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Reviews tagging 'Racism'
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall
4 reviews
melissabristol's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.5
Be aware the author is an evangelist for minimalist/ barefoot running, so take his running-specific advice/ advocacy with a bit of a grain of salt.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Colonisation
matcha_cat's review
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Vomit and Alcohol
Minor: Death, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Murder, Child death, and Violence
ashwaar's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
3.75
Born to Run is a hybrid non-fiction of investigative journalism, a journey to self-discovery and an exploration of the evolution of modern running. I love reading non-fiction about topics I previously knew nothing about and I found the chapters on ultramarathons and the development of the running shoe to be pretty interesting. But I found the writing style to be quite dramatic and exaggerated like McDougall expects everyone else to be as automatically passionate and flabbergasted by these running discoveries as he is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Child death, Vomit, Medical content, Racism, and Death
drewhowerton's review
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
3.25
I do plan to start running again :) This is a decently good book. I don’t want to be mean I know this was the adventure of a lifetime for McDougall and he must’ve loved writing this book. That said, I could’ve gotten what I wanted out of it in a book less than half the length. If you can get past his subtle misogyny and racism (grace for the older white guy in the 2000s), you may enjoy this.
In my opinion, he goes on wayyy too long telling stories about people whose names I can’t remember and am not particularly invested in.
On the good side, if you can get through all of the above, there is some great stuff about how we really are born to run. And the mentality of an ultra-runner.
If you want a SPOILER of some of the best info without reading the book, here you go:
- barefoot style is better. Go minimalist. Comfort and cushion and raised heals are marketing
- our ancestors ran down animals until they died, and that’s why we lived. It’s in our DNA to run casually for hours
- eat lots of chia seeds and probably beans
- lose your long, clunky, heel-strike, bounding strides. Get quick, light, short, easy steps. Bent knees, straight back, land over your foot, toes flicking up under you back toward your butt
- embrace the pain. Get outside yourself. Enjoy the journey.
Though this wasn’t my favorite book to read the entire time, I’m grateful for what I got out of it. And it sounds like these folks ran one hell of a race. Like I said, I will start running again!
In my opinion, he goes on wayyy too long telling stories about people whose names I can’t remember and am not particularly invested in.
On the good side, if you can get through all of the above, there is some great stuff about how we really are born to run. And the mentality of an ultra-runner.
- barefoot style is better. Go minimalist. Comfort and cushion and raised heals are marketing
- our ancestors ran down animals until they died, and that’s why we lived. It’s in our DNA to run casually for hours
- eat lots of chia seeds and probably beans
- lose your long, clunky, heel-strike, bounding strides. Get quick, light, short, easy steps. Bent knees, straight back, land over your foot, toes flicking up under you back toward your butt
- embrace the pain. Get outside yourself. Enjoy the journey.
Though this wasn’t my favorite book to read the entire time, I’m grateful for what I got out of it. And it sounds like these folks ran one hell of a race. Like I said, I will start running again!
Content Warnings
Minor: Drug use, Ableism, Blood, Misogyny, Racism, Alcohol, Cursing, and Death
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