You are reading Books & Biceps #281!

Welcome to the 99 new sophisticated meatheads joining us this week.

If an awesome B&B reader shared this with you, add your e-mail with the subscribe button below:

If you’re a new subscriber or missed my yearly book round-up, “The 15 Most Memorable Books I Read in 2023” you can read it here.

And don’t forget to read the profile on our Books & Biceps community in The New Yorker! If you already read it, go ahead and read it again.

BOOKS

This Books section is a little different than normal. Instead of a straight reading recommendation or author Q&A, I spoke with fellow author (and fellow Finkel), New York Times Bestseller (The Art Thief) Michael Finkel, about something far more important than our newest books: our last name. You’re gonna enjoy this one…

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime & a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel

In this exclusive Books & Biceps feature, I explore what I call “The Finkel Phenomenon” with bestselling author Michael Finkel. We begin with a great quote that ties us together:

"For a brief period of time I gave the name Jon a try, but then I went back to Mike," bestselling author Michael Finkel tells me over the phone.

I'm in the car during rush hour. Michael just got back to his place in France, where it's after midnight. We burst out laughing as if we're old high school pals recalling an inside joke (though we've never met).

In fact, the conversation really is about the most inside joke of all time: our last name.

Finkel.

"Yeah, I hated how Michael Finkel sounded," Michael Finkel said, "So when I was a kid I adopted Jon for a while. I thought I'd like Jon Finkel, but it didn't work."

As a lifelong, card carrying Jon Finkel, I could only laugh at the idea of someone trying on my name like a pair of Oakleys at Sunglass Hut. Should I have a sense of pride, even arrogance about him not keeping it? Like, "Yeah dude, you bailed on Jon Finkel but I've toughed it out. You couldn't hang as a JF, pal. We don't need any weak links!"

Or, you know, should I take it as an insult? Because one could read his admission as, "I tried Jon Finkel and it was worse than Michael Finkel so I hopped off that train real quick."

Realistically, what do you say when someone says they gave your name a shot and it just didn't take?

Has anyone ever told Michael Jordan, "Hey MJ, I tried being a Michael Jordan but it just didn't work out, so I went back to Ira Jordan."

Ahhhh, no.

Then again, none of this is my fault. It all comes back to that last name... Finkel. It's just...dorky.

"I can tell you that I first started disliking the Finkel name when I was a kid," Finkel says, chuckling. "I can still hear the words to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star being sung as Twinkle, Twinkle Little Finkel by other kids making fun of me. My God I HATED that!"

I hated it too. All Finkels do. That song is a preschool rite of passage as a Finkel. We're just shit out of luck that our last name happens to rhyme with the most popular, nonsensical nursery rhyme of all time. It blows.

"Another one that used to drive me nuts was that at pools over the summer, instead of playing Marco Polo, kids would say, Michael Finkel instead," Finkel says. "It was rough."

Holy crap... I can hear it.

Miiiiichaelllll.... Finkel... Miiiiiichaelllllll...Finkel.

Just brutal.

And then, of course, there's the adult version of that courtesy of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

"That movie," Finkel says. "Just sucks for us."

Yes, it does. We Finkels are in complete and total agreement on that. (Although I did interview Lois Einhorn AKA Sean Young about what it was like to play a Finkel in a movie, you'll love it.)

Then we shared tales about how often someone says Finkel / Einhorn to us.

Michael is currently promoting a new book, The Art Thief. I will be heavily promoting Macho Man shortly.

We shared our war stories of podcasters and radio hosts randomly bringing up a catch phrase from a movie that came out almost 30 years ago while talking about books that having nothing to do with Jim Carrey or comedy or anything in that world.

And there were other war stories that we shared living parallel lives as Finkels.

Like how we both have looked in awe at the ex-Finkels we know in our family who actually managed to ditch the last name.

"I had a great Uncle or something like that who completely left the name and changed it to Minor," Finkel said. "He never looked back."

"Whoa," I said. "My grandfather's whole family actually came to the United States as Finkelsteins... Then most of his older brothers shortened it to Finn. Only my grandfather decided that just hacking off the 'Stein' would be enough. No idea why he didn't just go all the way and drop it."

"Finn is a good last name," Finkel says, longingly.

"Yeah," I say.

And we both pause, in complete wonder of what our lives would be like as a Finn or Minor...or anything else, really.

It's like the last name Finkel is a planet that we're stuck on and we're sharing folk tales about explorers who somehow escaped its gravity and have thrived in outer space.

"I do think about how my life would be different if I was a Mike Smith or Mike James or something," Finkel says.

"Me too," I say. "For a while I tried my middle name as my last name. So I went by Jon Heath. Didn't have staying power."

