One of the funny things about minimalism is that it was extremely popular on Letsrun before Born to Run. Like back in 2004. Do a deep dive on some of the old threads about training in racing flats (there were no "minimalist trainers" back then). A lot of people were running in the Puma H-Street, which was basically Puma's legendary Harambee track spike, only instead of a spike plate it was just smooth rubber. There was a poster who went by "Trackhead," who talked about how to convert XC spikes to road shoes by gluing a Vibram sole on them (Vibram was, and always has been, primarily a company that makes rubber outsoles for other brands).
Obviously the pendulum swung back pretty far, but I think a lot of people today don't realize that minimalism has an enduring legacy in today's training shoes: Shoes today typically have a much lower drop than shoes in the late 90s and early 00s. Hokas (often cited as the "maximalist" opposite of minimalist shoes), actually have way, way lower drop than most training shoes from back then. Also, medial posts for "overpronators" have become far less prevalent. If you went into a running store in 2000, there was a 90% chance that the shoe salesperson was going to say that you pronate and put you in in something with a seriously built-up arch. There are still some shoes like that around, but they've become much more niche.
Personally, I trained mostly in racing flats from around 2005-2009. In my experience, I found that running in minimal shoes seems to reduce the risk of injury to knees and hips, while increasing the risk of injury to the feet and lower legs. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that there is something to the idea of developing good form by running in minimal shoes, but that lots of cushioning is beneficial if you want to pour on the miles, especially running on concrete. (When I was a minimalist, I was obsessive about finding natural surfaces; with more cushioned shoes, I honestly don't care.)
As for the book itself? Even as someone who had basically bought into minimalism, I was constantly rolling my eyes at some of the claims. And the story? I'm sure something like that happened, but I felt like I was listening to a 10-year-old attention seeking kid who just can't help but make stuff up.