Hey Ryan, really nice review and most endearing comments about the book. This amounts to, basically, the kind of response I could only dream of engendering in perhaps a very few readers as I was writing it oh so many years ago. I can't believe it took me this long to stumble upon this. I will now look forward to your take on some of my other favorite tomes. Thanks, man. You really really got it. John L. Parker, Jr.
Hey John, Laurens ten Dam, a former professional cyclist who cycled the Tour de France multiple times always mentions your book as a great inspiration during his professional career. He'd read the book once every year as a motivator/inspirator for his performances. He mentioned it a couple of times on his podcast, Live Slow Ride Fast.
This is one of the books I hold most dear. I'm a runner, albeit a slow one by comparison, but reading this book connects me to all the things I love about running. Perhaps that's why we runners love it so much. Not for it's literary quality, but for it's ability to connect us to something we love deeply.
Excellent. BT needs far more reviews like this: an intelligent review expressing the emotional content of a book. We have intellectual reviews of intellectual content (...omniscient narrator ...), emotional reviews of intellectual content (great, so good, wow), emotional reviews of emotional content (wow, ooh), but this is the rare one. Only ran track in HS, and only sprints (anything over 400/440 was crazy), but this sounds like a book worth finding. Thanks.
I love your timing for this review. I recently shared this book with one of my friends who didn't come to running until well into his adult life and he LOVED it. He is a pretty serious marathoner and didn't even realize that the book existed. I wish I had read it when I was as young as you were when you first did. Obviously because we are similar runners I have a lot of the same feelings about the book on a personal level that you do. Great review, it is a hard thing to talk about something you love for such personal reasons and I appreciate you doing that on behalf of all the runners that feel the way you do.
Hello, Ryan! I read this book earlier this summer and I loved it about as much as you did. I felt I had to read it as a sort of rite of passage to my college cross country team. They are all in love with the book. I love your book reviews and can't wait to see more of them!
This book had such mystic when I was running in college. It was so hard to find and one copy was truly passed around the team. When I finally got to own a copy, I was so excited. I just absolutely love Parker's writing style. So eloquent and high brow.
Ryan, I watch all your freakin' videos and I've read the freakin' book. Also, my mile time is not 4:07, but I'm flattered nonetheless. I need to run an approximately 100 mile week with you soon so that we can talk about all of the things we need to talk about. I love you, Anonymous human of the 'Tube
Little known fact: A line from this book: "Somewhere they foxtrot madly" is carved into Mikel Jollett's (lead singer of the Airborne Toxic Event) acoustic guitar. Also, I love this book. Great review!
Kate, why do you always come up with the COOLEST EFFING TRIVIA EVER. I wish I'd have known this before I made the video. Ugh. Thanks for always finding things to add to the discussion :)
Thank you, Ryan! Every serious runner knows this book, but that's a niche group! You're absolutely right: it's the best book nobody has ever heard of. Thanks for using your platform to spread the word outside of running circles!!!
I ran cross country and track in college and in HS. Ran a 4:06 mile equivalent in the mile in college in the 1500. We passed this book around in HS and in college...I read it recently and loved every bit.. Thanks for your review, read in 6 times and enjoyed every minute of it.
How can people read memoirs of elite baseball or football or basketball players, who are the 1% of the 1% physically (and often mentally) and yet be unable to handle this story about distance running? Baffling. But ANYWAYS-I think the coming-of-age story that's tucked neatly inside the larger "athletic struggle" narrative, and the theme of personal growth, could make this book worth a read for even a total non-athlete. It's funny, it's sweet, it's honest, it's gritty. And as someone who loves writing, who studied English and journalism in school, who reads all genres voraciously and gives (almost) everything a fair objective shot at being good, the style and prose of this novel in terms of syntax alone is worth its weight. If you like to read good writing, if you admire great athletes, if you want to have your brain stretched to fit around stuff it couldn't perhaps fit around before, do the minimum and at least check out a copy from the library. This is a good book.
Never before has a book, like you said, put words to the things I've felt but never really been able to explain. I love it. RT to the book, your words, and William's comment.
Hi Danielle! :) Yes it's so good for the inspiration. Rereading it, I get chills, I feel nervous for Cassidy... all the feelings come back, regardless of how many times I've read it. (Hope you're well!)
