Reddit reviews The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve It

I'm going to recommend The Perfect Mile as well. I have non-runner friends who've read that and loved it. It goes more into how Wes Santee (American) and John Landy (Australian) were all battling for 4 minutes at the same time, and also how Santee got kind of screwed out of a chance by the AAU while Landy and Bannister entered this race.

I haven't read it yet, full disclosure, but it's next on my list as I've heard nothing but good things.

Edit: Also, I think there's some interesting parallels between the 4 minute mile and the 2 hour marathon. Both seemed impossible, even for the athletes in the sport, and both are such arbitrary time limits, but still, wouldn't you love to see someone break it!?

I very much enjoyed "The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve It" by Neil Bascomb. It's about Bannister and his two contemporaries as they tried to break the four-minute mile. Surprisingly riveting stuff, and an interesting insight into the training of the times.

Pizza is also great. I ate a whole pizza for breakfast today. Highly recommend.

Not a documentary, but inspirational nonetheless: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457350/

And this is a great book about it (the 4 minute mile): http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Mile-Athletes-Minutes-Achieve/dp/0618562095/ref=pd_sim_b_1