Survival of the Fittest: Anatomy of Peak Physical Performance - Tapa dura

Mike Stroud, polar explorer, practising hospital physician and until recently adviser to the Ministry of Defence on matters of survival, sets out in this fascinating book the genetics, diet and exercise that are employed to enable human beings to perform at their peak. Based soundly in medical science, the book takes an anecdotal form, describing individual feats of survival and athletic prowess that illustrate the way the body functions at its best. In a highly entertaining and humourous way, Dr Stroud dissects his own experiences crossing Antarctia (the subject of his bestselling book Shadows on the Wasteland), running marathons in the Sahara and participating in gruelling cross-country endurance races in the United States. He charts the astonishing bursts of speed produced on the running track by Linford Christie, the stamina and concentration of tennis star Martina Navratilova, and some remarkable mountaineering fears and military escapes. He ends with some hints for those of us who do nothing more strenuous than walking the dog on how we too may remain 'fit for life'.

Mike Stroud obtained a degree in anthropolgy and genetics before he qualified as a doctor in 1979 and became a Member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1984 and a Fellow in 1995. He has travelled widely - in the Himalayan regions of Ladakh and Zanskar, in North Africa and South Amercia, where he journeyed the entire length of the Amazon River. He was the doctor on the 1984-86 'In the Footsteps of Scott' Antarctic expedition and has been a medical officer with the British Antarctic Survey. He teamed up with Ranulph Fiennes in 1986 for the first of their three attempts to journey on foot ot the North Pole unaided by machines, animals or other men. He went south again to Antarctica with Fiennes in 1992 and was awarded the O.B.E in 1993 for his part in the finest unsupported crossing of the Antarctic continent from coast to coast. After six tears in the 1990s as a Senior Research Medicall officer advising the Ministry of Defence on nutrition, exercise, performance and survival, Dr Stroud retuned to hospital medical practice with a particular interest in nutrition and metabolism. He has contributed articles to many international scientific publications.