I have the quote rudyard Kipling was a 4:30 miler on the wall in my dorm, followed by Quentin Cassidy is a 4 minute miler. Basically means to me I should listen to cass like he’s Jesus and ignore people who try and talk but don’t understand
I've read this book, the sequel, and the prequel. I didn't care for the sequel as much. I was obsessed with this book my senior year of high school, though. And that's as someone who was just a 17 flat 5ker with big dreams.
I have one of the Cedarwoods Publishing Company’s editions. Probably read this thing a dozen times. This novel does such a great job of expressing the feeling of the early running boom. I don’t know if there will ever be anything like it again.
Great book review, Ryan. Thanks. You are very insightful and perceptive. I had a ( I think it was) Cederwind copy of the book. It was stolen years ago. Loved it dearly.
Very fine review of an outstanding book. Ryan, you didn't want to overhype the review as you said, but you had to do a completely different type of review as you noted several times. And this is because it is personal to you, and probes bigger issues and you keep coming back to it. But this is also because it is in fact a Great Book because that is in fact what great books do to us. The curious thing with John Parker Jr., is we are left wondering whether he is a great runner - who can write; or a great writer - who was, as the title goes, once a runner. The answer is definitely, 'Both'. John Parker Jr. is talented. And of course the book isn't for everyone. Some will walk away or just not be interested. But that is true of ANY book.
yo thanks for reviewing a runner book (a fellow runner also) This was a great treat to get after coming back from a cold, windy run, too. I just picked this novel up from library and reading it tonight.
Born to Run is fun but it's SUCH a different book than so many other running books... and I must confess, I'm not a huge fan of Born to Run. I did read it and enjoy it, though :)
you made me curious. Never heard of it, then again I never really looked for running books before, only know of Murakami's and I don't like his writing, so won't go for a non-fiction book of his then.
There are all these different "holes" in my reading life--famous authors I've never read, formative texts I've never read--that I feel like I've spent most of the last 5 years just trying to plug different holes in my reading life. But one of the largest holes, actually, is Murakami's book on running. I've read almost everything on running, but the one that the literary public has heard of most often is that book... and I haven't read it. I might have to read it just so I don't feel so guilty lol.
Man I hated this book. It was a lot of inside baseball and filled with the vernacular of the serious runner which I will never be. I’m the suburban jogger dilettante who feels extremely impressed with himself when he jogs in the snow but invariably hides out indoors for most of Feb and March. So not the target of the book. Even read Racing the Rain as well and …nope. Sorry. Born to Run by Christopher McDougall however is the book that actually convinced me, inspired me, to take up the ridiculous idea of jogging in the first place. For the weekend Couch to 5K jogger that’s the one to read.
My relationship with this book is a weird one; I can't imagine any other book that I've read where a comment like this one wouldn't sadden me at least a little, or raise some kind of negative emotion, because I still tend to not understand when another person doesn't love what I love (childish, I know, but still true). But... that doesn't happen with OAR. It's like, I both know that I love the book and know that many many people will hate the book for reasons which are legitimate. Perhaps this says more about my maturity (or lack thereof) than anything else, but with this book I don't actually feel like I have to convince people of its worth. Also Born to Run is a fun one :)
I’m a 5:15 minute runner in high school (constantly getting better though), will I still enjoy it as a slower runner? No one on my team likes to read outside of school, so I haven’t read it yet.
Hey Ryan, really nice review and most endearing comments about the book. This amounts to, basically, the kind of response I could only dream of engendering in perhaps a very few readers as I was writing it oh so many years ago. I can't believe it took me this long to stumble upon this. I will now look forward to your take on some of my other favorite tomes. Thanks, man. You really really got it.
John L. Parker, Jr.
this is awesome. The author of the book commenting on the book review.
@@christophermyers9427 Indeed. Excellent book, I've just finished reading it, congratulations Mr. Parker.
John, is it in the cards for you to write another inspiring book, please?
Hey John, Laurens ten Dam, a former professional cyclist who cycled the Tour de France multiple times always mentions your book as a great inspiration during his professional career. He'd read the book once every year as a motivator/inspirator for his performances. He mentioned it a couple of times on his podcast, Live Slow Ride Fast.
