If you’re like me, you enjoy getting book recommendations, preferably non-fiction about real people, doing real things, in real places. “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall is just that and also has several parallels to MP concepts that we can learn from. It begins with a simple subject of running and it’s impact on injuries and transforms into a fascinating story of McDougall’s search for truth and ultimately lead’s to his conclusion that running long distances barefoot is the key to health, happiness, and longevity. From utlra-marathons to Mexican cartels, this book has a little bit of everything and is highly entertaining.
The MP concepts are evident throughout the book as McDougall starts with a simple problem, gathers information, build’s a case for his hypothesis, and then delivers it in a fun and entertaining story. Here’s a link to an overview of the book from McDougall’s website if you’re interested in learning more about it:
http://www.chrismcdougall.com/book.html
Thanks for sharing, Randall. I enjoyed our discussion about this book the other day during break, and I cannot wait to read it! He definitely went above and beyond to solve his problem with repeatedly getting hurt while running. I mean…having to get around Mexican Cartels to find a solution–no thanks!
Before we talked, I was aware of the barefoot movement. However, I did not know that this book is what really inspired it until I just googled it. I also learned that the fundamentals behind this movement are not that revolutionary, as chiropractors and physical therapists have apparently been been teaching these principles to their running patients for decades. Thus, this book must be a great example of the power of storytelling and its ability to persuade!
Randall, I’ve heard about this book and flipped through it a few times at the grocery. I would agree that there are ties to our MP projects and many who are passionate about running and exercising could definitely learn from the book.
Randall – This happens to be one of my favorite books. I never thought of the content in terms of “MP,” but as you point out, there are strong ties. Problem solving, storytelling, and building a case really have the same formulation weather in a formal presentation, or in a leisure read about running.