Patron Non-Fiction Picks: Books To Get You Moving

Posted by EPL Patrons

Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness by Scott Jurek.  A memoir about Jurek's path to ultramarathon greatness.  Unconventional even in his relatively crazy sport (how many of us would sign on for a 100 mile run?), Jurek thrives on and espouses a vegan diet.  Interwoven through chapters about his life are vegan recipes and training tips.  Worth reading, if not riveting.

Take a Seat: One Man, One Tandem and Twenty Thousand Miles of Possibility by Dominic Gill. This book recounts the author's journey on a tandem bike from Alaska to the tip of South America.  Along the way, strangers and new friends joined him on the back seat of the tandem, though many miles were spent solo.  Maybe the scope such an adventure is too great to portray in words, but I thought Take a Seat fell short of bringing the reader in.  For a much more interesting, involving read of adventure by bike, pick up Jill Homer's Be Brave, Be Strong or Joe KJurmaskjie's Momentum is Your Friend.

In the Long Run: A Father, A Son and Unintentional Lessons on Happiness by Jim Axelrod.  An account of the author's quest to complete the New York Marathon.  Originally a quest to beat his father's marathon time, it becomes a meditation of what he really wants in life.  More than the story of training or racing, In the Long Run is about the ways we lose our path despite following the map to the whole way, the process to finding the way back, and a love story to Axelrod's family.