Endure

finishing this was an act of endurance

This would have earned at least 4 stars if it had been edited down by 30%. Illustrative stories and anecdotes should augment, not frustrate the reader.

80 people found this helpful

Loved the content; narration frustrated me

The content is wonderful, and I learned a ton. Slade doesn’t seem to have a running background. Names and places are mispronounced and at one point he makes reference to a 2 minute and 5 second marathon, which I’m imagining was written as 2:05 in the original text. Maybe I’m picky, but these things bugged me. These little things aren’t a dealbreaker; it’s still certainly worth your time.

129 people found this helpful

Great overview of endurance science

The strength of this book over those such as Matt Fitzgerald’s How Bad Do You Want It is Hutchinson’s decision to contrast and compare similar, but subtly different theories in sports psychology and sports medicine. Instead of getting behind a single view, he emphasizes the similarities among them while acknowledging the mostly academic differences that make them unique. I’m pretty sure Hutchinson could also beat Fitzgerald in a race :-P The reading could have been much better. Several words and names were consistently mispronounced or Canadianized.

16 people found this helpful

Excellent book, but the performance contains egregious pronunciation errors

Alex Hutchinson is an outstanding writer, one of a very few who write well about science and sport. “Endure” is a deep exploration of the science of human endurance, told in a style that moves easily from compelling story to scientific story.

Unfortunately the narrator makes a number of unforgivable pronunciation mistakes with names and places. He badly mispronounces “Kipchoge” dozens of times, each instance like fingernails on a blackboard. In other places, he reads “2:08 Marathon” as “two-minute eight-second Marathon. It’s really annoying.

I’m going to buy the book and read it, rather than listen. I recommend others do the same.

63 people found this helpful

The mind is the most powerful fuel

Alex Hutchinson does a great job intertwining science and story in this book. This book will be a great listen for those that are interested in the science behind great endurance athletes but also the unique stories of some of the greatest testaments of endurance.

11 people found this helpful

Interesting . . . but pretty dry

Broadly speaking, the main premise of this book is that we can do far more than we think we can. While I like the concept, the material offered by the book to support this notion is very dry. It is case study, upon case study, upon case study of athletes that were able to push past their perceived limits - and then more studies of why/how they were able to do so. The book does have some interesting stories and points to make, but I found the constant scientific information and study analysis to be too dry to hold my attention - particularly as an audio book. Perhaps it is because I am a beginner runner and just trying to find some motivation to keep at it. This book may have been more enjoyable/helpful for me if I were at the point of working on pace or distance. But for now, it just wasn't very helpful.

8 people found this helpful

I finally got the big picture!

Great job by Alex Hutchinson explaining all currently trending theories by the likes of Marcora, Noakes, Jeukendrup et al in a very cohesive manner.
I had previously read most of the individual contributor's works but put together in this fascinating book it all makes sense.

16 people found this helpful

Interesting

I am a life long runner and found some of the concepts he talks about interesting, Over all I found it to not be all that new or thought provoking for me. I have looked into a lot of different ways to train and this did not add much to what I have already read.
If you are not familiar with some new concepts for endurance then this is a great book with a lot of good information. I do recommend people to read it. #Endurance #Tagsgiving #Sweepstacks

4 people found this helpful

Great read for any endurance athlete

Would you listen to Endure again? Why?

Yes, tons of mindful information, worth a couple reads

What was one of the most memorable moments of Endure?

No particular moment comes to mind

Have you listened to any of Robert G. Slade’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Breaking barriers

Any additional comments?

Not the typical running or athletics-in-general book. Puts training and racing into a new perspective.

3 people found this helpful

excellent circumspect thesis on endurance

This is a great review and synthesis of the scientific literature around the limits of human performance. Alex beings his A game to this book with his insightful and non-biased views of the science and the scientists doing this research. loved it!

6 people found this helpful