{"id":15271,"date":"2026-06-23T16:34:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=15271"},"modified":"2026-06-23T16:34:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:34:24","slug":"the-9-books-on-my-summer-reading-list-for-a-healthier-mind-and-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=15271","title":{"rendered":"The 9 Books on My Summer Reading List for a Healthier Mind and Body"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Published June 23, 2026 10:05AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When I was a kid, we used to spend part of the summer at my grandparents\u2019 cabin in northern Saskatchewan. It was truly rustic: forget TV, it didn\u2019t even have plumbing. My mum would pack a suitcase full of books on long-term loan from the public library for my brother and me, and we would spend hours in the hammock on the reedy shores of Emma Lake.<\/p>\n

My own kids are just starting their two-month summer holidays, which to them seems like an eternity. There\u2019s a lot I miss about that amazing feeling of endless childhood summer, but one small aspect of it that I can sort of recapture is the determination to spend some looong daylight hours\u2014prime working time!\u2014lost in a book while gently rocking in a hammock. Here are some of the titles I\u2019ve enjoyed recently, in case you have the same dream.<\/p>\n

(Photo: Courtesy Amazon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Trees<\/em>, by Robert Moor<\/h2>\n

A decade ago, Moor wrote a fascinating and hard-to-classify book called On Trails<\/i><\/a> that had a huge impact on me. This is his long-awaited follow-up, a meditation on trees rather than trails. It\u2019s not about<\/i> trees, in the sense that it\u2019s not a compendium of fascinating facts about the evolution and natural history of trees (though you\u2019ll pick some up along the way). Instead, it\u2019s about the idea<\/i> of trees\u2014branching, gnarling, rooting, and so on\u2014and what that might look like in other contexts, like living a human life or organizing a society. If you haven\u2019t read On Trails<\/i>, I\u2019d suggest starting there, to get inside Moor\u2019s head and figure out whether you like it there.<\/p>\n

Buy for $15<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"The
(Photo: Courtesy Amazon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Norwegian Method Applied<\/em>, by Marius Bakken<\/h2>\n

If ever a running training book could be described as \u201cmuch anticipated\u201d and \u201clong awaited,\u201d this is the one. Everyone in the endurance world (including me) has been yammering away about lactate testing and double-threshold workouts and so on for the last few years. Marius Bakken is the guy who developed and formalized the training structure we now think of the \u201cNorwegian method,\u201d as implemented by track stars like Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Bakken\u2019s goal is to get us to understand the rationale and philosophy of the training approach, rather than simply have us ape specific workouts or weekly schedules. The surprise to me was how important he thinks managing muscle tone and elasticity is, as opposed to simply ramping up VO2 max and lactate threshold. Even for readers skeptical of training fads, there\u2019s lots to think about here.<\/p>\n

Buy for $28<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"'The
(Photo: Courtesy Amazon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Secret to Superhuman Strength<\/em>, by Alison Bechdel<\/h2>\n

This is a graphic memoir that came out back in 2021, but a friend just turned me onto it this year. It recounts Bechdel\u2019s obsession with various forms of exercise (including lots of running) against the backdrop of decades of fitness fads\u2014and her attempts to understand what she (and we) are really looking for in our pursuit of fitness, drawing on thinkers from Emerson to Jack Kerouac. The memoir itself is funny and touching and (as memoirs are) highly personal\u2014but her insights are sharp and amazingly relatable, at least for a fellow lifelong seeker of truth and tranquility via exercise.<\/p>\n

Buy for $15<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"'The
(Photo: Courtesy Amazon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Running Dictionary<\/em>, by Mark Remy<\/h2>\n

Flipping open at random: \u201cMultiuse path, n<\/i>.: A wonderful place where walkers, runners, cyclists, and folks on motorized bikes and scooters happily share the same narrow ribbon of pavement in harmony, respectful of one another\u2019s space, often accompanied by unicorns and leprechauns.\u201d Remy is a longtime running humorist (now there\u2019s a niche within a niche) who has been writing Dumb Runner<\/a><\/em> since 2015. Check it out if you haven\u2019t already. His new running dictionary has the same biting but affectionate edge, along with great illustrations by New Yorker<\/i> cartoonist Joe Dator. I thought I would flip through it casually over time, but I ended up reading it cover-to-cover as soon as I picked it up.<\/p>\n

Buy for $7<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"'Me,
(Photo: Courtesy Amazon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Me, But Better<\/em>, by Olga Khazan<\/h2>\n

