Survival of the fittest - Mike Stroud

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 anecdoctal form, describing individual feats of survival and athletic prowess that illustrate the way the body functions at its best. In a highly entertaining and humorous way, Dr Stroud dissects his own experiences crossing Antarctica (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 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'. .