Rating: 
Summary: Good Story Scratches the Surface
Review: Mr. Johnson reports on his multi-faceted prepartion for an ultramarathon. He casts himself as an outsider or imposter throughout his training. We meet several intriguing and vastly more experienced characters who Mr. Johnson sees as legitimate racers. Yet they themselves exist on the outer edges of America's running culture (outsiders) or appear to be ordinary people with unconventional ambitions (imposters). Mr. Johnson's effort scratches the surface of motivation - his and his peers'.
Rating: 
Summary: A personal account of an ultramarathon
Review: There's a great story here but the author can't quite decide how he wants to tell it. He is both a reporter and a participant in the race and the book is split between these two points of view. The books tells the story of how the author went from novice runner to running the Badwater ultramarathon in a mere two years. He first heard about Badwater while doing an article for the NY Times, and soon found himself in the grip of the idea of doing the race himself. But he also believed he was crazy for trying something so difficult so soon and he reminds us of this over and over. His lack of experience and insecurities take up too much of the book. He goes over the same territory many times, with lines like "And I almost immediately lost my ability to even be a reporter in researching the race. I was overwhelmed, so frightened and insecure by what I'd embarked upon that I couldn't even pretend to be an objective observer." Because of these insecurities, the books fails as an objective account by a reporter. He has the names and phone numbers of all the entrants and he knows he should call all of them. But he's afraid to call most of them, especially the ones that are legends in the ultramarathoning world. He thinks he has no business entering the race, and is afraid the other racers will refuse to talk to him, maybe even laugh at him. It was hard to understand how someone who has been a reporter for 17 years would not be able to make these phone calls, and the constant agonizing over it was excruciating to read. When he does finally call some of them and flies out to visit two of them, he doesn't seem real interested in them and doesn't have much to say about them. This chapter was so flat I wondered why he even bothered to include it. When he writes about his personal story, the book is only slightly more successful. On the one hand, he seems to be a serious person searching for something, trying to get through grief, wanting to find some big answers, he has chapter titles like "The Paradoxical Heart." But on the other hand, his writing style is light and breezy. The book ultimately felt like alot of fluff to me. He doesn't quite have the writing skills to convey things like why he needed to do this race, what it was like preparing for it with so little time, what he discovered about himself in the process. I felt him struggling to explain things in this book that he just wasn't able to explain. He clearly wanted to understand, and communicate, things like the mystery of endurance, and the mystery of his own motivation, but he was never able to communicate any of those things to me. Even with all these reservations, I'm glad I read the book. It's a fast read, and there is a great story at the core in spite of the shortcomings. He does a good job of describing the race itself (the last third of the book), especially the second night when things become surreal. I read almost every book I can that has anything to do with adventure, endurance, and exploration and I'm glad to have this book in my collection.
Rating:
Summary: Inspirational but very little on the run
Review: This is a very inspirational tale, for anyone who wishes to do something major with their life. It doesn't have to be running, as the theme is conquering your inner self. Unfortunately, this book is 287 pages long, with the race beginning at page 165. Johnson has an interesting writing prose, as he goes over the most minute details of all his interactions with his family and running legends of the infamous 135-mile "Badwater Race". But you will find yourself screaming at him - "enough already - get to the running !!!". I was so relieved when the race finally began, only to find that he inserts huge chunks of meaningless nonsense throughout the rest of the book. The last 122 pages feature 20% running, and 80% of the same self-introspection, silly comments about tomato soup over and over, his relationships, the history of Badwater, etc. That 20% of writing devoted to the race and running made it worth slogging through, but somebody needs to rerun that race, and write a book solely about that race . . . step-by-step . . . the pain, the duration, the tricks, the opponents, the joy, and most important . . . the change in your soul.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing work
Review: This is an autobiography in which New York Times reporter Kirk Johnson explains why he raced the Badwater, a race that some consider the most dangerous in the world. He chose running across Death valley as a combination homage to his older brother Roger, a suicide victim as well as a need to cleans his own soul as well. The second half of the book deals with the race itself and is not just excellent. It is some of the best non-fictional literature of the year as the audience begins to understand how far a person is willing to go. The first segment seems more introspective and philosophical, which is insightful but after a time requires ultramarathon endurance. Still TO THE EDGE is a strong account that pays homage to the writer and his family and is worth reading by fans of biographies. Harriet Klausner
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