Suggested Reading

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

Author: John J. Ratey

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (2008)

Binding: Hardcover, 304 pages

A groundbreaking and fascinating investigation into the transformative effects of exercise on the brain, from the bestselling author and renowned psychiatrist John J. Ratey, MD.

Did you know you can beat stress, lift your mood, fight memory loss, sharpen your intellect, and function better than ever simply by elevating your heart rate and breaking a sweat? The evidence is incontrovertible: Aerobic exercise physically remodels our brains for peak performance.

In SPARK, John J. Ratey, M.D., embarks upon a fascinating and entertaining journey through the mind-body connection, presenting startling research to prove that exercise is truly our best defense against everything from depression to ADD to addiction to aggression to menopause to Alzheimer's. Filled with amazing case studies (such as the revolutionary fitness program in Naperville, Illinois, which has put this school district of 19,000 kids first in the world of science test scores), SPARK is the first book to explore comprehensively the connection between exercise and the brain. It will change forever the way you think about your morning run---or, for that matter, simply the way you think

Inside Delta Force: The Story of America's Elite Counterterrorist Unit

Author: Eric Haney;

Publisher: Delta (2005)

Binding: Paperback, 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Haney, a founding member of Delta Force who retired a command sergeant major, was a career army man, having served in the elite Rangers; his memoir covers his experiences during the formation and early operations of 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta. In the fall of 1978, Haney was recruited and ordered to report to a secret corner of expansive Fort Bragg, N.C., where he underwent a rigorous selection process familiar from similar memoirs. In the second section of three, Haney describes advanced work with explosives and weapons, studying airplanes to plan hostage rescues, and the "final exam," in which the class was sent to the nation's capital, given precise assignments and had to evade the FBI. (The result a red-faced FBI.) Haney then relates his assignments: he served three times in Beirut guarding the American ambassador, participated in the invasion of Grenada, served in several Central American countries and narrowly escaped death during the abortive rescue attempt of the American hostages in Iran. Will he and a partner successfully eliminate a sniper harassing the Marines in Beirut? Will his unit rescue hostages aboard a hijacked plane without losing any hostages? Readers of other special forces memoirs will find this one distinctive for Haney's attention to interservice rivalries (he has a lot of negative things to say about the CIA) that he believes compromised several missions, as well as for Haney's nuanced, often disgusted descriptions of the human cost of war.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10

Author: Marcus Luttrell

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (2007)

Binding: Hardcover, 390 pages

On a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader known to be ensconced in a Taliban stronghold surrounded by a small but heavily armed force. Less then twenty-four hours later, only one of those Navy SEALs remained alive.

This is the story of fire team leader Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of Operation Redwing, and the desperate battle in the mountains that led, ultimately, to the largest loss of life in Navy SEAL history. But it is also, more than anything, the story of his teammates, who fought ferociously beside him until he was the last one left-blasted unconscious by a rocket grenade, blown over a cliff, but still armed and still breathing. Over the next four days, badly injured and presumed dead, Luttrell fought off six al Qaeda assassins who were sent to finish him, then crawled for seven miles through the mountains before he was taken in by a Pashtun tribe, who risked everything to protect him from the encircling Taliban killers.

A six-foot-five-inch Texan, Leading Petty Officer Luttrell takes us, blow-by-blow, through the brutal training of America's warrior elite and the relentless rites of passage required by the Navy SEALs. He transports us to a monstrous battle fought in the desolate peaks of Afghanistan, where the beleaguered American team plummeted headlong a thousand feet down a mountain as they fought back through flying shale and rocks. In this rich , moving chronicle of courage, honor, and patriotism, Marcus Luttrell delivers one of the most powerful narratives ever written about modern warfare-and a tribute to his teammates, who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.