šŸ’Ŗ Books and Biceps Issue 239

American Psycho, 8,008 Pull-Ups in 24 hours and...

BOOKS

Bret Easton Ellis is one of the most unique, interesting authors we have. He melds memoir, fantasy, fiction and occasional non-fiction monologues into his work like nobody else. His rise to literary fame after Less Than Zero was remarkableā€¦ But for my money, American Psycho was one of the the most memorable, bat shit crazy but also awesome reading experiences Iā€™ve ever had.

I mean, check out this passage from Psycho:

ā€œIt is hard for me to make sense on any given level. Myself is fabricated, an aberration. I am a noncontingent human being. My personality is sketchy and unformed, my heartlessness goes deep and is persistent. My conscience, my pity, my hopes disappeared a long time ago (probably at Harvard) if they ever did exist. There are no more barriers to cross. All I have in common with the uncontrollable and the insane, the vicious and the evil, all the mayhem I have caused and my utter indifference toward it, I have now surpassed.ā€

Wow.

The Christian Bale movie version is iconic, for sureā€¦ But the source material is undefeated.

All that being said, Ellis has a new thriller out that once again merges with his real life experience in Los Angeles in the early 1980s. This is a long book, and his prologue in the beginning about why it took him so long to write it is the kind of inside author baseball I loveā€¦ Heā€™s not for everyone, I get that. But if you know, you know. You can buy his book here.

BICEPS

As many of you know, Iā€™ve been going through my own Flex Factory garage gym weekly challenge. Every Wednesday morning I bang out 100 pull-ups as fast as I can. Usually with two sets of 10 followed by ten sets of 8 with one minute or so in between.

My fastest time is 13:29ā€¦

But I have a loooooooong way to go if I want the world record (I donā€™t)ā€¦.

Last week, Jaxon Italiano, a kid from Australia (not Italy somehow) set the record for the most pull-ups in 24 hoursā€¦ with a mind-boggling 8,008 pull-ups.

Thatā€™s 333 pull-ups an hourā€¦ all day and night.

Absurd.

Heā€™s a skinny little dude, but still. Impressive as hell:

QUICK FLEXES

Thread of the week:

Elmore Leonard was one of the most successful authors of all time.

Before that he was stuck at an ad agency with a pile of rejection letters.

But he made one last-ditch creative decision, propelling him to 20+ NY Times bestsellers & $100 million movies.

JOCKS IN CHIEF

New readers may not know I wrote the only book that ranks every U.S. President athletically.

Zero politics. Just sports.

I developed an objective Moneyball-level formula, too.

Featured in: The New York Post & CBS: This Morning.

AND NOW THE EASY PART: BUY THE BOOK

Have a great weekend!

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