An informative self-helper, full of stimulating insights and actionable tips on growing old gracefully and slowly.
Smart lifestyles can hold off the Grim Reaper for a while, and new drugs and technologies may do more, according to this hopeful guide to anti-aging medicine.
The Howards ground their treatise in a tour of the mechanisms that cause the body to wear out, including the inexorable damage to cells caused by reactive oxygen species pumped out by the mitochondria; the buildup of senescent cells that no longer divide and secrete toxins; accumulating genetic mutations; the steady shortening of the telomeres that bind DNA strands together; and a chronic inflammation that ravages just about everything. They move on to therapies that slow the downward spiral, starting with healthy living; they exhort readers to exercise, sleep well, meditate to relieve stress, maintain a sex life, and eat a good diet. The authors suggest a raft of supplements that are heavy on antioxidants and strongly recommend hormone replacement therapy for older people to improve strength and vitality. Finally, they explore the experimental and conjectural frontiers of aging medicine, including the drugs rapamycin and metformin; activation of the enzyme telomerase; transcranial electrical stimulation to boost brain functions; replacing worn-out organs with new ones made with 3D printers; CRISPR gene editing to repair DNA damage; and nanobots that clean out brain plaques that cause Alzheimer’s. The Howards distill a wealth of scientific research into a concise, comprehensive, clearly organized text that judiciously appraises the promises and pitfalls of anti-aging therapies. (They warn, for example, against taking concentrated supplements of the green tea ingredient EGCG, which can cause liver problems.) They convey all of this in lucid, elegant prose that ripples with evocative metaphors. (“In our younger years, abundant growth hormone maintains robust tissues—muscles repair swiftly, skin stays firm, and bones remain strong. But with aging, its production diminishes like a slowly fading musical note, and the body’s regenerative vigor wanes.”) Readers will find much useful advice here on taking their health into their own hands.
An informative self-helper, full of stimulating insights and actionable tips on growing old gracefully and slowly.Pub Date: June 16, 2025
ISBN: 9798992917819
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Vibrant Ages
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
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
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
