Google Nearly Ready to Launch Editions, Its Ebook Retailing Platform

If the Wall Street Journal prints it, it must be true. The WSJ says that Google is preparing to launch Google Editions this month.

Here are the most salient points for book publishers and webby consumers, in my opinion:

• "Google Editions is set to debut in the U.S. by the end of the year and internationally in the first quarter of next year."
• Editions users will "be able to access their Google accounts on most devices with a Web browser, including personal computers, smartphones and tablets." Google's open approach is welcome. Now you won't have to be tied to Apple or Amazon stores or gadgets to be able to read an enormous number of ebooks. In fact, the lack of a Google ebook reader really opens up the market to any device that has an internet connection. The web isn't dead, Mr. Anderson.
• "Digital book sales are expected to more than triple to $966 million this year, according to Forrester Research, from $301 million in 2009." 
• "Google is going to turn every Internet space that talks about a book into a place where you can buy that book," says Dominique Raccah, publisher and owner of Sourcebooks Inc. (Dominique was a keynote speaker at this year's PubWest conference.)
• "Some independent booksellers that can't afford to open their own e-bookstores believe that Google Editions could be their gateway into the digital marketplace."
• Google has scanned 10% of the world's 150 million scannable books.
• "Spurred on by the launch of Apple Inc.'s iPad last April, more than 15 million e-readers and tablets will be sold by the end of 2010 in the U.S., compared with an estimated 2.8 million e-readers sold in 2009, Forrester predicts."

UPDATE 12/6: Annnd it's open! Check out Google's new ebook store. Here's the NYTimes.com analysis.

David Pogue Offers Food for Thought: Nothing Replaces Anything

The New York Times technology columnist David Pogue celebrated his 10th anniversary column with a brief reflection on the past decade of technology.

To me, it's hard to remember what the web looked like in fall 2000, much less digital cameras (did they exist?) and early forms of all the "convergence" gadgets available today that are just beginning to mash up the web and their legacy technologies.

Pogue identifies some trends that ring of truth and longevity. The trend I found most relevant is this: Nothing replaces anything. Technology simply splinters.

Pogue means that invention inspires copycats. From one iPod came dozens of competing mp3 players. None has "killed" the iPod. The technology simply splintered.

There are exceptions, of course, but the ones I can think of without a decade of reflection seem mostly to be data storage formats: BetaMax, HD-DVD, cassette tape, CD, 8-track tape, vinyl, film cameras, etc.

This should be a relief to purveyors of older standards. As long as your product experience is relevant, your product format can change without destroying your business. Hello? Book publishers?

It's On! The GoLite Warehouse (and Sample) Sale for 2 More Days

 

WARNING! This sale is in a different location. There's more parking and it's easier than the Gunbarrel location. 

Another difference from the usual GoLite warehouse sale, at least from what I've noticed at past sales, is that GoLite is selling both new product and samples. Samples are just that, sample products that sales reps take from store to store so product buyers can see the goods. Sample sales are usually deeply discounted (in this case GoLite was selling them for around 80% off) and are generally sold as is.

And here, my discount-hunting friends, is the fall 2010 GoLite Warehouse Sale price list.

Sitting Kills: For Your Heart, There Is No Faking Fitness

In March, my life tally included a wife, a three-year old, and a condo. In two months, we sold our condo, moved into a rental place, had another kid, bought a house and moved in. During this time, I spent nearly 8 hours a day sitting at work, another few hours sitting at home (or packing boxes and lifting furniture), and the rest lying my back (sleeping). My exercise, other than walks to the park and wrangling kids, was running 3 miles or so every other day. I've been thin since birth, and my weight hasn't changed since 7th grade, so I consider myself reasonably healthy, even if I don't have the time I'd like to get more regular exercise.

So the article "The Men Who Stare at Screens" on NYTimes.com was disheartening and a little scary. To your heart, it doesn't really matter how much exercise you get if you spend most of your time on your butt.

"Men who spent more than 23 hours a week watching TV and sitting in their cars (as passengers or as drivers) had a 64 percent greater chance of dying from heart disease than those who sat for 11 hours a week or less. What was unexpected was that many of the men who sat long hours and developed heart problems also exercised...Their workouts did not counteract the ill effects of sitting...Your muscles, unused for hours at a time, change in subtle fashion, and as a result, your risk for heart disease, diabetes and other diseases can rise."

If this seems alarming, you should read the rest of the article. Basically, the modern workplace forces the white-collared to sit all day. Modern home life allows us the free time to be entertained via screen. We've replaced the daily light-intensity activities of our grandparents with screen time. We've become "active couch potatoes."

The study in the article relies on a measure called metabolic equivalent of task (MET). One MET is the amount of energy you burn lying down for one minute; it ain't much. Two METs would be twice as much energy as you would spend lying on the couch. I've wondered before if METs might be useful as a way to compare apples to apples efforts in different endurance sports.

As is often the case with New York Times fitness coverage, the story merely criticizes, offering no remedy. It would be useful, for example, to suggest MET guidelines on an hourly basis, even if they are a "GuesstiMET" on behalf of one of the researchers. Surely there was some threshold of light exercise apparent in the survey results; people are not merely active or inactive and there must have been some correlation to their health.

Anyway, you can download a list of daily activities and their MET score to help you make your own GuesstiMET of how often to take the stairs.

The Compendium of Physical Activities Tracking Guide (pdf)

UPDATE 1/15/11: The New York Times reports that screen time kills. The Well blog describes mounting evidence that, regardless of your exercise time, too much sedentary "activity" is very bad for your health. This is scary stuff for the white-collar class of professional sitters.

How to Transpose Single-Cell Lists in Excel to Columns

By actually using my head to think instead of as a suitable desk-banging object, I've finally solved a data-reformatting problem that has plagued me for years: how to switch a single-cell list into a column of individual cells. In other words, how to make cell A1 in the above Excel screen shot look like range A3:A7 in the below Excel screen shot without re-keying it all.

The solution is a very easy find/replace, super-quick conversion to HTML, and then a copy/paste from a web browser back into Excel. 

Check it! (Just click the images to see them bigger. I had to make them small to fit into this Blogger template.)

Step 1: Copy the single-cell list (A1, in this case). Paste it into a notepad-like program. I prefer Notepad ++.

Step 2: Open the find/replace dialog and find ";" and replace it with HTML paragraph openers and closers, like this:

Finding and replacing all the semi-colons and replacing them with HTML paragraph tags will make the list look like this:

Step 3: Finish up the HTML code. Since the phrase "ice cream" did not have a semicolon preceding it in the original Excel list, we need to manually add a paragraph opener before "ice cream". Likewise, the word "cupcakes" had no semicolon after it so we need to add a paragraph closer after it. Then we need to add the html opener tag before the list and the html closer tag after the list. Like this:

Step 4: Save as a text file with the file extension ".htm" or ".html".

Step 5: Open that HTML file in any web browser and it will display, TA DA!, as a list in a column! Why? Well, we basically converted all the semicolons (or commas or whatever character was dividing up the list items in cell A1) into paragraph marks. Then we save the list as an HTML file. A web browser reads HTML code just like a human reading a book -- on a single line from left to right -- but renders paragraphs in a column. Basically we told the web browser to do the reformatting for us! Score!

Step 6: Copy and paste the list from your web browser into Excel, thank your browser for its hard work, then go take a coffee break -- you just saved yourself so much data-entry time that you deserve it!

Obviously, the longer the list, the more time you'll save. Short examples like above are easy to re-key quickly. I just used it on a 128-item list of email addresses that an author had simply copy/pasted into an email. Pesky authors! Why does it always fall to the publisher to handle the formatting?

You can combine the "text-to-columns" function with this technique to handle more complex lists. For example, if the list were person and title and separated by commas and semicolons like this:

You would find/replace the semicolons as above. Once converted to HTML, this would render the list like this:

 

You would copy/paste this into Excel, then highlight these cells and convert "text-to-columns" using commas as the delimiter. Voila!

Naturally, the only situation for which this technique wouldn't work is if the list items were divided using only commas, like: Dave T., CEO, Erin T. CFO, Jon H., Lead Engineer, etc. Then find/replace has no way of knowing which commas you really want to convert to paragraph marks.

Why Chrissie Wellington Did Not Start Kona (Warning: Contains Spoilers, Speculation)

Since this post was pure speculation and since Chrissie has since offered convincing explanation for her DNS at the 2010 Ironman World Championship, I've decided to delete this post.

Here are several updates that I posted after Kona that explain Chrissie's DNS.

UPDATE 10/14: Having read the official word from Chrissie on her blog, I suppose we can put an end to the wild speculation. It seems she was feeling pretty awful, though I must admit I've had identical symptoms before race day, and I always chalked them up to nerves.

UPDATE 10/21: Chrissie answered questions about her decision not to start Ironman Kona here on the Triathlete website. Read the whole interview or get the gist: "I do want to address some of the rumors that have been going around. I’ve deliberately not been reading the websites and the forums, but the rumors have come back to me. Some of them are laughable, like the fact that I’m pregnant. Others are more defamatory. That I was in someway avoiding the more stringent drug testing procedure is ludicrous to me. ... To suggest that I didn’t race because of a drug test is ludicrous and insulting."

UPDATE 10/29: Yikes! Chrissie was sick as a dog! Post-Kona blood tests revealed that the poor woman had strep, pneumonia, and West Nile--all at once! Here's Chrissie's blog post with the grisly details.

UPDATE 2/22/11: Chrissie has published all her drug test results since she turned pro. I believe this is a commendable gesture on her part, not because she has anything to prove (or disprove) but because she recognizes the importance of fair competition and the need to maintain the trust of fans of the sport.

Suspicious Warehouse Sales Are Afoot!

I just drove down Pearl Parkway and saw a bunch of tents near the Scarpa warehouse at:

Scarpa North America

3550E Frontier Ave

Boulder, CO 80301

Get Directions

(303) 998-2895

scarpa.com‎

I saw tents for Scarpa, Backcountry Access, Teko, and one or two others. I didn't have time to stop by and I don't see any announcements on any of their websites. Anyone know the inside scoop?

I also saw a (tiny!) sign for the Wallaroo Hat Company Sale here:

WALLAROO HAT COMPANY
1880 SOUTH FLATIRON COURT, SUITE E
BOULDER, COLORADO 80301

Phone:		(303) 494-5949
Toll Free:		(888) WAL-AROO (888) 925-2766
E-mail:		info@wallaroohats.com
Fax:		(303) 245-8720

But again, I see no announcements online. My toddler likes his Wallaroo sun hat, i.e. he actually leaves it on.

Gear Up for Running at the Bolder Boulder CleaRUNce Sale!

Bolder Boulder Warehouse Sale

Friday, August 27, 8am-6pm

5500 Central Ave

Boulder, CO 80301-2847

(303) 444-7223

Check out the Bolder Boulder Warehouse Sale on Friday, August 27th. You can preview some of the sale items at the Bolder Boulder website clearance sale page.

I went last year and scored $5 Crocs, an awesome New Balance tech shirt that is now my favorite, a tech race shirt that's a little too skimpy for comfort, and a pair of tech socks. I don't remember what I paid, but I'm pretty sure it was under $25. They do take credit cards.

Quick warning: This sale is in a parking lot with tents, but if you're indecisive, make sure you wear sunblock!

View Larger Map

Check out Newton Running's "State of the Natural Running Movement" Panel Discussion

Newton Running invites you.

People who have been running for awhile and paying some attention to the sport are probably aware of the barefoot running movement. In a nutshell, barefoot runners believe that shoes mess with how our bodies evolved to run and cause injuries. The barefoot runner's manifesto, or at least its most successful foray into mainstream society, is Christopher McDougall's New York Times bestseller Born to Run (read my book review here).

Barefoot runners have always been a small minority of the running population, mostly because nobody wants to run without their shoes! And for good reason! It's kind of painful, it takes a long adjustment period, and everyone is terrified of broken glass, hypodermic needles, dog poop, and all the many gross things inhabiting our roads, running paths, and public parks.

So it turns out you can have your cake and eat it, too. Newton Running is leading the "natural running" movement, which seeks to teach people to run the barefoot way while keeping their feet firmly shod. The trick here is not to wear high heels. Take a look at your running shoes or, as Newton has done, saw them in half. Your shoe's heels are much higher than your shoe's toes. This angle forces your heel to strike the ground before your toes, which runs counter to many thousands of years of evolved human running form.

