A standout, approachable self-improvement guide that emphasizes mental, spiritual, and physical integration.
Authors Rhoades and McDonald’s useful handbook offers actionable concepts, based on well-researched methods, as tools for improved health.
Rather than offer a new, gimmicky plan, the authors provide solid steps toward affecting positive personal change. Rhoades and McDonald first point to scientific approaches, such as the scientific method, placebo effect, and probability. They suggest that by using the scientific method of testing a hypothesis, a person can arrive at a conclusion that subverts the normal human tendency to face a setback and give up. Next, the guide delves into the connection between mental and physical health. Citing ample research in endnotes, the book presents a fresh perspective on self-empowerment that circumnavigates the world of prescriptions, quick fixes, and gimmicks. For example, the guide explores the way strong emotions can play a factor in creating irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, and other conditions. The book also suggests forms of biofeedback practices, from meditation to relaxation exercises, to help readers discover the links between their systems of beliefs and their systems of bodily processes. Anyone who has ever started a new job, traveled to a foreign country, or encountered a similarly exciting yet stressful situation will notice physical changes like stomach discomfort, headache, or anxiety. The authors explain how to manage stress before it negatively affects mental and physical health and point to examples like Tibetan monks, who ”override” physical discomforts by changing their mindset. The book closes with home remedies for common ailments, such as peppermint, ginger, and salt—all shown to have healing properties. In sum, the book presents an unconventional, appealing approach to solving “problems” of busy 21st-century lifestyles, offering readers an actionable way to connect the mental, physical, and spiritual states and thrive.
A standout, approachable self-improvement guide that emphasizes mental, spiritual, and physical integration.Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4575-4147-6
Page Count: 367
Publisher: Dog Ear
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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