North by Scott Jurek

As with Eat & Run, I don’t come away particularly liking Scott Jurek or thinking he’s a great writer after reading North. But the subject matter is interesting to me, so I’m glad I read it and would recommend it to others who’ve hiked chunks of the AT or are otherwise interested in distance running and remarkable feats of endurance.

I think it’s irresponsible the way he casually recounts sleep deprivation. He glamorizes the pain and harm done to his body in a way that I think might make others inclined to deprive themselves of sleep and push themselves too far. I get that it’s his nature to push himself, and I sympathize with that being his way of facing and moving through life’s challenges. But the end result, for me, is a runner with a really big ego who wouldn’t want to admit that part of what he did is irresponsible, or at least comes with serious risks and tradeoffs.

I think the way he mentions deaths along the AT is also done in a glamorizing way. More “people have died here so it’s really impressive what I’m doing” and less “there are serious risks hiking/running along the AT, so if you do it please read up and prepare diligently”. See The Last Traverse and Where You’ll Find Me as terrific counterexamples.

But yeah, at the end of reading it I do want to go run-hike the Pemigewasset loop or Presidential traverse in one day, and I do want to go explore the Smokey Mountains. It blew my mind that 7 of the 10 tallest peaks on the AT are south of Virginia!