{"id":171717,"date":"2025-06-10T01:36:21","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T01:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/171717\/"},"modified":"2025-06-10T01:36:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T01:36:21","slug":"the-11-best-summer-reads-for-adventurers-and-fitness-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/171717\/","title":{"rendered":"The 11 Best Summer Reads for Adventurers and Fitness Fans"},"content":{"rendered":"

“],”filter”:{“nextExceptions”:”img, blockquote, div”,”nextContainsExceptions”:”img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”},”renderIntial”:true,”wordCount”:350}”><\/p>\n

According to Shakespeare, there are lessons and stories everywhere in nature\u2014or, as he puts it, books in the running brooks, tongues in trees, and sermons in stones. I\u2019m down with that idea. But in case the running brooks aren\u2019t meeting your educational needs this summer, here are some suggestions for actual books to tuck into your backpack. (You can also look for more top picks on my holiday book list<\/a> and last summer\u2019s book list<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\"\"(Photo: Courtesy of ECW Press)
\nWater Borne, by Dan Rubinstein<\/b><\/p>\n

$23 on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

The tale of an epic wilderness voyage to\u2026 New York City?! Rubinstein is a longtime outdoors journalist and avid stand-up paddleboarder, and in 2023 he set out to paddleboard from his home in Ottawa on a 1,200-mile loop via Montreal, New York City, and Toronto. His trip ends up being a fascinating tour through the varied waterways and communities of the Great Lakes region, a deep dive (sorry) into the health-promoting powers of being in and around water\u2014and also just an enjoyable and often funny read about a quirky and impressive trip.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Photo: Courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society Press)
\nPushing the River, by Frank Bures<\/b><\/p>\n

$20 on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

My own preferred mode of paddling is in a canoe, and Bures\u2019s book adds to the surprisingly sparse ranks of canoeing literature. (Don\u2019t @ me, I know there are some great canoeing books out there\u2014from Thoreau to Roy MacGregor to Adam Shoalts\u2014but not as many as the world deserves.) The central part of this story collection is a historical account of the 450-mile Paul Bunyan Canoe Derby, but for me the most engaging stories are Bures\u2019s own adventures and the reflections they inspire: a voyage down the Mississippi from Minneapolis to his hometown, Winona; an unexpected dunk in hypothermic waters. Disclosure: I wrote the intro to this one.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Photo: Courtesy of HarperOne)
\nHow to Fall in Love with Questions, by Elizabeth Weingarten<\/b><\/p>\n

$23 on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

In times of upheaval, we get a lot of books about how to handle uncertainty\u2014and, in many cases, how to embrace uncertainty. Weingarten, a journalist and behavioral scientist, thinks this advice is too pat. After all, being mired in uncertainty about important questions can be miserable. More worryingly, being too eager to resolve uncertainty\u2014with instant answers from AI or overly confident advice from wellness gurus, say\u2014can lead us astray. This is a nuanced look at a complex topic.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Photo: Courtesy of W. W. Norton & Company)
\nBallistic, by Henry Abbott<\/b><\/p>\n

$30 on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

I first encountered Marcus Elliott in Charles Bethea\u2019s epic Outside story about \u201cmisogis\u201d<\/a> back in 2014. He sounded like an interesting dude, but I didn\u2019t realize at the time what a major figure Elliott is in the world of injury prevention for pro athletes. That\u2019s the topic of Abbott\u2019s new book, which is part biography and part injury prevention manifesto. Elliott is a big believer in the importance of ballistic movements like jumping and landing, and also in the power of 3D motion analysis to pick up subtle signs of impending injury. My general take is that injury prediction is somewhere between really hard and impossible, but by the end of the book, I couldn\u2019t help thinking, \u201cMan, I\u2019d like this guy to take a look at my running stride.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"(Photo: Courtesy of Avery)
\nAdaptable, by Herman Pontzer<\/b><\/p>\n

$29 on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

Pontzer is an evolutionary anthropologist at Duke University, and his new book is basically an account of how our bodies work as viewed through the lens of evolution. You might be familiar with his previous book, Burn, which covered the modern science of metabolism and calorie-burning. What makes both books worth reading is that Pontzer is exceptionally good at explaining science in a clear, rigorous, and entertaining way.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Photo: Courtesy of Mariner Books)
\nHow Economics Explains the World, by Andrew Leigh<\/b><\/p>\n

