1984

Fahrenheit 451

Brave New World

Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

Neuromancer

A book which touches on how we evolved to be super distance runners and "persistence" hunters.

http://www.amazon.com/Born-Run-Hidden-Superathletes-Greatest...

Read it in the beginning of this year when I was starting to run, very inspiring. And look, I'm still running!

it's great. seems to be something there for everyone.

fans. musicians. political people. artists. lovers. writers. poets. workers. NJ enthusiasts.

It explains a lot of the bio mechanics involved in running and why humans are so superior.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/health/27well.html

I highly suggest reading the book itself - it's quite an eye opener.

[1]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6289283-born-to-run

[2]: http://www.chrismcdougall.com/born-to-run/the-barefoot-runni...

* Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational

* Christopher McDougall, Born to Run

* Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers

* Jeb Brugman, Welcome to the Urban Revolution

* Richard Florida, Who's Your City?

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

It is not a perfect book, but it did get me running, and in that sense literally changed my life.

http://www.chrismcdougall.com/born-to-run/

In a marathon I did on Sunday there was a lady wearing VFFs who already had two stress fractures, but was still determined to run in them. We questioned that decision....

I think some people might be reading "Born to Run" and jumping full on into barefoot running and VFFs without taking the time to get their feet used to the minimalist style! That said, they do work for a lot of people.

2011 - In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan

2012 - Born to Run, Christopher McDougall

2013 - Four Hour Work Week, Tim Ferriss

2014 - Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon

2015 - Awaken the Giant Within, Tony Robbins

2016 - Black Swan, Nicolas Taleb

2017 - Surely You’re Joking Mr Feynman, Richard Feynman

2018 - The Prophet, Khalil Gibran

2019 - Three Body Problem (series), Liu Cixin

These aren’t publishing years, just the year these books transformed me.

Shoes? Why use them when your feet are evolved into perfect shock absorbing springs.

Training Schedules? Here is this tribe of people who run only for the joy of it and to get where they want to go and they are some of the best runners in the world.

The whole book reads like a great paper. It makes something that once seemed complicated simple, and after you wonder how you could ever have thought that it was complicated.

So I then switched to New Balance Minimus which are sort of like the five-fingers but with a toe box and thus a bit more protection. These are great and I still have a pair that I sometimes run in. However, I'd periodically bruise the bottom of my foot landing on a sharp rock (looking at you, the Radical Road in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh early one summer morning!).

For the last 5-8 years I have been running in Altra Superiors: a low stack height, zero-drop (between heel and toes) and mostly because they have a rock guard that protects the bottom of your feet. Excellent shoes, I go through about 2 pairs a year and I love them!

Overall, I can highly recommend the "minimal" shoe approach (although maybe not the five-fingers). Go with Altra or Topo something that has zero-drop so you're not heel striking. You don't need/want arch support; the arches are supposed to be strong, support themselves and most importantly (for your knees) act as a primary shock absorber.

BTW: If you're interested in this and "humans as endurance runners", Born to Run by Christopher McDougall is a great read!

Humans don't suffer from this limitation. If you're curious I suggest you read Born To Run

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Born-Run-Hidden-Ultra-Runners-Greate...

My point is that not thinking about decisions "makes you a loser", and equating price with quality is often a mistake.

But many (if not most?) people do enjoy narrative -- they enjoy the build-up and suspense of what did Timothy Leary do that was so bad instead of getting straight to it, literary descriptions that paint a picture of a main character visually and personality-wise, and sentences that are natural and conversational (not a science article full of acronyms).

This is why I specifically mentioned the book is a combination of science and narrative -- which comes out of fiction. Born to Run is another classic example.

It's very rare that an author is excellent at clearly explaining science, excellent at writing narrative that hooks you, and also covers a topic that is very timely, widely unknown, and fascinating. That's the kind of triple-threat combination that makes it a best book for me.

* I Drink For a Reason - very funny

* Stumbling on Happiness (sounds self helpy but is actually a great book on our inability to predict how we will feel about situations in the future)

* A Brief History of Everything - one cool story after another

* A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier - hard to bear, but eye-opening

* Getting Unstuck - buddhist talk by Pema Chodron

* Born to Run - great, exciting story. Sometimes I would sit in the parking lot or the driveway after arriving in order to keep listening.

I found some of the statistics in the book to be really interesting. One guy researching bare foot running makes some sort of offer to pay anyone that can produce a single peer reviewed scientific study that shows that running shoes reduce the rate of injuries or make people faster runners. There are none! Think of all the crazy and only moderately applicable studies that have proven even the tiniest of facts while the huge assumption that we need running shoes has gone unproven!

