You need to read this book. I don't care if you think running is the most horrible, awful invention in the entire universe. Actually, the more you think that the more you should read this book because this story is going to change your mind.

Anyone that knows me well knows that I have a love/hate relationship with running. I will love it for two months and then loathe it for six. I love the strength, the power, and the freedom of running, but I hate the pain, the fatigue, and the "wall." (The wall is that mental stack of bricks you hit where you tell yourself that you just can't take another step.) However, this book has me looking at running in a completely new light.

This book is filled with information on everything from the Tarahumara tribe in Mexico to the most grueling ultra races, to why we, as humans, have evolved and survived based on our unique ability to run. In essence, this book states in layman's terms the theory that we really were born to run. It also gives examples of how the contemporary running shoe has not only changed our running style (did you know "jogging" was an unknown term until Nike created it in 1962?) but actually has created new injuries related to running. This is then followed up with information on the barefoot running movement and shoes that let you run as if you were barefoot, but save you the blisters.

But this is more than an informational read. This is an amazing story of a writer who not only did his research, but participated in the race of a lifetime. And throughout the book, you feel more like you're reading a story rather than reading the facts. That was always my issue with non-fiction books: I got bored. Fact after boring fact - give me a juicy story over what really happened any day. But the last couple of books I've read have started to show me the potential of non-fiction. There's so much in this world that's amazing and interesting (I really want to read more about the Tarahumara now) and I want to know it all - especially if it's told by Christopher McDougall.

I can't say enough good things about this book. Not only was it entertaining, I learned a ton. I even started trying out some of the different styles of running McDougall mentions, and I've found myself not only enjoying running again, but realizing that it doesn't have to be painful. And I'm trying to incorporate a different mindset as well: to really be a runner, it's not about doing it to fit into your skinny jeans. It's about the freedom you gain, the confidence you build, and the peace you find within your soul. Running is what we were born to do, and it's time to stop defying nature.

5 out of 5 stars. Everyone should read this book at least once, and I hope you'll find it as inspirational and interesting as I did.

**For the record, McDougall is much more objective than I am. He lays out the facts about running, Nike, the contemporary running shoe, modern "barefoot" running shoes (Vibram Five Fingers), life in the mountains in Mexico, the Tarahumara way of life, ultra races, etc. with a grace and style that only a true journalist has. I feel like my review is not doing his book justice because there are so many things I want to tell you about it, but not enough time or space. Just take my word for it. Go read it. If you don't get as much out of it as I did, at least you'll still learn something. But I think you'll like it. ( )

This is a tremendously fun book. McDougall does an excellent job of capturing the characters of a number of very different super-runners, and skillfully intersperses research findings and his own experience as well. It's a joy to read, and if you're a runner of any sort, indispensable. ( )

Really great. ( )

I'm inspired to go run 50 miles barefoot. ( )

This is an amazing book that changed the way that I think about running. Lots of great story lines: why modern medicine mostly believes combining humans and running is a recipe for disaster; how humans were a species that were designed for running but the modern equipment industry is hurting our natural ability; why the Tarahumara are such great runners; the history and culture of ultra-marathoning in the US. Everything is held together by this great story of an ultra-marathon running race in Mexico.

Since reading the book, I have bought ChiRunning to help me re-design my running style and am considering changing my running shoes to a "minimal support" model. ( )

Would have been much better as a magazine article. The narrative is weighed down with hyperbolic descriptions of everyone that appears in the book, everyone is "the toughest ultramarathon that ever lived." The chapter that lays out the thesis of the book, the idea that humans were designed to hunt by running down animals is fascinating, but this section is in the last third of the book. The idea that running shoes are actually harmful to the foot is interesting and quite possibly true. The story of the race is interesting, but it could have been told in a lot less words. ( )

I felt a real connection to the author, Christopher McDougall. He's a big guy, like I am. He wants to run, and I do also. He's had injury problems, and so have I. He's given me some hope that there are options out there for guys like us - barefoot running, running in sandals, running in sandals made from old tires, running in cheap shoes, (re)-Learning proper form, ... Any or all of the above might help. The book has given me motivation to get out there and try one or more of these possibilities. Maybe none of them will work, but it'll be interesting to find out.

Best part of the book: gathering for the race and running it. Most disturbing part of the book: learning that injury rates for runners have *not* decreased in the years since the modern running shoe (and Nike) have come on the scene. ( )

I read an interview with the author Wednesday morning on LibraryThing. I went out and bought the book at lunchtime. It is now Friday morning, and I have just finished reading it. It is a book about ultramarathons (a 100-mile-long race, sometimes up a Colorado mountain, sometimes through Death Valley, sometimes just through forest trails); the Tarahumara tribe of Mexico -- a gentle, reclusive tribe of stone-age Native Americans who live to run and run to live; and a cast of very colorful characters. This is a tale woven of many threads, introducing each character and letting us meet them and get to know them before they all come together for a race through canyons and hills and creeks for the climax of the book. There are digressions into the mechanics and science of running, into human evolution, and a fascinating description of what it is like to be part of a Kalahari Bushman band running down an ibex until it collapses from exhaustion.

