Move With Balance: Healthy Aging Activities for Brain and Body

Name: Move With Balance: Healthy Aging Activities for Brain and Body
Author: Karen Anne Peterson
ISBN: 978-0985993801

by Karen Anne Peterson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 25, 2013

An engaging, useful guidebook for seniors who want to maintain their senses of balance—and balance their senses.

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Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

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A nicely packaged, highly original instructional guide for seniors that blends exercises for body and mind.

There are countless health books that target the aging American population, but this book takes a decidedly different approach. Peterson, an expert in kinesiology—the study of human movement—has created a program that she says “brings integrated new ways of moving to the elders” by combining movement with cognitive skills. The author points out that as people age, they may experience cognitive decline as well as a loss of balance, and she notes that “falling is the leading cause of injury-related death among people age 65 and older.” Her program employs a coordinated combination of sensory exercises and movement activities to “challenge the brain and body simultaneously.” After a brief, easy-to-understand explanation of the overall concept, Peterson suggests a one-hour session that includes a warm-up and two series of exercises to “bring the senses into harmony.” She then presents each “movement” as a menu of discrete exercises from which the participant may choose. Every exercise has a meaningful name; “The Owl,” for example, is a neck-and-shoulder activity that releases tension and promotes focus and concentration. Peterson includes an explanation of each exercise’s purpose and step-by-step instructions for completing it. She also provides high-quality, full-color photos of happy seniors doing the exercises and having fun. The book is well-organized and well-written, and Peterson supplements the text with a website, www.MoveWithBalance.org, which features videos of each exercise. She also provides independent evaluations and outside commentary regarding her program at the end of the book.

An engaging, useful guidebook for seniors who want to maintain their senses of balance—and balance their senses.

Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2013

ISBN: 978-0985993801

Page Count: 114

Publisher: Giving Back

Review Posted Online: June 14, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2013

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.