You see, humans have been running for tens of thousands of years. Some evolutionary biologists actually believe that the ability to run is the primary evolutionary advantage that spurred man to become homo sapiens, i.e. a big-brained tool user. Being hairless and sweaty, we're able to run far, far longer than any other animal on earth. (In fact, there is an annual organized race between horses and humans. Apparently, these particular humans and horses defy this particular hypothesis.) Humans can cool our bodies more effectively and avoid overheating. Other animals overheat quickly. There are those biologists who believe that ancient man simply ran down his prey, continually chasing until animals keeled over, half-cooked and nearly dead (a technique known as persistence hunting and covered in a story on This American Life and this BBC video). The ability to run long meant a boost to our meat supply, which supposedly allowed our brains to grow bigger and bigger.

Anyway... we've been running a very long time, but shoes weren't invited until just a few thousand years ago. (Man, that must have been a huge "Duh!" moment!). Those used to be simple moccasin-style foot coverings with little padding. Early 20th century running shoes were mostly canvas with laces. Since Nike's founding in in mid-20th century, running shoe companies have been adding more and more padding to shoes, raising the heel 10-12% above the toe, or even higher. Now when modern humans take off our high-heeled running shoes and go for a run, we start out banging our heels against the ground, because that's what we're used to. Soon, the brain is like, "Dang! Ouch! Watch it, bro!" and begins changing our foot strike so that the middle or the front of the foot hits the ground before the heel.

Newton Running's shoes feature a 0-3% grade from heel to toe. To me, this seems to be the company's biggest contribution to running shoes, and the major shoe manufacturers are all expected to announce similarly flat running shoes at the 2010 Running Event in Texas (I'll be there!).

So Newton is dedicated to teaching people how to run with barefoot form while they keep their shoes on (preferably Newtons, of course). Newton's panel next week will explore the state of this natural running movement. This fall, we're releasing a book by Newton's co-founder Danny Abshire that is all about natural running, so you'll find me among the audience of this panel event.

A quick note: I bought this pair of Newtons, partly out of curiosity, partly to help me understand the book, and partly because I want to get faster. My quick review is that they definitely help me heel strike less, though I found that no shoe is likely to fix technique alone. I'm excited to read our book so I can overhaul my running technique... again.

The Glorious Bluster of Boulder, Colorado (and How to Use It to Your Advantage)

Boulder is one of America's fittest, most active, most outdoorsy cities, and we Boulderites love to brag about it. My wife and I moved here for its access to great hiking; it was a return to nature for us. We were totally out of shape, unless you include our expertise in judging local cuisine, which seemed to be our primary extracurricular connection to Washington, DC. We huffed and puffed our way on the trails that wend their way through Chautauqua, pausing frequently to express amazement at the altitude. First, Boulder humbles you. Then it transforms you.

Our dear Flatirons

We hiked nearly every day for months. One summer, we took friends backpacking on five weekends in Rocky Mountain National Park. We bought season passes to Abasin (because its season pass was cheapest - big mistake!).

So I surprised myself a year later when I started a new job in endurance sports and fitness industry instead of in the outdoors industry. I interviewed with Chris Dinneen at VeloGear in late March. I wore pleated khakis and a button-down longsleeve with collar, and I was worried that I was underdressed. Chris wore shorts, sneakers, and a t-shirt. During my post-interview office tour, Nick Ramey told me I would need to dress down. There were dogs running amok through the office. I loved it! What could be more Boulder? I learned later that I got the job and learned much later that the company, Inside Communications, was one of the cooler places to land a job in Boulder because it owned VeloNews, Inside Triathlon, and Ski Racing magazines.

Over dozens of race expos, bike swaps, and tradeshows for VeloGear and VeloPress, I learned a few invaluable lessons.

1. Enthusiasts are everywhere, and they are often in the closet. I'm surprised to find triathletes in the most unlikely places. And once you recognize one, the defining characteristics and contrast with the surrounding non-triathletes become more stark. It's like a vertigo shot or the scenes from Highlander when the immortals sense each other's presence.
2. Enthusiasts are always sizing themselves up. When you come from a well-known brand, people will associate you with that brand. When I introduce myself as an extension of VeloNews, Inside Triathlon, or Triathlete, people naturally assume I am a cyclist or triathlete. When I introduce myself as a part of VeloPress, people assume I'm an endurance sports training nerd or cycling history buff with intimate knowledge of the yearly performance variations of Campagnolo derailleurs.
3. Endurance athletes are insecure! There is a persistent training myth in endurance sports that more is better. Endurance athletes are so driven that they constantly worry that they haven't done enough training. In fact, they are in a constant state of guilt that they are not working out right now. I blogged about a study that described the difference between outdoors and fitness enthusiasts like this: outdoorsy people will ask "What could I do today?" while fitness people will ask "What should I do today?" A brilliant and insightful distinction. 
4. Once you show an authentic association to a known enthusiast brand, enthusiasts will always overestimate your athletic abilities. People don't just assume I'm a cyclist or a triathlete, they assume I'm a total badass, a former racer. They assume I'm Neal Rogers or Lars Finanger or Fred Dreier or Lennard Zinn, with the ability to win any lunch ride, climb any hill, race Kona, or spend a full day on my bike in the mountains. This is not so. Outside of Boulder, I'm likely a half-respectable endurance athlete. When in Boulder, I'm much lower on the totem pole.

Photo: RunColo.com

My Reputation Precedes Me

So in this landscape of insecurity, how does one exploit brand? Here's what works for me.

• Lead with the brand. It's obnoxious and unseemly to namedrop in casual conversation. (Heck, this was one of the things I hated about DC!) But if things turn to business or the business of sports, I'll drop brands like they're hot. The sooner people know your affiliation, the sooner they will start overestimating you. Until, that is, they start asking you to write a story in VeloNews about whatever it is they're selling.
• Speak softly and they'll think you carry the bigger stick. Understatement is better bluster than outrageous claims. People you've just met listen more carefully when you're harder to hear.
• Let them down slowly. Or, have a good backup plan. More optimistically, impress others with brand and then impress them with whatever it is you really are good at. The crazy assumption of the enthusiast marketplace is that enthusiasm equals quality. Being able to ride for 8 hours in the mountains, place in the top 10% at Boston, or fix a 1945 Campy derailleur doesn't mean you're good at your role in those sports. Sure, it might help.
• A brand is a promise. Always remember that the brand you represent is just a foot in the door for the brand that matters most. The brand is you, and you don't need bluster.

