David Goggins Book Review
I liked this book, but not in the conventional way. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed reading it, but it did have a massive impact upon me.
I found myself rolling my eyes quite a lot whilst reading the book, when he spoke of “running on broken legs” and having “double pneumonia”. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, but at the time, I thought these were exaggerations; the type of thing my mom would say if she stubbed her toe and had a chesty cough.
To be fair to the author however, he is recognised as one of the greatest endurance athletes in the world, with a world record in pull ups to his name. So maybe he did actually run on completely broken legs.
As he would (probably) put it – ‘he’s one bad mother f*cker’ – and the only man to have ever to have completed the training in Army Ranger School, Navy SEALs ‘buds’ and the Air Force Tactical Air Controller program.
I would add however, that he really should learn go into situations better prepared!
I don’t want to add any spoilers, but if you read the book – you’ll see what I mean!
The book introduces us to David’s early life, working at his dad’s bowling alley. He talks about how abusive his dad was and how he was racially abused during his school days in Brazil, Indiana.
There’s some fairly traumatizing and horrific things that happened to him, but the takeaway message is that he managed to get ‘better, not bitter’.
He’s also had some major health scares, including having a heart-problem that he describes as a “hole in the heart” and sickle-cell-trait.
A big chunk of the book talks about “buds” the Navy Seal selection & training, and then training for different elite forces in the Navy and the Army.
There’s a few tasks at the end of most chapters, with bits to share on social media – I didn’t bother doing this, but perhaps I should have to get more out of the book (I was afraid of the pretty harsh banter I would get from my friends on Facebook if I was sharing posts with the hashtag #canthurtme!)
There’s some interesting stories about ultra-marathon running – not something I’ve been motivated to do! and of course his pull-up world record:
Despite my cynical attitude towards the book initially, mr G. has definitely had a positive impact upon my attitude since reading it.
In Stoic philosophy they speak of how suffering is the only way to build character.
I love Stoic philosophy, so when David speaks of callusing the mind with suffering and feats of endurance, I found myself nodding my head along with him.
Some of my favorite concepts taken from the book include:
“1 second decisions”
– deciding to carry on, each time your mind wonders and you consider giving up or getting distracted
“The path of most resistance”
– we automatically take the path of least effort and of least resistance. Seeking the path of most resistance and getting out of the routine(s) we’ve been stuck in for years, is a sure way of changing your life.
“Most people give up at 40%”
– when I’m exercising, or even having an ice bath, I try to remember this. When I start feeling like I want to give up, I remind myself that I’m only 40% near my maximum.
The guy is tenacious too. He failed his pull up world record attempt not once, but twice. The guy is 6ft 1 and 200lbs, completely the wrong body type for bodyweight exercises – but that didn’t stop him. Amazing guy. Nuts, but amazing.
I always look at any kind of suffering as training now too. Man flu, being cold – it’s all part of developing character.
This is definitely a life changing book, even if I didn’t fall in love with all the macho-ness of it.
I’d recommend it though, although you may have to take it with a pinch of salt.
I like to mix up my reading material. Some hippy stuff from Ram Dass, some Stoicism and now and again, a modern book like this. I hope it will eventually make me quite well-rounded!
Review Score – 5/5
Based on the fact that I’ve started training hard in the gym again and I’ve taken several of his concepts and integrated them into everyday life.
I would not try and copy David Goggins’ path however, I still feel he has a way to go on his ‘journey’. Training and exercising to the point of nearly killing yourself (in some instances) it’s just stupid. In my opinion. But you can still learn so much from the author, even if 5% of his toughness rubs off on the reader.
You can buy the book from Amazon.co.uk here
Incidentally – if you like David Goggins, I’m pretty sure you will like Jocko Willink too.
He’s a bit more easy for me to relate to anyway.
Here are 3 of my favorite Jocko videos, they literally changed my life (especially the Extreme Ownership one)