u003cpu003eu003cbu003eA u003ciu003eNew Yorkeru003c/iu003e Best Book of the yearu003c/bu003eu003cbru003eu003cbu003eAn u003ciu003eEsquire u003c/iu003eBest Nonfiction Book of 2022u003c/bu003eu003cbru003eu003cbru003eu003cbu003eFrom u003ciu003eInsomniac Cityu003c/iu003e author Bill Hayes, "who can tackle just about any subject in book form, and make you glad he did" (u003ciu003eSF Chronicle)u003c/iu003eu003c/bu003e-u003cbu003ea cultural, scientific, literary, and personal history of exercise, now in paperback.u003c/bu003eu003cbru003eu003cbru003eExercise is our modern obsession, and we have the fancy workout gear and fads from HIIT to spin classes to hot yoga to prove it. Exercise-a form of physical activity distinct from sports, play, or athletics-was an ancient obsession, too, but as a chapter in human history, it's been largely overlooked. In u003ciu003eSweatu003c/iu003e, Bill Hayes runs, jogs, swims, spins, walks, bikes, boxes, lifts, sweats, and downward-dogs his way through the origins of different forms of exercise, chronicling how they have evolved over time, dissecting the dynamics of human movement. u003cbru003eu003cbru003eHippocrates, Plato, Galen, Susan B. Anthony, Jack LaLanne, and Jane Fonda, among many others, make appearances in u003ciu003eSweatu003c/iu003e, but chief among the historical figures is Girolamo Mercuriale, a Renaissance-era Italian physician who aimed singlehandedly to revive the ancient Greek “art of exercising” through his 1569 book u003ciu003eDe arte gymnasticau003c/iu003e. Though largely forgotten over the past five centuries, Mercuriale and his illustrated treatise were pioneering, and are brought back to life in the pages of u003ciu003eSweat. u003c/iu003eHayes ties his own personal experience-and ours-to the cultural and scientific history of exercise, from ancient times to the present day, giving us a new way to understand its place in our lives in the 21st century.u003c/pu003e