Books that influenced how I play & coach frisbee

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I've always been a big reader, a trait that I think has definitely been a positive in my life. Here's a collection of books that have influenced—in small ways and in big ways—the way I play and coach frisbee. Looking over the list, a few main categories stand out:

• Books about being a leader / building a team / communicating / connecting with people

• Books that inspired me to work hard

• Sports science books that influenced the way I train for sports

• Books that taught me sports-specific strategic thinking

• Books that helped me get better at careful thinking in general

• More "philosophical" books that changed my outlook on life in ways that can, to some extent, be seen in how I approach sports.

Overall, there’s fewer “sports books” here than you might expect. I don't think there's any one perfect book that I can recommend. Rather, I learn a little bit more about the world book-by-book—1% at a time.

If a book you like isn’t on the list, I always appreciate recommendations!

There's no need to read this post beginning-to-end. Come back when you're looking for something new to read and find a title that looks interesting. Without further ado:

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Pre-adulthood

Around the time I graduated college, I started using a spreadsheet to keep track of the books I read. I've continued using the same spreadsheet for 10+ years now. This first section is everything I can remember reading before that. On the one hand, that means I might be forgetting some important ones. On the other hand, you can be extra sure these book influenced me, given I still remember them even without the benefit of a spreadsheet:

As a kid, I read lots of young adult (fiction) sports books. I've read literally dozens of Matt Christopher books. A few other titles that stick in my memory but weren't written by Matt Christopher are Quarterback Walk On (I especially remember this one, as it's about a teen who uses their brain and hard work/good planning to win) and Halfback Tough.

The Education of a Coach — While I've read lots of books about management, and about building cultures and teams, I haven't read that many books about coaches (I think I also read a John Wooden book once, though I'm not sure which one). The Education of a Coach was one of a few sources that helped me develop as a high school athlete who thinks strategically. I mentioned Belichick in a recent article—pretty clear evidence that this book has influenced me, even ~20 years later.

Outliers — I'm aware that nowadays Malcolm Gladwell's books are criticized for not being completely scientifically accurate. But I still think they helped me. The "10,000 hours rule" might not be literally true, but it still inspired me to work harder at chasing after my dreams. (I also liked The Tipping Point and Blink as a high schooler.) Although I haven't read a Malcolm Gladwell book in a dozen years, he managed to inspire me again recently, when I saw the video of him running a 5:15 mile as a 57-year-old.

The Last Shot — I've read a number of books about high school sports (mainly basketball); The Last Shot is the most memorable. It taught me just how hard people are out there working to be good at sports. I remember reading about how the main character would do side-shuffling drills while holding a brick up in each hand for an extra challenge. 16-year-old me started doing that while working out at the court behind my high school, and the people on the tennis courts next to me would stop and watch. (The book was successful enough that it inspired a "20 years later" essay on a major sports journalism site.)

The Miracle of St. Anthony — Probably #2 on my list of "great high school sports books". I read this book ~20 years ago, but if anything, it's become more relevant since then, as St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley is the father of back-to-back national championship-winning Dan Hurley, the UConn coach. (Also on the "high school sports" reading list are Fall River Dreams and Eagle Blue.)

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As an adult

Books that are recorded on my aforementioned spreadsheet. In chronological order (i.e., the books I read most recently are at the bottom):

So Good They Can't Ignore You — Helped inspire me to want to stand out instead of fit in, and to think about personal skill development more than I used to.

Metamagical Themas — A fun book of mathy essays. This is mainly here because his essay on the prisoner's dilemma and superrationality inspired me to be a more positive, good person.

Impro — A book that helped me think about interacting with other people a little better, back when I still wasn't very good at it.

Antifragile — A provocative book that helped me think about the kinds of strategies that are effective, in life or on the sports field. (It's no coincidence how the book's title is reminiscent of the sports saying that a defense should "bend but don't break".)

Ishmael — An odd little book that had a big impact on the way I think about the kind of person I want to be. Gets some mixed reviews, but it worked well for me at that moment in my life.

Visual Explanations — Edward Tufte's books on presenting data (I've read this one and The Visual Display of Quantitative Information) are great resources for becoming a better visual communicator.

The Information — A great book on the science of information theory. Which may seem like it has nothing to do with playing or coaching frisbee, but it actually comes up a lot in questions like:

• how do I communicate with my teammates in ways that we can get on the same page without the defense easily gaining the same information, or:

• What's the right balance between chaos and randomness? (e.g. — how scripted should my team's offense be?)

The Complacent Class — Inspired me to, um, be less complacent.

Rationality — One of my first and biggest introductions to a number of interrelated questions like how does the mind work? In what ways are humans biased? Why is effective communication so hard? How do we continue to think for ourselves even when our social context encourages us not to?

The Inner Game of Tennis — A classic—the classic—of sports psychology. Convinced me of the importance of trusting my body to perform instead of overthinking on the field.

Deep Work — Encouraged/convinced me to set aside more time for focusing fully on a single project at a time.

The Gardener and the Carpenter — A book about parenting that encourages parents to be a little more laid back & hands off. It's definitely one of the reasons I take a similar approach as a coach.

