Vital Signs, 1993: The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future

Business & Money

Kane, Hal

Ayres, Ed

Brown,Lester R.

Starke, Linda (Ed)

Economics

W.W.Norton& Company, Inc.

First and foremost a book about running, The Longest Race takes listeners alongside ultramarathoner Ed Ayres as he prepares for, runs, and finishes the JFK fifty-mile race at a then record-breaking time for his age division-sixty and older. But for Ayres, this race was about more than just running, and the book also encompasses his musings and epiphanies along the way about possibilities for human achievement and the creation of a sustainable civilization. 
Looking back over a lifetime of more than fifty years of long-distance running, Ayres realizes that his running has taught him important lessons about endurance, patience, and foresight. These qualities, also hallmarks of being human, likely helped humans to survive and thrive in the evolutionary race-and, Ayres posits, they are qualities absolutely necessary to building a sustainable society. 
Grounding each step of his argument are vivid details from this particular race and other moments across his long running career. These experiences take us far beyond the sport, into new perspectives on our origins and future-and what it means to be a part of the human race. In the end, Ayres suggests, if we can recapture the running prowess and overall physical fitness of our wild ancient distance-hunting ancestors, we will also be equipped to keep our bodies, our society, and the entire world running long into the future.

The Longest Race Lib/E: A Lifelong Runner, an Iconic Ultramarathon, and the Case for Human Endurance

Science & Math

Nature & Ecology

Blackstone Publishing

Defying Dystopia: Going on with the Human Journey After Technology Fails Us

To most, the collapse of modern civilization is the stuff of fiction. Yet, science confirms that misuse of technology and environmental abuse places our world in grave danger of ruin. The World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity places our civilization on a collision course. Defying Dystopia analyzes how we have come to this, and what options remain for far-seeing people to take control of their own destiny and survive the future. Ed Ayres, who has worked with some iconic environmental scientists of the past half-century, argues that technology was originally used to augment the natural strengths of humans, but has been increasingly used in ways that weaken us—shifting from useful work to the industries of distraction, entertainment, convenience, pain-relief, and sedation. Ayres advises on how at least some of us can avoid that collision. The most critical task, for those of us who want humanity to survive and thrive, is to disengage from our tech thralldom, and shift to a conscious management of our evolution in which we use technology to enhance our skills and strengths rather than erode or supplant them. Ayres provides insightful, actionable suggestions we can use to increase our odds of survival. He asks far-seeing individuals to take on a mission that the dominant governments and institutions demonstrably cannot: the epic task of shepherding a low-profile, resilient transition to a new kind of human future.

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Routledge

Monumental changes are occurring on the planet, yet most people are unaware of them. In God's Last Offer, environmentalist Ed Ayres paints a vivid "big picture" of where the world is headed. He identifies a lethal combination of events -- radical climate changes, increasing species extinction, unsustainable consumption, and exploding human populations -- and presents a blueprint for a radical shift of policies and priorities to avoid a cataclysm.

God's Last Offer: Negotiating for a Sustainable Future

Basic Books

Four Walls, Eight Windows

Among endurance runners, there are those who have run very long distances, and then there are those who have run very long distances for a very long time. Ed Ayres exemplifies the latter; having run in over 600 races across fifty-five years, he is arguably the most experienced American distance runner still competing today. A book no one else could have written, The Longest Race is his urgent exploration of the connection between individual endurance and a sustainable society.
The Longest Race begins at the starting line of the 2001 JFK 50 Mile―the nation’s oldest and largest ultramarathon and, like other such races, an epic test of human limits and aspiration. At age sixty, his sights set on breaking the age-division record, Ayres embarks on a course over the rocky ridge of the Appalachian Trail, along the headwind-buffeted towpath of the Potomac River, and past momentous Civil War sites such as Harpers Ferry and Antietam.
But even as Ayres focuses on concerns familiar to every endurance runner―starting strong and setting the right pace, the art of breathing, overcoming fatigue, mindfulness for the course ahead―he finds himself as preoccupied with the future of our planet as with the finish line of this 50-mile race.
A veteran journalist and environmental editor who harbors deep anxiety about our longterm prospects, Ayres helps us to understand how the skills and mindset necessary to complete an ultramarathon are also essential for grappling anew with the imperative to endure―not only as individuals, but as a society―and not just for 50 miles, but in the longest race we are all called upon to run.

The Longest Race: A Lifelong Runner, an Iconic Ultramarathon, and the Case for Human Endurance

Sports & Outdoors

Individual Sports

The Experiment

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Ayres, Ed. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Ayres, Ed