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From the codirector of the Mayo Clinic/Arizona State University Obesity Solutions Initiative and inventor of the treadmill desk comes a fascinating wake-up call about our sedentary lifestyle.That the average adult spends 50 to 70 percent of their day sitting is no surprise to anyone who works in an office environment. But few realize the health consequences they are suffering as a result of modernity’s increasingly sedentary lifestyle, or the effects it has had on society at large. In Get Up!, health expert James A. Levine’s original scientific research shows that today’s chair-based world, where we no longer use our bodies as they evolved to be used, is having negativeconsequences on our health, and is a leading cause of diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. Over the decades, humans have moved from a primarily active lifestyle to one that is largely sedentary, and this change has reshaped every facet of our lives – from social interaction to classroom design. Levine shows how to throw off the shackles of inertia and reverse these negative trends through simple changes in our daily livesThis book has an important lesson to teach. And that is that we must MOVE in order to be healthy, both physically and mentally. And not just by exercising, but by incorporating the movement in our daily lives. The message of the book is short and is repeated time and again. The biggest part of the book however is not it’s important message, but the story of Mr Levine’s professional life. The people he met, the difficulties he had to overcome, and so on. This is interesting but it is not one book that I would read again. Some books like “Mini Habits” and “The Slight Edge” I read repeatedly, because they primarily concentrate on the message. Not this book, and that is why I’m giving it four starsDr. Levine, MD has written an indictment of the chair. In an interesting and easy to read style Dr. Levine helps us understand that humans are not physically wired to sit as much as our modern society or culture allows. He gives a brief history of sitting which only started actually a few years ago and explains how it has led to many of the health problems we have today. He discusses the need for movement that our bodies demand to stay in shape and be healthier and happier.Dr. Levine set up a laboratory at the Mayo Clinic to study movement and its importance in fighting obesity. He is the inventor of multiple activity-tracking devices and the treadmill desk. His argument is that after sitting all day at the office and then going home, sitting while commuting, and sitting in front of our entertainment centers, we are not moving enough. He cites companies that he and his team have gone into and changed the environment so that people are not up and moving around during the work day and the health cost to the company has decreased and the workers are happier. He talks about schools that they have redesigned so that the students are not seat ridden for the 7 hours or so that they are in attendance per day. As the students are given more freedom to move the learning increased which led to better test scores which in this day and time seem to be what is driving education.A very interesting and readable book. A book that puts the onus on the individual to get up off the seat and to move. I will end this now and get up off my seat and move a little to improve my health.Website   http://www.audible.com.au/pd/Health-Personal-Development/Get…