Customer Reviews

Running & Being: The Total Experience

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For the Sheehan neophyte, let me say this, this is NOT a book to learn how run better. It IS a book to become a better person. Dr. Sheehan is simply one of us; a runner who happens to write. The beauty of this book is that Sheehan doesn't candy coat his stories. He tells running as it is, as he is. You'll read this book and continually say, "My god, that's it, that's what I feel, that's how I am too." Soon, things you'd suspected about yourself, become clearer. Questions like, "Why do you run?", begin to have meaningful answers.

I have read tons about running and if I had to rank them, all Dr. Sheehan's books would be on the top of the list (But "R&B" is the best of his stuff, so start there). If you want the definitive book on all the technical details about running, get Glover's "Competetive Runner's Handbook" (make sure "Competetive" is in the title). If you want or need helping understanding life, read all of Sheehan's stuff. Heck those two books (Sheehan & Glover) are really all you need for years of PR's and spiritual growth.

Sheehan forges new ground in discussing running. Any serious runner will readily identify with his emotional insights and his ability to relate running and life. Truly inspiring at points, Sheehan goes well beyond running to a philosophy of life that can apply to any athlete.

All runners are philosophers. It's just that George Sheehan is every athlete's philosopher. If you have ever wondered why you swing a racquet, shag fly balls or spend hours on a bicycle, read this book and you'll say to yourself "that's it, that's why!" It's not just the runners who'll say it. This book should be a prerequisite for pursuing any sport at any level.

I've personally re-read this book about 100 times over the last 18 years. A marvelous book about the human spirit of athletes. As a coach and teacher this book was mandatory for my student-athletes. Sheehan certainly puts sports in perspective - they should be fun/play. My prediction, if you read this book you'll recommend it to at least 5 people.

I'm not a runner. I'm just not built for it, as I' ve found on the various occasions that I've tried to be a runner throughout my life. So, I walk instead and find a lot of the positive mental and physical benefits from it that runners gain from their pursuit, I think.

Even though I am not a runner I've re-read this book over and over again. It's really that good. It's about much more than putting on running shoes and going out on the streets to pound the pavement. This book, in my opinion, touches on what it really means to be human. To be a member of the species homo-sapiens, in it's physical, mental and spiritual being. Somehow, Sheehan, while he was writing this book, reached some state of genius of insight into the meaning of human existence and managed to put it all down on paper. He tells us what it means to live in a physical body and not to ever neglect that fact in our lives if we want to live trully full existences.

This book is also a complete joy to read and is well worth having and reading over and over again just for the pleasure of Sheehan's prose and style. The man was not only a physician and an athlete, but also a philosopher and a poet. It is truly one of a kind. Five well deserved stars!

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys philosophy and deep reflection on the meaning of life. I am not much of a reader but once I picked up this book I simply could not put it down. Sheehan has a way a putting together the pain and joy of sports and shows you how you cannot have one without the other. He reminds us that in order to gain the glory of sports, we must endure the pain which is sure to come every time we challenge ourselves. Every time I run, I am able to remember at least one line out of this very powerful book. This helps me to remember that I am not alone, at least not as a pain-enduring athlete.

Imagine - a book on running that doesn't delve into the minutia of split times, hydration, or shoe color...Dr George Sheehan's fine book just talks about the joy of running.

Quoting Greek and other philosophers (which include his beer-drinking buddies on the Jersey shore) Sheehan writes of the midlife crisis that got him back on the roads again, and how running helped make him a better human being.

It was years later that science charted the endomorphins that proved Sheehan's point; he already knew the effect running had on improving his life. It improved other lives also; Dr Sheehan was a regular speaker at our varsity XC banquets back in the late 60's; and he was as entertaining and motivating in person as he was 10 years later in print.

One of the best books ever written. Yep, thats high praise, but George Sheehan is a phenomonal writer and an incredible inspiration. He captures the spirit and soul of being a runner better than any book, article, or paper I have ever read. Definitely a 5 Star book.

This book was written several years ago when running was at its peak. When marathons were the only race worth doing. George Sheehan reached right inside the skull of the runner and was able to put into words the feelings that many of us felt at the time. He was merely describing the physiological effect of positive addiction. No-one else has managed to achieve this since. His clinics and lectures were unique and epitomised the man and his writing. This is the bible for the runner, it will never date. Regrettably someone stole my well thumbed dog eared and underlined copy. I hope that it is reprinted soon

George is the man who runs through my mind in search of a kismet. I understand that he wrote all of this book after running. It has a beautiful endorphin-like quality to it. I have read hundreds of books about life and our existence, but George seems to sum of the paradoxical nature of goals and virtue and suffering and death as well as anyone. The extreme importance of knocking out a 5 minute mile and the utter insignificance of it all. George's passion has left an indelible impression on me for eternity - and I am forever grateful.