In reply to englisharcher:
The zero drop idea comes from the barefoot running fad (for want of a better word as I don't mean that negatively) of 10 years ago or so.
An important book at the time was by Chris mcdougall (cant remember the title) all about barefoot running preventing injuries.
As a runner who kept getting injured whenever I got to about 30mpw or so, I had a go at the whole barefoot running thing and totally changed from a heel striker to mid / forefoot striker
It took a while of building up from 1/4 of a mile ( barefoot) to relearn how to run. Not really had any chronic injuries since, and do a reasonable bit of running on and off road.
Two other good books / ideas to look at are chi running and pose running.
Zero drop / minimal are great but you must change from a heel strike to a mid / forefoot strike first. Barefoot running, very slowly and for short distances (at first) can help you to learn the correct way to land that then works for zero drop shoes.
Born to run - the chris mcdougall book.
Post edited at 22:15