Running & Being
The Total Experience

This was a hilarious book. Crazy over-the-top paeans to physical fitness as the ultimate virtue, wild claims about spirituality and its connection to running, and an insistence that every long-distance runner shares the same totally Asperger's traits as the author. I giggled all the way through. That......more

I read this book years ago in my running phase, and decided to dip into it again before I got rid of it. Dr. George Sheehan was an older runner, having found this outlet later in his life. He became a top runner, competing in many early Boston Marathons and numerous other races each year. But, more......more

Sheehan writes beautifully. He talks of crafting his words while writing and it's clear he is an eloquent perfectionist. That he takes time and not only attends to the substance of what he is writing but also to the form. That said, Sheehan's writing is all about Sheehan. Perhaps I should have reali......more

This book was a very thoughtful gift, and it's a very odd read. Sheehan has some good, emotional, inspirational stuff about running Boston toward the end. But I'm surprised a lot of readers get there. I highlighted a lot, some of which are good quotes, or worth thinking about. But there's so much od......more

Overall, it was a really good philosophy book that focuses on running. Going into the book, I thought it was going to be a book about how to run better - it is a book about how Sheehan uses running to experience life and the afterlife. I enjoyed how he uses poets, philosophers, and theologians to al......more