Advantage: Running

May 2, 2010

The first point runners use to sell their sport is the lack of necessary gear. All you need is a pair of shoes, they'll say. At no time is running's advantage more apparent than on race morning. I'm writing this blog post on my first race morning of 2010 at a quite reasonable time of day, 6:45 a.m., and I'm afforded this luxurious combination of free time and restedness by running's simplicity.

Other than two years of walk-on swimming in college (where you need a pool, goggles, a towel, and apparel that will fit in the palm of your hand), the dominant sporting activity of my adult life has been triathlon. If I were racing a tri this morning, I'd have spent a solid hour last night coordinating equipment: shoes, socks, tri shorts, tri jersey, gloves, sunglasses, helmet, bike, spare tires, spare tubes, air pump, chain lube, water bottles, various energy gels and powders, sunblock, goggles, wetsuit, wetsuit lube, race belt, running shoes, speedlaces, gym bag, towel, and probably those few items that triathletes are always worried to forget but usually remember if they provide enough opportunities to coordinate race-day equipment.

The race would likely have begun at 9 a.m., and it would have been at a reservoir, which would likely require a half-hour drive to get to. The transition area would have opened at 8 a.m., and I would want to have arrived bright and early to get a choice location and avoid bumping elbows with stallmates. Add in gear-wrangling into and out of the car, and that's a 7:15 a.m. departure and a 6:15 a.m. wake-up, at the latest. Once at the race venue, there's tire-pumping, lugging bike, gym bag, and wetsuit to transition, race number, body marking, and timing chip, sunblock, last-minute hydration, the inevitable porta-potty line, and a three-sport warm-up.

And then there's the attempt at flawless execution of the race-day plan where all that gear serves to speed you up instead of slow you down so that you finish a few minutes faster (though it still takes at least an hour to finish a tri). To be a triathlete requires neurotic organization; there's just too much to remember for it to be a sport for the forgetful or unmotivated. And that's just race day and the day before. Let's not forget a few months of daily periodized training in three sports.

Last fall, I was given the opportunity to take my running more seriously. Since then, life circumstances have forced my (unreluctant!) temporary retirement from triathlon. I've been running instead, and I can appreciate single-sport training over triathlon.

Sure, triathlon forces you to work out every day. Sure, you enjoy fitness in three sports instead of one. Sure, the endless gear wrangling and triplicate gym bags help keep you on your toes.

Cycling's got the pure fun of riding a bike. But, man, you can't race a bike with any panache without spending huge amounts of time riding. Swimming, especially outdoors in mid-summer, is pleasant and scenic, but again, to be competitive takes at least an hour of swimming a day and, frankly, who can stomache getting into a cold pool that often?

Running has its downsides, too (future blog post!), but gear-wrangling is not one of them. Preparing the gear for today's 5K took me about 1 minute per mile. Shirt, shorts, shoes, socks, race belt, charge the Garmin, hat, sunglasses, warmup pants, jacket, and a few colder weather versions of these items. And I actually got a decent night's sleep knowing that the gear was under control and that today's race should take me about 23 minutes (hopefully slightly fewer!).

I'm now back from the run, having dropped 52 seconds from my best 5K time. In my first-ever podium finish, I placed third in my age group (20-39) with a time of 22:18 (Here's the Garmin data.).

It was after the race that I realized yet another advantage of running over cycling or triathlon: when you finish the race, you simply walk away. In triathlon, you've got to pack everything up, including a sopping wetsuit, wrangle stuff and bike to your car, jam it all in there, get it home, and do a little preventative maintenance before you stow it away.

But at this race, I didn't just walk away. I took a few minutes to enjoy watching the finishers, many of whom were grade school kids. On my way back to the car, I enjoyed a rare treat: a free post-race coffee.

Running has its advantages!

Anatomy of a Publicity Stunt

It was a friend in college who introduced me to the concept that luck comes with hard work. He'd just beaten me at some game, on what I felt was a lucky shot. I told him so and he replied, "You make your own luck."

I've found it's double-edged sword to work in publicity. Rarely can a publicist claim full responsibility for some good press, yet it's often that a publicist can claim at least some of it. This week, some hard work paid off in the form of a lucky break, but it was a fan boy blogger and the quick-thinking, fastest pro cyclist in the world who deserve most of the credit.

In the 24 hours after Mark Cavendish sprinted to victory in the first stage of the Tour of California last Sunday, a book I'm promoting got mentioned on ESPN.com (since updated), in the New York Times (since updated), the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle (since updated), the Sacramento Bee, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, and two cycling websites. This is a mother lode of publicity, more than many small publishers could hope for in a few years!

Last winter, we acquired Mark Cavendish's autobiography, Boy Racer, which  from the original UK publisher as a late addition to our fall 2010 list. We planned to publish the book in June, a comfortable month before the start of the Tour de France. In February, we made some print-on-demand ARCs (advance reader copies) of the book. Book publishers make ARCs to send to taste makers to ask for their endorsement and to magazines to line up publicity during the months it takes most magazines to plan out, develop, and publish their editorial content.

In March, I shipped out 20 ARCs to the big cycling print magazines and in April, I shipped 10 more to cycling websites and bloggers. I didn't ask for an embargo (because I think publicity embargoes are cheesy, especially in a small market like cycling), but I asked the magazines to consider book reviews and excerpts for their pre-Tour guides and mentioned to the websites that I was hoping for publicity after the Tour of California start.

Cav won the stage, which meant he was expected to take questions from the cycling media during a press conference soon after the race. Velonation described the scene like this:

"Following the race, Cavendish was relaxed and confident, and answered the myriad of questions with aplomb, but in an almost whisper. When asked about the Tour de Romandie victory salute debacle and whether he was thinking about that as he crossed the line, Cavendish was blunt and didn't pass up on an opportunity to give a healthy nod to his recently released book.

"I honestly don't think about my celebrations too much. You should read my book, Boy Racer. It's out in America now. I'll be doing some book signings during and after the Tour of California. It's a good book. In the book, I talk about how I switch off my emotions during the race. As soon as I cross the line, it all comes out. Most things are pretty impromptu, it's just all that emotion built up inside. When I cross the line first, sometimes I'm a quick thinker and come up with something, but for the most part, it's pretty impromptu."

At this point, a journalist in the crowd pulled out a copy and handed it to Cavendish. He dutifully held the book up and flashed a big grin." 

It looked like this.

