Monday, September 20, 2010

Check It Out: Robb Wolf's "The Paleo Solution"

I'm an unabashed fan of Robb Wolf's. Robb is, among other things, a former research biochemist, Loren Cordain disciple, powerlifting champ, unfairly excommunicated CrossFit affiliate owner, and a current owner of one of Men's Health's top 30 gyms in the country -- and in just a few years' time, he's become one of the paleo movement's biggest names and greatest assets.

For months, I've been soaking up everything I can from Cordain, Sisson, the Eades, et al., but Robb's weekly "Paleolithic Solution" podcast has been my go-to resource for all things paleo. It's incredibly informative and entertaining, with Robb (and co-host Andy Deas) answering questions from the peanut gallery.

For as long as I've been listening, Robb's been working on a book about paleo nutrition and fitness. As soon as it was available for pre-order on Amazon, I bought it. But even though the book was finally -- FINALLY -- released last Tuesday, my copy wasn't delivered until the end of last week. (With most other book purchases, I wouldn't have given a crap. But I found myself actually getting pissed every day I came home to find that "The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet" hadn't yet arrived. That's how much I was looking forward to reading Robb's book.)


I'm still reading it (and sharing with M, who's also digging it), but "The Paleo Solution" has already become my favorite book about the science behind and implementation of a paleo lifestyle. It's reader-friendly (unlike Gary Taubes' excellent but dense "Good Calories, Bad Calories"), but not too Reader's Digest-y (a quibble I have with Mark Sisson's "The Primal Blueprint," which is narratively compelling but skips over a lot of the science underpinning the paleo/primal approach).



I'll try to post a more comprehensive review once I actually finish the book, but in the meantime (if you haven't already jumped on the bandwagon), you can read an excerpt of Robb's book yourself over at Tim Ferriss' blog.