Next book

FAST FOOD VINDICATION

A cogent examination of the positive side of fast food, presented in a fresh, clear style.

A nutritionist defends the fast-food industry.

In her nonfiction debut, registered dietician Johansen offers the uncommon argument that fast food is not inherently unhealthful compared with other food options. Although Johansen openly discloses her former employment at McDonald’s and her continuing admiration for that company, she also presents a thoroughly researched work, citing many recent studies. She asserts that home-prepared meals are also frequently laden with fat, calories, sugar and sodium, and that meals at sit-down restaurants can provide poorer nutritional value and higher calories than their fast-food counterparts. Johansen offers many pieces of nutritional advice, including how to incorporate fast food into a healthy diet. She also presents statistics on worldwide obesity and its staggering health consequences and emphasizes the health benefits of portion control and physical activity. Other sections focus less on food and more on business practices, as she seeks to refute criticisms of the fast-food industry. For example, she argues that many companies provide training and advancement opportunities, not dead-end jobs. Johansen cites several sources highlighting how fast-food companies seek to promote diversity and employ traditionally underemployed populations, such as older workers and people with physical or mental challenges. Finally, she highlights the fast-food industry’s charitable contributions and global philanthropic initiatives. Throughout this book, Johansen persuasively argues that consumers are ultimately responsible for what and how much they choose to eat, no matter where they choose to eat it.

A cogent examination of the positive side of fast food, presented in a fresh, clear style.

Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2012

ISBN: 978-0578110431

Page Count: 244

Publisher: J Murray Press

Review Posted Online: Nov. 14, 2012

Next book

Mary's Song

From the Dream Horse Adventure Series series , Vol. 1

A short, simple, and sweet tale about two friends and a horse.

A novel tells the story of two spirited girls who set out to save a lame foal in 1952.

Mary, age 12, lacks muscle control of her legs and must use a wheelchair. Her life is constantly interrupted by trips with her widower father to assorted doctors, all of whom have failed to help her. Mary tolerates the treatments, hoping to one day walk unassisted, but her true passion involves horses. Possessing a library filled with horse books, she loves watching and drawing the animals at a neighboring farm. She longs to own one herself. But her father, overprotective due to her disability and his own lingering grief over Mary’s dead mother, makes her keep her distance. Mary befriends Laura, the emotionally neglected daughter of the wealthy neighboring farm owners, and the two share secret buggy rides. Both girls are attracted to Illusion, a beautiful red bay filly on the farm. Mary learns that Illusion is to be put down by a veterinarian because of a lame leg. Horrified, she decides to talk to the barn manager about the horse (“Isn’t it okay for her to live even if she’s not perfect? I think she deserves a chance”). Soon, Mary and Laura attempt to raise money to save Illusion. At the same time, Mary begins to gain control of her legs thanks to water therapy and secret therapeutic riding with Laura. There is indeed a great deal of poignancy in a story of a girl with a disability fighting to defend the intrinsic value of a lame animal. But this book, the first installment of the Dream Horse Adventure Series, would be twice as touching if Mary interacted with Illusion more. In the tale’s opening, she watches the foal from afar, but she actually spends very little time with the filly she tries so hard to protect. This turns out to be a strange development given the degree to which the narrative relies on her devotion. Count (Selah’s Sweet Dream, 2015) draws Mary and Laura in broad but believable strokes, defined mainly by their unrelenting pluckiness in the face of adversity. While the work tackles disability, death, and grief, Mary’s and Laura’s environments are so idyllic and their optimism and perseverance so remarkable that the story retains an aura of uncomplicated gentleness throughout.

A short, simple, and sweet tale about two friends and a horse.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Hastings Creations Group

Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2016

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT

Next book

ONCE UPON A GIRL

Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT

Keridan’s poetry testifies to the pain of love and loss—and to the possibility of healing in the aftermath.

The literary critic Geoffrey Hartman once wrote that literature—and poetry, in particular—can help us “read the wound” of trauma. That is, it can allow one to express and explain one’s deepest hurts when everyday language fails. Keridan appears to have a similar understanding of poetry. She writes in “Foreword,” the opening work of her debut collection, that “pain frequently uses words as an escape route / (oh, how I know).” Many words—and a great deal of pain—escape in this volume, but the result is healing: “the ending is happy / the beginning was horrific / so let’s start there.” The book, then, tracks the process of recovery in the wake of suffering, and often, this suffering is brought on by romantic relationships gone wrong. An early untitled poem opens, “I die a little / taking pieces of me to feed the fire / that keeps him warm / you don’t notice that it’s a slow death / when you’re disappearing little by little.” The author’s imagery here—of the self fueling the dying fire of love—is simultaneously subtle and wrenching. But the poem’s message, amplified elsewhere in the book, is clear: We go wrong if we destructively give ourselves over to others, and healing comes only when we turn our energies back to our own good. Later poems, therefore, reveal that self-definition often equals strength. The process is painful but salutary; when “you’re left unprotected / surrounded by chaos with nothing you / can depend on / except yourself / and that’s when you gather the pieces / of the life you lost / and use them to build the life you want.” The “life you want” is an elusive goal, and the author knows that the path to self-definition is fraught with peril—but her collection may give strength to those who walk it.

Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.

Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-72770-538-6

Page Count: 196

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019

Close Quickview