Book Review – Born to Run
I have just finished reading the incredible book called Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. This is bound to be Nike's least favorite book of the year. The book begins with Chris' exploration of why he - and so many other people running today are so frequently injured (he claims 80% of all runners experience some injury each year). It's then that he learns about the Tarahumara indians who live in the Copper Canyons of Mexico, some of the harshest terrain on earth and they run 30, 40, 50 miles or more just for fun - in homemade sandals. No orthotics. No high engineered shoes with million dollar research budgets. No physical therapists, podiatrists, or orthopedists. Injuries are for them are extremely rare. So what's up with that Nike?
Apocalyptic Visions – Emergency
My own apocalyptic visions began sitting in a dark theatre watching Al Gore explain how ocean levels are likely to rise and flood major parts of coastal areas of the United States. What happens to the people living there? Where do they go? How does America deal with mass migrations of people? When Hurrican Katrina hit civilization began to break down, faster than most of us imagined possible.
Neil Strauss' new book "Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life" is not quite like anything I've seen published. Sure I've seen survival manuals written be wacky survivalists and predictions of gloom, doom and woe from economic prognosticators all of whom have pretty well been wrong so far. This is the first book I've seen that lays out a compelling story of why you or I might find this really necessary. Emergency tells the story of how Neil Strauss began to have visions of a coming apocalypse where the soft cushy life most in his generation have become used to falls away and society reverts back into survival mode. In a survival of the fittest scenario how would some survive who had never hunted, fished, killed an animal for food, foraged for food, started a fire or done any of the things that might be required in such scenarios? The book details Neil's progression from soft, wimpy city boy to a trained survivalist. Who he trained with, what he went through, and what he learned.
Strauss is a great writer who has written a book that is compelling. It is hard to put down. It reads like a novel, but may be one of those books that teaches more of practical value in what may lie ahead than almost any book you've ever read.
I, like Neil, have never been a big survivalist type or prophet of a coming apocalypse, but recent events make it hard to at least deny that our world can change quickly and being prepared would make a lot of sense. If you have had any such concerns I highly recommend reading Neil's book, at the very least it's a great read about a man obsessed with preparing himself. Most of us won't go the lengths he did, but it provides a buffet of choices to consider for our preparations.
If you've already read it, what did you think?
(Tim Ferris has posted some excerpts on his blog)
