Leif Pettersen

Throwing Up Leif Pettersen

Let's look beyond your circus clown variety of juggling and consider how elite level, technical juggling is not only one of the most demanding disciplines humans can do, but also enhances everyday functioning to be as close to Spider-Man as a non-radioactive bite victim can get. Long term effects of juggling include improved hand-eye coordination, wider and sharper peripheral vision, and remarkably developed balance, focus, concentration and motor skills. Studies have shown that juggling increases both white and gray brain matter in ways that cannot be done through other activities. In other words, juggling literally makes you smarter, faster and gives you a natural advantage with anything involving reflexes, hand speed and dexterity. This book is the "Kitchen Confidential" of juggling. Geared for both jugglers and non-jugglers (A. K. A. "civilians," A. K. A. "normal humans"), it's a semi-autobiographical, educational profile on the sport/art/feat of juggling and the innumerable, remarkable ways it affects one's life-namely mine. I'll detail my time as a juggler starting way back in the summer of 1982, when I taught myself to juggle in my backyard, to my dalliances as a performer in the 1990s, to the present, including that time I dove into the fray of competitive juggling at the ripe old age of 44. I'll dish on mistakes I've made, victories, defeats, advice for new jugglers and people who can go right to hell. (I'm talking about you, David Hasselhoff.) I'll beam a new light on a sport that has thus far never been fairly represented in the mainstream media, no matter how many jugglers make it onto "America's Got Talent." This book is also a tribute the people who have made juggling a key component of their lives, from die-hard hobbyists to professional performers, wunderkinds to the old guard, nerds to, well, everyone else. I'll level with you, there are a lot of nerds. At the very least, I believe you will come around to my belief that juggling, at its heart, is endlessly rich and fascinating.