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Kicksology

The Hype, Science, Culture & Cool of Running Shoes

Published by VeloPress
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

LIST PRICE ₹741.00

PRICE MAY VARY BY RETAILER

About The Book

Kicksology is your all-access pass into the fascinating, colorful world of running shoesand what makes up a perfect pair of kicks.

Sports journalist and veteran shoe tester Brian Metzler takes runners and kicksologists deep inside the $10 billion dollar running shoe industry with a behind-the-curtain look at what makes iconic running shoe brands tick. Kicksology follows a shoe from inspiration to store shelf to show how innovative ideas evolve into industry-wide trends and fads. Metzler tours shoe labs where scientists advance our understanding of shoes and running mechanics as well as the domestic and overseas shoe factories where the world’s favorite kicks are assembled.

A dedicated shoe nerd and running junkie, Metzler shares his love of great shoes in this fascinating look at the intersections of shoe culture and history, science and storytelling, intel from the innovators with on-the-ground insight from top runners.

Kicksology is filled with information as entertaining as it is surprising, tapping into the passion runners have for their kicks and feeding their curiosity about what makes a great shoe.

About The Author

Brian Metzler is a freelance journalist who covers running, running gear, and related sports. A running shoe geek since his prepubescent cross-country team days, Metzler has run more than 75,000 miles in his life, tested more than 1,500 pairs of running shoes, run focus groups for several running shoe brands, raced every distance from 50 yards to 100 miles, raced to the top of the Willis (Sears) Tower in Chicago, run a marathon on top of the Great Wall of China, completed two high-altitude 100-mile ultraruns, completed four Ironman triathlons, and regularly races with donkeys in Colorado.

Metzler was the founding editor and associate publisher of Trail Runner and Adventure Sports magazines and was a senior editor at Running Times as well as Editor-in-Chief of Competitor magazine and Competitor.com. He has written about endurance sports for Outside, Runner’s World, Triathlete, Inside Triathlon, Men’s Health, and Men’s Journal. He is the author of Running Colorado’s Front Range and co-author of Natural Running with Danny Abshire and Run Like a Champion with Alan Culpepper.

Product Details

  • Publisher: VeloPress (October 15, 2019)
  • Length: 272 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781948006088

Raves and Reviews

"Susan Lacke is not only a great writer but also one of the most hilarious people around...And her book? It’s all that and more…It’s poignant. It’s vulnerable. It’s real. It’s inspiring. It’s funny. It’s deeply personal and reflective. It’s the kind of story that makes you look within...that makes you want to call up your best friend in the middle of the night and say ‘thank you from the bottom of my heart’. It’s the kind of read that makes you want to write a bucket list and start checking things off of it now… This book is SO F*CKING beautiful.”

– Fit Bottomed Girls

“With humor and brutal honesty, Lacke draws you in to a touching story that's refreshingly free of affected ‘inspirational crap.’ It made me laugh, gave me pause to reflect on my own fallable inner voice, and to rejoice over relationships strengthened through sport. Brilliant!”

– Heather Wurtele, professional triathlete

“I really loved Susan Lacke’s book. Her friendship with Carlos made me laugh and cry. More than anything, Life’s Too Short to Go So F*cking Slow is a reminder that sport is so much more than fitness: Sports are about friendship and the power to change the course of our lives.”

– Rachel Joyce, professional triathlete

“I was captivated and inspired by Susan's story of the profound transformative powers of friendship and sport. To see the progression and improvement in her life reminds us all of the value these human relationships and athletic endeavors have, and of the tremendous capacity for change and growth that lies in each person.”

– Ben Hoffman, professional triathlete

Life’s Too Short…cements Lacke’s reputation as the storyteller of endurance sports.”

– Salt Lake magazine

“A book you just can’t put down…Susan Lacke shows the reader that we, too, can take Carlos’ passion and love and ‘go the distance’ in whatever we set out to do.”

– A Triathlete’s Diary

Life’s Too Short… gave me all the feels. Inspiring and funny, just like Susan.”

– Rebecca Warren, Women’s Running

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