Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Spark  By  cover art

Spark

By: John J. Ratey MD,Eric Hagerman - contributor
Narrated by: Allan Robertson
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.83

Buy for $21.83

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

A groundbreaking and fascinating investigation into the transformative effects of exercise on the brain, from the best-selling author and renowned psychiatrist John J. Ratey, MD.

Did you know you can beat stress, lift your mood, fight memory loss, sharpen your intellect, and function better than ever simply by elevating your heart rate and breaking a sweat? The evidence is incontrovertible: Aerobic exercise physically remodels our brains for peak performance.

In Spark, John J. Ratey, MD, embarks upon a fascinating and entertaining journey through the mind-body connection, presenting startling research to prove that exercise is truly our best defense against everything from depression to ADD to addiction to aggression to menopause to Alzheimer's.

Filled with amazing case studies (such as the revolutionary fitness program in Naperville, Illinois, which has put this school district of 19,000 kids first in the world of science test scores), Spark is the first book to explore comprehensively the connection between exercise and the brain. It will change forever the way you think about your morning run - or, for that matter, simply the way you think.

©2008 John J. Ratey, MD (P)2021 Little, Brown Spark

Critic reviews

"At last a book that explains to me why I feel so much better if I run in the morning! This very readable book describes the science behind the mind-body connection and adds to the evidence that exercise is the best way to stay healthy, alert, and happy!" (Dr. Susan M. Love, author of Dr. Susan Love's Menopause and Hormone Book and Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book)

"Bravo! This is an extremely important book. What Cooper did decades ago for exercise and the heart, Ratey does in SPARK for exercise and the brain. Everyone - teachers, doctors, managers, policy-makers, individuals trying to lead the best kind of life - can benefit enormously from the utterly convincing and brilliantly documented thesis of this ground-breaking work. People know that exercise helps just about everything, except anorexia, but it will surprise most people just how dramatically it improves all areas of mental functioning. So, get moving! You're brain will thank you and repay you many times over." (Edward Hallowell, MD, The Hallowell Centers)

"This book is a real turning point that explains something I've been trying to figure out for years. Having experienced symptoms of both ADHD and mild depression, I have personally witnessed the powerful effects of exercise, and I've suspected that the health benefits go way beyond just fitness. Exercise is not simply necessary, as Dr. Ratey clearly shows, it's medicine." (Greg LeMond, three-time winner of the Tour de France)

Featured Article: The 20 Best Fitness Audiobooks for Becoming Your Healthiest Self


Fitness audiobooks have the power to inspire and motivate us to change ourselves, whether through tough love or peeks into the amazing transformations of others. As one of the most consistently popular audiobook genres, there are countless selections with a plethora of information about the road to better health. Here, discover titles that communicate truths about health and fitness by examining the nutrition industry and human motivations.

What listeners say about Spark

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    856
  • 4 Stars
    136
  • 3 Stars
    40
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    728
  • 4 Stars
    113
  • 3 Stars
    27
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    698
  • 4 Stars
    132
  • 3 Stars
    32
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

I wish to give it 5 stars but…

First of, the pros:
It’s written by a friend and collaborator of Ned Hallowell (hope I spelled correctly), author of Driven to Distraction.
The author himself has ADHD and brings insight into this area.
This book should be enough to convince anyone to exercise.
It’s science-backed.

Why I can’t give it 5 stars:

The science is biased in places : The author downright dismisses diet as “not so important”, which I find to be a massive blunder. I can’t think of many things more depressing than overweight people being told to exercise more, when what they need is to stop poisoning themselves or athletes dying from a heart attack in their 40s from their shady diets.

Simple diet improvements are often found to beat exercise for weight loss, and diet has all the same benefits quoted in this book for exercise. Dismissing it is just sad when we clearly need both.

The author also interprets tons of studies made on rats without mentioning the fact that rat studies rarely translate well to humans. If a study worked wonderfully in rats, they would do a human study. The absence of a human study indicates in itself that the rat study should not be used to draw conclusions about human subjects.
+ it’s depressing to listen about rats being abused.

The book’s full of scientific stuff in the lines of “ Here’s how science shows exercise is good for you ”, a few times that would be good, but it’s like the book’s written for the anti-vaxxer of exercise.
I don’t need a book telling me to exercise 1000 times, I got it, it’s good, enough. I would’ve much preferred more actionable advice instead.

The book doesn’t give me much insight into how to get there/ where I’m going and how to overcome obstacles along the way.

My resume of the book: “ Exercise helps with literally everything so I should exercise, any amount helps but more is good, and even more is good too. Any type of exercise is good, especially aerobic and ones where you do complex movements (dance, martial arts, mountain climbing). “

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

31 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I’ve read it 2 times now, and I’m going for a third

Excellent quality narration, and life-changing information. I’m very satisfied with it. I’m actually listening to it after every exercise.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very Inspirational

I was always under the assumption that exercise makes you fit, and helps you lose weight. I never knew how it affected the brain. I can see many of the items the author covered happening to me right now, almost as if he knew me personally. I'm happy to find this book while I still have time to take action.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Must Read List Material.

In my top 3 life changing potential books. If you like self help at all this will quickly become one of your favourite recommended books.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant!

We are born to move and the books brilliantly explains the science of WHY! As a non-scientist myself, I found the intellectual background easy to follow. As a parent and teacher, I was enthralled by the educational link between body and brain. Excellent book all around.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Most influential and important listen of my life

I have a masters in kinesiology from TAMU and learned so much about relevant studies and how aerobic exercise literally loses everything. Scientific, evidence-based, and simply amazing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Truly a 5 star — I’d give it a ten if I could

I appreciate the author’s thoroughness in research AND its applicability. I also appreciate his mission to create lasting-healthy goals through exercise in writing this book. This helped me open my eyes to my own life and those I treat as a healthcare provider. Everyone — literally EVERYONE should read this book. After all — we all have a body and a brain we are looking after. I want to further encourage and reiterate what is taught in this book — exercise is key to health and prosperity. With with your doctor on how to get active if you aren’t — and please doctors — I’m begging you to “prescribe” exercise more. There’s no magic pill. Medication has a time and place, absolutely, but I’ve never heard my doctor at any appointment or annual exam ask or discuss how my exercise habits are going. NOT ONCE. This is going to have to take both a bottom-up and a top-down approach to change. We personally need to advocate for ourselves and our health and doctors need to spend more time educating on different aspects of health.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I learned a ton!

I will listen to this over and over, particularly the heavy parts. The performance kept my attention. I bought 5 hard copies to give away as gifts.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb! Thank you Dr. John Ratey

This is by far the best book about physical and mental health I have read. I have leaned so much from the knowledge and experience of Dr. Ratey, who explains it so vividly that a common person can relate to it.
Know things is one thing, understanding them is another. I strongly recommend this book to everyone keen about learning why he/she should exercise?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding and Interesting

This is a very informative book presented in a manner that the layman listener (or reader) can understand. It offers much to anyone looking for intrinsic motivation to exercise.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful