In this engaging collection of essays, author and athlete John Jerome celebrates the simplicity and freedom of running. With contagious passion, he strips away fads and myths to offer basic guidelines for participants, from beginning joggers to those preparing for marathons. For years Jerome recorded his thoughts and experiences during his daily training. As he ran, he discovered not only physical benefits, but philosophical ones as well. His wry reflections take you on a joyous journey through the most elemental aspects of the sport-stretching, falling, sweat, bugs, the food police, and more. A fount of prescriptions and wisdom, The Elements of Effort offers a disarming collection of ideas to mull over as you participate in your daily run. So grab your cassette player, lace up your running shoes, and enjoy narrator L.J. Ganser's entertaining performance.
In Stone Work, critically-acclaimed author John Jerome describes the back-breaking but soul-strengthening task of building a stone wall on his New England farm. Equipped only with gloves, elemental tools, and the sense to get out of the way of rolling boulders, Jerome tries to reconstruct a wall in a year. The job begins on a whim-he decides to move a stone wall hidden in the woods on his property for the sheer pleasure of seeing it from his house. While wrangling, lugging, rolling, and carting an entity that responds only to gravity and leverage, Jerome grasps the gifts of the seasons and the complexities of being a middle-aged male. Philosophical, yet almost giddy with the excitement of doing something extraordinary, Stone Work is a delight. Narrator Ed Sala's gifted storytelling enhances Jerome's graceful prose, and lends vibrant voice to the gentle humor and self-effacing ruminations of a man of letters confronted with lugging tons of rock.
