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Vybarr Cregan-Reid

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Vybarr Cregan-Reid recording at the BBC World Service

Vybarr Cregan-Reid (/ˈvaɪbɑː ˌkriːɡənˈriːd/ VYE-bar KREE-gən-REED;[1] born 1969) is a British author, academic. He works at York St John University. He is the author of Footnotes: How Running Makes us Human (2016), and Primate Change: How the World We Made is Remaking Us (2018) and We Are What We Read: a life within and without books. Before that, he published Discovering Gilgamesh: Geology, Narrative & the Historical Sublime in Victorian Culture (2013). He has appeared on Sky[2] and ITV, and made programmes for the BBC.[3]

Education and career

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Cregan-Reid grew up in Manchester and studied English at the University of Sussex. He did a two-year Leverhulme Research Fellowship at Sussex from 2004–2006.[4] He currently works at York St John University.

Books

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  • Discovering Gilgamesh: Geology, Narrative & the Historical Sublime in Victorian Culture (2013) is an academic monograph on the impact that the rediscovery of The Epic of Gilgamesh made in 1872.[5]
  • Footnotes: How Running Makes us Human (2016), is a blend of memoir, literary criticism and nature-writing. It looks at humans' relationship with running, what running means, what it does for us and where it came from, and asks why we run. It was widely praised by critics and readers. The Washington Post, described it as 'accessible and thought-provoking’[6] and compares it to the writing of the novelist Haruki Murakami.[7]
  • Primate Change: How the World We Made is Remaking Us (2018) is a wide-ranging, polemical look at how and why the human body has changed since humankind first got up on two feet. Spanning the entirety of human history—from primate to transhuman—the book investigates where we came from, who we are today and how modern technology will change us beyond recognition. The Guardian called it "a work of remarkable scope".[8] It was a Science 'Book of the Year' in the Financial Times, and Christmas Pick for The Mail. It has been translated into 7 languages.
  • We Are What We Read: a life within and without books (2024) - a memoir about education and the war on the humanities.

Journalism and radio

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As a journalist, Vybarr Cregan-Reid has written widely on the subjects of literature, nature, health and the environment. He has had work commissioned by The Barbican[9] and the British Council.[10] He has written for The Guardian,[11][12][13] The Observer,[14] The Daily Telegraph,[15] The Daily Mail, The Sunday Times,[16] The Literary Review, The I, Wanderlust, The Big Issue and Countryfile.[17] He has hosted live radio on BBC Radio 5Live,[18] read his work and been interviewed a number of times of BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4. He has also been on radio stations throughout the world such as NPR[19][20] and Canadian CBC.[21] He has also written and presented two series for the BBC World Service, Changing World, Changing Bodies,[22] which looked at how different parts of the modern body (like feet,[23] backs,[24] and faces[25]) are changing in different parts of the world. The second series looked at how modern life affects sleep,[26] how it has driven our height,[27] and longevity.

References

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  1. ^ "5 Reasons You Should Go For A Run Today | Dr Vybarr Cregan-Reid | Think Kent". YouTube. 8 December 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  2. ^ "The Magic Pill For Happiness And Health Is Simply Going For A Jog". Sky News. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  3. ^ "BBC World Service - The Compass, Changing World, Changing Bodies, Feet, Did you know our feet have grown by two sizes in four decades?". BBC. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  4. ^ "Leverhulme Trust Annual Report 2004" (PDF).
  5. ^ "Manchester University Press - Discovering Gilgamesh". Manchester University Press. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  6. ^ "how-running-is-crucial-to-being-human". The Washington Post.
  7. ^ "chasing-revelation-on-a-long-distance-run-through-a-natural-landscape". Washington Post on Sunday.
  8. ^ Smith, P. D. (22 November 2018). "Primate Change by Vybarr Cregan-Reid review – walking as a 'miracle cure'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  9. ^ "Life Rewired Reads: Vybarr Cregan-Reid". www.barbican.org.uk. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  10. ^ "What is the web doing to our bodies? | British Council". www.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  11. ^ Cregan-Reid, Vybarr (3 January 2019). "Why exercise alone won't save us". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  12. ^ Cregan-Reid, Vybarr (16 January 2014). "Running: the top five reasons to keep going". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  13. ^ Cregan-Reid, Vybarr (10 January 2017). "The treadmill is 200 this year – high time it got a makeover". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  14. ^ Cregan-Reid, Vybarr (20 October 2018). "Allergies: the scourge of modern life?". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  15. ^ Cregan-Reid, Vybarr (10 May 2015). "How to become a happy runner". The Daily Telegraph : Britain's Best-Selling Quality Daily. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  16. ^ Cregan-Reid, Vybarr (14 October 2018). "Fresh-air farming: how one man halved his asthma medication". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0956-1382. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  17. ^ "Why everyone can benefit from heading into the woods". Countryfile.com. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  18. ^ "BBC Radio 5 live - Live Wires - Is modern life making us ill - and what can we do about it?". BBC. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  19. ^ "How The Things We Make - Like Chairs - Have Changed Humans". Wisconsin Public Radio. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  20. ^ "Why We Love To Run | The Leonard Lopate Show". WNYC. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  21. ^ "The Current: Hate the gym? History explains why the treadmill can feel like torture".
  22. ^ "BBC World Service - the Compass, Changing World, Changing Bodies, How modern life is changing our feet". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  23. ^ "BBC World Service - The Compass, Changing World, Changing Bodies, Feet". BBC. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  24. ^ "BBC World Service - The Compass, Changing World, Changing Bodies, Backs". BBC. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  25. ^ "BBC World Service - The Compass, Changing World, Changing Bodies, 29/05/2019 GMT". BBC. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  26. ^ "BBC World Service - the Compass, Changing World, Changing Bodies, How modern life affects our sleep". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  27. ^ "BBC World Service - the Compass, Changing World, Changing Bodies, is height all in the mind?". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
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