Intelligently organized, competently written, and comprehensive advice on hair loss.
A health care book offers a voluminous exploration of hair loss.
This scrupulously researched second edition by Gomez, a medical/business book author and former health care executive, may well be regarded by the medical community as a definitive resource on hair loss. Reviewed by two medical professionals and with extensive references, the book offers 19 chapters that cover the topic in detail. The first nine chapters concern hair growth, male and female hair loss, and the effects of heredity, hormones, aging, and scalp conditions on hair loss. In addition, there are two chapters providing historical overviews of hair-loss treatments and surgical restoration methods. This first half of the book is clearly intended for medical professionals. The remainder of the volume concentrates largely on methods of treating hair loss, which include hair restoration and transplantation, various types of surgery, nonsurgical replacement/restoration, and topical treatments. Also included are chapters about the physician-patient relationship, hair care, nutrition, gray hair, and “future trends in hair restoration solutions.” While the book’s second half retains its medical terminology and is therefore most appropriate for health care professionals, it could just as easily be informative to anyone who suffers from hair loss. For example, there is an excellent, if technical, comparison of the three primary hair restoration/transplantation methods that includes helpful illustrations from various sources and a table. Information about topical treatments should be relevant to consumers as well, particularly the thorough section regarding minoxidil (Rogaine). Both the hair care and hair nutrition chapters contain tips that could be very useful to any reader. A discussion of the initial consultation between physician and patient provides insights into potential hair-loss treatment concerns. The author even includes hair transplant/graft cost estimates. At various times, Gomez urges caution in proceeding with hair-loss treatments. For instance, in discussing methods to improve scalp circulation, he writes: “The objective of all these treatment modalities is to separate the consumer from their hard-earned money.” A concluding chapter that explores advances in biosciences, such as hair cloning and multiplication, should fascinate medical professionals and interested readers alike.
Intelligently organized, competently written, and comprehensive advice on hair loss.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2022
ISBN: 9781637652886
Page Count: 436
Publisher: Halo Publishing International
Review Posted Online: Nov. 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Top Chef fans might savor this detailed account, but others will find it bland.
The Top Chef host describes her journey to new heights.
For those who don’t know, Kish is a “gay Korean adopted woman, born in Seoul, raised in Michigan” and “a chef, a character, a host, and a cultural communicator—as well as a human being with a beating heart.” Though this book covers every step of her journey, every restaurant job and television role, and also discusses her experience as an adoptee (very positive) and a queer woman (late bloomer), the storytelling is so straightforward, lacking in suspense, character development, or dialogue, that it is basically a long version of its (longish) “About the Author.” Seemingly dramatic situations are not dramatized—when she was eliminated on her first Top Chef run, she assures us that she did the best she could, and drops it. “I can spare you the gory details (bouillabaisse and big personalities were involved).” Later, she cites a belief in protecting the privacy of others to omit the story of her first relationship with a woman. With no character development, neither does the reader get to know those who fall outside the privacy zone, like her best friend, Steph, and her wife, Bianca. When she gets mad, she says things like, “It’s a gross understatement to say I was crushed, beyond frustrated, and furious with the situation.” The fact that “I’ve never been a big reader” does not come as a surprise. It is more surprising when she confesses that “I believe the universe is selective about the moments in which it introduces life-changing prospects.”
Top Chef fans might savor this detailed account, but others will find it bland.Pub Date: April 22, 2025
ISBN: 9780316580915
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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