The best books on ultrarunning for amateur adventurers

By Janet Patkowa

Who am I?

I want an adventurous life filled with experiences and challenges that make me appreciate the world around me. My experience in running 50 miles shows just how determined I am to lead an uncommon life. The books I’ve compiled here all share that one thing in common, they chronicle the author’s paths in following this mantra. Life is meant to be lived, no matter what form you find that in. I hope you find and nurture your adventurous life from these stories that were written from the heart.

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The books I picked & why

Bedtime Adventure Stories for Grown Ups

By Anna McNuff,

Why did I love this book?

Although the author is a runner, these stories don’t focus solely on that, but the adventures she can do because she is a runner. Anna speckles her life with adventures she can manage all the time instead of waiting for an epic adventure that you might only get to once or twice a year. She embodies my philosophy that life is meant to be lived. Do what inspires you right now. Sometimes that’s a race with a team number, and sometimes it’s a climb to the top of a mountain. Anna retells her tales of adventure in a collection of fun stories about epic undertakings and colors her stories with personality.

Bedtime Adventure Stories for Grown Ups

By Anna McNuff,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Bedtime Adventure Stories for Grown Ups as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WHAT AMAZON READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT BEDTIME STORIES:

★★★★★ "Just magic!"

★★★★★ "Feels like chatting to your (slightly adventure mad) friend over a warming drink"

★★★★★"Funny, relatable... just brilliant."

★★★★★ "Makes you want to leave your safe, comfortable sofa and explore the amazing, big, wide world"

★★★★★ "I was trying to ration myself to one story each night before bed... but I devoured it."

★★★★★ "Left me inspired and itching to get back out in the great outdoors!"

★★★★★ "A neat little shot of adventure inspiration"

★★★★★ "Anna is an adventure storytelling wizard!"

★★★★★ "Just what I needed to read…

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North: Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail

By Scott Jurek, Jenny Jurek,

Why did I love this book?

This is a dazzling tale of an ultrarunning icon running the length of the Appalachian Trail. However, I found myself waiting for the chapters written from Jenny’s perspective as his one-woman crew bringing him supplies and a place to sleep each night. I wanted to know how she dealt with the fear of driving down desolate roads. How she made sure to be in the right place at the right time navigating areas with no cell service. I liked hearing her find pride in what she was accomplishing.

North: Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail

By Scott Jurek, Jenny Jurek,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked North as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

2,200 miles.
47 days.
One remarkable journey.

In July 2015, ultramarathon legend Scott Jurek smashed the world record for running the Appalachian Trail, the sprawling mountain path that runs nearly the entire length of the United States. For nearly seven weeks straight, Jurek battled the elements to run, hike and stumble 50 miles every single day.

A tale of mind-boggling physical exertion, pressure and endurance, North reveals the extraordinary lengths to which we can push our bodies and our minds.

Instant New York Times Bestseller
_____________

'Pure suspense, adventure, and inspiration . . . His story of plunging into the…

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Finding Gobi: A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart

By Dion Leonard,

Why did I love this book?

Who wouldn’t want to find their best friend in an epic race? And a terrier nonetheless! This little dog ran alongside his chosen human for miles and miles and miles. The dog’s stamina amidst the harsh conditions of the desert is awe-inspiring. Then comes the challenges of bringing an animal home from a foreign country. Not an easy task, but a worthwhile endeavor.

Finding Gobi: A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart

By Dion Leonard,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Finding Gobi as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE SUNDAY TIMES NO.2 BESTSELLER

Like A Streecat Named Bob before it, Finding Gobi is a truly heart-warming story for animal lovers worldwide...

In 2016, Dion Leonard, a seasoned ultramarathon runner, unexpectedly stumbled across a little stray dog while competing in a gruelling 155 mile race across the Gobi Desert. The lovable pup, who earned the name `Gobi', proved that what she lacked in size, she more than made up for in heart, as she went step for step with Dion over the treacherous Tian Shan Mountains, managing to keep pace with him for nearly 80 miles.

As Dion witnessed…

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Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

By Cheryl Strayed,

Why did I love this book?

Not a runner story, but a long-distance amateur hiking story. Who hasn’t dreamt of hiking off into the wilderness with just the pack you can carry? Cheryl is scared, she is healing, and she is growing. Her journey shows what’s possible when you take a leap of faith and follow that voice that nags you to do something extreme.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

By Cheryl Strayed,

Why should I read it?

22 authors picked Wild as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again.

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the…

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Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

By Christopher McDougall,

Why did I love this book?

An aspiring ultra runner must read this book. It gives homage to a tribe of people who have used long-distance running as part of their society. Micah True planned the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon to bring together the ultrarunning community with this local tribe. Jenn and Billy, two young ultra runners, tie the story to a current-day nomadic and free lifestyle that is sure to inspire any new ultra runner.

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

By Christopher McDougall,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Born to Run as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

At the heart of Born to Run lies a mysterious tribe of Mexican Indians, the Tarahumara, who live quietly in canyons and are reputed to be the best distance runners in the world; in 1993, one of them, aged 57, came first in a prestigious 100-mile race wearing a toga and sandals. A small group of the world's top ultra-runners (and the awe-inspiring author) make the treacherous journey into the canyons to try to learn the tribe's secrets and then take them on over a course 50 miles long.

With incredible energy and smart observation, McDougall tells this story while…

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5 book lists we think you will like!

The best inspirational life-changing memoirs

The best books about the passion for distance running

The best books about personal growth and transformation

The best books on solo travel from a guy who roller skated across France

The best memoirs by badass women with grit

Interested in ultra running, grief, and running?

9,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about ultra running, grief, and running.

Ultra Running Explore 12 books about ultra running

Grief Explore 67 books about grief

Running Explore 15 books about running

And, 3 books we think you will enjoy!

We think you will like Into the Wild, The Glass Castle, and Full Tilt if you like this list.

Into the Wild

By Jon Krakauer,

From the list on doing what is right when others are against you.

By M. R. Reed Author

Why did M. R. love this book?

Here’s my confession: I hated Chris McCandless by the time I finished this book. I hated his cockiness and lack of respect for the power of the wilderness.

But you know what I give him credit for? His ability to leave his life of privilege and the courage to go out into the world and forge his own destiny. He did what he thought was best for him despite the pushback he received from his friends and family.

I think I hated him so much because I wanted him to succeed, and he doomed himself through his own hubris.

Into the Wild

By Jon Krakauer,

Why should I read it?

18 authors picked Into the Wild as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Krakauer’s page-turning bestseller explores a famed missing person mystery while unraveling the larger riddles it holds: the profound pull of the American wilderness on our imagination; the allure of high-risk activities to young men of a certain cast of mind; the complex, charged bond between fathers and sons.

"Terrifying... Eloquent... A heart-rending drama of human yearning." —New York Times

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all…

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The Glass Castle

By Jeannette Walls,

From the list on memoirs that crack open a brutal and beautiful world.

By Lynn Alsup Author

Why did Lynn love this book?

Walls tells the truth. Just her mom’s advice to, “What do I tell people?”—an ache of a question that’s twisted my own writer’s stomach.

I felt my own family shame as Walls found her mom dumpster diving in the East Village, triggering her escape back to her Park Avenue apartment. And the love that landed them together for Chinese food soon after. Her father, brilliant and inhumane, became a mirror for the contradictions inherent in my family, in us all.

She sets us down smack in the middle of the desert and the Appalachians by engaging all our senses. Writing in a version of the voice I slip into returning home for Thanksgiving, she reintroduced me to the child living inside me, still striving to be free.

The Glass Castle

By Jeannette Walls,

Why should I read it?

17 authors picked The Glass Castle as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now a major motion picture starring Brie Larson, Naomi Watts and Woody Harrelson.

This is a startling memoir of a successful journalist's journey from the deserted and dusty mining towns of the American Southwest, to an antique filled apartment on Park Avenue. Jeanette Walls narrates her nomadic and adventurous childhood with her dreaming, 'brilliant' but alcoholic parents.

At the age of seventeen she escapes on a Greyhound bus to New York with her older sister; her younger siblings follow later. After pursuing the education and civilisation her parents sought to escape, Jeanette eventually succeeds in her quest for the 'mundane,…

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Full Tilt

By Dervla Murphy,

From the list on making you want to travel.

By Karen Gershowitz Author

Why did Karen love this book?

I think of myself as an adventurous traveler, but Dervla Murphy travels in a way that I would never even consider.

So, it’s a pleasure to sit in a comfortable chair and read about places I’ll never visit and people who I’d love to meet, but never will. Murphy writes so vividly I feel as though I am right beside her as she fends off wolves, struggles to drag a bicycle uphill through mountain snow, and shares tea with nomads.

This was her first book and every book that follows is equally compelling.

Full Tilt

By Dervla Murphy,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Full Tilt as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Braving hunger, heat exhaustion, unbearable terrain and cultures largely untouched by civilization, Dervla Murphy chronicles her determined trip through nine countries, through snow and ice in the mountains and miles of barren land in the scorching desert. Full Tilt is a highly individual account by a celebrated travel writer based on the daily diary Murphy kept while riding through Yugoslavia, Persia, Afghanistan, over the Himalayas to Pakistan and into India. Murphy's charm and gracious sensitivity as a writer and a traveler reveals not only civilizations of exotic people and places but the wonder of a woman alone on an extraordinary…

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Biographies

The best books on ultrarunning for amateur adventurers

Who am I?

I wrote...

The Impossible Long Run: My Journey to Becoming Ultra

What is my book about?

The books I picked & why

Why did I love this book?

Why did I love this book?

Why did I love this book?

Why did I love this book?

Why did I love this book?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in ultra running, grief, and running?

And, 3 books we think you will enjoy!

Who am I?

M. R.'s book list on doing what is right when others are against you

Why did M. R. love this book?

Who am I?

Lynn's book list on memoirs that crack open a brutal and beautiful world

Why did Lynn love this book?

Who am I?

Karen's book list on making you want to travel

Why did Karen love this book?