Diligently researched and relevant to canine owners and animal scientists alike; a serious addition to dog health literature.
A debut book explores the dog obesity “epidemic.”
Schulof, whose recreational participation in endurance sports attuned him to body fat’s impact on athletic performance, wondered how he could keep his own dog fit and healthy. His research revealed that “at least half of the dogs in America today are overweight,” which led him on a quest to determine how best to fight canine obesity. This rather remarkable study veers from Schulof’s personal experiences into a weighty scientific treatise about obesity—to some extent, both human and canine. The author approaches the challenge much like an investigative journalist. He does exhaustive research that examines the ancient connection between dogs and wolves, digs into the similarities and differences between human and canine obesity, explores the role of carbohydrates in human and canine diets, and uncovers the seemingly sinister influence of giants in the pet-food industry. Schulof’s keen observation that there is virtually no obesity in wolves while domestic dogs suffer from it is just the tip of the iceberg; the real revelation is that wolves consume a high-quality natural meat diet while most dogs are fed a regimen high in carbohydrates by their owners. The author discovers that the science of canine obesity tracks closely with that of human corpulence; the latest research suggests that carbs, not fat, are to blame: “The most glaring finding that emerges from the literature on canine metabolism is the same one that comes out of studies conducted on human subjects: drastically reducing carbohydrate intake, or eliminating carbs altogether, brings blood sugar and insulin levels crashing back down to earth.” The second half of this strong book is perhaps more eye-opening and potentially scandalous, as Schulof exposes the carb-focused leanings of the pet-food industry, which, in a nod to big pharma, he labels “Big Kibble.” Even the nebulous nature of pet-food labeling is suspect. Quite a bit of this work is technical and scientific but nonetheless intriguing and current. Exhaustive notes and an extensive bibliography make the book all the more impressive.
Diligently researched and relevant to canine owners and animal scientists alike; a serious addition to dog health literature.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-692-76840-2
Page Count: 348
Publisher: Present Tense Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
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