Born To Read (and run of course)

Chris McDougall’s book “Born To Run” is probably the most fun and enjoyable book I’ve seen written about running. The prose is wonderful. The story telling is rich. And Chris develops both his characters and presents his thoughts on the evolution of running in a careful and thorough manner.  While I would disagree with the apparent conclusion that Chris and some others have reached that we have all evolved so well that barefoot running is right for everyone, I found so much else in this book that I recommend it whole heartedly. Chris covers diverse people and topics ranging from Barefoot Ted to Professors Bramble and Lieberman. I’ve read and thought about much of the scientific literature that Chris mentions in his book.  And I have a take on it that is much the same.  I will try to detail my take on some of the issues, but will not be casting any polemics towards this thoroughly enjoyable book. The science is only a small part of the book. The story is the thing. But the science is still worth thinking about.

This year is the 200th anniversary of the birth not only of Abraham Lincoln but also that of Charles Darwin. Darwin’s “Origin of Species” was published 150 years ago.  It is worth a look at how we got here, where we are, and how we fit into society and the world. We should look at why many of us like to run. Why is movement good for us and is life enhancing in many ways, and even life extending.

We’ll try to take a look at how we evolved to stand upright and run. We’ll look at what are the purposes, benefits and drawbacks of shoes in society and sport. What aspects of barefoot running are good and is barefoot the way to go for all of us? And up front, I’ll admit to having spent significant time running barefoot myself. Hopefully over the next few months we’ll have posts up detailing this and more.  With a long and ever changing list of topics to write on blog about, I’ll do my best to keep this at the forefront of my “to blog” list.

But I’ll again recommend reading “Born To Run”. It will make for enjoyable and thought provoking summer reading and you won’t have to wait for serial publication of the next chapter. You’ll just want to keep reading to find out what happens next. And after I finish the last 20 pages, Born To Run will sit in an honored place on my bookshelf. Right next to George Sheehan’s “Running And Being” and “This Running Live” and next to Amby Burfoot’s “The Runner’s Guide To the Meaning Of Life”. Murakami’s “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running”  is there too, along with many others, but a bit further over on the shelf.

If you’d like to see some of the details on hominid development of endurance running, see Bramble and Lieberman’s article from Nature (2004).

Tagged as: Barefoot