That journalist was Richard Masoner, the blogger behind the Cyclelicious website, to whom I had sent a Boy Racer ARC just a few weeks before the race. He had taken his ARC with him to the Tour of California, hoping to get Cav to autograph it so that he could give the signed book away to a reader.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat described the events with more snark:

"Sprinters in cycling are like sprinters in track. They strut. They like to call attention to themselves. They are divas, showmen, who blossom like a peacock in front of a camera. When Cavendish stepped in front of the camera Sunday in the post-race press conference, he couldn't resist. From the podium he motioned to a man in the audience, presumably, and embarrassingly, a journalist. The journalist rose from his seat and brought to Cavendish a book.

It was Cavendish's recently published autobiography. That alone speaks volumes. Cavendish is only 24 years old. Some NFL wide receivers could get tips from this guy on self-promotion – which would soon become readily apparent.

The Brit then propped up the book, its cover facing the audience, pointed to it and said, “It's a good book.”

He smiled and he didn't stop smiling and he kept the book propped up for the couldn't-be-ignored photo op. Yes, maybe he had to squelch a defiant urge when he crossed the finish line but Cavendish couldn't be rung up for self-promotion."

It was Cav pimping his book after his win that caught the attention of the New York Times, ESPN, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Sacramento Bee, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, and Velonation.

I learned about all this on Monday morning when I checked Google Reader and noticed the New York Times headline about Cav winning the stage. My jaw hit the floor when I saw how the book was mentioned, and then I raised my arms in victory!

It looked like this.

As any good publicist would, I printed the page to pdf and hit Google to search for more. I soon stumbled onto the ESPN and LA Times versions. (Quick aside: I noticed a lack of AdWords ads in the search results, so I took a few minutes to set up a campaign for Boy Racer.)

Another victory salute and then, having recovered my wits, I publicized the victory to some coworkers and our book trade distributor.

Finally, I noticed an email from Richard Masoner in my inbox. It said:

"Hi Dave,

I had Cavendish's book with me at his stage win in Sacramento Sunday afternoon. He saw it, grabbed it from me, and held it up at the press conference telling everybody they should read it.

The LA Times and NY Times both mentioned Boy Racer in Sunday's story on his win.

He also autographed the book for me. Is it okay if I give this pre-publication copy away in a contest?

Richard

http://www.cyclelicio.us/ is yummy!"

Yummy indeed! If I get the chance to meet Richard, I owe him a round of beers. Perhaps more than one round!

Of course, there are few less-than-perfect circumstances. First, the book isn't actually available yet nor is Cav actually scheduled to sign books during the remainder of the race. The book was bound and shipped to our distributor's warehouse a few days ago, which means it's sitting at a truck stop somewhere instead of selling like hotcakes; cycling fans who are now assuredly scrambling into bookstores are pawing through the shelves and walking away confused, frustrated, and disappointed. Publicity pushed demand, but the supply wasn't ready, and that means lost sales. I can only hope that Amazon and other online retailers just saw a bump in pre-orders.

Second, the cover on the ARC isn't the final one, and it's not as good as the final one. This is a pretty minor quibble considering only Cyclelicious posted the photo of Cav with his book.

Third, the book mentions have since been taken out of the ESPN and New York Times articles (which is why it's so important to print to pdf!). That afternoon, I emailed the book press release, cover image, and photo of Cav with book to all the reporters who mentioned the Cav-ARC incident to offer them a finished copy when they arrive next week. I hope this isn't what prompted ESPN and the Times to remove the mentions (both reporters were interested in receiving a copy). Should this happen again, maybe I'll wait a few days before thanking the reporter.


So if it's true that you make your own luck, then I'm happy to have placed an ARC in the right hands, even if it was those hands that put it in Cav's.

UPDATE: A coworker managed to catch Cav at the team bus today and got the final book into his hands!

It looked like this.

Photo of Cav with ARC used with written permission of Richard Masoner/Cyclelicious.
Photo of Dave with ARC and Cyclelicious website showing photo of Cav with ARC taken by Renee.
Photo of Cav with the final book used with permission of Ben Pryhoda.

Born to Run: Too Far a Leap

Christopher McDougall's book Born to Run is not about running, at least not what most of us consider to be running. Born to Run is a wide-ranging adventure story about elite, ultra-distance trail running, a cultish specialty of running that involves 50-mile races through wilderness terrain. 

Ultra running shares little common ground with the intended reader of Born to Run, the average American runner. Hard-core ultra runners seem like rock climbers; McDougall describes dirtball outdoors people who camp out near trail systems to run all day and party all night. By contrast, the average American runner is delighted to run a few hours a week on sidewalks, roads, and paths. To say that Born to Run is about running would be more than a small stretch.

In Born to Run, McDougall describes the events leading to a 50-mile trail race through Mexico's Copper Canyon. The race features a handful of native Mexican runners and elite American trail runners, and McDougall builds the race into a clash of cultures. The Tarahumara Mexicans are an indigenous society of agrarian hunter-gatherers that practices long-distance running for sport and survival. The Americans are mostly professional ultra runners who run impressive distances -- 50-mile and 100-mile races are typical.

But McDougall's book is written more like fiction than nonfiction. He has a mythology -- the Tarahumara are like a mythical people living in Shangri-La where all societal evils are neutralized through running. The Tarahumara have no cancer or metabolic disease. They have no violence or theft. They have no concept of sexism. The Tarahumara are the perfect society, McDougall says, because of running.

McDougall explains that the Tarahumara began running to escape eradication at the hands of Spanish colonialism. The people were driven into Mexico's Copper Canyon, a brutal environment lacking water, farmland, and so baked under the hot Mexican sun that colonists could not give pursuit. Realistically, the Tarahumara are a destitute people who live hand to mouth in a lawless, cartel-infested Mexican desert because they have no choice and few opportunities. McDougall provides the historical context, but his book conjures innumerable opportunities to characterize the Tarahumara as an ideal society when, in fact, they are an unfortunate lot.

For McDougall, the Tarahumara way of running has a magical quality; he characterizes it as "easy, smooth, fast" with little motion above the waist, but it's difficult to imagine. This video profiles the Tarahumara and Caballo Blanco, the hero of Born to Run who organizes an annual Copper Canyon race between Tarahumara and Americans. You can watch them run.

To me, these runners simply look like people who run a lot. The Tarahumara are not magical runners; they simply look that much better when compared to the average running American.

