I am mostly through the new book, "Tread Lightly" by Pete Larson and Bill Katovsky. Overall, I think it is a really solid book. Is it great? Well… maybe my expectations are too high. I mostly agree with the things discussed in the book so I'll stick to areas of disagreement or confusion.
The book covers many angles of the barefoot versus shod debate. One odd chapter talks about the failure of "motion-control shoes". That's a strange subject to me, as I didn't think anyone takes those shoes seriously. I view these shoes as a marketing gimmick and universally dismiss them (the book goes on to show there is no evidence for these shoes anyways).
Where the book falls short is the ultimate recommendations: try not to overstride, experiment with barefoot, experiment with minimal shoes, etc. There is no "silver bullet" offered so to speak. And maybe there isn't one. But that's why I bought the book – to tell me something that isn't already out there on the internet!
But overall, I do think it's a good read if you're into running.
I’m currently about 75% of the way through this book. My opinion is that it’s full of good discussion. Particular on the confounding issues confronting the study of running technique.
I expected that they would stay very close to the science, which is inconclusive, and will continue to be for a very long time. I also expected that they would not be willing to extrapolate from the science beyond some mild speculation. So far, in my reading, that is exactly what they have done.
I agree this is what they did. They did “tread lightly” in the recommendations so to speak.