I'm not sure if this book was incredibly encouraging or incredibly discouraging. As a new runner, I was very inspired by the idea that what I'm doing is natural, normal, and reasonable for a person to do. However, as someone who thinks it's a big deal to run 2 1/2 miles, hearing about people running 100 without any real problems was a little bit daunting. Even so, the story was engaging, the characters lively, and the mixture of scientific studies and narrative was really enjoyable. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good sports narrative, or to somebody trying to get inspired to run. Good stuff. 
 Side note: my friend Tara recommended this book to me about three years ago when I first thought about beginning to run. Tara: if you read this review, you were right. If I had read this book in the first place, I probably would've been running a long time ago.