Or how about Tim Ferris? He sells science with a test/control group of 1 (himself), his science is questionable as well (eg. don't eat sugar/fruit, drink wine...wine is fruit & sugar!).

Doesn't mean there aren't valuable nuggets or interesting ideas.

Are we throwing the baby out with the bath water?

On another note, I suspected that TED was using TEDx events as a vetting process for finding speakers to invite to the big show. For example, you'd think Born to Run author Christopher McDougall would have been a great presenter, but watch his TEDx talk from portland, and you'd barely have any interest in the book, which is surprising because it's a great read. But I also suspect some of the science he writes about is questionable.

Another useful google term is endurance hunting (theorized to be why humans are slow and weak, but have superior endurance)

Humans sweat, which most (all?) other animals don't. In that way we can dissipate heat through our breath, like other animals, _and_ via perspiration, meaning it takes us much longer to overheat.

Additionally, humans stand upright, allowing us to disconnect our stride from our oxygen intake. Other animals' strides correlate (mostly?) 1:1 with the breaths they take. So when a cheetah outstretches in its stride it breathes in and when its legs come together it exhales. Humans stand upright, meaning we can breathe however we want regardless of our stride and speed. We can take deeper breaths because we don't have to exhale every time we stretch our legs.

Humans are the ultimate marathon runners, even more so than horses, evinced by the fact that there are some people throughout history who have run hundreds of miles in the course of days or weeks. There's a theory touched upon in the book about how this allowed us to dominate the animal kingdom before we even had tools. Humans could relentlessly hunt and exhaust animals as long as they could keep them in sight or otherwise keep up with their tracks.

I'm not doing the book or the topic justice, surely, but if you're interested I highly recommend the book.

Applicable Wikipedia links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarahumara

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting

(Written by the author of Born to Run).

Life of Pi - Bought it following the buzz of the movie. Read the book first, then saw the movie. A good simple read. Sort of reinforces, the 'various models' idea of the 'Zen...' book. Found the movie slightly better than the book, which was a surprise. Ang Lee has made subtle changes, which makes the story more peppy.

Perfect Rigor - Captures the story (and math) behind, the turning down of a million dollar prize by Gregory Perelman. The genius Russian mathematician, who solved a 100 year old standing problem, of the missing proof of the Poincare Conjecture. It was perhaps my best technical read of the year.

I am feeling Lucky (by Doug Edwards): Google's emplpyee number 59, writes about his experience at Google. I found it the best book on Google. Better than some of the others, which seem a bit like officially authorized versions.

Below ones I read it in 2011. But haven't posted here, so here goes:

Born to Run (By Chris Mcdougall): A health book. Has really helped my running. Highly recommended to all.

A guide to a good life: The ancient art of Stoic Joy (By Joseph Irvine): A very good book on philosophy. Read it on the reco (http://sivers.org/book) of Derek Sivers.

As an aside, both my friend and her husband (who sometimes runs barefoot) said they didn't like the shoes. Since the glove-like fit actually forces the toes a bit further apart, they prefer lightweight "natural" trainers like these: http://tinyurl.com/yagubt5

The next morning I discovered that apparently, this was the first time I'd ever really used my calves before. I walked like an old man for three days, trying my best not to cry during my stretches.

Over time, I got better and took it slow, and I still swear by thin-soled shoes, but I'd advise anyone interested: take it slow at first!

Humans evolved on the plains of Africa, hunting animals by running them down to exhaustion[1].

I think some of the bare foot running purists become cult-like in their views, but I think Chris Mcdougall's "Born to Run"[2] book is worth reading and thinking about. It's an easy, well written and entertaining read too.

[1] Watch the amazing Attenborough clip of them running an healthy, fully grown male antelope down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=826HMLoiE_o

[2] http://www.chrismcdougall.com/born-to-run/the-barefoot-runni...

I am 53 and started running about 5 years ago. I started running using traditional running shoes, but after 3 months I almost gave up, due to my right knee (that had undergone ACL replacement surgery) constantly being sore.

Then I switched to Vibram's Five Fingers. I have now been running over 5 years wearing Vibram's and I have no knee pain and no major injuries. If you would like more info on barefoot running, the book "Born to Run" is a good read.

Try out a pair of Vibrams, you will never go back!

I do weight training too, but running is a totally different feeling, before I used to force myself to go for runs but now it takes a lot to stop me to go for a run. Its hard to explain, its like I am addicted to it, even though its still painful, but I am recovering much much faster.

