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meanmegan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
2.5
kitkat962's review against another edition
2.0
Earlier this year, I decided that I want to run a half-marathon. Got into this book after Murakami's "What I talk about when I talk about running", and it's a completely different read. It's interesting, to say to the least, since I got to learn a bit about the Tarahumara tribe, the running shoes manufacturers, and by design, the human body is not optimized for running. Though, the book structure is confounding. I got lost between the pages while he was waving his personal tales, with anecdotes from the tribal runners and some statistics to make look cool.
In short, read Murakami for personal memoir and research papers for actual science, not this book.
In short, read Murakami for personal memoir and research papers for actual science, not this book.
treebjork's review against another edition
2.0
Not what I expected. I wish he had more research, rather than anecdotal evidence, to back up his claims about the benefits of barefoot running. But I really enjoyed reading about the ultramarthoners and learning about their motivational, and learning more about the Mexican tribes that base their culture on long-distance running. This book has motivated me to try more endurance running -- maybe even a half marathon, if I can train for one without injury.
reduck's review against another edition
4.0
Not a fan of barefoot running but the story of Caballo Blanco and the Tarahumara was very interesting.
pilateschick's review against another edition
5.0
Dear Christopher, leave out the expletives. You do a superb job creating a masculine identity without it. The rest deserves 5 stars. Utterly fascinating! Spellbinding, story after story.
suzettmolina's review against another edition
3.0
It’s a solid 3.5! With this book being older certain things didn’t feel appropriate any longer to be said the way they were said in this book. Overall the messaging was run barefoot, eat vegetarian, and capitalism has ruined the true love and quality of running lol.
mugwumpun's review against another edition
4.0
A page turner for me as a past runner riddled with various injuries, but felt less like a true non-fiction account. It's more of a personal account, with not enough of the training tips for preventing injuries, too little of the raramuri lifestyle and training, and filled with some sort of pseudo-running mysticism, which I still ate up. The profiles he creates of the runners were interesting, and the description of the great race in the Urique canyons was riveting. I'd recommend with some reservations about the claims sprinkled throughout the book, but definitely keep a skeptic's mind.
zachnachazel's review against another edition
4.0
I've had this one sitting for a while, and finally got to it. I'm torn about this book. On one end of the spectrum, the cultural anthropologist in me finds Tarahumara a people I crave to learn more about. On the other side, there's this strong tie to the barefoot running movement. While both did work together really well, it seemed like there were a few really long chapters that were only there to convince me scientifically that my body was meant to run without shoes or at least minimal. It just felt like a clash between the two stories instead of having the two mesh throughout the entire book.
Setting that aside, I loved hearing about the Tarahumara people, learning more about the legendary Scott Jurek, and how barefoot running is not hippie nonsense, but supported by some evidence.
Setting that aside, I loved hearing about the Tarahumara people, learning more about the legendary Scott Jurek, and how barefoot running is not hippie nonsense, but supported by some evidence.