On Muscle

The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters

By: Bonnie Tsui

Narrated by: Bonnie Tsui

From the bestselling author of Why We Swim comes a mind-expanding exploration of muscle—from our ancient obsession with the ideal human form to the modern science of this amazing and adaptable tissue—that will change the way you think about what moves us through the world.

“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

In On Muscle, Bonnie Tsui brings her signature blend of science, culture, immersive reporting, and personal narrative to examine not just what muscles are but what they mean to us. 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, babies out the uterus; attach to our bones and allow for motion. Tsui also traces how muscles have defined beauty—and how they have distorted it—through the ages, and how they play an essential role in our physical and mental health.

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—and gives 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. Woven throughout are stories of Tsui’s childhood with her Chinese immigrant artist dad—a black belt in karate—who schools her from a young age in a kind of quirky, in-house Muscle Academy.

On Muscle shows us the poetry in the physical, and the surprising ways muscle can reveal what we’re capable of.

©2025 Bonnie Tsui (P)2025 Algonquin Books

Critic reviews

“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

Muscle wisdom

Encyclopedic in so many ways whoever thought a book on muscles would be one that covers the many things in life that we had no idea or connected too muscle to all things in life. In particular I am touched by the authors, emotional connection to family, friends, culture, and science. I’m sending copies to my children who are going to love it and learn from it thank you to the author who’s not afraid to tell it like it is.