Against Intellectual Monopoly — A big reason why I write this blog that anyone can read for free.

The Art of Learning — One of a number of books I've read on "how to learn". This one takes a more practical approach (compared to some of the examples below which are more focused on the theory of learning science.)

Extreme Ownership — This book's ideas have had a big impact on the way I approach analyzing my team's failures and the role I played in them. Between the title and the fact that it's written by a military guy, it's hard not to associate this book with ideas like "toxic masculinity", but in reality I really liked its lessons and use them both in sports and in interpersonal relationships.

Why Buddhism is True — I've read a number of books on Buddhism, and this was the one I connected with the most. I think my Buddhist-inspired outlook on life helps me be effective in pressure situations (on the sports field or in life generally).

Difficult Conversations — A good book on effective communication (we'll see a few more of these below).

The Five Love Languages — Much like the next book on this list below, The Five Love Languages helped me connect (romantically and otherwise...the "otherwise" of course being more relevant to this post) with people by understanding that the way they receive good vibes might not always match up with the way I instinctively tend to send out good vibes.

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus — I'm not a fan of stereotyping genders. But if you mentally remove any mentions of specific genders in the book, you're left with a pretty good book about making the attempt to actually understand what other people want, and not just always seeing the world through your own eyes.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck — I've seen this book get mixed reviews on Reddit. Spoiler alert: the core conclusion of the book is that you should give less of a fuck about things that don't matter so you have more fucks to give for the things that do matter. I think this book helped me explicitly understand an idea that I had subconsciously been starting to realize around the time I read it: that it's good to care a lot about certain things (e.g. frisbee).

Good To Go — A great book (that I've referenced a number of times on this blog) that taught me what I needed to know about what does and doesn't actually work in the realm of workout recovery.

The Surrender Experiment — Some parts of the book were pretty mediocre, but I think I'm someone who benefited from exposure to the idea of "what if I just said yes to every opportunity that was presented to me?". I still think to myself sometimes: oh, I should say yes to that opportunity—even when another part of me wants to just say no to newness and stick to my usual routine.

The Polymath — I actually didn't like this book that much “as a book”, but I do think it inspired me to think more about the way I wanted to develop my own skills.

Finite and Infinite Games — A philosophical book that changed the way I look at why I play games and why they're good. A frisbee player could think of it as a book about (one reason) why Spirit of the Game matters.

Nonviolent Communication — Another good book on communication that helped me become a slightly more effective communicator.

Endure — I learned a lot about how much of endurance comes down to what's in your brain and not just what your body's capable of, which helps me train more effectively. First book to convince me to try motivational self-talk training. (my review here)

The Sports Gene — Taught me—among other things that reaction time in sports is due to an experienced athlete's ability to notice & process sport-specific cues earlier, not purely due to a "raw reaction time" advantage. Lots of interesting stuff in here (some useful, some just interesting). (my review here)

Exercised — Stepped up my knowledge of exercise & health science, especially in the way it explained movement science from an evolutionary perspective. Convinced me to be active in small ways throughout the day (not just work out hard then lay motionless on the couch). (my review here)

Range — Helped me understand the benefits of having an eclectic background. Made me feel more comfortable with "cross training" (for both mental and physical endeavors). (my review here)

Thinking Basketball — Helped refine my thinking about sports statistics & understanding what we do & don't know about how an individual player affects team performance.

Natural Born Heroes — Gets a bit mystical at times (in other words—I don't think he's right about everything) but it's a fun book with some fun ideas about how to train better.

Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights? — Helped deepen my knowledge of exercise science, though I'm not sure I can tell you specifically which things I learned from this book. (my review here)

Year of the Dunk — An inspiring/cautionary tale of chasing athletic improvement at an older (i.e. "older than college-age") age. Helped motivate me to do the same. (my review here)

Optionality — Helped me think about the things I want & the choices I make in life. I'll continue to remember the phrase "fuck you frugality" and the "dead great grandpa" test (don't set goals your dead great grandpa will be better than you at, e.g.: "Do you spend as little money as possible? Well, your grandpa already got you licked in that department. Dreaming of escaping work? You cannot possibly escape further than great-grandpa.")

Conflicted — Helped me continue to build productive communication skills.

Ultralearning — Another useful book on learning science.

Peak Performance / The Passion Paradox / The Practice of Groundedness — Gave me a model for the route I want to take to reaching my peak potential w/o getting completely burned out. (my review here)

The Paradox of Choice — Interesting book about how having more choices is not necessarily a good thing. Convinced me to spend less time over-thinking things and just be content with a "pretty good" option in many situations.

Games People Play — Maybe helped me understand better what's "going on inside" when people (myself included) behave a certain way. I think the book is over-simplified but has nuggets of truth. It may have helped me get a little better at noticing & letting other people get what they need out of a conversation.

