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A review by piabo
Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey, Eric Hagerman
4.0
We all know exercise is good, and we should do more of it. But for me the messaging was usually mixed with either the aim to shrink people's bodies or to achieve great things in sport. Only later did I realize that moving increases mental health and resilience. This book gave more of the scientific background on it, especially connected to the brain (e.g. learning, memory, and brain degenerative diseases).
I find it crazy how much of this knowledge is not concretely taught in schools or made public knowledge. The anecdotal ideas we all have on working out are not nearly as motivating and hopeful as this book.
This book feels like the movement equivalent to "Why We Sleep", it is good to read to be reminded of why physical activity is important, but it also makes some bold claims or uses correlation instead of causation. I think the author could have been a little more differentiating when talking about a lot of the science to make it less scandalous or act as if one size fits all. People's body and what is their ideal movement are a lot more nuanced than I felt the author made it seem. Or maybe I was just annoyed that it was written kind of dry with little empathy, just facts.
Out of the three books I read on movement back to back, this was the most neuroscience heavy, and least personal.
I find it crazy how much of this knowledge is not concretely taught in schools or made public knowledge. The anecdotal ideas we all have on working out are not nearly as motivating and hopeful as this book.
This book feels like the movement equivalent to "Why We Sleep", it is good to read to be reminded of why physical activity is important, but it also makes some bold claims or uses correlation instead of causation. I think the author could have been a little more differentiating when talking about a lot of the science to make it less scandalous or act as if one size fits all. People's body and what is their ideal movement are a lot more nuanced than I felt the author made it seem. Or maybe I was just annoyed that it was written kind of dry with little empathy, just facts.
Out of the three books I read on movement back to back, this was the most neuroscience heavy, and least personal.