Great book, absolutely awesome story. I became a bit bored with the history of man sections, but understand how they fit in the big picture.
The character development is great. So descriptive and engaging I feel like I personally know each of them. Very well done.
And I have to humbly say that this book is changing my life. I won’t be presumptive and say that it has changed my life yet, but I feel it coming on. I am moving away from the common trend of super cushioned shoes, gradually going towards more minimalist types. Also changing to a mid-foot/forefoot strike and letting my awesomely designed, shock absorbing foot, do what it was meant to do. Calves are screaming some days, but they’re adapting and getting used to the newness.
Chia seeds are now a part of my daily diet. Iskiate is my go-to drink these days. People look at me like I’m drinking sludge, but it’s so refreshing. Pinole is my next dietary adventure, and I expect that to become a regular item in my kitchen.
Thanks for an inspiring, awesome book. I’ve already told a dozen running friends about it. Most already have a copy, but have never read it. I have vigorously encouraged them to do so. Run Free!!!
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
4.7 | 25,387 ratings
Price: 15.75
Last update: 01-10-2025
Top reviews from the United States
Roy J.
Fantastically Motivating!
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2023
Grant R
This book positively helped make my life permanently better!
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2019
Grant R
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2019
And, as any great read might do it allowed me to feel connected, however remotely, to interesting peoples; and exotic places I probably wouldn't've ever been able to imagine existed no matter how many more years I might live.
More importantly, to me personally; it was what made me aware of: the existence and potential benefits of minimalist footwear; and, the absurdity of the school of thought that would have us believe nature's evolutionary design success with the human foot can be vastly improved by a plethora of modern footwear gimmickry. And lastly, how transitioning back to nature's time-tested, time-proven way (barefoot) might actually reset one's ambulatory infrastructure to where it's meant to be in the first place — the place it took a significant long two million years or so to leisurely perfect on its own.
In fact: the wealth of somewhat esoteric information in this book proved to be an unparalleled revelation which provided me with fresh insights fundamental to my particular set of circumstances at that time.
The key reason being; that although I've never actually suffered from plantar fasciitis or related knee injuries; as a teenager I was thrown off a galloping horse that stopped abruptly, and I landed on a fallen tree in a mountain wilderness area; sustaining multiple, grievous internal injuries due to the ensuing trauma. One of the worst, besides being diagnosed with hypogycemia and hypoadrenocorticism [aka secondary adrenal insufficiency], was a herniated lumbar disc which I've painfully had to deal with for most of my adult life. Walking, running, and sometimes even just standing at some kind of work-station or another has at times caused me severe and disabling lumbar spasms.
The point is, after reading about the Tarahumara and the running-shoe industry; I decided to purchase a pair of zero-drop shoes (aka foot-gloves) and soon started the transition period. Walking for an hour or so each day to start with and slowly increasing the time as quickly as I deemed prudent.
After about three months I was up to ten miles a day (on a good day) and felt the physical transition to be mostly complete at that time.
It was then I tossed my expensive running shoes into the trash; along with my very expensive shoe orthotic inserts; and have never looked back. It's been about six years now since my last visit to an Osteopath or Chiropractor (yeah, for real!).
Astonishingly, other than some recent lower back pain from sleeping on a soft, worn-out mattress my bad disc has mostly been behaving its otherwise typically fickle-self for almost every day of those six years.
Nor am I flatfooted by any means either! My arches have remained as healthily high, and every bit as strong (probably much stronger) as they ever were, and this without any arch-support whatsoever thank you very much.
Neither am I otherwise suffering from any other sort of chronic foot/knee pain, even though I frequently walk for miles at a time (love walking now more than ever); and even jog a bit on occasion.
And although I still prefer my bicycle for serious "endorphin hunting" (the only thing I've ever been hopelessly addicted to in my entire life); walking/jogging now feel decidedly better than they did with typical athletic-type shoes before transitioning. Indeed, this totally sordid business of genuinely needing arch-supports in modern shoes seems like an enormously cruel joke to me now. To be clear: the irony here being that apparently, the exact reasons I perceived requiring their dubious benefits in the first place; were primarily due to the fact (lumbar disc issues aside) that the footwear I've been beguiled into enduring most of my life was indeed the biggest, most pernicious joke of all!
To conclude: after delving into Christopher McDougall's Born to Run for the second time this decade, one of my takeaways is that; it's not just a book for runners, elite or otherwise. It's also an entertaining book for the open-minded everyman with an adventurous spirit.
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Thomas
Fun Read with Hard Facts
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2011