"My middle name is Jeffrey and I tried something similar," he said. "I actually wrote as Jeffrey Michael in my high school paper a few times."

And?

"I couldn't stick with it," he said. "I guess I figured there were worse last names out there. Like Lipschitz."

And this is where Michael Finkel and I went next-level Finkel bonding because my whole life, the only last name I have ever thought that was worse than mine was Lipschitz* because my dad knew a guy named Lipschitz and he gave me hope that someone, somewhere out there had to endure having 'lip' and 'shits' be his last name, while I only had to deal with Finkel.

Call it surname Schaudenfraude. Call it me being an asshole. Call it whatever.

As a kid, that's how I felt. And dammit, Michael Finkel felt the exact same way.

Nothing unites Finkels like the thought of someone else suffering a worse last name fate.

How else can you explain two grown men who met via a totally random Twitter DM 20 hours earlier having a hell of a great thirty-minute conversation based on one thing: our last name.

We were Finkels in arms, man. It was glorious.

"You know," Finkel says. "I think at the end of the day, life is more interesting as a Finkel."

"I agree," I said.

"And at least we're not a Lipschitz," he said, laughing.

"Damn, right," I said. "Finkels forever."

*Sorry to all you Lipschitz' out there... Much love from both of us.

***

Michael Finkel's new book, The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime & a Dangerous Obsession, landed on several lists of "best books of 2023" but I didn't get around to starting it until this year. I just began, but it's excellent... and I'm not just saying that as a Finkel. It's an incredible read.

BICEPS

At this exact moment, the number of television shows I’m watching is exactly one: Reacher.

A show based on a book series about a giant jacked dude who goes around beating the hell out of bad guys to save his friends?

Sign me all the way up.

Of course, being the meathead that I am, I have questions, like: how would a guy stay that massive and shredded living as a nomad without regular access to a gym and a surplus of protein and healthy calories every day?

In the show the character talks about living in cheap hotels and riding trains and grabbing giant meals at diners, but unless he’s doing thousands of push-ups, pull-ups and air squats while finding 250g of healthy protein a day, I don’t see how he stays that huge… Also, with only one set of clothing, what does he train in? Is he doing 1,000 push-ups nude on a Motel 6 floor? Gross.

Then again, who cares? It’s just a show and the character is fake.

More importantly, there is a dude named Alan Ritchson who is playing the character and who in real life is 6’3” and weighed a lean 205 when he was cast for the role.

“The studio told me not to show up on set less than 235,” he said in an interview with Rich Eisen. “They gave me eight months to put on 30 pounds of muscle.”

How did he do it? Naturally, he put in a sick home gym, The Reacher Ripped Room (I made that up), and got to work.

Check out this full 8-minute interview with Ritchson if you’re curious about his routine, his eating habits, what supplements he takes, testosterone and more. It’s really interesting, especially since he’s on the north side of 40 now.

QUICK FLEXES

I was reviewing all of my columns from the past year and this was my #2 POST FROM 2023, reaching over 2 MILLION readers. Perfect read as we head into the college football national championship game next week. Enjoy:

Introducing: The Meathead Agreement

In the gym there is an unspoken agreement that if a fellow dude needs a spot you jump in and help, one meathead to another.

If you enjoy reading this newsletter every week, let’s spot each other.

Let’s consider my writing and sending each issue of Books & Biceps my spotting you the best books, interviews and meathead content around.

Your spot to me is that you share this issue with ONE person who you think would like it.

That’s the deal. I spot you. You spot me. Just like the gym. Thanks, man!

Here’s your personal sharing link to get free stuff for every share:

Thank you all for reading.

Have a great weekend! - Jon

STRONG LINKS: Need a Post-Workout?

Because I don’t want to drink caffeine at 5:30AM when I lift, I actually drink this post-workout drink (no caffeine) during my workout and it’s perfect. Phenomenal flavor (Blue Arctic Freeze is the bomb), BCAAs, glutamine, creatine, betaine and more… Everything you need to stay jacked. If you need that jolt of caffeine, try the pre-workout in the same flavor (Orange Mango flavor is ridiculously good). I use that before 5ks and triathlons and swims.

Search for Post Jym Recovery Matrix with the link below and try it for 10% off.

HERE’S THE BOOKS & BICEPS ORDER LINK

Please us the link to shop. Don’t just go to Amazon for this one. They can’t track sales from here to there, so my ask is:

Use the code BICEPS at checkout and save 10% off everything. If you enjoy the newsletter, this is an easy way to support it.

BOOKS & BICEPS SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITY!

If you’d like to reach our awesome sophisticated meathead community of nearly 6,000 readers, respond to this e-mail and let’s talk. I have TWO slots left, that’s it.

PPS: Hey Gus! Thanks for reading the whole thing, buddy! No skimming!