Thanks for posting--it sounds interesting! I will definitely be reading this.
Coincidentally, Des Linden, 'Choosing To Run', has her memoir coming out in April and from the excerpt in Runner's World, might be interesting to read too, as she takes swipes at Nike, AlSal, and Ritz.
Kara has said many things about how the truth is going to come out. What is the truth? Is she going to throw a former teammate under the bus for doping? Is she going to discuss allegations of sexual abuse regarding Alberto? If those are not there, then this is a big nothing burger. Kara’s story is otherwise borderline interesting, but not nearly fascinating enough to sustain a book.
Kara Goucher has a book coming out. I have met Kara a couple of times. Seems nice enough. Her accomplishments are certainly impressive.
At the same time, nothing of what I know about her (or almost any other elite runner) would compel me to buy a biography on any of them. Aside from her medals she is mostly known for being part of the Salazar scandal. A scandal that is pretty well documented already.
In thinking on this, I was trying to think of the runners whose lives I think are interesting enough to warrant a book. I came up with Roger Bannister, Billy Mills, and Louie Zamperini. I have had the great luck to have met all three although I cannot say I spent a ton of time with any. Bannister is interesting in part because he was the first to do something, but to me it was what he did after and even the idea of being in medical school (and doing some research that interests me while there) is part of the appeal. I will say Perfect Mile to me is a great read but I also did not see enough about Santee or Landy to warrant a book just about as individuals.)
Mills gets in for his being a Native American. I almost added Jim Thorpe, but I do not think of his as a "runner". Track athlete yes (and the greatest American athlete of the 20th century in my book).
Zamperini---my fondness for him cannot be measured. But my interest in him is more because of his experience in WW2 and also the life he led after more than his track accomplishments. If WW2 never happens and Zamperini goes on to win a lot of medals and maybe set some WRs, I don't think I would be interested in an entire book on him.
Again, I enjoy reading about runners. A chapter in a book or a long form article about an individual runner, but a book? Not many are going to reach that threshold for me.
As soon as I hit "Create thread" I will probably think of another runner or two who might fit the bill for me.
Anyone come to mind for you? And this needs to be someone well known and regarded as a runner, not a well known person who runs.
Regarding the availability of "No Bugles, No Drums", my local library has it; maybe check yours?
Yes. If the goal is just to read it, and not to also own it, there are many online open library projects that might have it. Like the Gutenberg Project, Open Library, Google has one, U of Penn, among others.
Keiderling, Kyle. Olympic Collision. University of Nebraska Press, 2016.
Kolkka, Sulo, and Helge Nygren. Paavo Nurmi: The Flying Finn. Otava, 1974.
Mills, Billy. Lessons of a Lakota. Hay House, 2005.
Mills, Billy, and Nicholas Sparks. Wokini: A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding. Hay House, 2003.
Newman, Matthew. Mary Decker Slaney. Crestwood House, 1986.
Here are a few titles about or written by those athletes. The Paavo biography was translated from Finnish and hard to find; it and on my to obtain list. The Lee Justice biography of Mills and the Newman biography of Slaney were written for young readers. While not a Olympic Collision and Collision Course, both released in 2016, are about the LA'84 3,000 meters incident with Slaney and Budd. If my memory is correct, Olympic Collision does have information on the early life of both. The two listings by Mills are more spiritual in nature. A new work written by him is scheduled to be released in 2024.
Thank you! Just now saw this. It's not so much that I'm too lazy to do searches myself, it's just that I searched for them before they existed (in some cases). Thanks again!
In thinking on this, I was trying to think of the runners whose lives I think are interesting enough to warrant a book. I came up with Roger Bannister, Billy Mills, and Louie Zamperini.
There was a full bio on Bannister and Zamp. Don't recall the name of the Bannister book but the Zamp book is Unbroken and they even made it into a movie