New Book: Temple of Perfection, A History of the Gym

[TommyGun]

Saw a long excerpt of this new book by London based journalist Eric Chaline. The Boston Sunday Globe ran a good section of it today. Interesting historical review of how gyms developed in the US. Sandow is given proper credit for creating interest in strength. And yes, Jane Fonda and the so called aerobics revolution is cited, as well as Muscle Beach.

I won't buy it unless WFAC is given its due, but I thought the members of the form would be interestwd. It's on Amazon.com, sorry I can't link to it.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I somehow missed my review copy. It's been out for almost 8 months, and has 2 reviews on Amazon, one of which is 1-star, and it's only available in hardcover. Looks like it has failed to make its case, if it had one. But, it's one of 21 books the guy has written, so he is only tangentially interested in the topic anyway.

[Chebass88]

The content seems a bit sparse for $27. I think you'd get a better history of gym development by reading everything John Fair, Jan Todd, Terry Todd, and Ken Leistner have written.