Chapter 25 of Born to Run lays blame for bad American running at the feet of Nike. Educated runners (and anyone who reads the New York Times fitness section) know the story: padding reduces the sensation of impact when our feet hit the ground. Reducing the feeling of shock makes it seem as if running is more comfortable, so it changes how we run. Untrained runners wearing shoes tend to land their feet heel first into the ground. Barefoot runners tend to land farther forward on the foot. Many biomechanists have shown that padded shoes distort our naturally evolved running form and actually may cause injuries rather than prevent them. (Stay tuned for a VeloPress book on how to run with shoes as if you were barefoot.)

McDougall takes the blame a step farther, saying that Nike's padded shoes have caused far more than millions of running injuries, they've also turned people off running, which has led to obesity, metabolic disease, and cancer. In short, Nike is the root of all Western ailments. The book pretty much says this.

In all of Born to Run, only chapter 25 seems grounded in reality, mostly because McDougall so heavily relies on what seem like second-hand interviews of authoritative sources like academics and scientists from interviews in the New York Times and on National Public Radio (specifically this 1997 This American Life episode about persistence hunting.). Still, I feel the comparison between normal running and the running in Born to Run too far of a leap. Trail running is very different from road running, requiring very different motions. Perhaps trail running's soft surfaces and its inherent variety of motions reduce its incidence of injury. After all, trail running must mimic the conditions under which we evolved to run much more closely than the hard surfaces and repetitive motions of road running. Unfortunately, I'm aware of no studies comparing injury incidence between trail and road running.

It's easy to overlook an important point here: none of the characters in Born to Run run without shoes. The traditional Tarahumara -- not all of them -- run with tire treads laced to their feet. Take a look at the video above and you'll see that their tire tread shoes are at least a half-inch thick. Even the character "Barefoot Ted" runs with Vibram Five Fingers, though the book seems vague about how often he actually wore them. Born to Run's entire mythology is based on the benefits of running -- specifically barefoot running -- and McDougall proclaims that America would be a better place to live if we all ran barefoot... yet just one person in the book runs barefoot and only some of the time.

Even McDougall runs shod -- in Nikes nonetheless. McDougall says he was inspired to write the book while seeking a cure for his own running injuries. Along the way, he comes to believe that running shoes injured him, but his own description of his rehabilitation at the hands of a running coach illustrates that McDougall was simply another bad American runner. His coach teaches him proper run technique and McDougall is cured. His comeback is evidence that Born to Run is a work of fiction: McDougall keeps his shoes on and is cured long before he runs with the Tarahumara.

This is the great joke of Born to Run: its entire premise is detached from reality. Born to Run is a make-believe book. McDougall tells us we should all run trail ultra marathons. The average American runner, for very practical and sensible reasons, should be skeptical. McDougall proclaims the benefits of barefoot running, yet no one in the book runs barefoot and back in Kansas, few competitive runners seem interested. McDougall's hero, Caballo Blanco, nearly gets into a fistfight with Barefoot Ted over what Blanco considers to be Ted's ceaseless and suicidal evangelism of barefoot running. 

Born to Run was an interesting and entertaining read, but the book requires suspension of disbelief from the first page to the end. Its writing style, which I've heard many compare to Outside magazine, is full of overstatement, jumped conclusions, and wondrous imagery. The day after I finished the book, I found myself Googling "Tarahumara" and "Caballo Blanco" during lunch at work.

I found this Running Times interview with Caballo Blanco. (The last question is telling.) I learned that, although the race has grown from 25 to 200 runners, the Tarahumara don't win Caballo Blanco's race anymore. I wonder how many Tarahumara compete for the corn and cash prizes for participants. You can read about Blanco's mission on his website.

Despite selling over 125,000 copies in its first year, Born to Run does not seem to have inspired many to take up barefoot running. Running.Competitor.com has been searching for barefooters for some time, without much luck. 

Born to Run accomplished two things. First, it introduced readers to the idea that running shoes might cause injuries. There is certainly some science to back this up, some of which is cited in Born to Run. Second, it has been raising awareness that there are healthy and unhealthy ways to run. For everyone in the running industry, this is good business. Both runners and readers should beware.

GoLite Warehouse Sale in Boulder This Weekend!

GoLite's awesome semi-annual warehouse sale is this weekend!

Friday, April 23
8am-8pm

Saturday, April 24

9am-5pm

Sunday, April 25

9am-5pm

6230 Lookout Road

Boulder, CO 80301

I've been going to this unbelievable warehouse sale for several years now, since it was in the GoLite office truck port and parking lot. It's always been worth the drive to Gunbarrel during lunchbreak, and it's usually worth the wait in line at the door.

In fact, the wait line at the door has been almost empty the last few times I've gone. That's not because the event is less popular, but because the GoLite team got smart and realized that you want people waiting once they've committed to the purchase, not before they've had the chance to sample the wares.

This is a well run sale with good merch and good prices. GoLite rents out several thousand square feet of empty office space and fills it with tables, racks, and bins of perfectly good merchandise that is still in season. I haven't bought a large quantity of stuff there -- maybe 3-5 items -- but they've always been retail ready and never cosmetically flawed or wonkily cut.

GoLite has been consistent about offering this sale and they've promoted it well, which means the community knows what to expect -- it's becoming local tradition to lighten our wallets for lightweight gear. It's easy to find and easyish to park. The sale itself, though it can be ungodly hot during the summer when the office space has no AC, is not so crowded as to be elbowingly unpleasant, but just crowded enough to inspire you to lust for gear, shop with a glint in your eye, paw through the bins, and lose your inhibition and DIY a dressing room.

BUT! Man, the checkout line can be brutal. The price of no line in the door is a long line at the register. This is my kind of shopping, though -- I want to be convinced I really need the gear and really like the price before I'll commit to a half hour checkout line. I'm not sure what GoLite can do but add to its existing battery of 12 cash registers. They've got all the discount pricing in a nice POS database and all the employees (poor bastards) seem to know what they're doing. It's just that most of the people who go to the sale seem to buy many items, which takes time to ring up.

If you can find a designated sucker shopper, give them a print out of the gear you want from the GoLite website with your size preference and two color options then make sure you're accessible by phone. You might need to bribe them first or apologize later, so think about how you'll thank Geeves when s/he gets back to the office. And whatever you do, act thrilled with what they got for you, even if it's the wrong color or doesn't fit. It can be agonizing to make a purchasing decision for yourself in the midst of a warehouse sale much less make a judgment call for someone else. So don't be an ingrate. Accept effusively, pay promptly, and sneak back to the sale later to get what you wanted.

