By Kathryn Reed

That iconic swoosh, those orange boxes the shoes come in and even the company’s name were all a bit haphazard in how they came to be. The Nike brand of today is much different than when the company was just starting.

While Phil Knight knew he wanted to change the running shoe world, his path to being a force to be reckoned with was fraught with financial insecurity, family strife and international struggles.

Knight, the founder of Nike, in 2016 published his memoir “Shoe Dog” (Simon and Schuster).

It’s a book that will appeal to most people, not just athletes or business owners/entrepreneurs.

For me, the Nike brand seems to always have been a part of my life. Like many businesses I’ve never given much thought to how they started. This was a journey that seemed honest in how it was told. Knight acknowledged his short-comings and fears. He was slow embrace the need to advertise, which today seems impossible to believe.

Knight’s drive and determination took a toll on some of his relationships. While he touches on that in the book, it’s more on the periphery.

His vision and the tenacity to stick with his dream are more than admirable. He could have given up. He had an accounting background to fall back on. But he was consumed by this crazy idea.

Surrounded by people who believed him and a growing running community who embraced the changes he brought to the shoe world, Knight persevered. Clearly, it paid off.

Even though the book is 400 pages, in many ways it’s just a snapshot of the company and the man. It ends when Nike went public. And while this made him a millionaire many times over, his charitable contributions are extensive.

This was my book club’s April book. We all gave it high marks for likeability and would eagerly recommend it to others.