A forcefully argued if perhaps fanciful alternative takeon hyperthyroid problems.
A psychotherapist proposes a non-pharmaceutical approach to thyroid problems.
In her nonfiction debut, Williams proposes using cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to combat Graves’ disease (and other forms of hyperthyroidism), from which the author herself has suffered and for which she was initially prescribed a standard drug regimen that quickly wore on her. “I became dependent on medication,” she writes. “My behavior changed completely from living freely and independently to feeling trapped and dependent on prescription drugs.” As an alternative to this protocol, the author turned to prayer, altered her eating habits, and practiced CBT, which appeared to work. “I healed myself naturally,” she states, “and I believe you can, too.” In a series of short, concise chapters, Williams breaks down the details of and science behind hyperthyroidism and colorfully relates her own history with the condition. Each of the book’s chapters concludes with a “Reflections” section in which readers are encouraged to answer broad discussion questions like, “How do you feel about your current health?” The author’s tone is compassionate throughout as she reassures readers who have received a thyroid-related diagnosis that they aren’t alone in their worry and sense of isolation. This compassion is encouraging; less so is the author’s Christian-fundamentalist perspective, which often feels too close to tent-revival faith-healing. When she writes, for instance, “one of the greatest blessings anyone can receive is the Divine love and His purpose,” atheists and other non-Christian readers may wonder where they stand in this arrangement—and those suffering from the conditions covered here might feel less inclined to seek medical help, which, despite the author’s stance, they very likely need. This strand of science-denialism notwithstanding, the book’s emphasis on an upbeat attitude and improved healthy habits will doubtless help some readers.
A forcefully argued if perhaps fanciful alternative takeon hyperthyroid problems.Pub Date: July 6, 2023
ISBN: 9798988094913
Page Count: 114
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Nov. 27, 2024
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
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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