I recently finished reading the novel Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami, and now I’m reading Bowerman and the Men of Oregon by Kenny Moore. Bowerman and the Men of Oregon is the biography of Bill Bowerman, the late track coach at the University of Oregon. It’s a little bit dense in that it contains a lot of facts and figures (such as this person ran this time in this year and that person ran that time in that year), but it gets really interesting when it talks about how Bowerman helped found the company Nike and how he helped launch the running boom among everyday people in the United States. In fact, it could be argued that without Bill Bowerman, I would never have taken up marathon running. Thanks, Bill!

Tags: book, books, Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami, Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore