The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance

Epstein, David

4.2

15,244 ratings by Goodreads

9781469027357: The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance

ISBN 10: 1469027356 ISBN 13: 9781469027357

Publisher: Blackstone Pub, 2014

In high school, I wondered whether the Jamaican Americans who made our track team so successful might carry some special speed gene from their tiny island. In college, I ran against Kenyans, and wondered whether endurance genes might have traveled with them from East Africa. At the same time, I began to notice that a training group on my team could consist of five men who run next to one another, stride for stride, day after day, and nonetheless turn out five entirely different runners. How could this be? We all knew a star athlete in high school. The one who made it look so easy. He was the starting quarterback and shortstop; she was the all-state point guard and high-jumper. They were naturals or were they? The debate is as old as physical competition. Are stars like Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, and Serena Williams genetic freaks put on Earth to dominate their respective sports, or are they simply normal people who overcame their biological limits through sheer force of will and obsessive training? The truth is far messier than a simple dichotomy between nature and nurture. In the decade since the sequencing of the human genome, researchers have slowly begun to uncover how the relationship between biological endowments and a competitor s training environment affects athleticism. Sports scientists have gradually entered the era of modern genetic research. In this controversial and engaging exploration of athletic success, "Sports Illustrated" senior writer David Epstein tackles the great nature versus nurture debate and traces how far science has come in solving this great riddle. He investigates the so-called ten-thousand-hour rule to uncover whether rigorous and consistent practice from a young age is the only route to athletic excellence. Along the way Epstein dispels many of our perceptions about why top athletes excel. He shows why some skills that we assume are innate, like the bullet-fast reactions of a baseball or cricket batter, are not and why other charac

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Product Description:

Explores the roles of both genetics and training in athletic success, arguing that both are equally necessary components of athletic achievement while considering such topics as race, gender, and genetic testing.

Review:

"A wonderful book. Thoughtful... fascinating." (Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers)

"Provides a powerful and convincing analysis of how genes influence all our lives, especially the careers of elite sportsmen" (The Times)

"A fascinating, thought-provoking look at the leading edge of sports performance, written by a guy who knows the territory. David, besides being a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, was a collegiate runner for Columbia University. More to the point, he’s a terrific researcher and a fine, thoughtful writer" (Dan Coyle, author of The Talent Code)

"Full credit to David Epstein, a Sports Illustrated journalist with a serious and deep knowledge of genetics and sports science, for his terrific and unblinking new book, The Sports Gene, a timely corrective to the talent-denial industry" (Ed Smith New Statesman)

"Endlessly fascinating" (John Harding Daily Mail)

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