Running Is a Kind of Dreaming: A Memoir

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars | 33 ratings

Price: 22.04

Last update: 01-07-2025


About this item

A powerful, breathtaking memoir about a young man's descent into madness, and how running saved his life.

“Voluntary or involuntary?” asked the nurse who admitted J. M. Thompson to a San Francisco psychiatric hospital in January 2005. Following years of depression, ineffective medication, and therapy that went nowhere, Thompson feared he was falling into an inescapable darkness. He decided that death was his only exit route from the torture of his mind. After a suicide attempt, he spent weeks confined on the psych ward, feeling scared, alone, and trapped. One afternoon during an exercise break he experienced a sudden urge. “Run," I thought. "Run before it’s too late and you’re stuck down there. Right now. Run."

The impulse that starts with sprints across a hospital rooftop turns into all night runs in the mountains. Through motion and immersion in the beauty of nature, Thompson finds a way out of the hell of depression and drug addiction. Step by step, mile by mile, his body and mind heal. In this lyrical, vulnerable, and breathtaking memoir, J. M. Thompson, now a successful psychologist, retraces the path that led him from despair to wellness, detailing the chilling childhood trauma that caused his depression, and the unorthodox treatment that saved him. Running Is a Kind of Dreaming is a luminous literary testament to the universal human capacity to recover from our deepest wounds.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.


Top reviews from the United States

  • Katie Tise
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Captivating honest portrayal-darkest pits to solid ground
    Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2024
    Cover to cover this memoir captures the human experience in extraordinary detail illuminating how universal and resonant the entire spectrum of emotions are. A theme of how we as humans are lured to numb them out and guard against them and the multifaceted components of recovering from that avoidance to embracing the realities of human experience. JM Thompson has a gift in capturing wide angle and zoomed in moment to moment human experiences in a coherent and gripping writing style that left me unable to put this book down until I absorbed every word.
    Customer image
    Katie Tise
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Captivating honest portrayal-darkest pits to solid ground
    Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2024
    Cover to cover this memoir captures the human experience in extraordinary detail illuminating how universal and resonant the entire spectrum of emotions are. A theme of how we as humans are lured to numb them out and guard against them and the multifaceted components of recovering from that avoidance to embracing the realities of human experience. JM Thompson has a gift in capturing wide angle and zoomed in moment to moment human experiences in a coherent and gripping writing style that left me unable to put this book down until I absorbed every word.
    Images in this review
    Customer image
  • J. P.
    4.0 out of 5 stars "There is a ground beneath us that never goes away."
    Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2021
    HarperCollins sure got their targeting right when they emailed me the promo for this book two days ago. It was like HC knew that I've been in the midst of a dark depressive episode for over a year (my 13th and longest by far) and had just a few days before started contemplating running in order to try to lose some of the weight I've put on from psychiatric medications. And tada! Here it was: a book about mental illness and running! And a memoir to boot!! I was ready to be inspired. I didn't even finish reading the entire email—I automatically went to the Kindle page, hovered for about a second, and then purchased it (and I normally don't purchase Kindle books unless they're in the $0.99-$2.99 sale range ... as in I have maybe purchased 5-10 regularly-priced Kindle books ever, this one included. I may own thousands of Kindle books, but I'm a print book girl at heart and that's where I like to spend my book money).

    The book is eminently readable (if my finishing it in 3 days didn't clue you in), though certainly difficult at times and full of triggers for a variety of people (drugs, mental illness, abusive/neglectful parents). The backdrop is a 205-mile run around Lake Tahoe that Thompson is completing in 4 days, and interspersed with the tale of that run is his childhood, his descent into depression, his drug abuse, and his ultimate triumph over his demons—and the long and slow slog it took to get there. I couldn't help smiling when I would read the parts of his mindset while he was running, looking forward to seeing his wife and children at different aid stations, knowing that he was in such a different place from the setting we kept going back to.

    [ What do you call the place where the sun feels really hot and the creek feels really cold and food tastes really good and your loved ones feel so precious you want to weep with joy? Reality. ]
  • Max Renn
    5.0 out of 5 stars Astounding
    Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2024
    An incredible account of childhood trauma, addiction and eventual redemption. The author retold his tragic life with soaring, literary prose. It was just a beautifully written memoir. Powerful story of mental health and substance use recovery.
  • shelby
    5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating page turner
    Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2021
    A page turner, brimming with beautiful language and profound insights. The interweaving of the ultramarathon and struggle with depression is genius. Buckle in and prepare to feel intimately what it's like to run a grueling 200-mile race and what it's like to go through severe depression. You will laugh, cry and most importantly, pause for thought. The paragraph in the Oort Cloud chapter on lost human possibility will be with me forever. I think there's awareness of the stigma of mental illness, but it's going to take stories like this one to shift our minds to genuine understanding and compassion. The storytelling is so captivating, that I didn't want the book to end.
  • Joshua Davis
    5.0 out of 5 stars Anxious? Depressed? Read this book.
    Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2021
    First off, this is a harrowing tale. I hope most readers won't have gone to the depths that Thompson did. But for anyone who's glimpsed the darkness, or been touched by it, or even known someone caught in the downward spiral, this book offers some hope. Movement is critical to our well being and Thompson discovers that it is the path back to health. Not everyone needs to run as far or as long as he did, but this book shows us how grappling with our demons by moving our bodies can change the trajectory of a life.
  • jaga
    5.0 out of 5 stars RAW. HEARTBREAKING. INSPIRING. BEAUTIFUL.
    Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2023
    Thompson is so eloquent in the telling of his story, capturing the details in extraordinary detail and vivid imagery. That story, while absolutely heartbreaking at times, is instructive for so many of us in coming to terms with our own challenges and helping those around us who may be struggling. I particularly appreciate how Thompson addresses the need for professionals to see their patients as human beings, treat them fairly, and appropriately sharing their own story is part of that.
  • Mary M. G.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Our instinct is survival. Listen to that survival voice! Horrific depression can be overcome.
    Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2021
    When we first meet Mr. Thompson he is happily preparing to run 200 miles around Lake Tahoe with the support of his loving wife and daughter. As he runs he takes us back in time and tells us how he got here to this punishing and exhilarating 200 mile run, one of many 200 miles runs.
    The severe depression that brought him here is shattering. I’ve been depressed. We all have. For many of us it, fortunately comes and goes. To picture a Thompson curled into his wife’s lap in a fetal position crying his eyes out repeating, “I can’t, I can’t” is heartbreaking. At her insistence he finally gets serious help and admits himself into hospital, where he has the epiphany one night. “RUN” said his inner survival voice. So run he does. From running laps around the hospital roof to running 200 mile ultramarathons Thompson regains his spirit, mind and a full life through movement. It is during this long runs that he enters a dreamlike state that allows him to process his past, childhood to present and become at peace.
    Thompson reminds us that only we can save ourselves. Yes, sometimes that includes medication and therapy, sometimes it means divorcing, cutting ties with toxic people, leaving a job or place too…but it always involves tuning in to our inner voice that wants to save us. Survival the natural instinct of all animals, humans included. Listen to that survival voice for guidance.
    Thank you #netgalley for allowing me to read and review #RunningIsAKindOfDreaming

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