Run the Song is a very interesting book, and unlike many of the books I read. I read mostly fiction, however because this book was about running one of my favorite hobbies and one I cannot do without music I was eager to pick it up.
The thing I have the stress the most about my review is how much the needs an appendix at the end with all the names mentioned. At first whenever I heard the author describe something that sounded interesting it made me want to listen to it, and I would write it down for me to research later. However it being a audiobook I couldn't always stop everything I was doing just to write it down and this book filled me with curiosity, but I couldn't possibly remember on my own all the names that were particularly interesting. It would just be easier if by the end of the book there was an appendice in alphabetical order ( or whichever order makes sense to the author) where you could check the names and go listen for yourself, run them yourself to develop your own experience and opinion.

Regardless of that part, this book made me shift my perception of running with a song to running the song, running through the song, not around it. Despite me thinking the first and final chapters were the strongest, I think the overall mentality and perspective of this book is well presented and makes sense.

Run the Song by Ben Ratliff is an interesting exploration between music and running. Ratliff is a music critic who examines how music is shaped by movement.

Ratliff started running the pandemic, and much like everyone else, had alot of time to ponder.
He runs devulged into many different genres, including Bach, Sade and even Ice Spice.

This book is deeply personal but also relatable. Not all runners listen to music, but it something to ponder about.

As a music enthusiast, I enjoyed this book.

I know people who would find this book pretentious, but I also know people who would enjoy it as much as I did. My only complaint (and as you can see, I gave it 5 stars anyway) is that I would like a list of songs and artists mentioned in the book. I'm going to go through it again and make my own list, so I can re-listen to what I recognized and explore the music I didn't recognize.

This was an interesting book. Ben Ratliff talks about running and music. But not the kind of music I assumed. I assumed he would be discussion hip hop and rap, contemporary pop, maybe even rock. But his book discusses forms of music I'm not familiar with. It was an interesting read and I enjoyed his discussion of having his students walk while listening to his recommended music and writing about it. But overall, I found this book to be a little to niche and not my cup of tea.