Is there a book on

I have run across an article or two in various academic journals. You might try searching Google Scholar…

Any journal articles you find will likely be the "meat" of any book that is written on the matter.

"If not, would such a book be popular (i.e., is there a need)?"

Probably very popular with a small segment of the hiking community. Commercially viable is another matter.

"If not, would such a book be popular (i.e., is there a need)?"

Probably very popular with a small segment of the hiking community. Commercially viable is another matter.

I agree. That's the beauty of eBooks though. You can publish at not much more cost than your time.

It'd be great if there were such a book. Indeed, it'd be great if there were more high quality, evidence-based literature on general sports performance physiology. If I were looking to do something along those lines with the goal of appealing to more than a niche audience, I'd go after the broader set of performance questions.

Cheers,

Bill S.

It depends on what one's time is worth. Shawn Bearden is a professor at Idaho State. I don't know what he or other professors at such an institution make, but, for ease of computation, let's say it's $80,000 a year or about $40 per hour. A decently-written book might take 1,000 hours to write, which for him would be the equivalent of $40,000 worth of time.

If he wants to make good financial use of his time, he won't do it either through an e-book or a printed book, since a book such as the one he proposes will have a hard time selling even 1,000 copies. The topic is just too narrow. (I can speak with some authority on this since I'm both an author and a publisher.)

If he wants to write the book as a labor of love, great. As Buck Nelson says, it likely will be "very popular with a small segment of the hiking community." The book just won't be a source of real income for the author.

No book per se but you can likely glean a lot of personal experiences from the blogs of long-distance hikers.

Trailjournals.com
It's a lot to read but you can get tons of information.
My only other suggestion would be that you look into books that pertain to endurance sports. Much of the physiology and psychological lessons learned by endurance athletes applies nicely to backpacking long distances.

Do people find these sources (specific articles, forum discussion archives, and blog post) sufficient for your own knowledge and planning? Would a reliable (data driven) consolidation specific to backpacking covering all physiologic aspect be useful/read or is it easy enough to gather by oneself for those interested? (I'm evaluating potential sabbatical activities)

Ray Jardine touches on all those topics in his book. He includes some graphs of the effects of different pack weights on mileage and calories needed for different hikers, all from the perspective of a AT / PCT thru-hiker. His figures and estimates were all close to my experiences. It's not comprehensive and most of the book is about other aspects of UL backpacking.

http://www.amazon.com/Trail-Life-Jardines-Lightweight-Backpacking/dp/0963235974/ref=pd_sim_b_2

He takes too much credit for "inventing" techniques many of us were using decades prior, but, again, I found his data to accurate.

> Do people find these sources (specific articles, forum discussion archives, and blog post) sufficient for your own knowledge and planning?

From my perspective, no. A lot of what's out there is presented without the supporting evidence. It's hard to separate the evidence-based from the speculative.

> Would a reliable (data driven) consolidation specific to backpacking covering all physiologic aspect be useful/read or is it easy enough to gather by oneself for those interested?

I think it'd be very useful.

Best,

Bill S.

On the suggestion above, I purchased a copy of Ray Jardine's book and read it. Lot's of interesting stuff. But, anyone who gets this book should find the chapter called 'Food', tear it out, and burn it without reading. It is chock full of misinformation.

"It is chock full of misinformation."

At that rate, you might need to burn the entire book.

I thought the Food chapter was more for humor.

–B.G.–

"Do people find these sources (specific articles, forum discussion archives, and blog post) sufficient for your own knowledge and planning?"

From a practical standpoint, most of what applies to backpacking is out there somewhere, either on the Internet or in scholarly works such as exercise physiology texts. However, it is all over the place and not systematically organized, and gathering it, analyzing it, and extracting it is tedious and time consuming. Then there is the difficulty that laypersons experience in drawing the proper conclusions from what they have gathered and analyzed. I have been engaged in this project for about 8 years now, and have gradually figured out what works for me with a lot of trial and error, but a well organized book written by an expert would surely have saved me a lot of time, and if written now would probably cause me to go back and alter some of what I have come up with.

"Would a reliable (data driven) consolidation specific to backpacking covering all physiologic aspect be useful/read or is it easy enough to gather by oneself for those interested? (I'm evaluating potential sabbatical activities)"

Yes, IMO. the question is whether enough people agree with me to make it worth your while to go to the trouble of writing such a book, both time wise and financially.

Personally and selfishly, I hope you decide to do it.

"On the suggestion above, I purchased a copy of Ray Jardine's book and read it. Lot's of interesting stuff. But, anyone who gets this book should find the chapter called 'Food', tear it out, and burn it without reading. It is chock full of misinformation."

+1

This is from the other end of the spectrum running from "data driven to crazypants". Most of the rest of the book I loved, however, even the cranky bits! But science is definitely not his thing.