dinkydoodah's review
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
2.5
Elements of tourism of 'exotic' cultures & reductive colonial encounters.
lisamarietowns's review
5.0
I really enjoyed the way this book was written. I was heavily endorsed onto all the characters and loved Finn's adventures in Kenya!
evamadera1's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this book especially once I got past the notion (which the title invites) that the purpose of the book was to find out what makes the Kenyans such great distance runners. While that is a big part of the book (Finn temporarily moves to Kenya to train with the Kenyans because he's fascinated by their dominance at distance events) it is not the overall purpose of the book. Finn wrote (I believe) this book as a way to chronicle his journey. I loved that. (It doesn't hurt that I'm in an "completely-head-over-heels-in-love-with-running" phase right now either.)
Additionally, I loved the narrator's British accent.
There are no great secrets to be discovered in this book. If that's what you're looking for, this isn't the book for you. If you simply want to read all you can about running, this is definitely the book for you.
Additionally, I loved the narrator's British accent.
There are no great secrets to be discovered in this book. If that's what you're looking for, this isn't the book for you. If you simply want to read all you can about running, this is definitely the book for you.
jcronk's review
4.0
The author moves his family from England to Kenya and he trains for a marathon, meets various Kenyan record-holders, and tries to find out the secret to Kenya's dominance in racing. The story is interesting and entertaining, and it's not a surprise that there is no "secret" (spoiler alert: hard work, a way out of poverty, a cultural interest in running, and a higher degree of physical activity on a regular basis than people in more developed nations is the "secret").
The characters in the memoir are pretty well-drawn, and he makes it clear that they're not better runners because they are "closer to nature" or anything like that, which is great. His experience in Kenya was privileged, because he's white and has the means to do what he did, and he acknowledges this. Overall an enjoyable read.
The characters in the memoir are pretty well-drawn, and he makes it clear that they're not better runners because they are "closer to nature" or anything like that, which is great. His experience in Kenya was privileged, because he's white and has the means to do what he did, and he acknowledges this. Overall an enjoyable read.
peter__b's review
3.0
It's pretty easy to write a book with runners as your target audience. We'll pretty much eat up anything that's competently written and which has some decent information about the topic of running. And that's pretty much what you get here. An above-average runner uproots his family to go to Kenya in an effort to find out why these Kenyans are so damn quick over long distances. It's really more of a diary/travelogue of his time there and less a scientific examination of the running elite, although there are a few tidbits on the how and why of the topic.
It has its issues though. From a story perspective, it gets a bit repetitive with him doing a lot of travelling and running with different people, often easily making friends despite the language and culture differences. We get a few opinions from a number of people on the topic of the Kenyans' impressive running abilities, but that's as in-depth as it got. There's definitely no "secrets of the fastest people on earth" as the subtitle suggests.
The writing was decent and easy to follow, but I found the way he communicated his experiences to be a bit odd. He'd mention mannerisms or circumstances of some of the people he met, but he'd never give any more context on those aspects. This made it feel like he was either willfully ignorant or simply found the culture differences amusing. Either way, I was disappointed in his lack of insight into the culture he supposedly tried to entrench himself in.
It was still fun to listen to the story while out running myself. This is definitely not a must-read for runners, but at the same time, it's nice to hear a more considered alternative to the hype around [b:Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen|6289283|Born to Run A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen|Christopher McDougall|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320531983l/6289283._SX50_.jpg|6473602]. If you're a runner, you'll probably enjoy it; if you're not, then I'd advise against picking this one up.
It has its issues though. From a story perspective, it gets a bit repetitive with him doing a lot of travelling and running with different people, often easily making friends despite the language and culture differences. We get a few opinions from a number of people on the topic of the Kenyans' impressive running abilities, but that's as in-depth as it got. There's definitely no "secrets of the fastest people on earth" as the subtitle suggests.
The writing was decent and easy to follow, but I found the way he communicated his experiences to be a bit odd. He'd mention mannerisms or circumstances of some of the people he met, but he'd never give any more context on those aspects. This made it feel like he was either willfully ignorant or simply found the culture differences amusing. Either way, I was disappointed in his lack of insight into the culture he supposedly tried to entrench himself in.
It was still fun to listen to the story while out running myself. This is definitely not a must-read for runners, but at the same time, it's nice to hear a more considered alternative to the hype around [b:Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen|6289283|Born to Run A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen|Christopher McDougall|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320531983l/6289283._SX50_.jpg|6473602]. If you're a runner, you'll probably enjoy it; if you're not, then I'd advise against picking this one up.