(But don't try to exchange without a receipt! Those poor warehouse sale staffers are harried enough from the frenzied crowds, being on their feet all day, trying to help edgy shoppers find just the right size and color shirt at bargain prices, and keeping one eye peeled for shoplifters. Just suck up the loss and shop for yourself next time!)

In the past, GoLite has had a price list available. I'll see if I can score one and post it here. Check back on Friday afternoon.

Obviously, the prices are pretty incredible -- that 30-90% off price range is legit, though most gear seems to be in the 50-60% off range. My favorite piece of "warehouse wear" is this Wisp Wind Shirt, which I bought at the sale for $20 ($30 off) and have since found to be key gear for running in the Colorado springtime. 

Update: Here are the price lists! (Click to enlarge.)

 

My Chemical Inventory, Or: Why the FDA Should Regulate Cosmetics

We humans expose ourselves to an astonishing number of chemicals. Chemistry is such a part of daily life that we rarely give a second thought to the chemicals surrounding us and in us. In fact, I suspect the average American hardly considers items like soap, toothpaste, hair conditioner to be chemicals. These and other household chemicals, through their everyday use, friendly packaging, and advertising, have become seemingly indispensable and positive additions to daily life.

The Environmental Working Group has been compiling a database of cosmetics and their ingredients since 2004. The database is called Skin Deep and it is partly user generated: website users submit a list of chemical ingredients from cosmetic packaging. Skin Deep cross-references cosmetic ingredients against 50 toxicity and regulatory databases of hazardous chemicals and rates the product with a safety score. Here is more info on Skin Deep.

As an exercise in cosmetic awareness, I submit to you my day in cosmetic chemistry.

Good Morning!

Brush teeth! Crest Baking Soda & Peroxide Whitening Toothpaste with Tartar Protection Fresh Mint

• Skin Deep hazard rating: 5 out of 10 (moderate hazard)
• Potential hazards: cancer, developmental/reproductive toxicity, violations, restrictions & warnings, allergies/immunotoxicity
• Ingredient count: 19
• Unspecified ingredient count: 1 (flavor)
• Chemical ingredients: Active Ingredients: Sodium Fluoride 0.243% (0.16% W/V Fluoride Ion) ; Inactive Ingredients: Glycerin; Hydrated Silica; Water; Propylene Glycol; Sodium Bicarbonate; Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate; Sorbitol; PEG-12; Flavor; Sodium Hydroxide; Sodium Lauryl Sulfate; Sodium Saccharin; Poloxamer 407; Xanthan Gum; Cellulose Gum; Calcium Peroxide; Titanium Dioxide; Blue 1

Rinse mouth with Up & Up Mouth Rinse Antiseptic (the Target house brand)

• Not yet rated in Skin Deep, but the preliminary rating is 4 out of 10 (moderate hazard)
• Potential hazards: cancer, Developmental/reproductive toxicity, Violations, restrictions & warnings, Other concerns for ingredients used in this product:
• Neurotoxicity, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Miscellaneous, Multiple, additive exposure sources, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Enhanced skin absorption, Occupational hazards
• Ingredient count: 13
• Unspecified ingredient count: 1 (flavor)
• Chemical ingredients: Active ingredients Eucalyptol 0.092%, Menthol 0.042% Methyl salicylate 0.060%, Thymol 0.064% Inactive ingredients water, alcohol 21.6%, sorbitol solution, flavor, poloxamer 407, benzoic acid, sodium saccharin, sodium benzoate, FD&C green no. 3

Cleanliness Is Godliness! Ivory Bar Soap, Simply Ivory

• Skin Deep hazard rating: 3 out of 10 (moderate hazard)
• Potential hazards: allergies/immunotoxicity, Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: neurotoxicity, organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Miscellaneous, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Enhanced skin absorption, Occupational hazards
• Ingredient count: 13
• Unspecified ingredient count: 1 (fragrance)
• Chemical ingredients: Sodium Tallowate, Sodium Palmate, Water, Sodium Cocoate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Glycerin, Sodium Chloride, Fragrance - Parfum, Coconut Acid, Palm Kernel Acid, Tallow Acid, Palm Acid, Tetrasodium EDTA

Clean that Mop! Avalon Organics Revitalizing Shampoo Peppermint

• Skin Deep hazard rating: 3 out of 10 (moderate hazard)
• Potential hazards: Allergies/immunotoxicity, Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Multiple, additive exposure sources, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Enhanced skin absorption, Contamination concerns
• Ingredient count: 17
• Unspecified ingredient count: 1 ("other essential oils")
• Chemical ingredients: Purified water, cocamidopropyl betaine, disodium cocoamphodiacetate, sodium cocoyl sarcosinate, coconut acid, organic mentha piperita (peppermint) leaf(1), calendula officinalis (calendula) flower(1) and chamomilla recutita (chamomile) flower(2) extracts, organic orbignya oleifera (babassu) seed oil(3), babassuamidopropalkonium chloride, vegetable glycerin, bisabolol (chamomile), ethylhexylglycerin, arginine (amino acid), panthenol (pro-vitamin B5), tocopherol (vitamin E), organic mentha piperita (peppermint) leaf oil(2) and other essential oils. 1) Certified by Quality Assurance International 2) Certified by BCS Öko-Garamtie 3) Certified by Instituto Biodinâmico

Soft and Flowing Locks! American Crew Classic Stimulating Conditioner

• Not yet rated in Skin Deep, but the preliminary rating is 6 out of 10 (moderate hazard)
• Potential hazards:     Developmental/reproductive toxicity, Violations, restrictions & warnings, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: Endocrine disruption, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Multiple, additive exposure sources, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Enhanced skin absorption, Contamination concerns, Biochemical or cellular level changes
• Ingredient count: 18
• Unspecified ingredient count: 0
• Chemical ingredients: water; cetyl alcohol; dicetyldimonium chloride; ceteareth-20; rosemary leaf extract; thyme extract; panama bark extract; provitamin B5; stearamidopropyl dimethylamine; propylene glycol; citric acid; menthol; peppermint oil; limonene; methylparaben; propylparaben; methylisothiazolinone; methylchloroisothiazolinone

