The Ghost Runner: The Epic Journey of the Man They Couldn't Stop - Tapa dura

Why I picked it up: I love the idea of anyone so driven to do what he loves that he ignores officials' efforts to keep him away.

Why I finished it: Even his training partners, men who spent countless hours with him, considered him difficult to like, stubborn and selfish, yet, each man admired his determination and drive. Tarrant suffered from debilitating stomach problems which often caused him to vomit or have diarrhea many times a race. (Despite this, he won several!) Once, to get his stomach ready for an ultra-distance race, he prepared his stomach by eating a half pound of cheese and drinking a half cup of lukewarm tea. He then ran forty miles with no other sustenance, winning easily. While training to break the world record for a 100-mile race, he logged over 5,000 training miles in a single year. A clear motivator for Tarrant was his childhood. He spent the majority of WWII and a few years afterward in a government home with his little brother. It was an important moment in his development, and the boys' self-reliance may have been responsible for his ferocious concentration and determination.