Count Down — Things I've read since reading Count Down have made me somewhat less certain that chemical/microplastics contamination is a legitimate issue, but the book convinced me to do what I can to use less plastics in my life (I use a Hydroflask water bottle & cook pretty much exclusively w/ a cast iron pan & metal spatula). (my review here)

A Guide to the Good Life — I already had something of a "stoic" mindset, but this book taught me more about stoicism. Useful in pressure situations—I tell myself: "we might win. we might lose. I'm just going to try my best and whatever happens, life will be fine".

The Upside of Stress — Don't remember much about this book anymore, but one thing that really stuck with me is the idea of responding to feeling nerves in pressure situations by telling myself "this is just my body getting me ready to perform at my best". (I get nervous before big games! But I trust myself that that's fine, and it always ends up being fine.)

How We Learn — Another book on learning science. This might be the one I remember the least to be honest.

Punished by Rewards — Convinced me that reward systems don't work as well as you'd expect them to, and that people respond best when they have a sense of control. (my review here)

Games: Agency as Art — Gave me a stronger/more explicit understanding of why "games" matter in life. I liked the part explaining why he thinks playing a game is best done by trying your hardest to win. (my review here)

Breath — Convinced me to breathe through my nose more and do breath holding training. I expect some parts of it are pseudoscience but the core ideas are believable. (my review here)

How We Learn To Move — I didn't love *everything* about this book, but I think it makes some good points about (1) how expert athletic movement works (2) how we learn athletic movements and (3) what kind of drills do/don't work for teaching sports. (my review here)

“Repetition without repetition”: Experts can reliably repeat the *outcome* of a movement (in this case, consistently hitting the same spot w/ the hammer) even though there’s always natural variation in the movement itself (the swing paths are not identical). From How We Learn to Move

The Language of Coaching — Convinced me to use metaphor and/or external cues instead of internal cues for teaching athletic movement. (my review here)

Play On — There's no huge secrets shared in this book, but the basic tips on "aging gracefully" on the sports field were marginally beneficial. Convinced me to start eating collagen/cartilage/bone broth. (my review here)

A Mind for Numbers — Another book about learning science. The perspective of speaking directly to (college) students felt like it could be useful to me as a college coach.

Philosophy: A Complete Introduction — Clarified some vague thoughts I was already having about the kind of person I wanted to be.

Play With Your Brain — If nothing else, I'll never forget "face the space".

How Minds Change — Helped me better understand what contexts/techniques lead to people changing their minds, and which don't work (most of them!).

The Ultimate Resource — The only "ultimate textbook" I've read (so far). Fit with a lot of my preconceived notions of what works well. The idea of playing from the "sideline in" made me think. I still remember the first chapter's very thorough takedown of the vertical stack.

The Culture Code — I liked this one a lot. Provides a positive model for successful team culture.

The Captain Class — There were some things I definitely didn't like about this book, but it provides a mostly-reasonable model of what a good captain looks like. And helped me see there's some things I can control myself (as a coach). (my combined review of Captain Class and Culture Code here)

Hidden Potential — Mostly talked about things I've thought about before (in the field of finding and developing talent), but I liked it because it was well-written and provided a slightly different angle on some things. I like the idea of "brainwriting" (as opposed to "brainstorming"). (somewhat longer review in this post)

Make it Stick — Strengthened my familiarity with the science of learning.

Every Moment Matters — A solid book on youth coaching that I've taken a few ideas from. I especially liked the "whole—part—whole" model (play, then teach, then play more). Also liked the idea of sending individualized, short messages after a practice.

Multipliers — Lots of overlap w/ other things I've read, but helped me think about the kind of leader I want to be. "Give people ownership and set high expectations" is the main lasting image I have from this book.

Right Kind of Wrong — Helped me think about failure/growth in slightly better ways. One part that especially resonated: the discussion of people sticking with bad systems b/c of the "hero feeling" they get from solving problems created by the suboptimal system itself.

The Effortless Sleep Method — Helped me sleep better by making it a more consistent habit/signal.

Atomic Habits — Helped me refine a few of my habits to become more consistently productive. (Also helped inspire this post)

Slow Productivity — Helped me continue to focus on the long-term, and helped me feel better about not working as hard when I need to recharge.

The Barcelona Way — Reinforced (b/c it's similar to The Culture Code) the kind of team culture I should try to create.

The Midrange Theory — A book about basketball analytics that was somewhat disappointing b/c it was more about the challenge of doing data science than it was about cool basketball strategy discussion. But there were enough little tidbits that made me think (and think about how similar ideas would apply to frisbee) that I don’t regret reading it.

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If there's something that's missing from this list, it's a number of books that I've read about economics and science. Learning about these topics helped me learn how to think through problems carefully and understand cause and effect, and causation (a problem that also comes up in sports, most notably in the question of "what actually leads to winning?"—See How valuable is one ultimate frisbee player?).

I didn't blurb these books because it wasn't clear that any one book had a specific impact on me in the way I've (mostly) been able to point to for the books above. But the total effect of these books has been to make me a more careful thinker and a better, more effective problem solver in life and in sports. Some titles that come to mind here are: Radical Markets. Thinking in Systems. The Signal and the Noise. Black Box Thinking. The Book of Why. Godel, Escher, Bach. The Elephant in the Brain. and more.