 Greetings and salutations my esteemed laddingtons. Today I'm comparing a book recommendation Gates of fire by Steven Pressfield Shout out to my good friend Johan who borrowed me this book actually a few years back And I only recently got around to read it But before I begin to talk about the book I would just like to encourage you all to follow me on Telegram and the legugloria Instagram account We will release this fine hammer of Thor tomorrow So if you want more information about that I will post on Instagram and also on the newsletter that you can sign up for on legugloria.com Now anyway, oh also a second thing I will mention before I begin to talk about this book I know everyone is always eager to comment something in the beginning of the video So I might as well throw out a suggestion now Let me know if you have read any Historic fiction or any history books set in ancient Greece after all it's summer and we need to optimize our Motivation levels and I always find that reading something about Greece or Rome in the summer. It's it's a good fit So comment down below if you have any book recommendations on ancient Greece so true to my word I've read this fine book and As you might discern from the title it's about the battle of Thermopylae now a note on the film 300 I saw it when I was 17. It made a huge impression on me You know, it's basically made for you know, ultimate testosterone motivation and You know, I was pumped up and I said to myself, you know, it's one day I want to look like Gerard Butler Leonidas in that film so it's always been a great Motivating factor for me gym wise to just remember How the Spartans look there? So nothing over the top like, you know, Arnold Schwarzenegger and a lot of guys grew up watching his films I didn't because well, I'm not old enough to have grown up with him as a hero So my physique ideals were never, you know, bodybuilding But it was more. Yeah, how Leonidas look in that film. So anyway, the film is based on a comic that is based on the battle So it's not super historically accurate But it's a nice film anyway that you can watch before hitting the gym This however is more historically accurate. So if you want a good, you know somewhat brief overview of Spartan society and Spartan relationship with the Subjugated slave cast of the helots How their military structure looked like this is a good book The only critique I have in terms of it as a fiction novel. It's a bit gruesome at times I don't really need to have, you know, any sob stories to make the main character more appealing But other than that, it's a very good book very immersive. I read it through quite quickly It's not overly thick, but it's also very immersive so you want to read through it in in one go and Basically, it follows a guy who's not a Spartan, but he fights as a squire for the Spartans So you get sort of like a third-person view of Spartan society And it follows ten years Previous from and it follows from ten years before the Battle of Thermopylae up until the battle itself And yes, it's my custom. I have picked out a few segments Which I thought would be good motivating quotes for you to partake in so let's delve into the book So this is a quote on Spartan mentality in terms of Individualism and it's a quote from a man in the booker Have your instructors taught you why the Spartans excuse without penalty the warrior who loses his helmet or breastplate in battle But punish with loss of all citizenship rights the man who disregards his shield and That is because a warrior carries helmet and breastplate for his own protection But he's shield for the protection of the whole line So basically it's a good you know metaphor also for putting your tribe or putting your men are bund putting your Military unit putting your brothers first, you know, you can be careless with your own security But dropping your shield dropping the dropping the defense of your brothers It's inexcusable. So that is also something to keep in mind in this day and age of, you know, super Hyperindividualism so, you know, take care of your brothers Don't be a liability and this can also be if you are, you know in a group of men And you know yourself that you are weak. It's the same thing as dropping your shield You become a liability to others. So it's not okay Anyway, that was just a nice little quote there. I thought Moving on to a very interesting term so do Andrea and what this means is basically a faked courage and the Example they use here is when the enemy starts banging their shields start shouting start behaving really aggressively and this is something I've talked about before as well that it's usually not the Most confident guy that needs to you know posture up and act all tough the truly tough guys They have no need to You know posture in that way They have no need to act tough because they have that calm confidence The best example I know of this is Fedor Emilia Nenco. He was the best MMA fighter in the world 15 or 20 years ago and It's quite fun. I remember one a classmate I have when I went to school He said because we talked about him and he was like, yeah this guy looks like he's going out for a grocery shop when he was going into the ring and It's completely true. He was completely untouched by any emotionist walked into the ring got the job done Didn't you don't need to have an intense stare down etc. Now, of course, I understand certain fighters They have intense stare downs to you know hype the fight and everything but Fedor here's the No, so do Andrea at all calm as could be walked into the ring no emotion show on his face and yeah got the job done Same thing with the Spartans, you know, they don't need to hype themselves up overly much Um, so that is something to keep in mind as well and a term you can Remember pseudo Andrea if I pronounce it correctly. I don't know but keep that in mind also When you see a guy who's posturing really much in uh, you know, he wishes to appear dangerous It's one thing to be you know posturing in a You know cocky funny way in a charismatic way That is one thing but if someone tries to be intimidating by being all Um obnoxious You don't have so much to worry about if you know how to fight so anyway moving on to a Motivating quote if you want to hit the gym. I thought this was a bit fun. Yeah, just you know well written to explain how Aesthetic someone is so I'm jumping right into a quote here Polynykes supreme physical beauty in every aspect of his person Face as well as physique the night was formed as flawlessly as a god Naked in the gymnasium even alongside scores of youths and warriors blessed in comeliness And elevated by their training to the peak of condition Polynykes stood out Without equal surpassing all others in symmetry of form and faultlessness of physical structure Clothed in white robes for the assembly. He's shown like adonis and armed for war With bronze of his shield burnished his scarlet cloak Across his shoulders and a horsehair crested helmet of a knight pushed back upon his brow He's shown forth pairless as a killer So if you have Need of some extra motivation to push through some reps in the gym Just envision yourself as um such a character And then a last quote Also by said the beautiful man and he explains why he hates a younger man and is a bit harsh with a discipline So um So he's asked why do you hate the young man so much and he responds because he does not love glory It's a good reason as any to hate someone because they don't love glory So anyway, that was just some Epic quotes I found but all in all, you know I've talked about historical fiction as a genre before and This is a great example of it that you can gain so much wisdom from it by just reading a good fiction book So all in all, I can definitely recommend it. Um, you know, it's not overly long as I said It's very immersive. So you'll probably read through it quite quickly. It gives you a good insight into spartan society and You know in reawakening a sense of european identity Uh grease the cradle of civilization and um, yeah, why not take the opportunity when it's sunny outside to Read about some ancient glorious spartans So anyway, that was just a book recommendation and again follow me on telegram and instagram and all the usual social media And I will see you in the next video. So thank you for watching xoxo