The Warrior Diet

The Warrior Diet: Switch on Your Biological Powerhouse For High Energy, Explosive Strength, and a Leaner, Harder Body

The warrior diet is based upon an analysis of several of my interests. In the process of recommending a proper diet and lifestyle Ori Hofmekler looks at ancient cultures mostly the Romans and Greeks but also the Mongols. He discusses when to eat as well as what to eat. He also gives recommendations for how to workout.

The main feature I took away from the book was the concept of cycling times of over-eating and under-eating throughout the day. Hofmekler recommends eating a big meal in the evening and not eating much throughout the rest of the day. Before dinner you can have light foods such as vegetables and water, but you are supposed to avoid carbohydrates and meats. The one exception is a recovery meal after a workout. I have adopted this eating style and have been very pleased with it. I do not hold to it perfectly, but Hofmekler does not say one needs to be puritanical about it. I have found that I have more energy if I skip lunch and get a lot more accomplished during the afternoon.

The warrior diet is one of freedom where you don't need to count calories. It is more based upon feeling and enjoying the diet and doesn't require tracking your diet with a spreadsheet. In the book, Hofmekler says that you can go off the diet for special occasions because you will want to return to it afterward. I have found this to be true. Whenever I visit my family I switch to eating three normal meals a day and have no trouble going back to one meal a day when I return to school.

Hofmekler disagrees with the Weston A. Price Foundation about several points including animal fats, lean meats, and cod liver oil. I side with the WAPF on these topics, but I see these disagreements as being separate from the main message of the warrior diet. I recommend following the Warrior Diet concepts, but choosing your foods based upon the Weston Price recommendations

The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens is one of the most famous wars in history. It involved nearly all the Greek city states who were drawn into the war as allies of one city or the other. Thucydides lived through the war and actually served as a general for Athens during part of the war. The parallels between America's foreign policy and this war make the book especially interesting. Athens sent its largest army ever off to fight in Sicily: it never returned. This experience has been repeated by many successive powers such as Rome in the Teutoburg Forest and Great Britain in Afghanistan.

Overall I found this book entertaining, enlightening, and horrifying. Several times Athens kills all the men inside a city for having the temerity to resist her. From one of these attacks come they saying "the strong do what they may, the weak what they must."

Information

• Wikipedia article on the Peloponnesian War
• Wikipedia article on Thucydides

Voxiversity Classes

• Introduction
• Section 1
• Section 2
• Section 2b
• Section 3
• Section 4
• Section 5
• Section 6
• Section 7
• Section 8
• Section 9
• Final

Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy

Basic Economics 2nd Ed: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy, Revised and Expanded Edition

This is one of the first books I read on economics outside of school. I have since learned a lot more about economics, but this gave me a good starting point for my studies. I am a libertarian/anarchist and follow the school of Austrian economics, but this book is a general defense of free market principles not advocating Austrian economics.

Almost everyone today believes in central planning even if they call themselves a republican or a supporter of free markets. A person in this category will generally say they believe in the free markets most of the time, but in some cases the government must step in. Sowell goes through many of the most common cases and explains exactly why this thinking is flawed. It explains why you do not want government intervention in these circumstances. It does this in terminology that is easy to understand.

I found this book very enjoyable and so I recommended it to a friend who I often debated on economic issues. He changed his views because of this book although they are still not the same as mine. At the present I like to argue from the moral point of view, "thou shall not steal," this book argues from the practical point of view, "you're better of if you don't steal," which is more in line with what people want/need to hear.