A valuable reference tool that will likely be most appreciated by aging baby boomers.
A comprehensive guide to the complex world of modern medicines and nutritional supplements.
In his second book on nutrition and healthy lifestyles, Winter (Pharmacology and Toxicology/Univ. of Buffalo; True Nutrition True Fitness, 1991) takes sharp aim at big pharma and the dietary supplement industry. The elderly are overmedicated, he argues, despite well-documented side effects that can be lethal to already fragile patients. Additionally, he says, too many seniors buy into fabricated promises of “natural” supplements, which are only minimally regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. With meticulous detail, the author discusses the benefits and dangers of some of the most popular drugs marketed today—specifically antipsychotic, anti-depression and anti-anxiety medications—before moving on to analyze a multitude of supplements, including many familiar vitamins. He debunks claims that these supplements can prevent cancer, slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, increase bone density, or generally get one through old age with a spring in one’s step. So what should seniors do? Mostly, Winter says, it comes down to balance and moderation: be informed, and be skeptical. If you have an elderly relative, know what drugs they’re taking and understand their risks. Obtain your nutritional requirements from your diet, he says, not from a bottle of vitamins, and maintain a regular schedule of exercise to raise your heart rate and build muscle strength. There’s a wealth of information in these pages and also many cautions; after all, this is a field in which recommendations regarding treatment or nutritional advice can change with the release of a new research paper. Winter references copious studies and incorporates a good dose of technical material, but his final product is surprisingly readable, conversational, and compassionate. He consistently remains an ardent advocate for the individual, whether he’s discussing the need for opiates for pain relief or poignantly calling for the right to die with dignity: “I look forward to the day when physician-assisted dying will be available to all who desire it,” he says.
A valuable reference tool that will likely be most appreciated by aging baby boomers.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: Jan. 23, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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