A well-researched, common-sense compendium on child-rearing.
A manual to help parents chill the f*ck out.
The title is at least partially tongue-in-cheek. Of course, you can screw up your children, but not due to all the minutiae you’re likely worrying about. Journalist, mother, and first-time author Powers, who was the founding editor-in-chief of Yahoo! Parenting and currently runs the #NoShameParenting movement, lists five things that can absolutely scar your children, including neglect and skipping vaccinations. After getting those out of the way, she tackles many of the issues that keep parents up at night: Breast or bottle? Cry it out or co-sleeping? Stay-at-home parent or day care? While the author doesn’t claim to be an expert on childhood development, her years of meticulous research and experiences as a mother have made her a connoisseur of parenting styles. She’s heard the arguments and seen the data, and she’s here to tell you that a great deal of what parents fret about doesn’t really matter in the long run. If you need to let your kids watch another episode of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood so you can get dinner on the table, that’s not going to change the overall trajectory of their lives—and speaking of dinner, quit worrying about picky eaters. Powers often uses wry humor to drive home her points—e.g., regarding birth plans: “Doesn’t matter if you have an epidural or not, a C-section or not, or even if you swab vaginal bacteria all over your newborn." Beyond surveying some of today’s hot child care topics, the author also discusses common questions that surface after the baby arrives. How much sex are other couples really having after kids? Can parents truly have it all? While a majority of the narrative deals with specific themes, Powers issues a general reminder that we live in a “hyperconnected” age in which “parents’ worst fears and neuroses are manipulated by a promise of perfection that’s unreal and unattainable.”
A well-researched, common-sense compendium on child-rearing.Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-1013-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 10, 2020
An astute, measured look at the modern death-care industry.
An apprentice undertaker on the ins and outs of the hidden trade.
In this report on the modern funeral industry, Jokinen updates The American Way of Death, Jessica Mitford's classic 1963 treatise on the subject. The principal difference between then and now is the skyrocketing popularity of cremation among Baby Boomers, a trend that has had disastrous financial impact on traditional funeral homes. Caskets, plots and funeral services are sold at huge markups, and the relatively cheap option of cremation has hit funeral directors hard. Jokinen examines the strategies employed by the industry to generate new revenue streams, a process that calls into question the very purpose of “death care”—what functions did the old rituals serve, and how do the new ways of disposing of the dead address the spiritual and emotional needs of the living? The author explores these new options, including environmentally conscious “green” funerals, innovations in crematory urns, such as personalized sculptures and huggable teddy-bear receptacles, and chemically induced disintegration of corpses. The book abounds with sickening details about human putrefaction, embalming processes, the grim mechanics of cremation and sundry tricks of the trade—for example, the deceased's clothing is commonly cut down the back and tucked in around the body for a flattering fit. It's easy to feel outrage at the institutionalized venality that characterizes the funeral industry, as emotionally compromised survivors are cannily manipulated into spending thousands of dollars on what are, essentially, unnecessary accoutrements—a simple pine box can do the job as well as a luxurious mahogany casket—but Jokinen elicits a measure of respect for the thoughtful, dedicated funeral directors who place a premium on respect for the departed and the dignity of the final send-off.
An astute, measured look at the modern death-care industry.Pub Date: March 9, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-306-81891-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Da Capo
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2010
Adapted from the authors' Pulitzer Prizewinning series for the Chicago Tribune, a detailed look at the cutting edge of medical research: attacking disease by repairing inherited flaws in the cells of the human body. Gene therapy is potentially as revolutionary as Pasteur's germ theory of disease, especially as science uncovers more and more diseases that can be traced to genetic defects. It is also fraught with controversy, as many researchers urge extreme caution in the introduction of foreign genetic material (often derived from viruses) into the human body. Others (notably William French Anderson, formerly director of the molecular hematology department of the National Institutes of Health) want to push forward with therapies that promise to eradicate genetically based diseases. It is easy to understand this attitude when reading about Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, in which patients have to be restrained to prevent them from attacking their own bodies (as well as those tending them) with their teeth, or adenosine deaminase deficiency, in which the body has no defenses against infection. The authors put often epic political battles in the context of the personal quests of the scientists (who foresee Nobel prizes for the successful pioneers) and of the poignant case histories of the first patients to come forward as guinea pigs for the new therapies (some of whom are now living comparatively normal lives). The second half of the book looks at prospects for future developments in gene therapy, from the prevention of heart disease to the tailoring of drugs to attack tumors in specific locations. Lyon and Gorner also glance at the disturbing potential of genetically enhanced intelligence, and other ``cures'' suggestive of a revived science of eugenics, with all its ethical complexities. Well written, exhaustively researched, and filled with the human stories of the scientists, the doctors, and the patients whose only hope is this new field of medicine.
Pub Date: March 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-393-03596-4
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1994
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