Does that mean I was stupid to have paid $250 for a copy last year?
And was stupid to not sell my autographed, first edition for at least as much?
lrchoser wrote:
Does that mean I was stupid to have paid $250 for a copy last year?
My serious advice: when you're done with your running-related books, just give 'em away (but to someone who'll appreciate them, like another runner or a coach). I did that with mine and it spared me all the concern about having sold at the wrong time, etc.
I am wondering how many people are going to be sorely disappointed. The book has had so much hype that people are going to think it is a great piece of literature when it is not. And, yes I read it 20 years ago. It was interesting mainly because it was about running. Decided to skip "Carthage".
49th best selling book right now at Amazon. That impressed me.
What is the print run on this edition?
30,000 copies
Oh and the book has moved up to 41st on the Amazon list.
Thanks that just pulled me into a running book binge, just bought myself a second copy of OAR, Jack's 2nd ed., Men of Oregon, and Again to Carthage. Great Line up
When's it coming out in paperback?
It has moved up to No. 37 on Amazon's list. I am thinking the 30,000 copies are going to sell out fairly quickly.
lease wrote:
lrchoser wrote:Does that mean I was stupid to have paid $250 for a copy last year?
My serious advice: when you're done with your running-related books, just give 'em away (but to someone who'll appreciate them, like another runner or a coach). I did that with mine and it spared me all the concern about having sold at the wrong time, etc.
Thanks, by the way. I thoroughly enjoyed "The Lonely Breed," as have several of my training buddies.
luv2run wrote:
I am wondering how many people are going to be sorely disappointed. The book has had so much hype that people are going to think it is a great piece of literature when it is not. And, yes I read it 20 years ago. It was interesting mainly because it was about running. Decided to skip "Carthage".
I agree, but you are forgetting that the majority of the posters on LetsRun have never read a book that wasn't forced upon them - they couldn't tell the difference between good literature and bad comic books.
Once a Runner was fun to read for its detailed race descriptions and life as a serious runner, but was hardly a decent piece of writing.
Overdog wrote:Once a Runner was fun to read for its detailed race descriptions and life as a serious runner, but was hardly a decent piece of writing.
Sure, because the measure of a decent piece of writing is 1) how distant it is from your experience and 2) how painful it is to read.
Once a Runner is certainly an excellent piece of writing exactly because it conjures up the experience of training and of racing on a college team in a way that those who have had those experiences can understand. It points out the ways in which our narrow task has certain meanings.
It is the narrowness of the appeal of distance running at an elite level that makes the book seem less universal and perhaps provincial. It's the subject matter, not the writing that is narrow. I take this narrowness to be the strength of the book, not its weakness.
It is not a well-written book, piece of literature, novel. It has an appeal to us, the runners, though, because it expresses something we can shake hands with. When it comes down to it, Once a Runner is inspiring to a certain sect of people (us) and a fun/entertaining way to spend some of our precious reading moments.
You should all go suck yourselves off while reading it. Maybe then you can get a tattoo to remember the day.
800 dude wrote:
Thanks, by the way. I thoroughly enjoyed "The Lonely Breed," as have several of my training buddies.
Ah, you're certainly welcome. I'm pretty sure that *I'd* been given that one by another runner, as well. Norman Harris is certainly a terrific writer--those chapters (and pics) on Lindgren and Kuts/Pirie have especially stayed with me, but I enjoyed all the stories. That book was one of my real favorites.
deleuze wrote:
Overdog wrote:Once a Runner was fun to read for its detailed race descriptions and life as a serious runner, but was hardly a decent piece of writing.Sure, because the measure of a decent piece of writing is 1) how distant it is from your experience and 2) how painful it is to read.
Once a Runner is certainly an excellent piece of writing exactly because it conjures up the experience of training and of racing on a college team in a way that those who have had those experiences can understand. It points out the ways in which our narrow task has certain meanings.
It is the narrowness of the appeal of distance running at an elite level that makes the book seem less universal and perhaps provincial. It's the subject matter, not the writing that is narrow. I take this narrowness to be the strength of the book, not its weakness.
Wouldn't a mark of good writing be that it can open a narrow world to those outside it?
gore vidal sassoon wrote:Wouldn't a mark of good writing be that it can open a narrow world to those outside it?
Not all worlds can be opened. I think great books accomplish the task they set out to accomplish. Seems to me that Once a Runner does not attempt to speak to everyone. It attempts to speak to the "cult." It is a book that animates experience for committed runners. Part of that experience--the loneliness of the long distance runner--is that it is shared by few and ridiculed by many. The runner actually loves this about his task.