Introduction: In Search of Sports Genes xi
1. Beat by an Underhand Girl: The Gene-Free Model of Expertise 1
2. A Tale of Two High Jumpers: (Or: 10,000 Hours Plus or Minus 10,000 Hours) 18
3. Major League Vision and the Greatest Child Athlete Sample Ever: The Hardware and Software Paradigm 38
4. Why Men Have Nipples 56
5. The Talent of Trainability 75
6. Superbaby, Bully Whippets, and the Trainability of Muscle 100
7. The Big Bang of Body Types 114
8. The Vitruvian NBA Player 128
9. We Are All Black (Sort Of) Race and Genetic Diversity 142
10. The Warrior-Slave Theory of Jamaican Sprinting 158
11. Malaria and Muscle Fibers 175
12. Can Every Kalenjin Run? 186
13. The World's Greatest Accidental (Altitudinous) Talent Sieve 204
14. Sled Dogs, Ultrarunners, and Couch Potato Genes 223
15. The Heartbreak Gene Death, Injury, and Pain on the Field 242
16. The Gold Medal Mutation 266
Epilogue: The Perfect Athlete 282
Afterword 291
Acknowledgments 305
Notes and Selected Citations 309
Index 345