An upbeat, useful, and wide-ranging look at recovering from injuries—and preventing them.
A comprehensive guide focuses on physical injury and recovery.
Everyone gets hurt, Stone writes bluntly at the beginning of his book, and it’s possible to come back from an injury faster and fitter than ever. But to accomplish this, the injured “need information on how to do so, what can help them, and how they can motivate themselves,” he writes. “They need to recognize the recovery process as long, entwined with their habits and mindset, and affected by a large variety of factors.” For years, the author, a physician, has built a practice giving this help to everybody from professional athletes to older patients dealing with issues like arthritis. This manual is the distillation of all that he’s learned about both the physical and psychological dimensions of injuries. He thus mixes a lot of practical advice—about things like posture, nutrition, and exercise—with broader philosophical observations about the active lifestyle, urging his readers to attend to the little problems so as to head off the larger ones. Ignore those minor difficulties, he asserts, and issues will accumulate: “Pay attention, and you can live well until the day you die.” Stone’s writing displays a light, very engaging tone that’s partial to both attractive idealism and puckish humor (when advocating at least 30 minutes of sunlight exposure every day, for instance, he recommends skinny-dipping). And he wards off accusations that he’s enabling irresponsible thrill-seekers with neat bravado: “To live without any risk entirely is both impossible and foolish.” His counsel on everything from skiing to rock climbing is both informed and encouraging to readers of all ages. And the helpful tips are all delivered with a calm, confident optimism that will be uplifting, particularly to readers who think they may never bounce back from their latest injuries.
An upbeat, useful, and wide-ranging look at recovering from injuries—and preventing them.Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5445-2676-8
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Lioncrest Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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