Passionate, well-reasoned advocacy to curb sugar insanity.
A pediatrician details the dangers of sugar in our diets and urges action in this debut consumer health book.
Eisenberg was in his late 40s when he had an epiphany about the problems associated with added sugar in the American diet. One of four children in his pediatric practice was considered obese; the author himself was mostly fit but also dealing with high blood pressure thanks in part to his love of sweets. So, after finally reading the “generations of books and articles citing the adverse effects of sugar,” Eisenberg became a “ ‘born again’ eater,” cutting his intake of added sugar to less than 25 grams a day. In this book, he recounts the rise of the sugar trade from ancient times, tells how and why food companies began adding sugar to products, and discusses the many diseases linked to sugar consumption, including diabetes, obesity, and depression. He asserts that the public has been misled by low-fat (but often high-sugar) foods and suggests several policy changes, including subsidies to encourage healthier food choices. Most of all, he calls for change at the individual level, providing an overview of a “quitting” plan, including tips to fight cravings (such as distracting one’s taste buds with cinnamon) and suggesting alternate satisfying foods, including legumes. Eisenberg brings an appealing Everyman tone to this narrative, acknowledging that sugar became popular because it tastes good and that he was addicted to it himself. He also offers his authority as a doctor, of course, and explains how sugar does damage to the body in accessible layperson terms, even while citing medical studies. Although much of the information here isn’t exactly news, this clear, engaging narrative, complete with a provocative title and clever chapter titles (“Raising Cane,” etc.), is an easy-to-digest read and an effective wake-up call.
Passionate, well-reasoned advocacy to curb sugar insanity.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-0-9967116-09
Page Count: 219
Publisher: Lawless Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
IN THE NEWS
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
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