On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters

"I listened to this meditation on muscle over the course of a long bike ride. Physically, I pumped my legs over miles of pavement. Mentally, I was in Scotland with female weightlifting pioneer Jan Todd as she strained to lift the fabled, 700+ pound Dinnie Stones, or I was pondering how humpback whales propel their 50-ton bodies out of the water with the flick of a tail muscle – a feat that tests the limits of muscle fiber. Bonnie Tsui melds scientific fact with memoir and storytelling, weaving a thoughtful reflection on muscle as the stuff that allows us to weather hard things with grace. Like a long bike ride on a beautiful day, it was so lovely I didn’t want it to end."