Pre: The Story of America's Greatest Running Legend, Steve Prefontaine
by Tom Jordan

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Book Reviews of Pre: The Story of America's Greatest Running Legend, Steve Prefontaine

Book Review: Pre, There Was Only One
Summary: 5 Stars

My opinion on this book is biased because I liked the book before I read it. This is because I saw the movie "Without Limits", which depicted the life of Prefontaine, before I read the book. I thought the movie was wonderful and I fell in love with Prefontaine's personality and attitude. As I was reading the book I noticed that the book progressed like the movie. It showed his track career from his early high school races to his international races. I think that the movie gave me a better understanding of the book because when I was reading it I thought of scenes from the movie. In some cases I think the movie did a better job of explaining what happened than the book. I don't mean that the author is a bad writer but certain emotions can't be explained through writing. For example, his 1972 Olympic 5000 meter race, the movie shows through facial expressions and body motions the anxiety and hope that the competitors were going through unlike the book.

What I like most about this book is the way the author uses quotes from people who were there to describe what was going on at a particular event. For example, to show that Prefontaine was always the crowd's favorite runner; At the AAU Championships Stageberg another runner that raced Prefontaine that day jokes, "We were both from Oregon, I from Eugene, he from Coos Bay, and yet he was the favorite of the Eugene crowd -I was the outsider." It shows his popularity even among his opponent's fanes. I thought that was very funny.

The book described him as brash, charismatic, rebellious, big-hearted and principled. The one characteristic that captivated me was his devotion. He did not the physique of a runner because he was short. Yet he believed and strived to be nothing less than the best. He drew large crowds to his races because he was the ideal athlete always hard working and was optimistic about the future.

This book is great because it describes the legacy he left behind which is so momentous that it is still alive in the hearts of runners everywhere. I think to understand the book you need to have some experience in Track because it uses a lot of track terminology. I feel that distance runners will like his story better than anyone else because they can comprehend with Prefontaine racing mentality. All in all I think that whether you see the movie or read any of the books on Steve Prefontaine you will get the message he was trying to deliver to the world. To find out what his message read this book "Pre" by Tom Jordan, you won't regret it.

Summary of Pre: The Story of America's Greatest Running Legend, Steve Prefontaine

Biographies & Memoirs Books

• Subjects > Biographies & Memoirs
• Sports & Outdoors > Biographies
• Individual Sports > Running & Jogging