On Muscle
The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters
Published on 7. April 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-1-0354-2928-8 (ISBN)
Description
'Remarkable . . . A singular book about the true meanings of strength and flexibility, about our ability to define who we are and who we might be' Ed Yong, New York Times bestselling author of An Immense World and I Contain Multitudes
From the bestselling author of Why We Swim comes a mind-expanding exploration of muscle that will change the way you think about how we move and why it matters.
Cardiac, smooth, skeletal-these three different types of muscle in our bodies make our hearts beat; push food through our intestines, blood through our vessels, attach to our bones and help us move. Individually, they do different things. Collectively, they drive us through our days.
Join athlete and writer Bonnie Tsui as she jumps headfirst into the intriguing world of muscle from the five angles of strength, form, action, flexibility and endurance. Tsui introduces us to the first female weightlifter to pick up the famed Scottish Dinnie Stones, then takes us on a 50-mile run through the Nevada desert that follows the path of escape from a Native boarding school, giving the concept of endurance new meaning. She travels to Oslo, where cutting-edge research reveals how muscles help us bounce back after injury and illness, an important aspect of longevity. She jumps into the action with a historic Double Dutch club in Washington, D.C., to explain anew what Charles Darwin meant by the brain-body connection.
On Muscle is a powerful reminder that using our muscles promote longevity, joy, and, most important, the feeling that we can do anything.
From the bestselling author of Why We Swim comes a mind-expanding exploration of muscle that will change the way you think about how we move and why it matters.
Cardiac, smooth, skeletal-these three different types of muscle in our bodies make our hearts beat; push food through our intestines, blood through our vessels, attach to our bones and help us move. Individually, they do different things. Collectively, they drive us through our days.
Join athlete and writer Bonnie Tsui as she jumps headfirst into the intriguing world of muscle from the five angles of strength, form, action, flexibility and endurance. Tsui introduces us to the first female weightlifter to pick up the famed Scottish Dinnie Stones, then takes us on a 50-mile run through the Nevada desert that follows the path of escape from a Native boarding school, giving the concept of endurance new meaning. She travels to Oslo, where cutting-edge research reveals how muscles help us bounce back after injury and illness, an important aspect of longevity. She jumps into the action with a historic Double Dutch club in Washington, D.C., to explain anew what Charles Darwin meant by the brain-body connection.
On Muscle is a powerful reminder that using our muscles promote longevity, joy, and, most important, the feeling that we can do anything.
Reviews / Votes
Bonnie Tsui has done something remarkable. Fusing science writing, memoir, and essay, she has written a singular book about the true meanings of strength and flexibility, about our ability to define who we are and who we might be, and about what muscle means to the kind of people who rarely feature in stereotypical stories of strength and fitness. On Muscle is a truly moving ode to the tissues that move us -- Ed Yong, New York Times bestselling author of I Contain Multitudes and An Immense World Bonnie Tsui writes with uncommon elegance and warmth-about muscle, yes, but more than that, about movement and joy and the gorgeous, often surprising ways they entwine. On Muscle is literary and deeply personal, but also rigorously researched and powerfully inspiring. It made me want to run, jump, grab my bike, any one of which I would have done had I not at the same time been unable to stop reading -- Mary Roach, New York Times bestselling author of Stiff, Gulp, and Fuzz Only a seriously skilled storyweaver like Bonnie Tsui can combine science, sociology, and personal experience into a joyfully careening tale about something we all take for granted but none of us really understands. The genius of On Muscle is showing not only how physical strength animates our bodies, but every other aspect of life as well. You're about to learn more about yourself and your world than you could ever imagine -- Christopher McDougall, New York Times bestselling author of Born to Run Bonnie Tsui is a poet of physicality, and this book is an ode-one that explores our literal and metaphoric hearts. It is muscle as memory, muscle as meaning, muscle as magic. I am, in all ways, stronger for reading it -- Peggy Orenstein, New York Times bestselling author of Girls & Sex and Boys & Sex Beautifully written and so very smartly conceived, On Muscle takes you places that you expect it to and places that you don't. It's like Bonnie Tsui's splendid Why We Swim that way. Yes, there are bodybuilders and barbells in these pages, but Tsui is more concerned with the meaning of strength, the interplay of brain and brawn, and the importance and glory of motion in life. Her book is about being alive -- Frank Bruni, New York Times bestselling author of The Beauty of Dusk and The Age of Grievance Bonnie Tsui's beautiful and entertaining storytelling made me forget I was absorbing essential knowledge. On Muscle left me with a new appreciation for the mind-body connection and a better understanding of my place in the world -- Des Linden, New York Times bestselling author of Choosing to Run A deep dive into the muscles in our body [that] promises to change the way you think about how we moveand why it matters * Woman's Weekly * Named a Most Anticipated Read of the Season/Year by TIME, Amazon, Alta, San Francisco Chronicle, Next Big Idea Club, Zibby Owens, and Literary Hub A fitting follow-up to Why We Swim, On Muscle cements Tsui as an authority on science, culture, and curiosity. * Alta (Monthly Reading Recommendation) * Undeniably fascinating . . . An easily digestible, reliably entertaining appreciation of muscle, "the vivid engine of our lives". * Kirkus Reviews * Tsui's contemplation of muscle focuses attention on the many ways this tissue connects us to others, the world, and ourselves. * Booklist *
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Headline Publishing Group
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
184 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-0354-2928-8 (9781035429288)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
04/2025
Headline Press
€3.99
Available for download
Person
Bonnie Tsui is a longtime contributor to The New York Times and the bestselling author of Why We Swim, a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice and a Time magazine and NPR Best Book of the Year; it is currently being translated into ten languages. Bonnie is also the author of American Chinatown, which won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, and Sarah and the Big Wave, a children's book about the first woman to surf Mavericks and a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection. Her work has been recognized and supported by Harvard University, the National Press Foundation, the Mesa Refuge, and the Best American Essays series. She lives, swims, and surfs in the Bay Area.