The author has a compelling writing style with a gift for description -- here is but one example, describing the man who wants to organize this race: "No matter how psyched you might have been about the race, you'd have to think twice about putting your life in the hands of a mysterious loner with a fake name whose closest friends lived in caves and ate mice and still considered him the iffy one."

And now I'm going to have to go out and buy a pair of shoes that are barely shoes at all, just to try them - the Vibram Five Finger shoes that are little more than a tough sole. I am not a runner, but I am a fan of walking barefoot and these take hot and sharp in stride. It's that or tiretread thongs.

The biggest drawback to this book is that it lacks a bibiliography -- the author cites scientists whose work I want to read next. ( )

absolutely fantastic read...more like engaging in an adventure than reading a story. ( )

Great, well written book about ultra running. Very inspirational. Makes you want to go out and sign up for that first marathon or 50-miler! ( )

Mid-way through [Born to Run] I thought, anybody who has ever gone for a jog would have fun reading this book; by the time I finished it I realized that even folks who never ran, or ran loathing every step, would find plenty to enjoy. Encompassing the world of long distance running, the focus is the Tarahumara indians who have fun running continuously for a day or two through the rugged, scorching Copper Canyons of Mexico... wearing homemade sandals! McDougall visits the reclusive tribe and compares them to the competitors in ultra-marathon races -- often 50-100 miles in extreme environments such as Death Valley or the high Rockies. He cites convincing studies which conclude that modern humans evolved as long-distance runners. Whether this hypothesis is correct or not, the book is a fascinating peak into two misunderstood groups of people brought together by running. ( )

The author is a writer for out-doorsy-type magazines. This book covers a lot of territory, none very thoroughly: The sport of ultramarathoning, and the men and women who participate in it; the Tarahumara, a reclusive, native American tribe living an isolated existence in the Copper Canyon in Mexico, a canyon larger than the Grand Canyon, who were persuaded to participate in a few ultramarathons in Colorado in the 90's; the history of running, describing scientific inquiry into whether man evolved to run long distances; and, also the science of running, techniques particularly whether running shoes hurt or help the modern runner.

The book focusses on and the climax of the book describes a race in the Copper Canyon between Tarahumara runners and a few Americans who made the trek there to participate. The race was conceived and primarily organized by a man known as Caballo Blanco, the "White Horse", a real odd-ball, long distance runner and former boxer, who has been living in the Copper Canyon among the Tarahumara was many years.

I found the book to be very entertaining, even if it left me wanting alot more information on all of the topics that are touched on. If you were not already a runner, this book will convince you to try it, or nothing ever will. I already run. Not the distances described in the book, but more than the average. ( )

Reporter Christopher McDougall took up running as a way of getting in shape - and found that this sport can really hurt. Intriguingly, he learned of a tribe in Mexico - the Tarahumara - who run far beyond marathon-length races in rubber sandals, yet are never plagued by running injuries. This story recounts his trip to meet them, some studies related to running and his own journey of "relearning running."

Probably most plagued by having so much information, this was a difficult audiobook for listening to in small chunks because of all the threads that he has going at once that he adds to tangentially. I felt like I learned a little here and there, but would have gotten more out of it as a book because it would have been easier to follow all the different threads of the account - what's going on in Mexico, how McDougall became more of a runner, etc. Also, there are a couple of studies and theories related to running that he makes clear are not the consensus that I wanted to look up in an index in case I could hunt down the original articles and related materials. While there was much interesting information, I think there was a little too much going on and competing for my attention. ( )

Born to Run is a mysteriously engaging tale of body and mind. Unveiled in a similar spirit as that of outdoor writer John Krakauer (Into the Wild, Into Thin Air), McDougall presents a mystery, a murder mystery even. But for all the questions posed, this gripping yarn is both inspiring and informative leaving the reader with a desire to run farther, faster, easier, lighter, and just more betterer.

Among the questions McDougall poses, either directly or indirectly, the initial question begins "Why do my feet hurt [when I run only 3 miles]?" This question launches the author on an investigation which literally spans geographies, anthropologies, eons and even the realms of research and higher education.

