Look Who it Was Random video

Loy Machedo's Book Review -- Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

904 views · Published 6 March 2013 · 5:57 · Indexed 27 September 2026

Channel: Loy Machedo · 2013 · Education

Watch on YouTube

Ever since I decided to get into the world of jogging and running, I took my favorite time tested path - Reading, Research and Reasoning. And added to this was having experienced mentors to help me take sensible and smart decisions.

The book came across thanks to the wisdom of one of my Running Mentors Rajesh -- A man who suffered a life threatening accident and who was told by doctors he would never be able to walk -- only to compete in Marathons World Over. Strangely, this guy runs his marathons in bare minimum runner-slippers -- a strange contraption that promotes bare-feet running. I found that rather strange. And that is where he introduced me to this book. And the impact of which has resulted in me running 6km -- bare-feet.

So now the analysis of the book by Christopher McDougall.

The story begins with a Narration from Christopher McDougall, a reporter and writer who struggle to keep himself in shape while keeping himself out of running related injuries. And this battle leads him into the mysterious world of the Mexican Tarahumara Tribe -- A hidden group of unknown and untouched race who are portrayed by Christopher as the Superhuman people of our planet. According to the author, the kill animals by running them to death and at times run 100 miles without any discomfort, injury or exhaustion.

From then on, the book moves from a simple story to becoming a creative crazy confusing character drilled non-fictional tale.

The story finally ends with the battle of the teams -- between the Tarahumara and the Americans with the complex plot of the Mexican Drug Gangs versus the Eroding cultural invasion from the rest of the world.
Now what did I love about the book?
1) There was brilliant Evolutionary Biology & Human Anatomy & Physiology being discussed at length which was fantastic. I loved listening to this in detail.
2) The stunning research on Bare-Foot Running was truly thought provoking and amazing.
3) And the dietary suggestions and examples given by the author truly made me think.
4) I think more than anything, it was pure inspiration to read the information he shared.

However, there were bits of the book I hated to the core.

Consider the following Characters in the book:
Barefoot Ted also known as El Mono
Billy 'Bonehead' Barnett also known as El Lobo Joven
Caballo Blanco also known as Micah True
Christopher McDougall also known as El Oso
Eric Oston -- Chris McDougall's Trainer also known as El Gavilan
Jenn "Mookie" Shelton also known as Brujita
Jenni Blake, the Naked Runner from Idaho
Ken Chlouber, the Leadville 100 Founder
Luis Escobar also known as El Coyote
Scott Jurek also known as El Venando
Sunny Blende
I don't know about you but for me to remember the names of more than 2 people takes effort. And then when you have 11 characters with names which are not familiar and over that top it off with native names to add to the confusion is worse. So many times in the book I was just totally lost not know who was who.

Personally, I felt there was the Creative Cognitive Dissonance of the Author at play by making the Tarahumara more inhuman and indestructible than they actually are. In fact, when I googled 'Jenn Shelton', I found she had criticized the book's accounts of the Tarahumara people for 'romanticizing' their lifestyle and for not adequately describing their poverty. That I felt was not right.


And with research, I found out that anthropologists who have worked in India and Mexico disagree with the authors accounts calling him very Superficial and One-Dimensional.

So moment of truth
How do I rate this book?
Given all the flaws of the book and the authors style of writing, I still found this book pretty thought provoking.

Some of the take home value from this book are:
1) Bare-foot running -- which I can proudly say I have done 12.8 km.
2) I have been introduced to Vibram Five Finger Shoes -- the minimalistic shoes (I have yet to purchase them)
3) Recreational Running started off with the 1966 Publication of Jogging by...guess who? Nike!
4) Great deal of information about the Neanderthals, the anatomy of the foot, and evolutionary biology.
5) The running industry being a 4 Billion Dollar industry and how they fool people resulting in more injuries today than every before.
6) The inspirational feel and message of the book -- that we are all born to run.

So keeping in mind both the good as well as the bad, well I will give this book a fair score.

Overall Rating -- 8 out of 10.

Loy Machedo
loymachedo.com | loymachedo.tv

More from this channel