Postpone the Weekend Grizzle! Kiss My Face Moisture Shave fragrance free

• Skin Deep hazard rating: 5 out of 10 (moderate hazard)
• Potential hazards: cancer, developmental/reproductive toxicity, violations, restrictions & warnings, allergies/immunotoxicity; Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: Endocrine disruption, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Multiple, additive exposure sources, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Enhanced skin absorption, Contamination concerns, Biochemical or cellular level changes
• Ingredient count: 27
• Unspecified ingredient count: 0
• Chemical ingredients: WATER, POTASSIUM MYRISTATE (DERIVED FROM VEGETABLE OILS), SODIUM MYRISTATE (DERIVED FROM VEGETABLE OILS), PROPYLENE GLYCOL, TEA STEARATE, COCONUT OIL, OLIVE OIL, ALOE VERA, VITAMINS A & D, TOCOPHEROL ACETATE (VITAMIN E), ALLANTOIN, LECITHIN, LIME EXTRACT, LADY'S MANTLE EXTRACT, SOAPWORT EXTRACT, PEPPERMINT EXTRACT, HORSETAIL EXTRACT, WATERCRESS EXTRACT, LEMONGRASS EXTRACT, SAGE EXTRACT, GOLDENSEAL EXTRACT, ORANGEFLOWER EXTRACT, HYDROXYETHYLCELLULOSE (PLANT SOURCE), METHYLPARABEN, PROPYLPARABEN, SODIUM BENZOATE

Lube the smackers! Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm

• Skin Deep hazard rating: 2 out of 10 (low hazard)
• Potential hazards: allergies/immunotoxicity, Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Enhanced skin absorption, Contamination concerns
• Ingredient count: 9
• Unspecified ingredient count: 0
• Chemical ingredients: COCONUT OIL, BEESWAX, SWEET ALMOND OIL, PEPPERMINT OIL, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, TOCOPHEROL (VITAMIN E), LANOLIN, COMFREY ROOT EXTRACT, ROSEMARY EXTRACT

Gel the doo! Matrix Amplify Volumizing System Thick Boost gel

• Not yet rated in Skin Deep, but the preliminary hazard rating is 10 out of 10 (high hazard)
• Potential hazards: developmental/reproductive toxicity, violations, restrictions & warnings, allergies/immunotoxicity, Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: Neurotoxicity, Endocrine disruption, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Miscellaneous, Multiple, additive exposure sources, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Enhanced skin absorption, Contamination concerns, Occupational hazards, Biochemical or cellular level changes
• Ingredient count: 31
• Unspecified ingredient count: 1 (fragrance)
• Chemical ingredients: water; amp-acrylates/allyl methacrylate copolymer; pvp; peg-14 dimethicone; acrylates/C10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer; propylene glycol; aminomethyl propanol; peg-40 hydrogenated castor oil; phenoxyethanol; polysorbate 80; peg-40; methylparaben; parfum/fragrance; ethylparaben; alpha-isomethyl ionone; ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate; hexyl cinnamal; butylphenyl methylpropional; linalool; benzyl salicylate; limonene; benzyl benzoate; citronellol; oleth-10; geraniol; disodium cocoamphodipropionate; octylacrylamide/acrylates/butylaminoethyl methacrylate copolymer; lecithin; phosphoric acid; polyquaternium-10; disodium edta;

Avoid stinky pits! Tom's of Maine original natural care odor protection aluminum-free deodorant stick

• Not yet rated in Skin Deep, but the preliminary rating is 3 out of 10 (moderate hazard)
• Potential hazards: Violations, restrictions & warnings, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Enhanced skin absorption, Occupational hazards
• Ingredient count: 11
• Unspecified ingredient count: 0
• Chemical ingredients: propylene glycol; water; sodium stearate; aloe barbadensis; witch hazel; glyceryl laurate; matricaria flower aqueous extract; hops; caprylic/capric triglyceride; ascorbic acid; cymbopogon schoenanthus oil

Banish scaly skin! Eucerin Dry Skin Therapy Daily Replenishing Lotion

• Not yet rated in Skin Deep, but the preliminary rating is 6 out of 10 (moderate hazard)
• Potential hazards: developmental/reproductive toxicity, violations, restrictions & warnings, allergies/immunotoxicity, Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: Neurotoxicity, Endocrine disruption, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Multiple, additive exposure sources, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Enhanced skin absorption, Contamination concerns, Occupational hazards, Biochemical or cellular level changes
• Ingredient count: 24
• Unspecified ingredient count: 0
• Chemical ingredients: water; sunflower seed oil; petrolatum; glycerin; glyceryl stearate SE; octyldodecanol; caprylic/capric triglyceride; stearic acid; dimethicone; cetearyl alcohol; lanolin alcohol; panthenol; tocopheryl acetate; cholesterol; carbomer; disodium EDTA; sodium hydroxide; phenoxyethenol; methylparaben; ethylparaben; propylparaben; butylparaben; isobutylparaben; bht

That's 182 chemicals in 10 cosmetic products (with some duplicate chemicals, of course), not including common chemicals in the municipal water supply like chlorine, flouride, pesticides, fertilizers, heavy metals, petrochemicals, dioxins, radioactive materials, bacteria or viruses, pharmaceuticals, and antibiotics. So mix those into my shower along with any residues that persisted on my skin overnight from the previous day.

And I haven't even left my own bathroom yet!

There are thousands of other daily chemicals to add to the stew:

• flame retardants in furniture and carpets
• formaldehyde in plywood, particleboard, paneling, fiberboard, furniture, cabinets, etc.
• radon from your foundation
• phthalates in plastics, cosmetics, toys
• bisphenol A in type 7 plastics, can liners, and credit card receipts
• lead paints
• PFOA in non-stick surfaces like Teflon
• car exhaust: carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, breathable particles, benzene, formaldehyde, polycyclic hydrocarbons
• diesel exhaust: includes 40 carcinogens according to the EPA
• household cleaners
• hand soaps, dish soaps, laundry detergents, fabric softeners

No one knows how much of these chemicals it takes to cause problems over a lifetime. There is little known about how much of these chemicals enter and stay in the body. And no one knows how these hundreds of chemicals might interact in the body.
 

There are many things individuals can't control about our environment, but it's certainly possible to reduce the number, amount, and toxicity of chemicals in our cosmetics and households. I will definitely be pitching my hair gel, for example, and I'll look for alternative products that have a lower and more pronounceable ingredient list.

Take your own chemical inventory at Skin Deep. Then think about the fact that the American cosmetics industry is totally unregulated. 

Photo by Horia Varlan.