Book Review: The Perfect Mile

For quite some time now, I have adhered pretty strictly to a physical fitness routine of running and weight-lifting four or five times per week. Since I first embarked upon this regimen, I have grown to enjoy and look forward to my trips to the gym. This is quite a departure from my college days, when I was eight sizes bigger, twenty pounds heavier, and more inert than the vending machine that supplied my late-night meals. Lately, however, my running has stagnated (and may have in fact worsened) because of my waning motivation.

To overcome my inertia, I looked to Roger Bannister, John Landy and Wes Santee for some much-needed inspiration. They are the stars of Neal Bascomb's The Perfect Mile, a non-fictional book about three men on separate endeavors to run a four-minute mile. Each person's story is unique but the underlying theme of each runner's journey is his absolute devotion to the sport. The Perfect Mile describes what it takes to be an athlete, and what athleticism really is at its finest. For Bannister, Landy and Santee, it was about making every moment spent on the track worthwhile and meaningful, and making sacrifices in order to dedicate themselves to the task of becoming better, faster, stronger runners. John Landy, for example, had a virtually non-existent social life during his training months, when he would run upwards of fifty miles per week, rain or shine. And when Roger Bannister was not on the track, he was in the lab using his background in science and medicine to study the mechanics of running and to implement training tools. As someone who used to hate the very idea of running, I am deeply inspired by their passion.

The Perfect Mile is a story of endurance, of pushing the body to its outermost limits, and of achieving the unthinkable. At the outset of their quest, Landy, Santee and Bannister were not even certain that humans were physically capable of running at a speed of fifteen miles per hour. And since they've broken the barrier, human endurance has reached new heights. In fact, the current record for the fastest mile is under 3:45, a tremendous feat of athleticism by any standard.

I don't intend to win any marathons, and I definitely wouldn't call myself an athletic runner. But when I have trouble completing a short three-mile run, I remind myself of the diligence and effort it took these men to run the mile in four minutes -- to conquer the Everest of track and field -- and suddenly, my own personal goals are put into perspective and within my grasp. So I'll lace up my sneakers and work towards reaching them, one stride at a time.

Congratulations to Me

Today marks my two-year anniversary at my current job. This is an exciting day for me because I just realized that this is the longest I've ever been at one place of employment. My previous job (which was also my first real job after college) lasted just a couple of weeks shy of two years. Being Jennifer Garner's stunt double gets old pretty quick though. Besides, this programming gig is pretty cool. I think I'll stick around for a while.

Hanky-Panky at Hogwarts?

With the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows only eight days away, Rowling's fans are abuzz with speculation about what will happen in the much-anticipated final book and how the series will end. And as expected, some pranksters are throwing around some rather far-fetched (but very funny) ideas. Let me state for the record that I highly doubt Harry will meet his death when Hedwig the Owl pecks off his pecker. Nice try, though.

For what it's worth, my guess is that Harry, Hermione and Ron will all still be alive at the end of Book 7 but will come away from Hogwarts having lost many more of their classmates and friends. Where Snape's loyalty lies is the biggest mystery to me, but I'm sure that will be addressed in Deathly Hallows as well. In fact, I think it will be revealed that Snape played a bigger role in the death of Harry's parents than we've been led to believe until now, but the question is, does Snape redeem himself by helping Harry in the final book, or does he end up siding with Voldemort? What will become of Hagrid and everyone else still standing at Hogwarts, once all is said and done?

For the time being, we can only guess what will happen in the final book. Maybe I'm being overly optimistic -- maybe Harry and his friends will meet their demise in Deathly Hallows, or maybe Snape will do everything in his power to keep Harry from killing Voldemort. But whether our favorite little wizard lives or dies, one thing we can be sure of for now is this: Rowling will deliver a dark, tragic and very compelling read that'll have us glued 'til the very end. And no, there will be no threesomes in Gryffindor House.

Finding Your -Ness

When Owen Wilson's character gives his motivational spiel at the end of "You, Me and Dupree," it's difficult not to jump out of your seat and embrace your own "ness," the very quality of being you. But as a suffix in the English language, is "ness" actually giving us more flexibility and freedom of expression (as Dupree would have it), or is it creating redundancy in an already-complicated language?

For instance, what is the difference between "corruptness" and "corruptedness"? Can "corruption" be used in either one's place? What about "peace" and "peacefulness"? When they're used to describe a state of mind, are they just two different ways of saying the same thing? And if we can talk about "squareness" meaning the quality of being square or uninteresting, why can't we use "circleness" to describe the quality of being circular or roundabout? After all, it would be so much more concise to say "circleness" than "like a circle."

From a strictly literary (i.e., non-grammatical) point of view, perhaps this seeming redundancy has been introduced into the language as a matter of necessity. For masters of prose, it's a way to add color and variation to writing -- after all, who likes boring repetition? And for poets, the one-syllable difference between "corruptness" and "corruptedness" may very well make or break a potential masterpiece in iambic pentameter.

My point is that we often take liberties with language to give expression to new concepts, or simply to capture very specific ideas or emotions that are difficult to convey. But who decides where to draw the line? More importantly, where should that line be? I suppose the answers to these questions can change as language evolves through the years. Perhaps in the meantime, I'll just work on embracing my Shivnitness.

Size Matters

Incredible. Just when you thought bigger meant better, this guy comes along and paints the Taj Mahal on his freaking fingernail. (Blows that manicure right out of the water, doesn't it?)

Also on his resume are the following masterpieces: writing the word 'india' ten times on one strand of human hair, writing the Indian national anthem on a single grain of rice, drawing a map of the world on a grain of rice. Cool stuff.

If you're into micro-art, check out this British sculptor. His is a sad story, but his work is... well, it's no small feat.