I too recommend everyone to give running a try, if you can through the initial hurdle, I don't think you will ever regret it.

Just today, I also finished reading "born to run", while I understand that there are exaggerations in the story to make it more interesting for the readers, and science of "born to run" is still 'up there' and perhaps debatable depending on who you ask, its still one of the best book I have read. Highly recommended to read.

There's no need to know that any of this even exists in order to enjoy running, that's part of running's beauty. But there's lots to know if you want to.

p.s. I should add that Born to Run is an interesting read about a part of running that lots of runners don't know much about.

Looks like this[1] post goes into the debate, as framed by the book, but I'm on mobile and haven't read through it so YMMV.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Born-Run-Hidden-Superathletes-Greates...

[1] https://www.chrismcdougall.com/born-to-run/the-barefoot-runn...

Perhaps the title could be, John Lahr reviews Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen.

I honestly thought Bruce Springsteen, for some reason, was reviewing a different book by called, Born to Run which was written by Christopher McDougall about ten years ago.

But barefoot running is a great way to run, no knee or back issues after doing this for years.

Almost invariably, they spend too little time often using sub-par pursuits/techniques and end up not accomplishing anything or justifying their previous biases that allow for maintaining the status quo.

This is understandable given the constraints of deadlines and funding and the difficulty in finding the right things to do in the right order. It's unfortunate because it frequently leaves people with the impression that nothing works.

(Exceptions include books like Born to Run, Moonwalking with Einstein, etc.)

You have this a bit backwards- yes brain size at birth is limited by pelvis size, but this means that humans are born prematurely compared to other mammals. The entire body is basically premature and underdeveloped, not just the head/brain. If anything the brain is relatively over-developed, as it's size is the constraining factor in gestation length.

If I remember correctly, 18-24 months is the estimated gestation time humans would have if not restricted by pelvis size (which ironically is itself a result of walking upright), and this fits better with the idea of being able to walk closer to birth.

There's a chapter in "Born to Run" that ties human physiology and endurance and evolution and brain development together in a way that's so elegant, it almost has to be true. It covers the steps that lead to the need for a bigger brain and walking upright as a means for persistence hunting. Highly recommended reading, especially that chapter.

he talks a lot about his depression and how he finally got out of his deep rut, after 40 years of on/off again depression, sometimes severe

said he 'had it all' and still almost 'ended it all', so he totally gets it

i've never had it that bad, but i get it too, as much as anyone can who hasn't faced it directly

think he ended up just trying some particular drug mix that fixed him -- or, fixed him enough

so i do think there can be rewards to sticking it out as much as possible

and continuing to read about anyone who has ever talked about 'the black dog', like winston churchill.

i do wonder about the lifestyle stuff, tho

i always think back to that bored rat vs. playpen rat and water vs. cocaine experiment

if you are already getting at least 15 min of high intensity exercise (even a stationary bike, or the 'force fitmill sunny $400' --> recommend)

and you're eating right-ish

then those are both great

but i also wonder what, if anything, changing your job might do.

even if you try to switch to a 4-day/32-hour work week to start

take the salary cut if you need to

then look for other, more people-centric work? or physical labor-oriented?

or even start picking up small IT projects on Upwork or by pinging local businesses, etc.? to mix it up?

maybe try to change roles even within the same company? flip to qa, tech support, pre-sales, etc.? or a diff company?

just some ideas.

...one thing i heard back in the day, not sure i ever followed it myself - think i tried once - something like, "Do more of the things you like to do, and less of the things you don't like to do." seems reasonable.

When I first heard about the book "Born to Run", and how the Tarahumara use their legs/feet as the natural shock absorbers that they may have evolved to be, I said, "This is the style for me. I'm not a fan of running, but I do love efficiency, and this sounds like a fun way to give it a shot." It didn't really pan out--I have some Vibrams that get used once or twice a year--but I do like to sprint on rocky trails a lot, and going downhill is a lot more fun using something like BRT.

Interestingly, the only other comment besides yours mentioning "barefoot" is one from neilsharma, who writes that he had lots of problems from running that he chose to ante up on the footgear, which ended up further weakening his feet. I don't know if there have been studies done that show how our current shoe designs are bad for our feet--only that Vibram got in trouble for claiming that their shoes are better for you without anything backing them up--but it seems like something that ought to be looked at.

It's referred to ask a scam because running shoe retailers typically teach heel strike running and then offer costly shoes to mitigate injury.

If you're interested check out the book "Born To Run," google POSE running or check out crossfitendurance.com

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=826HMLoiE_o

Recommend reading Born to Run or watching the Ted talk by the author for those interested.[1]

[1]https://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_mcdougall_are_we_born_...

