by Bob Greene ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 2, 2011
Bestselling author and life motivator Greene (The Life You Want, 2010, etc.) plumbs the secrets to looking and feeling younger.
Together with a team of medical experts, the author explores the building blocks of youthfulness and how to turn back the clock on aging to recapture the vigor of a healthy mind and body. In the introduction, the 50-something author references the grueling training and reserve that was necessary when he bicycled cross-country on a multi-city book tour. What he took away from that experience was improved “mental and emotional clarity,” along with a physical soundness he’d never believed he could achieve. Reinvigorated, Greene shares his wellspring of knowledge on how to combine the latest advances in anti-aging science with a practical daily regimen. He introduces a four-part system galvanizing the benefits of regular exercise, healthful nutrition, skin care and restorative sleep. The author presents several theories on why we age and what can be done to reverse its effects on our minds and bodies. Exercise is as much a key component, Greene stresses, as mindful eating, and he presents a detailed fitness program along with pages of recommended “superfoods” touted to boost energy and longevity. Cautionary advice on the dangers of “killer compounds” like saturated and trans-fats, sodium and refined sugar is blatantly conventional, but can serve as a helpful reminder when combined with recommendations on skin care, sunscreen and an 11-point plan to maximize the benefits of sleep. The closing chapter provides a sensible food plan featuring recipes for Sweet Potato and Turkey Shepherd’s Pie, Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes and Slow-Cooked Lamb. Together with stress control and the power of a positive attitude, Greene firmly demonstrates that it’s never too late for anyone to look and feel their best. Timely, accessible and compelling guidance from a veteran health-and-wellness guru.
Pub Date: May 2, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-316-13378-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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by Rebecca Skloot ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 9, 2010
Skloot's meticulous, riveting account strikes a humanistic balance between sociological history, venerable portraiture and...
A dense, absorbing investigation into the medical community's exploitation of a dying woman and her family's struggle to salvage truth and dignity decades later.
In a well-paced, vibrant narrative, Popular Science contributor and Culture Dish blogger Skloot (Creative Writing/Univ. of Memphis) demonstrates that for every human cell put under a microscope, a complex life story is inexorably attached, to which doctors, researchers and laboratories have often been woefully insensitive and unaccountable. In 1951, Henrietta Lacks, an African-American mother of five, was diagnosed with what proved to be a fatal form of cervical cancer. At Johns Hopkins, the doctors harvested cells from her cervix without her permission and distributed them to labs around the globe, where they were multiplied and used for a diverse array of treatments. Known as HeLa cells, they became one of the world's most ubiquitous sources for medical research of everything from hormones, steroids and vitamins to gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, even the polio vaccine—all without the knowledge, must less consent, of the Lacks family. Skloot spent a decade interviewing every relative of Lacks she could find, excavating difficult memories and long-simmering outrage that had lay dormant since their loved one's sorrowful demise. Equal parts intimate biography and brutal clinical reportage, Skloot's graceful narrative adeptly navigates the wrenching Lack family recollections and the sobering, overarching realities of poverty and pre–civil-rights racism. The author's style is matched by a methodical scientific rigor and manifest expertise in the field.
Skloot's meticulous, riveting account strikes a humanistic balance between sociological history, venerable portraiture and Petri dish politics.Pub Date: Feb. 9, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4000-5217-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2010
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by Cheryl Strayed ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2015
These platitudes need perspective; better to buy the books they came from.
A lightweight collection of self-help snippets from the bestselling author.
What makes a quote a quote? Does it have to be quoted by someone other than the original author? Apparently not, if we take Strayed’s collection of truisms as an example. The well-known memoirist (Wild), novelist (Torch), and radio-show host (“Dear Sugar”) pulls lines from her previous pages and delivers them one at a time in this small, gift-sized book. No excerpt exceeds one page in length, and some are only one line long. Strayed doesn’t reference the books she’s drawing from, so the quotes stand without context and are strung together without apparent attention to structure or narrative flow. Thus, we move back and forth from first-person tales from the Pacific Crest Trail to conversational tidbits to meditations on grief. Some are astoundingly simple, such as Strayed’s declaration that “Love is the feeling we have for those we care deeply about and hold in high regard.” Others call on the author’s unique observations—people who regret what they haven’t done, she writes, end up “mingy, addled, shrink-wrapped versions” of themselves—and offer a reward for wading through obvious advice like “Trust your gut.” Other quotes sound familiar—not necessarily because you’ve read Strayed’s other work, but likely due to the influence of other authors on her writing. When she writes about blooming into your own authenticity, for instance, one is immediately reminded of Anaïs Nin: "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Strayed’s true blossoming happens in her longer works; while this collection might brighten someone’s day—and is sure to sell plenty of copies during the holidays—it’s no substitute for the real thing.
These platitudes need perspective; better to buy the books they came from.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-101-946909
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
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