SWEAT: A History of Exercise
汗暢淋漓的魅力：運動的歷史
內容介紹
「比爾·海斯有個特別的技能，他是科學作家、是回憶錄作家、還是一名是文化解釋者！」——《紐約時報》( New York Times)
「運動」令現代人深深著迷，從高強度間歇訓練、飛輪、到熱瑜伽，人們爭相穿上精美、新潮的運動裝、配備，就足以證明這件事情；它是一種身體上的活動，但是又與競技運動、遊戲或者田徑場上的體育活動不同，當然這些也是一種人類源自古老的癡迷行為。然而，「運動」這件事，作為人類的發展歷史，卻有一定程度地被疏漏了。在這本書裡，作者比爾·海耶斯(Bill Hayes) 以慢跑、游泳、步行、騎自行車、拳擊、舉重和瑜伽等不同的角度，帶領讀者穿越時空了解不同運動形式的起源，記錄了這些運動，如何隨著時間推移而演變、剖析人體運動的動力學。
五百年前的義大利醫師，吉羅拉莫·墨庫里亞萊(Girolamo Mercuriale)撰寫了世界第一本運動醫學相關的書籍《體操的藝術》(Le Arte Gymnastica)，書中討論了古希臘人的飲食、衛生、運動以及物理治療等。雖然這些內容已經被世人遺忘了將近五百年，但墨庫里亞萊(Mercuriale)的見解和他的插圖內容，都是十分具有開創性，並將古老的知識重新注入了生命力！
更難能可貴的是，比爾·海耶斯結合自身的經驗(包含大眾的經驗)，將其和歷史、知識、文化結合，給予世人對「運動」一詞在21世紀的定位。
作者介紹
1961年生於美國明尼蘇達州，作家、攝影家。著作包括《解剖學家》(Anatomist)、《五夸脫》(Five Quarts)、《睡魔》(Sleep Demons)、《失眠之城》 (Insomniac City)(繁體中文版由心靈工坊出版)、《我們如何生活》 (How We Live Now)。他是古根漢獎(Guggenheim Fellowship)非小說類獎學金獲獎者(2013-14)，也是羅馬美國學院駐院作家。
作品屢見《紐約時報》(The New York Times)，同時也刊載於《紐約書評》(New York Review of Books)、《沙龍》(Salon)及其他刊物。攝影作品見於《浮華世界》(Vanity Fair)、《紐約時報》及《紐約客》(The New Yorker)，第一本攝影集《傷心紐約》(How New York Breaks Yor Heart)於2018年問世。目前已經完成了改編自《失眠之城》的電影劇本，倫敦著名醫生奧利佛·薩克斯(Oliver Sacks)遺作的聯合編輯，現在住在紐約。
書評
"An appealing, essential addition to the shelf. . . . Sweat is a brisk and amiable stroll through the history of vigorous activity. Hayes brings his resilient good nature and charming candor to the page, writing both from farflung, international research and considerable practice in arenas of swimming, running, boxing, weightlifting. . . . Whether in a library, a gym or the Grecian ruins of an ancient locker room, Hayes captures the majesty of bodies in motion." - Shelf Awareness, starred review
"Hayes blends science, travel, history, and memoir into a thoroughly engaging, and idiosyncratic, narrative inquiry into ‘exercise,’ a term originating in the 14th century meaning ‘to remove restraint’... Hayes writes with panache as he crosses three continents in search of fitness routines past and present, from fencing to Jane Fonda." - National Book Review
"Hayes entertainingly describes his adventures in the world of fitness, learning how to box at a pugilists' boot camp, swimming, running, and performing power yoga in a New York gym class. A brisk jaunt through the history of working out in Western civilization." ―Booklist
"At once a book about exercise history, and a travelogue, a literary discovery tour, and another of Hayes's personal and exhilarating memoirs." ―Library Journal
"Obsessed by both working out and its history, Hayes writes a book that combines them...An entertaining hodgepodge of autobiography, travelogue, and history." ―Kirkus Reviews
"With an introspective eye and dynamic prose, Hayes keeps his investigation grounded in his personal search for meaning." ―Publishers Weekly
"If you want to see peek at the other side of the locker room, check out Sweat... Hayes takes readers back centuries to see how our physical health has become what it is, and why we've perceived it as both pain and pleasure through time. It's a personal and historical look, literally sweatin' to the oldies." - Bookworm Sez
"Bill Hayes' peripatetic inquiry into the history of exercise is a delight for anyone who loves a good search for a missing manuscript, as well as anyone who loves being 'so drenched in sweat as to feel amphibious.' And if those predilections happen to overlap for you, hang onto your Bosu ball-you're in for a treat. Hayes weaves his riveting findings in the archives with a revelatory memoir of physical exertion that begins to answer that most human of questions: what does the body mean?" ―Alison Bechdel
“I was riveted by Sweat and its extraordinary tale of the ups and downs of exercise over millennia. Who knew?” ―Jane Fonda
“Bill Hayes has an unusual set of skills . . . He is part science writer, part memoirist, part culture explainer.” ―The New York Times