* Exactly: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World by Simon Winchester

* Atomic Adventures: Secret Islands, Forgotten N-Rays, and Isotopic Murder-A Journey into the Wild World of Nuclear Science by James Magaffey

* Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande

* Vulcan 607 by Rowland White

* Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

* Best. Movie. Year. Ever: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen by Brian Raftery

* A Fabulous Creation: How the LP Saved Our Lives by David Hepworth

* 1983: Reagan, Andropov, and a World on the Brink by Taylor Downing

* The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why by Amanda Ripley

* In Your Defence: Stories of Life and Law by Sarah Langford

* Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons by Mike Reiss

* Working Actor: Breaking in, Making a Living, and Making a Life in the Fabulous Trenches of Show Business by David Dean Bottrell

* Becoming by Michelle Obama

* Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker

* Rush Hour by Iain Gatel

* Tamed: Ten Species that Changed our World by Alice Roberts

* The Next American City: The Big Promise of Our Midsize Metros by Mick Cornett

Then I managed to smash a vertibra in a climbing accident which meant spending the next two months learning how to do all of those things, including walking without putting strain on my spine.

There's a good book with the name Born To Run, one of the basic ideas presented is that the human body is a perfect running machine. You don't need to add anything, just stay out of its way and let it do what it was built for.

Here's what I would encourage anyone interested to try:

Start by balancing the spine sitting on the edge of a chair. Roll shoulders backward, relax the stomach, tilt the hip forward and pull the chin in until you feel your upper body is balancing on the root of the spine in your hip. Do a body scan and release any sign of muscle tension, the idea is to use bone structure and tendons to carry the weight. It should feel effortless, like the upper body is floating mid air.

Then repeat the same procedure standing up.

Now comes the slightly tricky part, unlearning the funny walk you've most likely been practicing your entire life. I recommend starting barefoot.

Keeping the same pose, and making sure not to tense any muscles, including the muscles in the feet; lean slightly forward. If you manage to do it without tensing, your body will start walking by itself and the feet will land exactly where/how they're supposed to. Leaning further increases the speed.

Adding muscles will increase the speed further. Just make sure the energy is directed backwards, pushing the body forward; and not straight down into the ground which is what people usually do when running, especially with bouncy shoes.

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On my Kindle:

Anna Karenina, Tolstoy; Clean Code, Uncle Bob; Palm WebOS; Antoninus Meditations, Marcus Aurelius, Emperor; Never Eat Alone, and Other Secrets to Success, Ferrazzi

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In my stack:

Daniel-X, James Patterson; Born To Run, Christopher McDougall; The Existential Jesus, John Carroll; Fear and Trembling - Repetition, Soren Kierkegaard

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On the way in from Amazon:
The Trusted Advisor, Maister; Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully, Weinberg; Rain Making: Attract New Clients No Matter What Your Field, Harding

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I'm thinking about growing another pair of eyeballs so I can read two books at once. I'll let you know how the genetic engineering goes. (grin)

There is often an evolutionist explanation for it that goes something like "the human leg and foot evolved to run barefoot", but isn't there a flaw in the explanation that running usually happened on dirt, grass, and not on the paved streets of New York? In other words our feet won't do well running barefoot on concrete or asphalt.

I am not a runner but just wondering, how many people use VFF for marathons successfully without injury? Is it a high number or it is still very very small minority?

http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/products/products_kso_trek_...

I can attest that there is an adjustment period to strengthen your ankles and calf muscles. As an experiment it's going well so far. It totally changed my gait.

Barefoot running techniques are becoming very popular. The recent book _Born to Run_ is partly responsible for this phenomenon.

But within the running community, there is not yet a consensus on the barefoot style (or the related Chi Running style), mostly due to the lack of data. Hopefully this study and others will finally shed some light on comparative injury rates.

The basic idea is this: The arch in your foot is quite strong and flexible, and it is all the cushion you really need when running or walking. Running barefoot forces you to use this natural springiness of your foot by landing on your mid- or fore-foot. Running in shoes, on the other hand, encourages you to lengthen your stride and land on your heel. The heel-strike is the source of much injury (plantar fasciitis, knee problems, etc) according to the barefoot advocates. It's simply impossible to run barefoot and land on your heel-- it hurts too much.

In the book _Born to Run_, the author goes to a gait analysis lab. They compared the impact of him running on a force plate in shoes and while barefoot. To his surprise, there was less impact while barefoot than while in his Nike running shoes; the theory was the massive heel cushioning takes the edge off an impact that would otherwise cause sharp foot pain but doesn't lessen the total impact on your ankles, shins and knees.