This is one of the books I hold most dear. I'm a runner, albeit a slow one by comparison, but reading this book connects me to all the things I love about running. Perhaps that's why we runners love it so much. Not for it's literary quality, but for it's ability to connect us to something we love deeply.
Excellent. BT needs far more reviews like this: an intelligent review expressing the emotional content of a book. We have intellectual reviews of intellectual content (...omniscient narrator ...), emotional reviews of intellectual content (great, so good, wow), emotional reviews of emotional content (wow, ooh), but this is the rare one. Only ran track in HS, and only sprints (anything over 400/440 was crazy), but this sounds like a book worth finding. Thanks.
I love your timing for this review. I recently shared this book with one of my friends who didn't come to running until well into his adult life and he LOVED it. He is a pretty serious marathoner and didn't even realize that the book existed. I wish I had read it when I was as young as you were when you first did. Obviously because we are similar runners I have a lot of the same feelings about the book on a personal level that you do. Great review, it is a hard thing to talk about something you love for such personal reasons and I appreciate you doing that on behalf of all the runners that feel the way you do.
Hello, Ryan! I read this book earlier this summer and I loved it about as much as you did. I felt I had to read it as a sort of rite of passage to my college cross country team. They are all in love with the book. I love your book reviews and can't wait to see more of them!
This book had such mystic when I was running in college. It was so hard to find and one copy was truly passed around the team. When I finally got to own a copy, I was so excited. I just absolutely love Parker's writing style. So eloquent and high brow.
I have read the book and ran with Frank Shorter
Ryan,
I watch all your freakin' videos and I've read the freakin' book. Also, my mile time is not 4:07, but I'm flattered nonetheless. I need to run an approximately 100 mile week with you soon so that we can talk about all of the things we need to talk about.
I love you,
Anonymous human of the 'Tube
Little known fact: A line from this book: "Somewhere they foxtrot madly" is carved into Mikel Jollett's (lead singer of the Airborne Toxic Event) acoustic guitar. Also, I love this book. Great review!
Kate, why do you always come up with the COOLEST EFFING TRIVIA EVER. I wish I'd have known this before I made the video. Ugh. Thanks for always finding things to add to the discussion :)
Thank you, Ryan! Every serious runner knows this book, but that's a niche group! You're absolutely right: it's the best book nobody has ever heard of. Thanks for using your platform to spread the word outside of running circles!!!
It's a niche indeed :) thanks for the lovely comment! Glad you enjoyed the video!
Gave up running after a motorcycle accident. Read this book years later thinking it would hurt but adored it!
I ran cross country and track in college and in HS. Ran a 4:06 mile equivalent in the mile in college in the 1500. We passed this book around in HS and in college...I read it recently and loved every bit.. Thanks for your review, read in 6 times and enjoyed every minute of it.
How can people read memoirs of elite baseball or football or basketball players, who are the 1% of the 1% physically (and often mentally) and yet be unable to handle this story about distance running? Baffling. But ANYWAYS-I think the coming-of-age story that's tucked neatly inside the larger "athletic struggle" narrative, and the theme of personal growth, could make this book worth a read for even a total non-athlete. It's funny, it's sweet, it's honest, it's gritty. And as someone who loves writing, who studied English and journalism in school, who reads all genres voraciously and gives (almost) everything a fair objective shot at being good, the style and prose of this novel in terms of syntax alone is worth its weight. If you like to read good writing, if you admire great athletes, if you want to have your brain stretched to fit around stuff it couldn't perhaps fit around before, do the minimum and at least check out a copy from the library. This is a good book.
Ill never forget that last race. So this is how it happens..
Never before has a book, like you said, put words to the things I've felt but never really been able to explain. I love it. RT to the book, your words, and William's comment.
RT to your comment and RT to the book and RT to your face, which I miss and think about often, Love, Ryan
"If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance running, yours is the earth and everything in it." pg: 9
Rudyard Kipling wrote that.
I have read this book multiple times just for the passion and inspiration...and yes had several quotes from it posted in my house through grad school
Hi Danielle! :) Yes it's so good for the inspiration. Rereading it, I get chills, I feel nervous for Cassidy... all the feelings come back, regardless of how many times I've read it. (Hope you're well!)
