity of the Cretan resistance delayed the German invasion of Russia by two months, significantly undermining the success of that operation.  The resistance heroes are both British and Cretan;  as an American special operator, I can appreciate the risks and heroism of the British agents, and I am amazed and inspired by the tenacity, resilience, and sacrifices of the Cretans.

But the book is really about health, courage, fitness, nutrition, and a life style full of a creative and “useful” movement.  The story of the Cretan resistance is a backdrop which helps him make his points: How could these unlikely commandos, untrained in the military arts, not particularly fit or athletic by modern standards, pull off one of the most daring special operations in extremely difficult and remote terrain? What where the physical and physiological, mental and emotional elements that enabled these heroes to succeeds?  All of this comes into play in this book.

Some of the transitions between the various themes were awkward or occasionally strained, and he may have tried to do too much with the book to do it all well, but it was a very interesting and creative look at all of his themes.   I loved listening to it. And I learned a lot that I’ll not soon forget.

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Some of his key points and my take-aways:

Exercise and Diet.  Our bodies evolved primarily in the hunter-gatherer world of our pre-historic ancestors, and they function best when to whatever degree we can, we are able to simulate the types of exercise and movement of that environment – to which our bodies were optimized.  Early in the book, he introduces us to the development of parcours running and looks at the evolution of fitness and health training through the 20th century. In the process, he disparages the gym/fitness industry and the focus on bodybuilding and appearance, rather than agility, speed, and more “useful” manifestations of physical ability. Women will be impressed and inspired by his comments and examples on the relative equality of the sexes in matters of general fitness and capabilities.

Later in the book he spends 3 chapters on nutrition.  Our metabolism developed and evolved with our bodies during that same hunter-gatherer period, and he claims our bodies are ill-suited to the modern high-calory/high-carb diet that most Westerners live on.   With numerous examples of the world’s best ultra-endurance athletes switching to the diet high in fat, protein and complex carbohydrates,  he points out how not only health but performance is optimized.  He also advocates endurance training conducted primarily in the (relatively) low hart-rate – “aerobic” zone, keeping one’s heart rate at no more than 180 minus one’s age. I’d heard/read all this before, especially in the book Primal Endurance, but he makes the case more convincingly and with more flair than others.  He disparages with particular vehemence the sports-drink  and food industries as having profited mightily from leading people astray with clever advertising on what constitutes good fitness and good health.

Greek and Cretan culture: McDougall regularly returns to Greek mythology and the heroes  of classical Greece in his description of heroic living and heroic lifestyles.  But his focus is on Crete – especially the Cretan people as they rose to the challenge of Nazi occupation. Hitler expected Crete to fall to the German juggernaut in 2 days. It took months and many more resources than they had planned for the Nazis to sufficiently subdue Crete to use it as a logistics staging base.  We learn of the toughness, the loyalty, the intrepidity of the Cretan farmers and shepherds, and how they did not hesitate to risk everything to fight the Nazis.  Raiding, stealing and smuggling  had been part of their culture for generations, which had bred a level of independence and cleverness that the Nazis couldn’t control.  Fiercely independent they resisted all efforts by the Nazis to manage and subdue them. I was inspired by the degree to which the Cretans hold each other accountable to an ethic of courage, freedom, and loyalty that is uncommon in much of the West. I particularly enjoyed his description of the Greek value of Xenia –  the moral obligation to help and be hospitable to visitors, strangers, or others in need.  “Xenophobic” is from the same word.

Concept of the Hero: Having thought and written some about heroes and “Living Heroically” I was intrigued by his writing on heroism as being tied to a concept of the whole man – or whole person.  Most of those who played key roles in the Cretan resistance and Greek mythology were men, but in his updates and stories from recent research and examples include women in his concept of whole-person heroes.

He talks about the idea of heroism as a practical skill that can be learned, and that heroes are “useful” to those around them and to their larger communities.  Such usefulness requires the hero to be fit, agile, healthy, and adaptable – as well as having the more classic qualities of courage and selflessness.  This requirement for the hero to be adaptable and “useful” is part of his argument against current fitness models emphasizing large muscles or specialization, in areas which are not agile, adaptable or useful.

He refers often to Odysseus who was sneaky and clever and innovative, not just willing to march to his own drummer, but to do so while also protecting himself and ensuring his own survival.  He relates how other Greek heroes and gods exhibit these same qualities, representing the cultural values of ancient Greece and Crete.   The British and Cretan heroes in the story of the Cretan resistance were not our classic made-in-Hollywood heroes.  The Brits in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) were individuals who in many cases were rejects from conventional military training, sometimes eccentric, often people who wouldn’t have succeeded in the very structured and hierarchical world of the conventional military.  The Cretan farmers were often peasants and shepherds who simply, and without question, stepped up when called upon to risk everything for their cause.  These independent Cretan peasants who were raised to be hard, hardy, and loyal,  he called  “natural born heroes.”   The British unconventional warriors who were assisting them were more like T.E. Lawrence than James Bond or Sylvester Stallone – often they were poets and classics professors, accountants and others not from classical “heroic” backgrounds.

Quibble:  As with many books like this – my quibble is that he makes his arguments too strongly and doesn’t present counter positions, or potential alternatives to his position on health, diet, and fitness.  There remains some controversy about his positions.  I spoke with one of the nutrition/health specialists at Naval Special Warfare who had read the book and liked it. But his quibble is mine –  his case for  high fat diet and low-hear-rate training do not take into account performance or life-style goals where these might not fit, or always be optimal.  He doesn’t talk about how athletes must train at high heart rates for certain sports.  SEALs for example need endurance, but just as importantly, need explosive strength, which requires different training.  In noticing this, I assume that he left out other parts of the story with the Cretan resistance that may not have fit his narrative.  That said, I still really liked the book.