A pleasure for foodies and a fine gift for anyone who prizes a good meal—but maybe not if that person works for General...
What should you eat? How should you eat it? Pollan, doyen of all things food-related, serves up the answers in this jauntily illustrated version of his 2009 book.
Whether Kalman’s innocent, pleasantly goofy sketches (similar to those of Roz Chast) add much to the proceedings will be a matter for the beholder’s eye. Much more serious, even with a few playful moments, is Pollan’s text, which opens with a stinging denunciation of the state of nutrition science (it’s “today approximately where surgery was in the year 1650”). And what should we eat? The author’s answer is simple on its face: food. The answer takes on complexity as his rules elaborate on it: Food, by his reckoning, has fewer than three ingredients of which sugar is not the first, is mostly vegetable and would be recognizable to your great-grandmother as, well, food. Much of the overprocessing, oversweetening and generally over-everything of our current diet, writes the author, is a fairly recent development. Pollan finds good guidance in the grandmotherly saw, “Better to pay the grocer than the doctor,” and he advises paying more for better food and getting away from the problematic Western diet that yields so much obesity, heart disease, diabetes and kindred maladies. He recommends the wisdom in the French Je n’ai plus faim, “I’m not hungry anymore,” as opposed to the English “I’m full.” (You want healthy? Then eat to 80 percent of capacity. Don’t get full.) But Pollan usually avoids preachiness, and he closes with the most welcome admonition of all—to let down your guard every now and again and have some fun with a piece of pizza or greasy fistful of cheeseburger.
A pleasure for foodies and a fine gift for anyone who prizes a good meal—but maybe not if that person works for General Mills or in the advertising biz.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59420-308-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Penguin Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A psychiatrist offers an encouraging and informative report on sexual harassment today, in a book suited to both male and female readers. All too often men try to act out their sexual fantasies at work; all too often women have been socialized not to protect themselves against these incursions. Sexual harassment policies, however, alert everyone to these issues. Rutter says: ``We are all inescapably involved in an unprecedented reconfiguring of the most important rules of daily social behavior—how we treat one another at our sexual boundaries.'' He offers helpful advice to men and women about getting along, being respectful, and above all, reasonable. And as in his previous book, Sex in the Forbidden Zone (1989), Rutter identifies common sexual boundary violations, discusses ways men can manage their sexual fantasies, and discourages relationships between people of unequal power. He maintains that the best way for workplaces and schools to stop sexual harassment is to establish and enforce clear policies. But the surest means of changing the sexist attitudes that lead to harassment is for other men to take the lead—condemning the old standards and engaging in new ethical and equitable behavior toward women. At the end of the book, Rutter presents a sample sexual harassment policy, several landmark legal decisions, and extensive lists of legal and psychological resources. His knowledge, first- hand counseling experience, and understanding of complex gender issues lend his book credibility. The weak spots stem from the author's overzealous support of his colleagues in the field, who he seems to believe can solve everything. The lay reader, however, may be skeptical when he suggests that employees involved in a workplace romance should inform the human resources officer so ``the officer can intervene more effectively should private tensions between the couple spill over,'' or when he recommends modified sexual harassment workshops for children, starting in the fourth grade. Nonetheless, a timely and thorough guide.
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-553-09954-X
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996
An elaboration, a rehash even, of Benson's Beyond the Relaxation Response: How to Harness the Healing Power of Your Beliefs (1984). Benson uses the analogy of a three-legged stool to describe how health and well-being rely on the balanced application of (1) pharmaceuticals, (2) surgery and procedures, and (3) self-care. Greater utilization of self-care has been his career focus, and here he recounts his discovery of the relaxation response, his research into the placebo effect (renamed here ``remembered wellness''), and his identification of ``the faith factor.'' Benson proposes that religious convictions enhance the relaxation response dramatically. He contends that as a species aware of its own mortality, human beings are ``wired for God,'' that is, through evolution we have become genetically programmed to have faith in some absolute power. Further, he argues that affirmative beliefs, especially faith in God, have many positive effects on health. In 60 to 90 percent of doctor visits, he says, remembered wellness and other self-care techniques can be the treatment of choice, and he lists numerous specific conditions—asthma, insomnia, hypertension—in which studies show that belief plays a major role. The flip side of the coin is that negative thoughts elicit powerful negative effects, and he offers some ideas on dealing with these. Benson's utilitarian approach to religion may offend thoughtful believers, and his spiritual approach to healing may not sit well with the scientific crowd. An appendix plugging a video and 17 audiotapes on relaxation available from Benson's Mind/Body Medical Institute gives the whole project a self-serving air. For those familiar with Benson's work, there's not much new here.
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-684-81441-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1996
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