Book Review: 40 Years with a Whistle by Dan John
40 Years with a Whistle is Dan John’s autobigraphical book which, as the title suggests, encapsulates his career as a coach. If you’re not familiar with Dan John he is one of the most recognizable names in strength and conditioning circles. He has a wealth of experience coaching athletes at every level and is also an accomplished discus and Highland Games competitor. He has also authored several books and is known for his advocacy of kettlebell movements, in particular the goblet squat.
40 Years with a Whistle is different from many of Dan John’s previous works because it is a memoir reflecting on his formative years as an athlete and a coach. For the first time he writes in detail about his personal life, his coaching career, and his athletic career. We’ve heard some of the stories before in random anecdotes spread throughout his previous books, but this is the first time he puts all of these events in biographical chronology. He also shares with us events in his personal life that to my knowledge either he hadn’t previously disclosed or had not disclosed in this level of detail. Dan also talks in detail about the mentors that influenced him throughout his athletic and coaching career. This book is a bit of a change of pace from his previous work, and it adds some variety to his catalog.
The book is written in that casual, conversational style that makes Dan’s work so approachable. Let’s be honest most books in the strength and conditioning genre are pretty mundane. You don’t really expect a great read, just information on how to work out. Dan’s books are the exception to the norm. His writing is always entertaining and interesting. 40 Years with a Whistle is a memoir, but it's still full of the training advice, life lessons, and anecdotes that fans of Dan’s work have come accustomed to reading. This is Dan’s strength as a writer and he doesn’t disappoint in this area. Dan expands on much of his material from his previous books such as Never Let Go and Now What? These topics range from diet and weightlifting to life lessons and daily habits usually reserved for books in the self help genre.
Dan John cites others constantly in his writing, but he doesn’t have a list of citations or bibliography at the end of each chapter or the end of the book. Typically, I would consider this a big problem with a book giving “how to” advice to a reader. The reader doesn’t know for sure if the information provided is legitimate and based on actual science if it’s source material is not referenced. In the case of Dan John books however I give him the benefit of the doubt. The accumulation of knowledge over all his years of experience give him some leeway I would not give other authors. There is a very small handful of other strength coaches I would also give this exception. It’s synonymous to Coach K. writing a book about coaching basketball. Coach K. doesn’t need citations to the source material because he is the source material. Same rule applies to Dan John on strength and conditioning advice.
If I had a criticism of 40 Years with a Whistle it’s that it is a bit of a Frankenstein book at times. The book’s chapters wander a little bit which keeps the reader a little off kilter. As soon as you get into Dan’s life story the book turns into a book about strength and conditioning, and so on. Although, I mention this as a criticism it is also what keeps the book interesting. Dan John is a storyteller. To paraphrase something I heard Dan say once, he takes you down all these paths, but you always end up at your destination at the end. Another criticism is that readers of Dan’s previous books may find some of the same or very similar material in this book. Personally, it doesn’t bother me because there is so much new material about his life and his mentors. In addition, I really enjoy a couple of his earlier books and Dan is constantly updating the material from those books.
On a different note, if you are expecting to find strength training advice like “do exercise X for Y number of reps for Z number of sets” then you won’t find it in this book. In fact you won’t find that in most of Dan John’s books. That’s not to say you won’t learn anything, you definitely will. You’ll come away with a larger perspective on lifting, coaching, and living. That is knowledge that in my opinion is significantly more valuable than just spamming workout programs. Reps and sets books have their place, but workout programs are worthless without context.
In conclusion if you’ve never read a Dan John book you need to pick up 40 Years with a Whistle and give it a read. His books are fun and interesting and well written. And when you’re finished you’ve realized that you’ve learned a lot along the way. For those of you that have already read Never Let Go or some of his other books it’s still a great read with some new information blended with a Dan John memoir. Just be warned that some of the material has been covered before. Having said that, I liked this book a lot. I think Dan is a fantastic writer and one of the best strength and conditioning coaches alive. There are few people who couldn’t benefit from reading his books. I highly recommend 40 Years with a Whistle.
Thanks for reading,
