The Why of The Barkley:

by Rich Barkley Scritch Limacher

What begins as an exploration into why a certain popular long and brutal Tennessee footrace exists soon expands (rather humorously) into a much broader philosophical examination of why anything at all exists. Two runners in the race don't actually get very far, but spend most of their time discussing it and arguing their thoughts about almost everything. They don't like each other very much either, but they've haplessly stuck together (for survival) and do respect one another's ideas (while trying forever to argue them down). This is adventure not in the physical but in the mental sense. It will challenge just about everything you hold sacred and believe in, and it should make you think. This is not for the passive masses, the followers-blindly, or those intellectually squeamish peeps that happen to find themselves already entered--without asking why--in the (human) race, "the race that eats its young."

241 pages, Paperback

Published March 16, 2019

Reviews

[Shawn Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read most Barkley books, and was excited to get my hands on this one--though I should have noted that it was fiction earlier on. Once that became obvious, I really enjoyed the ride.

By taking us into a fictional Barkley, the author gives the reader both the desired Barkley nuggets and numerous philosophical elements that form the true theme of this book. The Barkley is about pain, suffering, endurance, camaraderie, type-ii fun and not a little random sadism. Which is a lot like the universe we live in. And life.

There's a great deal of existential thought in here, and if you accept that this is just as important to Rich's view of the race as the material details themselves, you get a much better feeling for what it must be like to suffer Out There. Highly recommended for Barkley fans…

[Tal Taran · Rating 5 out of 5]

"There is nothing more persuasive than the urge to quit. This happens with pretty much everything in life, especially when you're lost, hopeless, weak, lacking energy, facing humanly impossible challenges, gawking at monstrously impossible climbs, and you are officially entered in some idiotic 100-mile footrace and the race has just started."

This is a book I wish I could read fifty different versions of... all around different topic areas. It's kind of like if your smartest friends took acid and had a conversation wandering around the woods, except this actually holds useful advice if... y'know you want to make it back out of Icehouse Delirium State Park or even get there in the first place.

[Zaerdy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so badly written that the author sometime had me more lost than Karel Sabbe talking to a trash can on loop four. I wouldn't recommend it to anybody whatsoever. Do yourself a favor and go suffer running instead of reading this horrible book.