Shoe Dog (Book Review)

You run and run, mile after mile, and you never quite know why. You tell yourself that you’re running toward some goal, chasing some rush, but really you run because the alternative, stopping, scares you to death. — Phil Knight, Shoe Dog

Overview

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight (Founder of Nike, Inc) is an intense and fervently written memoir of entrepreneurship, hardship, perseverance, and audacity. It’s a brilliant piece of narration by one of the best misfits that the world has ever seen (Mr. Philip Knight) on one of the most ubiquitously known shoe companies (Nike) of the modern times.

The book starts out with Phil going out for a morning run and stumbling upon a crazy idea of opening a shoe company. The remainder of the book is a progression from thereon and is definitely knit right to the seams.

Shoe Dog has all the right elements of a thriller, a book for entrepreneurs, a biography, an autobiography, and rather a satire. Although the book captures a vast timeline from Phil’s late teenage to his early years as chairman of Nike (after he stepped down as CEO), IMO, it’s remarkably well written. It’s not fast. It’s not slow. It has just the right pace for a story that encompasses several decades of hardship and achievements.

Natural, earnest, deceptive, mistake, bravery, trickery and valiance are some of the words I’d use to describe the experience of reading this book.

Writing Style And Tone

Shoe Dog belongs to the genre of memoirs and thereby doesn’t fail to use a genre-appropriate writing style. It’s written in a spectacularly straightforward and transparent language. Phil lays naked his thoughts in the book and speaks to you from amidst those pages, as any good personal account should do. I have no complaints whatsoever on the writing style of the book. Zip.

The tone is very frank and effortless too. If you have seen any of Phil’s interviews, you’ll be able to tell that the way he has written the book is the way he is in real life.

Vocabulary

Don’t expect much here. The best that’s going to happen is that you’ll end up learning some technical words about your shoes. Words such as inner sole, outer sole, and tongue (yeah. True story. Shoes have tongues it seems).

Target Audience.

Are you entrepreneurial? Are you annoyingly persevering? Are you shy? Are you an athlete? Do you have plans of going on a world trip? Do you love your spouse or kids? If yes, it’s you who Phil is talking to.

On a side note, I guess pretty much everyone who is about to start his/her career or who is unsure of what he should pursue in his life should read this. You might get really surprised by the conclusions you’ll get. Apart from that, you can always pick this one for some good old entertainment.

Return On Investment and Conclusions

ROI is very high for any kind of reader as long as he/she is willing to listen to a people’s story. You may enjoy it or you may not, but you’ll definitely end up taking back some valuable advice.

I’ve got a few words to say in conclusion before wrapping up.

Most often than not, books like these (Shoe Dog) tend to overplay the success they intend to talk about. They create a fan club around that success via their words. But this book, it’s so grounded in reality, so profoundly filled with dry accounts of success that you might end-up gaping at it in sheer awe. That’s the biggest takeaway. The groundedness, the raw honesty and raw disclosure of innermost realities is simply the best-playing bet that you can have on your side.

One Extra Suggestion

Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance and Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson are two brilliant other books that you might want to read after having read and liked this one.

Claps, comments (critical or otherwise) and sharing ahead will be highly appreciated.

Thank you for reading.

Laters.