A well-written guide to medicinal herbs full of illuminating theory and practical information.
Herbs can help alleviate chronic illnesses and much else that ails you, according to this sprawling primer.
Rawls, a physician, bases his account of the medicinal action of herbs on an analysis of processes that can sicken and kill cells called “glycation,” which is the tendency of glucose molecules to stick to proteins, caused by eating too many carbs; the buildup of free radicals; the wearing out of mitochondria that supply cells with energy; the corrosive effects of constant physical and mental stress; trace environmental toxins that poison cells; the pervasive presence of microbes that infest and kill cells. To ameliorate these problems, Rawls recommends a diet heavy in vegetables and low in starch, plenty of sleep and exercise, water and air filters to remove toxic contaminants, social distancing, masking and condom usage to avoid microbes, and a low-stress lifestyle. Most of all, he suggests herbal supplements—powdered extracts are his preferred form—with antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and other properties. (Among the dozens of herbs he covers, from achyranthes to yohimbe, his personal favorites include the rhodiola herb, a Siberian “adaptogen” taken by Vikings to enhance endurance; reishi mushrooms; the herbal “brain revitalizer” gotu kola; and shilajit, a mixture of phytochemicals and minerals collected from Himalayan crevices.) Rawls lays out the medicinal uses of each herb along with recommended dosages, contraindications (many herbs are blood thinners, for example), and the occasional smoothie recipe. He goes on to prescribe herbal regimens for specific ailments from loss of bone density to low testosterone levels. Rawls knits together a wealth of sophisticated medical ideas, supported by citations from the scientific literature and his own case studies, in prose that’s lucid and down-to-earth but stocked with evocative metaphors. (“The immune system can target infected cells with antibodies, but in the process, it also inadvertently targets normal cells of the same tissues. You might recognize this as autoimmunity. It’s like fighting terrorists hiding out in a city full of civilians.”) Readers interested in trying out natural remedies will find this an eminently useful and reassuring starting point.
A well-written guide to medicinal herbs full of illuminating theory and practical information.Pub Date: June 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-9823225-6-7
Page Count: 594
Publisher: Vital Plan, Inc.
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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