Footnotes cover art

Footnotes

How Running Makes Us Human

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Buy Now for £15.99

About this listen

Running is not just a sport. It reconnects us to our bodies and the places in which we live, breaking down our increasingly structured and demanding lives. It allows us to feel the world beneath our feet, lifts the spirit, allows our minds out to play and helps us to slip away from the demands of the modern world.

When Vybarr Cregan-Reid set out to discover why running meant so much to so many, he began a journey which would take him out to tread London’s cobbled streets, climbing to sites that have seen a millennium of hangings, and down the crumbling alleyways of Ruskin's Venice.

Footnotes transports you to the clifftops of Hardy's Dorset, the deserted shorelines of Seattle, the giant redwood forests of California, and the world’s most advanced running laboratories and research centres, using debates in literature, philosophy and biology to explore that simple human desire to run.

Liberating and inspiring, this book reminds us why feeling the earth beneath our feet is a necessary and healing part of our lives.

©2017 Vybarr Cregan-Reid (P)2018 Audible, Ltd Hygiene & Healthy Living Running & Jogging

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Race Against Time cover art
Most relevant
This book managed to capture almost everything I feel about running and movement in a style that was enjoyable, educational and inspiring. Needless to say, I listened to it whilst running.

A brilliant listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fun and informative read. I'm not a runner, but I am inspired to give it a go now.

Really enjoyed this book. It's fun and informative

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed this audiobook. Very insightful, thought provoking and in parts laugh out loud funny. Highly recommended

More than just running...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved every piece of this book. Some have criticised it for being a creed on barefoot running. It isn't. Cregan-Reid talks about barefoot running for sure, and why not, he does some of his running unshod, but it's hardly hardcore on the topic. But what it is, is a soaring paean to the joys of running - anywhere, in any way and in any footwear. He employs a rich array of scientists and literary interlocutors to weave together a beautiful narrative flow that I enjoyed enormously as a I trudged the byways of Berkshire. Had I not been running while listening, I would have been yearning to. I just wish it had been an hour (or more) longer. The narrator is also excellent.

It ended an hour before my run did

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Well researched and keeps the interest level high. initially is sounds like a barefoot love story but broadens into a well rounded storyline.

Grows on you

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
So much about this listening experience to love. The author's relationship with running was even more enhanced by philosophy, psychology, geography, poetry, literature and travel. enlightening does not cover it. thank you & missing it already.

Exceptional inspirational listening experience

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
For something (running) that I never thought I’d get into, this has been a complete game changer. It has inspired me not only to get out into vast green spaces but explore them, feel them and admire them in a brand new way that I never knew possible. Vybar’s writing is just beautiful. He manages to deliver such a powerful insight into the romanticism found within running in green spaces, along with the hilarity and intrigue he depicts within his personal journey. A must read for not only runners who can relate, but people with the ability to wonder and the desire to explore a new realm of freedom.
Wonderfully narrated too! A true pleasure to listen to (especially whilst running)!

A philosophical exercise for the mind, body and soul.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I adored this book. A perfect companion for a runner (especially during a run, though Vybarr may disapprove). I didn’t expect it to be this good but now it’s among my favorite running books. Actually among my favorite book because this is not just a book about running but about so much more.

A lyrical rendition of one running journey

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Like a good long run, it is broad in scope, takes a few wrong turns but has many moments of inspiration. I enjoyed the interweaving of British history, philosophy, literature and science into the narrative.

Meandering, deep diving, long run into why we run

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I don't really think that the book delivers: 'How Running Makes Us Human'. I think it piggybacks on other research without bringing much new on the biology front and I think he does a fair amount of whinging. Poor me I am so stressed. I mean, now and again there is a nugget. I will finish it.

SNOOZE!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews