The smallest yet most important sauna book
(and book club invitation)
In 1979, a small publisher in New York Mills, Minnesota, published a rather unassuming and tiny book about Finnish sauna. And while it didn’t receive much press and still doesn’t have much recognition today, it is one of the most important North American books about sauna. To understand why, you need to know who the author was and why he wrote the book.
Bernhard Hillila was an academic, educator, pastor, poet, and slack-liner, but, most importantly, he was Finnish American. Sauna became enormously popular in the 50s, 60s, and 70s in North America. But Bernhard noticed that his beloved cultural practice was often “mistranslated.” So, in the 1970s, he decided to write a book to correct the record and clearly describe sauna (the structure and practice) to a North American audience. He read all he could in German, English, and Finnish and traveled to Finland to consult with experts back in the homeland. And the result of the combination of this research and personal experience is a very accessible but surprisingly deep, introduction to Finnish sauna.
And this is why I have chosen it for our sauna book club this November (2025)! I would love to have you join me in reading The Sauna Is… We will do a weekly video meeting to discuss our thoughts. You can get a digital copy on Kindle.
Schedule:
