Convincing evidence that a specific pattern of behavior is a risk factor, albeit one of many, for certain cancers. Psychologist Temoshok (who's connected to Walter Reed Army Medical Center) and science-writer Dreher (Your Defense Against Cancer, 1988) report on Temoshok's research into the link between behavior and cancer and on the research of others into the mind- body connection, especially the role of the immune system. Working with melanoma patients, Temoshok, who takes a biopsychosocial view of health and illness, has discerned among the most severe cases a common pattern for coping with stress. She calls this pattern ``Type C behavior'' and contends that it's marked by passivity, appeasement, and repression of anger and other strong emotions. According to Temoshok, the nonexpression characteristic of the Type C person weakens the immune system, increasing vulnerability to cancer and infectious diseases. The authors generally are careful not to overstate their case, and they make clear that this effect has not been found in all cancers nor in all age groups. They are also aware that the misinterpretation of the mind-body connection sometimes has led patients to blame themselves for their cancers—and that's just not so, say the authors. After a brief look at the roots of Type C behavior, Temoshok and Dreher offer advice on how to transform it into a more balanced, healthier pattern, first through self- awareness and then by taking action. They go on to give specific advice on becoming more assertive with doctors and nurses, expressing emotions constructively, and securing needed support from others. A well-written, responsible presentation of the evidence that there is a correlation between manageable psychological factors and the development of cancer.
Pub Date: July 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-395-57523-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1992
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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