Saturday, May 15, 2010
Jane Fonda’s Workout Book (Now in Paperback)
-42° 15.048' W by 37° 51.876' N. Course: 93° Speed: 16.3 knots
Part of my job as the librarian aboard this ship is to weed through the
books that we have here and remove those that are perhaps irrelevant.
Case in point: The several volumes of “Florida Tour Guide” books that we
have dated from 1981 or for that matter our “Fodor’s East Germany.”
In most cases it is pretty easy to make a decision about these since most
guide books become irrelevant within five years or so. Yet I have now
come across one, that I believe I will need your help with, faithful
readers…
“Jane Fonda’s Workout Book” by Jane Fonda with photographs by Steve
Schapiro. This book, copyright 1981 is in excellent condition and has a
smiling Jane Fonda on the cover in leotards stretching graced with a poofy
80’s hairdo.
So the question is do I discard this?
The way I look at it, the exercises are probably still relevant. I don’t
think there has been a fundamental shift in physics within the last thirty
years that would negate the benefits of the exercises. Secondly, let’s
consider the historical value of this work. Surely this book would
provide an important incite into 80’s workout culture – which also
includes a woman with an eyepatch doing squats on page 218 (I am not
making this up).
Working in favor of the discard is that no one is likely to take this out..
What are your thoughts?
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Fact is always far more interesting then fiction. One could not make rhe realities of life up! Glad to hear the sea disease has passed. :)
ReplyDeleteI think you should keep it for posterity or perhaps mail it to Jane's fan club.
ReplyDeleteOh for goodness sakes...doesn't anyone see the obvious? JF was a hottie back then and she probably looks good to guys out at sea. You just need to add a workout book with a hot male instructor for the women on board(let's say someone like Luke from Sisters & Brothers/Dancing w. the Stars/Sex & the City) and I'm sure both those books will be checked out quite often. So do not toss!
ReplyDeletePersonally I have never cared for Jane, her politics, or radicalism in the 70's but she has taken good care of herself. In my humble opinion the best use of her book would be to start up the Sunday Barbeque...My guess is that the vast majority of the cadets (male or female) have no clue who she is and wouldn't bother checking her book out. In addition wouldn't a workout video be more in line for a work out? I mean seriously, have you ever tried to do jumping jacks while reading a book? Safe travels and happy blogging!
ReplyDeleteWhat Mrs. H said.
ReplyDelete