About the book
Haruki Murakami's memoir of long-distance running grew out of a journal he kept as he prepared for the New York City Marathon. Murakami, who took up running in the early 1980s and has competed in more than twenty marathons and an ultramarathon, writes about the way running feeds his creative life. He remembers deciding to try writing a novel while watching a baseball game, and selling the jazz club he owned after his first two novels came out. He also describes running from Athens to Marathon, an ultramarathon in Hokkaido and a triathlon. Philip Gabriel translated it into English, and its title is modeled on that of a Raymond Carver short story collection.
Cal Newport called it an excellent short memoir and recommended it to anyone whose life involves a good deal of creative work, and CommonLounge co-founder Anant Jain named it his recent favorite outside business.
We hope you love the books people recommend! Just so you know, The CEO Library may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page.
This book has 2 recommendations
Anant Jain (Co-Founder/CommonLounge)
On the non-business side of things, “What I Talk about When I Talk About Running” by Haruki Murakami is my recent favorite. I’m a long distance runner and I was extremely delighted to find out that one of the top fiction writers in the world draws a huge chunk of his inspiration from long distance running. In this book, Murakami beautifully connects running to writing, which are two skills close to me that I want to get better at.
Cal Newport (Author)
I recently began reading Haruki Murakami’s excellent mini-memoir, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. If your life requires a non-trivial amount of creative work, I highly recommend this quick read.
Get this book on Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books