I got interested in the science of personality change when I was researching a recent article on studies of personality in endurance athletes. In terms of the so-called Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism), can you change the hand you\u2019re dealt? Khazan\u2019s book, which came out last year, turns out to be the best and most accessible introduction to current thinking in the area, as she documents her attempts to become less neurotic and more extraverted and agreeable. The scientific consensus: you can<\/i> change, and the best way to do it is to start behaving in the way you hope will eventually feel natural.<\/p>\n

Buy for $17<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"'Nature
(Photo: Courtesy Amazon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nature and the Mind<\/em>, by Marc Berman<\/h2>\n

The foundational study in the nascent field of environmental neuroscience is known as the \u201cwalk in the park\u201d study, published back in 2009. People went for a 50-minute walk through either city streets or a park, and the park walk boosted their cognitive function. Berman has been on a mission since then to decode the widely observed but poorly understood link between exposure to nature and how our brains function. I\u2019ve written about his work a few times (my favorite is this one<\/a>); last year, he finally published a book laying out the full picture. I was a big fan of Florence Williams\u2019s book The Nature Fix<\/i><\/a>; this one digs deeper into Berman\u2019s view of the science.<\/p>\n

Buy for $19<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"'The
(Photo: Courtesy Amazon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Score<\/em>, by C. Thi Nguyen<\/h2>\n

This book blew my mind. It\u2019s about the role of scores and metrics in our lives\u2014how scores give positive meaning and momentum to \u201cplayful striving,\u201d but our obsession with metrics and rankings leads us astray in so many other parts of our lives. \u201cValue capture\u201d is Nguyen\u2019s term for when you internalize an external metric as the goal of an activity in place of the more complex reasons you began with: when a restaurant aspires to maximize its Yelp rating instead of trying to make great food, say. There\u2019s plenty of complexity and ambiguity here: as a rock climber, he finds that striving to master climbs with ever-higher grades spoils the feeling<\/i> of climbing that he initially fell in love with, but acknowledges that he never would have found this sense of playful striving without the spur of the grading system. It\u2019s a tension that will feel familiar to many endurance athletes, and he has some valuable thoughts on how to navigate it.<\/p>\n

Buy for $25<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"'The
(Photo: Courtesy Amazon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Best Laid Plans<\/em>, by Terry Fallis<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re looking for a deep cut\u2026 and an incomparable window into the behind-the-scenes world of Canadian politics, along with some P. G. Wodehouse-esque laughs, then this one\u2019s for you. My brother is a connoisseur of political satire and had been recommending this 2008 book, originally self-published by a former political consultant, for years. I finally got around to reading it a few months ago, and am kicking myself I didn\u2019t start sooner\u2014but on the plus side, I now have nearly two decades of subsequent Fallis books to catch up on.<\/p>\n

Buy for $15<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"'The
(Photo: Courtesy Amazon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Art of Pacing<\/em>, by Elizabeth Svoboda<\/h2>\n

For a minute, I thought we were going to be treated to the definitive guide to negative splitting and avoiding hitting the wall. The opening scene in the book, and its central metaphor, are indeed about marathon pacing\u2014but the actual focus is a much more general look at (as the subtitle puts it) balancing short-term demands with long-term thriving. It will pair naturally with Lindsay Crouse\u2019s forthcoming book, The Case for Quitting<\/i>, which is due out in September. (But seriously, I think there\u2019s another book waiting to be written on pacing: anticipatory regulation, hazard scores, teleoanticipation\u2014there\u2019s a huge stack of fascinating but little-known research with both literal and metaphorical utility!)<\/p>\n

Buy for $15<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

A few quick hits to finish up. I already plugged David Epstein\u2019s Inside the Box<\/i> and Brad Stulberg\u2019s The Art of Excellence<\/i> in advance in last year\u2019s holiday book list. They\u2019re both out now, and well worth reading. Soccer Dad<\/i>, by David Murray, nicely captures my current reality. On my bedside table are Eric Zimmer\u2019s How a Little Becomes a Lot<\/i>, from one of the most interesting and thoughtful podcast hosts out there, and Mark Medley\u2019s Live to See the Day<\/i>, on what motivates people to take on goals that will almost certainly not be completed in their lifetimes.<\/p>\n

Happy summer and happy reading!<\/p>\n\n

For more Sweat Science, sign up for the <\/i>email newsletter<\/i><\/a> and check out my new book <\/i>The Explorer\u2019s Gene: Why We Seek Big Challenges, New Flavors, and the Blank Spots on the Map<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

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