EVERY BODY'S FITNESS BOOK: A SIMPLE, SAFE AND SANE APPROACH TO PERSONAL FITNESS Gordon W. Stewart. Ganges (BC), 3S Publishers, c1980, 1982. Distributed by 3S Publishers, Box 779, Ganges, B.C., V0S1E0. 238pp, paper, $8.95. ISBN 0-920846-02-5. Grades 9 and up. Reviewed by Neil Payne. Volume 11 Number 4. 1983 July. Every Body's Fitness Book is, yes, one more book designed to tell you how to get fit and stay fit. It begins with the premise that a physically active lifestyle and the resulting fitness are not just a worthy means to a happier healthier life but a pleasurable end in themselves. It is intended for the person who has decided to start a personal program for fitness but does not know how to go about it. It is designed to be a guide for the person who wants to live a healthier life but not become a fitness addict with a competitive demand for pain-induced physical perfection. The book is organized as a general manual of good advice on fitness. It consistently promotes the importance of common sense, listening to the body's own signals, and pursuing activities you are comfortable with and find convenient to your lifestyle. It specifically rejects the it-has-to-hurt-to-be-worthwhile approach that injures and defeats so many people who would like to regain the healthy glow of their earlier years. It provides a variety of alternatives, progressive exercises that allow beginners to work up to fitness at their own rate and avoid the boredom of rigid daily repetition of the same activity. One of its most valuable services is a clear, concise account of what is needed to get started in a wide variety of activities including walking, hiking, running, cycling, skipping, dancing, swimming, cross-country skiing, now-shoeing, mountaineering, orienteering, canoeing, and kayaking. It also recommends sources of more detailed advice in each of these areas. There is common sense advice on common injuries, aging, stress, heart problems, and weight control. Throughout, the emphasis is on doing what you enjoy, at a rate and frequency that leaves you refreshed and renewed, because what you enjoy you ill want to continue. Gordon Stewart is a fitness professional who has instructed a variety of fitness programs, consulted and written on fitness for several government and business agencies and who writes a weekly fitness column syndicated to community newspapers across Canada. As a former Canadian record holder in the decathalon, he is familiar with the fitness problems of the athlete and the former athlete as well as the average citizen. This is an interesting, easily-read book that the average person interested in personal fitness will return to again and again for encouragement and common-sense advice. Due to its consistent theme of the joy of sensible physical activity at all ages, it is the most useful and rewarding fitness book encountered by this reviewer. Highly recommended for all school and public libraries and for consideration as a personal purchase. Neil Payne, Kingston C. V. I., Kingston, ON.