I’m not a runner. It’s just not my thing. Put me on a bicycle, and I’ll go all day, but running? Nope. Not gonna happen. But just a few chapters into Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run,and I wanted to lace up and go out for a nice, long run.

Ironically, halfway through the book, I realized that lacing up was not the point at all, and in fact, was the opposite of the point of this finely crafted book.

In Born to Run, McDougall creates a narrative that is both compelling and inspiring. Deftly weaving facts about running and running shoes together with a story of the Tarahumara tribe in Mexico, the Leadville 100, and various ultrarunners from around the world. Advocating barefoot (or at least nearly so) running, McDougall takes athletic shoe companies to task while encouraging the reader to reclaim one’s ancestral heritage as creatures that evolved specifically to run.

Easily readable, informative and inspirational, Born to Run is on my top reads of this year. From Alfred A. Knopf Publishing and available at your local, independent bookseller. (Make a difference: shop local, shop independent, and tell ‘em you saw it on Elephant Journal!)