I have the quote rudyard Kipling was a 4:30 miler on the wall in my dorm, followed by Quentin Cassidy is a 4 minute miler. Basically means to me I should listen to cass like he’s Jesus and ignore people who try and talk but don’t understand
I've read this book, the sequel, and the prequel. I didn't care for the sequel as much. I was obsessed with this book my senior year of high school, though. And that's as someone who was just a 17 flat 5ker with big dreams.
I have one of the Cedarwoods Publishing Company’s editions. Probably read this thing a dozen times. This novel does such a great job of expressing the feeling of the early running boom. I don’t know if there will ever be anything like it again.
Great book review, Ryan. Thanks. You are very insightful and perceptive. I had a ( I think it was) Cederwind copy of the book. It was stolen years ago. Loved it dearly.
Very fine review of an outstanding book. Ryan, you didn't want to overhype the review as you said, but you had to do a completely different type of review as you noted several times. And this is because it is personal to you, and probes bigger issues and you keep coming back to it. But this is also because it is in fact a Great Book because that is in fact what great books do to us.
The curious thing with John Parker Jr., is we are left wondering whether he is a great runner - who can write; or a great writer - who was, as the title goes, once a runner. The answer is definitely, 'Both'. John Parker Jr. is talented. And of course the book isn't for everyone. Some will walk away or just not be interested. But that is true of ANY book.
yo thanks for reviewing a runner book (a fellow runner also) This was a great treat to get after coming back from a cold, windy run, too. I just picked this novel up from library and reading it tonight.
I'm so glad to know about this book. I'm a runner and haven't heard about it. My favorite running book is 'Born to Run'.
Born to Run is fun but it's SUCH a different book than so many other running books... and I must confess, I'm not a huge fan of Born to Run. I did read it and enjoy it, though :)
you made me curious. Never heard of it, then again I never really looked for running books before, only know of Murakami's and I don't like his writing, so won't go for a non-fiction book of his then.
There are all these different "holes" in my reading life--famous authors I've never read, formative texts I've never read--that I feel like I've spent most of the last 5 years just trying to plug different holes in my reading life. But one of the largest holes, actually, is Murakami's book on running. I've read almost everything on running, but the one that the literary public has heard of most often is that book... and I haven't read it. I might have to read it just so I don't feel so guilty lol.
ForTheLoveOfRyan looking forward to hear you tell me I can skip it ;)
Great review on this monumental book!
Man I hated this book. It was a lot of inside baseball and filled with the vernacular of the serious runner which I will never be. I’m the suburban jogger dilettante who feels extremely impressed with himself when he jogs in the snow but invariably hides out indoors for most of Feb and March. So not the target of the book. Even read Racing the Rain as well and …nope. Sorry. Born to Run by Christopher McDougall however is the book that actually convinced me, inspired me, to take up the ridiculous idea of jogging in the first place. For the weekend Couch to 5K jogger that’s the one to read.
My relationship with this book is a weird one; I can't imagine any other book that I've read where a comment like this one wouldn't sadden me at least a little, or raise some kind of negative emotion, because I still tend to not understand when another person doesn't love what I love (childish, I know, but still true). But... that doesn't happen with OAR. It's like, I both know that I love the book and know that many many people will hate the book for reasons which are legitimate. Perhaps this says more about my maturity (or lack thereof) than anything else, but with this book I don't actually feel like I have to convince people of its worth.
Also Born to Run is a fun one :)
Oh btw, my high school coach gave me his signed copy.
I can imagine that's a pretty cherished book, then :)
I’m a 5:15 minute runner in high school (constantly getting better though), will I still enjoy it as a slower runner? No one on my team likes to read outside of school, so I haven’t read it yet.
But do you have a Quenton Cassidy memorial mile shirt
Might give it a re read before my senior high school track season
Do it!!!
God, what's that book by George shehan?
Had to watch this,,It's great,very well done!!! Totally irreplaceable---Agreed.Never fails me!
In 2016, I run 5 KM.
do you smoke marijuana
you are a beast
you're a beast yourself ;)