DAMAGED Reading: BECOMING BATMAN: THE POSSIBILITY OF A SUPERHERO

BECOMING BATMAN: THE POSSIBILITY OF A SUPERHERO
by E. Paul Zehr
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Review by Louis Fowler

I hated school. Hated it. I admittedly just did the bare minimum to get out of there, but, luckily enough, my bare minimum was at least a B+ average, so no one really noticed. I looked at school as a necessary evil and I played the game inside the hallowed halls, but focused most of my time on my non-sanctioned extracurricular activities, such as 'zine publishing or bootlegging videotapes. I also had quite the lucrative PLAYBOY resell franchise going on inside my backpack.

When I look back, I have to ask myself, why? Why did I feel that way? Was it because I felt like I had no connection with any of my classmates? Sure, we can say that. Was it because I felt bored all the time and completely unchallenged? OK, sounds good. Or what about the fact that I had no teachers that, well, inspired me? That's probably the closest thing to the truth.

Most of my teachers were, for lack of a better term, jerk-offs.

As much as I can't stand the ethnic-based, treacly feel-good teachers of STAND AND DELIVER, DANGEROUS MINDS, etc., if only I had a paid, career educator who found the time to inspire me and make me WANT to learn, instead of, say, chastising me for picking up my soon-be-dissected frog, putting a quickly made top hat on him and having him sing “Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal...”. If they had said “Louis, I love your creative use of classic Warner Brothers cartoon references! Let's try to work it into the curriculum!”, I probably would have cared. I would probably be a scientist or something right now.

E. Paul Zehr, a professor of neuro-science and kinesiology at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, seems like the kind of “cool” teacher who likes to inspire and ignite his student's need for learning through pop culture references, as witnessed in his highly entertaining, super-educational BECOMING BATMAN. Most of it is Greek to me, sure, but I wish I had had this as a textbook in high school. As a matter of fact, if you care at all about your kid's education, purchase this book for them for Christmas or whatever other Holiday sentiment you choose to express.

Zehr goes deep into the ideas of what type of training and diet that Bruce Wayne would have had to prescribe to in order to become the highly-trained Dark Knight Detective we all know and fear. Needless to say, it's an insane, wholly unattainable regiment that only a billionaire with endless resources and no need for a day job could handle. There's no hope for any of us to ever reach those physical heights—you'd have better luck getting bit by a radioactive spider.

With equal parts nerdy humor and serious, in-depth study, BECOMING BATMAN takes the escapism of the Caped Crusader and puts it in real world, grounded scientific terms that is not only extremely entertaining and interesting, but, if you're not careful, you might learn something.