Book of the Month: January. Born to Run

As a part of my 2010 book list, I thought I'd choose the best book I've read in a month and share it with you here. For January: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall.

First of all, I am not, and have never been, an athlete. But this book made me want to run. Here's the author talking about the book and running (and showing you his cool homemade running sandals).

What the video doesn't communicate is that this book is a Story--an extraordinarily well-written (and well-edited) narrative, with fascinating digressions woven in. He explores the background of the runners in the story, describes what evolutionary biologists can tell us about running and the human body, tells the story of a man who found the last persistence hunters and learned to hunt with them (by running after game until they got worn out or died), explains why Nike is marketing a shoe that attempts to do nothing, and finds to source of the hype for FiveFingers foot-gloves. And with excellent pacing, the main narrative follows his journey to find the Tarahumara tribe in Mexico and the first race between Tarahumara runners and US ultrarunners held in Mexico.

I stayed up way too late way too many nights reading this book. Two thumbs way, way up.