$15 on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

If Pontzer\u2019s credo in Adaptable is \u201ceverything makes sense when viewed through the lens of evolution,\u201d Leigh\u2019s is \u201ceverything makes sense when viewed through the lens of economics.\u201d Leigh is an Australian politician and government minister, as well as an accomplished ultrarunner and former economics professor. The subtitle of his new book is \u201cA Short History of Humanity,\u201d which captures its spirit nicely: it\u2019s basically a fun and fast-paced history of civilization as seen from the perspective of economists.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Photo: Courtesy of HarperOne)
\nWin the Inside Game, by Steve Magness<\/b><\/p>\n

$23 on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

Longtime science-of-running fans will remember Magness as the author of the encyclopedic tome The Science of Running<\/a> a decade ago. Before that, he\u2019d been a 4:01 high-school miler and later a coach of college and professional runners. In recent years, though, Magness\u2019s focus has broadened to performance in its broadest sense. He wrote a couple of performance-focused books with former Outside columnist Brad Stulberg, and then the 2022 bestseller Do Hard Things<\/a>. Magness has always been an exceptional synthesizer, drawing connections across an impressively wide range of domains. His new book is more personal than his previous ones, drawing on his experiences as a whistleblower at the Nike Oregon Project, and seeks to guide the reader not just to performance but to fulfillment.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Photo: Courtesy of Blue Star Press)
\nOut and Back, by Hillary Allen<\/b><\/p>\n

$17 on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2017, Allen fell 150 feet off a ridge during a mountain race in Norway. Her injuries were horrific. This book is her account of what happened after the accident. Spoiler: contrary to all predictions, she managed to return to the top levels of elite ultrarunning, and in fact her career continues to this day. The story itself, as a straightforward narrative, is fascinating. But what takes it up a notch is her attempts to understand what being an endurance athlete means to her\u2014because you don\u2019t fight back from an accident like that without a clear understanding of your whys.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Photo: Courtesy of Little, Brown Spark)
\nNorth, by Scott Jurek<\/b><\/p>\n

$11 on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

Jurek\u2019s second book, after his 2012 bestseller Eat and Run<\/a>, grapples with some of the same questions Hillary Allen\u2019s book does. But instead of a mountain accident, he\u2019s facing a more inexorable foe: aging. He was 41 when he set out to attempt to break the Appalachian Trail record, his career as a legendary ultramarathon champ fading out. Like Allen\u2019s book, Jurek\u2019s top-level narrative\u2014in this case, the record attempt\u2014is a great story on its own, full of improbable twists and impressive feats. But it\u2019s the existential angst that kept me turning the pages.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Photo: Courtesy of Hachette Australia)
\nBurke & Wills, by Peter FitzSimons<\/b><\/p>\n

$25 on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

I spent the last five years writing a book about the science of exploring, which meant I read a lot of exploring stories. Among the most epic was the tale of the Burke and Wills expedition, the first to cross the interior of Australia. It\u2019s by far the most famous Australian exploration tale, but relatively unknown outside the country. That should change: it\u2019s a wild saga, a mix of adventure, fortitude, comedy (the first time I heard about the expedition was in a Bill Bryson book), and tragedy. For a long time the definitive account was Sarah Murgatroyd\u2019s 2002 book The Dig Tree, but FitzSimons\u2019 2018 book now holds that mantle.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Photo: Courtesy of Mariner Books)
\nThe Explorer\u2019s Gene, by Alex Hutchinson<\/b><\/p>\n

$26 on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

You can also find out about Burke and Wills by reading\u2026 my new book! They feature in a chapter that compares the exploration of Australia to the strategies mice use to explore water mazes: thigmotaxis, scanning, incursions, and so on. Burke and Wills used a strategy that\u2019s very effective for crossing large expanses of unknown territory, but not so good for getting back home again. More generally, the book is about why we\u2019re drawn to explore, how we do it, and what we get out of it\u2014the perfect accompaniment for whatever adventures you have planned for the summer. Happy reading!<\/p>\n

For more Sweat Science, join me on Threads<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>, sign up for the email newsletter<\/a>, and check out my new book The Explorer\u2019s Gene: Why We Seek Big Challenges, New Flavors, and the Blank Spots on the Map<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“],”filter”:{“nextExceptions”:”img, blockquote, div”,”nextContainsExceptions”:”img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”},”renderIntial”:true,”wordCount”:350}”> According to Shakespeare, there are lessons and stories everywhere in nature\u2014or, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3938],"tags":[3444,77,2452,14299,58224,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-171717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-media","11":"tag-summer","12":"tag-sweat-science","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114656509275607664","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}