“The Barefoot Book” wins big at annual ForeWord awards for year's best

July 8, 2011

By Darren Richardson, C.M.T.

Golden State Touch

“The Barefoot Book,” by Liberty University anatomy professor Daniel Howell , continues to gain positive attention, most recently at ForeWord Review’s annual Book of the Year Awards in late June.

At this year’s ceremony, held at the American Library Association Conference in New Orleans, “The Barefoot Book” took home the gold, claiming the top honors for 2010 in the Body, Mind & Spirit category.

In “The Barefoot Book” (Hunter House Publishers), Howell walks readers through the many good reasons to make sure feet get adequate barefoot time. In the process, he busts numerous myths that prevent so many people from stepping outside the culturally conditioned foot-boxes more commonly known as shoes.

“Although most people assume shoes are protective,” Howell writes in Chapter One, “they often cause more harm than good. And despite common fears, the environment – both natural and urban – poses few threats to bare feet.”

Broadening the reach

In a response to an e-mail requesting a quote for this report, Howell expressed his gratitude at receiving the honor and added: “I do hope this award broadens the reach of the book so that even more shoe-strapped people can discover the benefits of going barefoot. Anything that gets the book into more bare hands will hopefully lead to more bare feet.”

The subtitle of “The Barefoot Book” is “50 Great Reasons to Kick Off Your Shoes.” Howell highlights those reasons throughout the book. “Go barefoot for strong, healthy arches” and “Go barefoot because shoes increase your chances of bacterial infection” are just two of the excellent reasons that habitual shoe-wearers might find surprising. Happy, healthy barefooters know this quite well already, but it is nice to see it in printed form in an award-winning book.

The arches in the foot are no different from the arches in architecture, which actually weaken when “supported” from the bottom. Arch supports may be needed in some cases for extremely weak and damaged feet, but putting arch supports in shoes as a matter of course actually hampers the functionality of the very feet they are ostensibly worn to protect.

Many habitual shoe-wearers also believe that going barefoot is an invitation to athlete’s foot, but Howell points out that athlete’s foot is virtually unknown in barefoot cultures around the world and that Americans who frequently go barefoot report a very low incidence of the shoe-enabled fungal disease. Shoes, in fact, create the very conditions that promote athlete’s foot: darkness, moisture, sweating, and lack of proper ventilation.

Barefoot runners should read this book

With the surging interest in barefoot running sparked by Christopher McDougall’s 2009 best-seller “Born to Run,” barefoot runners and anyone considering running barefoot (or even in shoes that use “barefoot” as a branding term rather than in the literal sense) should buy and read a copy of Howell’s fun, informative book. “The Barefoot Book,” with a foreword by Portland podiatrist Ray McClanahan, costs about one-tenth what a pair of the funky finger shoes cost and could save you a lot of expenses in podiatric care and shoes down the road.

In a culture where shoes are often expected in situations where they are not needed for protection, “The Barefoot Book” takes the much-needed step of reminding people that in the vast majority of settings, bare feet are the healthiest, happiest footwear choice. As more people find the courage to challenge Western culture’s erroneous foundational assumption that shoes are almost always a necessity, the anti-barefoot myths that have kept so many people skittish about walking without shoes will begin to fade. Howell’s efforts toward helping people rediscover the innate capacities of their own feet are certainly deserving of the award his book received.

Other winners

Other 2010 winners included “Mink River” by Brian Doyle in fiction and “The Last Good War,” photographed by Thomas Sanders and written by Veronica Kavass. These two Editor’s Choice selections came with $1,500 prizes. McPherson & Company was named Independent Publisher of the Year. In the Body, Mind & Spirit category, the second-place silver went to “The Twelve Chinese Animals” by Master Zhongxian Wu, and the third-place bronze was awarded to “As We Grieve” by Jan Groft.

ForeWord Reviews, established in 1998, is a journal dedicating to reviewing independently published books. It serves as the flagship periodical of booksellers, librarians, agents, and publishing professionals looking for the best titles from small presses. The 215 winners in 60 categories were selected by dozens of librarians and booksellers from the thousands of books published by independent publishers in 2010. Each category had a gold, silver and bronze medalist. Some categories also had honorable mentions.

Darren Richardson is professional reflexologist and massage therapist in Berkeley, Calif. He has been hiking barefoot since the mid-1990s. In May of 2011, he led a workshop on the benefits of walking barefoot at the annual Reflexology New Zealand conference in Napier. An expanded version of that workshop, including instruction in reflexology techniques, will be held July 16 in Berkeley. For more information, see http://www.gstouch.com/BarefootEnergetics.

Sources

The Barefoot Book Website

2010 Book of the Year Award winners announced

Hunter House Publishers