There was change in the air at the Zombie Runner store in Palo Alto where I bought the Vibrams last week. They could barely keep any of these models in stock. Born to Run was on display in front of the shoe wall as if it were now required reading before buying a shoe.

As you said, and what a nurse told me I needed stretching. That's helped against part of the ache, but for the running, I read the book born to run. They talk about using your calf muscle as a spring (sorry if this is the wrong words, I am not a native english speaker).

To do this you need to take short steps where you land your feet under you all the time so you don't put your heel in the ground. Very tough training to begin with, but it at least removed all my running problems.

Since I was a heelrunner I had to start over, since this is very tiring.

If you are a runner or would like to be one, it's a good read. And if you haven't found out about it yet, check out Vibram Five Finger "shoes" which allow you to start barefoot running without the callouses and hard skin: http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/

For most field sports athletes, I think it's a pretty natural form as well. For any sport requiring pivoting, cutting, and rotating (soccer, basketball, football, etc) explosiveness is key. I can't think of any activity where heel first running would work, except for really light jogging or power walking.

The high incidence of knee (or other) injuries in some sports isn't really related to running form either. Most of them are a result of trauma, such as landing awkwardly or physical contact. Toe first versus heel first doesn't really matter there, except for the stronger muscles that the former form may build. Running toe first will reduce the chance of injury from persistent strain put on the lower body as a result of long-form running, since it happens repeatedly over a long period of time.

You've got a book--Born To Run--that won't leave the NYTimes Bestseller list. And you've got every serious/casual runner out there espousing the virtues of minimalist footwear for running. I feel like I run into conversations on the topic at half of the social events I go to; Vibram has made millions of those five-toed shoes; everybody feels smarter for having read that book and worked less foam into their running routine -- and now this guy shows up with a shoe that runs straight against that vibe? That's tough swimming, even if he's right.

Obviously, he should have assented to a far lower royalty rate.

The Tarahumara people have been known in the elite runner/super athlete circles for a few decades yet but it seems that since the book came out everyone has been searching for their own experience with them. They are also somewhat responsible for the recent barefoot running phenomenon.

The two work in concert because fast prey escapes line of sight and gets mixed up with each other easily, so human endurance becomes much less useful if you can't follow & wear down the appropriate target.

"Born to Run" is a fun summary/story about some of this science but there's more hard science out there too if you're interested.

This doesn't seem to jive with the persistence hunting theory, since meat is one of the worst fuels for distance running (or any endurance sport).

I try to read a few "classics" now and then, and I definitely read more than just sci-fi. I like history, philosophy, biographies, etc., as well. But you touch on something we all have to struggle with: Time. There are only so many hours in the day to read, and every time I sit down to read, I have to make a decision on whether or not what I'm thinking about reading is a good use of my time.

So... I'm going to get a certain amount of raw "escapism", pop-fiction stuff, that I need just to stay sane. That's a given. Now, how much time do I have left to read Homer, or obscure French and Russian "literature"? And to what end? Just to impress hipster douche-bags and self-appointed "intellectuals"? Or because reading that stuff is actually going to add value to my life? Is reading Madame Bovary or Anna Karenina going to do more for me than reading Teach Yourself Haskell in 21 Days or Asimov's "Foundation Trilogy" books, or whatever?

The last few books I've read (other than technical books) include Run by Dean Karnazes, Born to Run by McDougal, The Belgian Hammer by Lee, Eat & Run by Scott Jurek, Racing Through the Dark by David Millar, Slaying the Badger by Moore, Running on Empty by Marshall Ulrich and The Secret Race by Tyler Hamilton. Would I be better off if I'd spent that time reading "literature" instead? I don't know, but I'm sceptical.

OTOH, I have a whole pile of stuff lying here by Nietzsche, Kieerkegard, Hume, Foucalt, etc., that I'm planning to work through. But I'm reading it just because I find it interesting, not because I see it as having any more inherent value than "low brow" literature.

That said, last year, my big thing - outside of "utility" books, were books on running and bike racing. I read things like Running Through The Wall, Born To Run, Slaying The Badger, Running on Empty, Racing Through The Dark, Eat & Run, The Belgian Hammer, Run!, It's Not Just About The Bike and The Secret Race. Fascinating stuff, for anyone who is interested in either running or bicycle racing.

1. http://www.amazon.com/Born-Run-Hidden-Superathletes-Greatest...

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting