Speaking with experts from disciplines such as forensics, chemistry, genetics and even fragrances, Everts takes readers on an entertaining journey into the world of perspiration, including the science behind it and the benefits of a good sweat ... As she tackles a subject that some people deem taboo or even gross, Everts incorporates interesting historical facts, market research and scientific discoveries, skillfully turning science into poetry. And her examples from real-life situations, including her own personal experiences, make The Joy of Sweat even more relatable.
Everts’ plunge into sweat is full of energy, and her open curiosity about our much-maligned bodily secretion leaks onto every page ... The book offers plenty of fascinating facts ... Everts is never too serious. She gamely gets her armpits professionally sniffed, and she joins naked, sweating audiences for sauna theater ... These stories amuse, but a more profound point lingers ... By highlighting history, Everts shows that any perceived problems of sweat are most often cultural, not biological.
A witty, informative, and quirky consideration of this bodily fluid ... Everts also discusses sweat glands, perfume, sweat mimics employed in the textile and jewelry industries, monitoring perspiration for health purposes, and Botox injections to temporarily quell hyperhidrosis. She asserts that society needs to stop 'stigmatizing sweat.' Perspiration is cooler than you’d ever imagine.
... entertaining and illuminating ... Everts is a crisp and lively writer; she has a master’s degree in chemistry, along with an ability to put abstruse scientific processes into accessible terms ... For obvious reasons, this is a summertime book, and Everts keeps it light, even if her subject has some unavoidably serious implications ... Understandably, Everts nudges the reader away from staring too long into the existential abyss. She’s as fascinated by the ambiguities of her subject as she is by the certainties she can pin down.
A popular-science treatment of an overlooked area of study ... Perspiration is neither a fashionable body secretion nor of much interest to publishers, so most readers have not encountered a book on the subject, but science writer and journalism instructor Everts fills that gap admirably ... Few readers will skip the chapter on the history of deodorants, an American invention ... Throughout, Everts mixes facts with interviews and encounters with sweat-related activities across the world ... The author’s prose is sometimes flippant and dense with amusing asides, quips on stinkiness, and embarrassing encounters, but she delivers a solid education. Fascinating information for tolerant readers.
Everts, a professor of journalism at Carleton University, argues in her fascinating debut that 'sweat may be sticky, stinky, and gross,' but it’s one of humans’ most crucial and least understood bodily functions ... Her tone is conversational and accessible, even as she describes cutting-edge science on pheromones in sweat, the potential for using perspiration as an early diagnostic tool for Parkinson’s, and the chemistry of antiperspirants. Everts has an easy hand with demystifying myths associated with sweat, such as the mistaken belief that it can be used as a detoxifying strategy or that sports drinks, such as Gatorade, are valuable aids to athletes looking to replenish salt levels. Packed full of information and unexpected tidbits, this is hard to put down.
