Kicksology

The Hype, Science, Culture & Cool of Running Shoes

By: Brian Metzler

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

Kicksology is your all-access pass into the fascinating, colorful world of running shoes - and 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 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.

©2019 Brian Metzler (P)2019 Tantor

Great information!

Great read for all runners and shoe aficionados. Interesting history about shoes and it’s fascinating to hear what might be coming next.

Shoe nerd nirvana

I really enjoyed this trip through running shoe history, from his visit to the museum in Massachusetts to the factories in China and how the industry has pivoted from minimalism to maximalism and back more than once. I loved learning about the different models especially the at-the-time of writing evolution of the super shoes. The brand evolution, including the Hoka/Altra launch together with those that have come and gone paint an interesting picture of the shoe business, as do the running stores in Boulder and the Chicago suburbs.

My one quibble -- the accent that Lawlor put on when speaking on behalf of non Americans was a little jarring