Looking for book recommendations to pass the time? Colorado Rapids goalkeeper Clint Irwin loves to read and has a deep library of book recommendations. Here are three books he thinks fans should dive into.
1. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Irwin's Synopsis: It’s a very easy read. It’s a very ancient and historic advice, and a way to live your life.
Synopsis: Meditations is a collection of personal notes on Stoic philosophy written by Marcus Aurelius, who served as Roman Emperor from 161 – 180 AD. Meditations consists of twelve books, each focusing on a different period in Aurelius’s life. It is likely that Aurelius wrote these books he traveled on various military campaigns across Europe to preserve his Roman Empire.
2. Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance by Alex Hutchinson
Irwin's Synopsis: It’s more of a sports book. It talks about why certain people have more endurance than others, and the physical, psychological, and social aspects of that. It’s great for anyone who is trying to train, or who do a lot of running. I read it during preseason and it helped me get through preseason.
Synopsis: Hutchinson presents an overview of science’s search for understanding human fatigue, from crude experiments with electricity and frogs’ legs to sophisticated brain imaging technology. Going beyond the traditional mechanical view of human limits (like a car with a brick on its gas pedal, we go until the tank runs out of gas), he instead argues that a key element in endurance is how the brain responds to distress signals—whether heat, or cold, or muscles screaming with lactic acid—and reveals that we can train to improve brain response.
3. The Unsettlers: In Search of the Good Life in Today's America by Mark Sundeen
Irwin's Synopsis: It’s a good read about people who have withdrawn from normal life, and who have tried to construct different lives in different places. They try to live off the land, and live in more harmony with nature.
Synopsis: A work of immersive journalism steeped in a distinctively American social history and sparked by a personal quest, The Unsettlers traces the search for the simple life through the stories of these new pioneers and what inspired each of them to look for -- or create -- a better existence. Captivating and clear-eyed, it dares us to imagine what a sustainable, ethical, authentic future might actually look like.