In his investigations McDougall learns of the physical and cultural strengths of the Tarahumara Indians found in the Copper Canyons of Mexico. Why, McDougall asks, does a shy, modern-culture-shunning tribe of Mexican Indians run faster than ultra-marathoners and Olympic marathoners who train with greater abundance, more science, and richer technology? Why can the Tarahumara run faster while maintaining poor diets, consuming plenty of beer, and sporting simple sandals rather than high-tech running shoes? What are the Tarahumara secrets? And can Tarahumara actually hunt and kill deer solely by running them to death ; death by exhaustion? Answers to these questions and others are revealed while also noting the Tarahumara unique cultural positives: they avoid annoying self-promotion ; they thrive in an inhospitable desert ; they have no need for money ; And there is no rape, violence, or hunger. Too good to be true? You decide, but the author reveals a compelling tale.

McDougal's investigation of the Tarahumara is perhaps most interesting while highlighting contrasts with modern culture by considering aspects of running techniques and injury rates. For example, Tarhumara don't have incidents of Plantar Facitis or debilitating jogging-induced knee injuries despite the fact that they run almost barefoot with simple sandles.

This book is a fascinating read, perhaps because of the novelists approach to questions and cultural contrasts. But hard scientists should look elsewhere for a thorough scientific investigation into the evidence. And yet, the writing style is wholly engaging as it reveals many secrets, not the least of which is to suggest and explain why humans are born to run. ( )

Good Stories, Incomplete Analysis

Without doubt, "Born to Run" is a book that will entertain you, teach you a thing or two that you didn't know before, and get you thinking about joining the next marathon near you. The book is divided into two parts: one part narrative on ultra-runners, the Tarahumara people, and the incredible long distance race you've never heard of; the second part is an anthropological and scientific analysis of human evolution.

There is no doubting McDougall's writing, he knows a good story when he sees one. The stories about Barefoot Ted, Jenn and Billy, descriptions of the Copper Canyon in Mexico, are all highly engaging. However, McDougall's exploration of the scientific part is incomplete at best. For every study and report that shows that barefoot running is better for you and that persistence hunting was the reason for modern human development, there are peer-reviewed academic studies and reports by scientists that refute the claims made in the book, none of which McDougall includes.

Overall, I found this a very interesting and quick read and I gather most readers will as well. My only caution is to take McDougall's claims with a grain of salt and to seek more complete information if the topic so interests you. ( )

Born to Run, written in the gripping journalist style made famous by Jon Krakauer, makes running, a subject many find boring, absolutely thrilling. He accomplishes this by infiltrating the mysterious Tarahumara Indian tribe and applying the secrets of their naturalistic, long-distance running culture to the modern world. Along the way he helps us understand the burgeoning ultramarathoning culture, showing how these trail-running fanatics in the U.S. have developed many of the same dietary and running habits of the Tarahumara: a diet heavy on fruits and vegetables and light on meat (eating like you're poor), a habit of running for the sheer joy of the experience rather than for the sake of competition, low-tech minimalistic running shoes, and a style of movement that replaces the heavy heel strike with the light forefoot strike of a barefoot runner.

And if this isn't enought to stimulate your interest, McDougal's book features a mysterious American known as Caballo Blanco, who has chosen to live among the Tarahumarans and becomes obsessed with organizing a showdown between the most accomplished ultramarathoner of all time (Scott Jurek) and the best Taramumaran runners on their home turf in Mexico's Copper Canyons.

Born to Run is one of the most important books I've read in recent years, and I truly hope its popularity will stimulate greater interest in the most pure and natural of all sports.

-Kevin Jospeph (author of The Champion Maker) ( )

I highly recommend this book for any running enthusiast. Within this great story of a man's search for answers to why his foot hurts is a great adventure with zany characters and really good tips. I'm now in search of chia seeds and vibram five-fingers. ( )

Born to Run was a thrill to read. Not only were the story and the characters captivating, but it was well thought over and well developed. The first half of the book is about the history of the people involved in this race and what running meant to them. The second half of the book is both the running of the race, and the theory of how the human body works best: running!

McDougall touched across the joy and deep love that many of us runners have toward our sport, and at the same time showed that it is also what our bodies are designed to do effectively. As a barefoot runner I could not agree more with either point! Running is a joy, and our bodies are built to run just as they are (or at least with very minimal protection required).

Even my wife enjoyed reading this book, and our reading preferences rarely agree. I could barely put this book down, and when I finally did, it was out the door running. ( )

This is a fascinating book for runners, wanna-be runners or anyone who enjoys pushing themselves to the limit. The author explores the gift of running through studying several ultrarunners, meeting a secret tribe of the best runners in the world in Mexico, and ultimately learning the secrets behind those people. Even if you don't love to run, you will enjoy this story and the humanity that pours from it. A great read. Truly inspiring. ( )