# What are the best books about running that aren't training manuals? Canonical: https://zestasy.com/books/best-books-about-running/ Section: Books & ideas · Updated: 2026-10-13 · Publisher: Zestasy Start with Born to Run by Christopher McDougall for the adventure, then Haruki Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running for the quiet, reflective side. If you want fiction, Once a Runner by John L. Parker Jr. is the cult novel; if you like mud and hills, Feet in the Clouds by Richard Askwith is the fell-running classic. A training manual tells you what to do on Tuesday. A good running book tells you why you might want to go out on Tuesday at all, and keeps you company on the sofa when you don't. The four below have no pace charts, no twelve-week plans and nobody shouting at you to hydrate. They are simply good reading that happens to be about running. ## Born to Run, for the story Christopher McDougall's book, published by Knopf in 2009, is a piece of adventure journalism. He goes looking for the Tarahumara people of Mexico's Copper Canyons, whose ultra-distance runners cover huge distances at speed with few of the injuries common among American runners, and builds the book around that search. Along the way he argues two things that made the book famous and much debated: that cushioned modern running shoes may be part of why runners get hurt, and that humans may have evolved to run long distances. Read it as a story, not a prescription. It is pacey, opinionated and very good at making you want to run somewhere dusty. Whether you then change your shoes is a separate conversation, ideally with someone who has looked at your feet. ## What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, for the thinking Haruki Murakami published this memoir in Japanese in 2007; Philip Gabriel's English translation followed in 2008. Murakami started running in the early 1980s, and the book ties running to his writing life: how he became a novelist, training for the New York City Marathon, an ultramarathon in Hokkaido, a triathlon, and what years of daily running have to do with the discipline of writing. It is short, plain and unshowy, which is exactly why runners keep it by the bed. We give it a page of its own at /books/what-i-talk-about-when-i-talk-about-running/. ## Once a Runner, for the fiction John L. Parker Jr. self-published this novel in 1978 and sold it himself before it became a cult object among runners. It follows Quenton Cassidy, a college miler who is suspended, retreats to a remote cabin to train under a former Olympian, and sets his sights on a race against the best miler in the world. It is a sports novel in the old sense: obsessive, a little romantic, and much more interested in the inside of a runner's head than in the finish line. If you ran track at school, it will feel uncomfortably familiar. ## Feet in the Clouds, for the hills Richard Askwith's 2004 book is about fell running, the British tradition of racing up and down hills and mountains off-road. It was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year and won him Best New Writer at the British Sports Book Awards. It is about fell running and obsession in roughly equal measure, and it makes a strong case for running as something you do in weather, on rough ground, with people who don't care about your split times. This is the one to read if road running has started to feel like commuting. ## How to choose between them - **Want to be swept along?** Born to Run. - **Want something calm for the evening?** Murakami. - **Want a novel?** Once a Runner. - **Want wind, rain and grit?** Feet in the Clouds. None of them will tell you how to run, and that is the point. They are about why people keep running long after the novelty wears off. ## FAQ ### Is Born to Run good advice about running shoes? It is a persuasive argument in a work of journalism, not a fitting guide. The book helped start a wave of interest in minimal shoes, and it remains debated. Enjoy the story and get shoe advice from a specialist who can watch you run. ### Do you need to be a runner to enjoy these books? No. Murakami's memoir in particular is read by plenty of people who never run, because it is really about routine, ageing and work. Born to Run also reads as a straight adventure story. ### Which is best for someone just starting out? Murakami, because it is calm, honest about slowness and fatigue, and never makes running sound like a competition you are losing. Pair it with /movement/start-running-again-after-a-break/ if you are lacing up again. ### Is Once a Runner hard to find? It began as a self-published book that Parker distributed himself, which is part of its legend. Check your library or a good bookshop for a current edition. ## Sources - [Wikipedia: Born to Run (McDougall book)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_to_Run_(McDougall_book)) - [Wikipedia: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_I_Talk_About_When_I_Talk_About_Running) - [Wikipedia: Once a Runner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_a_Runner) - [Wikipedia: Feet in the Clouds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feet_in_the_Clouds) ## Related - [What is Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running about?](https://zestasy.com/books/what-i-talk-about-when-i-talk-about-running/) - [What are the best books about walking?](https://zestasy.com/books/best-books-about-walking/) - [How do you make running feel less like a chore?](https://zestasy.com/movement/make-running-less-of-a-chore/) - [What should you think about while running?](https://zestasy.com/movement/what-to-think-about-while-running/) - [How do you get into trail running?](https://zestasy.com/movement/getting-into-trail-running/) - [All Books & ideas answers](https://zestasy.com/books/)