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Book cover featuring runners in Ethiopia subtitled 'Running wisdom and magic from above the clouds in Ethiopia.

We were delighted to host the launch of Dr Michael Crawley's new book 'Out of Thin Air: Running wisdom and magic from above the clouds in Ethiopia', yesterday in the Anthropology Department.

'Out of Thin Air: Running wisdom and magic from above the clouds in Ethiopia' tells the story of how Michael spent fifteen months in Ethiopia training alongside (and sometimes a fair way behind) runners at all levels of the sport, from night watchmen hoping to change their lives to world class marathon runners; in order to answer questions such as:

Why does it make sense to Ethiopian runners to get up at 3am to run up and down a hill? Who would choose to train on almost impossibly steep and rocky terrain, in hyena territory? And how come Ethiopian men hold six of the top ten fastest marathon times ever?

The book has received reviews in the Guardian and Runners World

Dr Crawley joined the department in September 2020 as Assistant Professor.