Review - The Primal Blueprint
About a month ago I promised a review of Mark Sisson’s new book “The Primal Blueprint“.
I’ve been chewing over what to say about the book. I’ve read it and re-read sections. I’ve smiled at parts, been stimulated, learned things and been refreshed by the simple wisdom. The sort of things I’ve been writing about here for the last couple of years - adequate sleep, intermittent fasting, sprints/intervals, walking, weights, a low carb diet, minimal chronic stress, play - are pulled together into a meta narrative, a big story that makes sense of fitness, food, stress and more.
I don’t want to be accused of sycophancy (again) but this really is a great book - accessible without being dumbed down. If someone wanted to read something that would sum up what I think is the cutting edge in health and fitness, this is where I’d point them.
The science is there - I think Mark expects intelligent readers - but it is well presented and explained so that you can make sense of what he is talking about.
After introducing the Ten Primal Blueprint Laws in Chapter 1, Mark gives us a parable of the laws and how far we have departed from this great Torah. We meet Grok and his modern antithesis - Korg. Grok naturally follows the laws..he has to, they define his life. Korg of course has departed far from that way of life. His food and movement is fundamentally unnatural.
Then Mark exlains the laws in detail - how to eat, how to exercise, to rest. Yes the rationale is doing what Grok would have done….but naturally we find that this is also what is healthy.
Lots of the material is on Mark’s website, but here it is drawn together, integrated into a convincing and compelling argument that is difficult to challenge.
A nice thing as well is that this book is fun! Eating and moving like this is not work, it is play. It is doing what you were built for, what you were designed for. And when you do that you will be having fun!
Highly recommended!