A short, heavy-handed attempt to improve American health.
A doctor’s rant on the obesity epidemic.
This debut book moves conversationally between topics, providing personal asides, patient anecdotes and efforts to share factual information about losing weight. The book references various unfootnoted statistics and cites several articles from the journal American Family Physician. U sometimes addresses primary care doctors, whom she urges to talk to patients and the parents of patients with high body mass indexes. She observes, “Kids that are obese have a lower quality of life than kids that have cancer.” The doctor also directly addresses overweight people, telling them, perhaps unhelpfully, that even if they think their habits or bodies are healthy, they “ate at some point,” and their additional weight “had to come from somewhere.” The text offers a general overview of pharmacological and surgical options for weight loss, though the author suggests that no one should need surgery because “people should not be at the BMI of 40 in the first place.” Other unvarnished comments, like “We all know how we got here, unless, of course, you are in denial,” may put off some readers. Motivational support occurs in the form of generalizations: “You have to be optimistic and believe that you can make a difference.” The writing style is straightforward, and the ideas expressed on obesity, media and culture can lean toward the obvious (“Restaurants advertise aggressively on TV”). The advice, however, sometimes cuts through often typical jargon-filled writing of weight-loss guides: “You have to remember, you are doing this for your health.” No meal plans, exercise programs or other specific goal-oriented materials are included, but the back of the book does provide blank pages with different headings (“Notes,” “Weight Progress,” “Program Diet”) for readers to chart their efforts.
A short, heavy-handed attempt to improve American health.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2013
ISBN: 978-1493109869
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Xlibris
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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