A comprehensive introduction to prostate cancer treatment and a compassionate guide to recovering sexual function.
The Redners’ (I Left My Prostate in San Francisco—Where’s Yours?, 2013) second book about prostate cancer focuses on the aftermath of robotic prostate surgery, using Rick’s own experience as a cautionary tale and a source of valuable lessons. Surgery left Rick Redner impotent in his late 50s, and erectile dysfunction medications, a vacuum pump, and injections all failed to correct the problem. At this point in the text, he characterizes himself as having been in the “Diver” phase of depression, as anger and shame drove him to suicidal thoughts. The authors then stress the importance of finding help: a “Survivor,” they say, is proactive about looking for solutions with a physician’s assistance, while a “Thriver” uses his experience to build a stronger relationship and a better sex life. Erectile dysfunction affects 30 million men in the United States alone, according to the National Institutes of Health, so it’s a message that many need to hear. The authors’ sympathetic approach acknowledges the emotional pain that impotence can cause. At the same time, they assert that it’s not a death sentence for one’s sex life: arousal and orgasm are still possible without an erection, they say. Ultimately, though, Rick Redner chose to undergo penile implant surgery. For those pursuing the same path, he incorporates an invaluable discussion of the three different types of implants, with the pros and cons of each, as well as questions to ask a surgeon. He’s also open about all that went wrong after his own surgery, including painful bladder spasms, an infected scrotum, a temporary dependence on oxycodone, a constant erection for three weeks after activating the implant too early, and even PTSD. This all serves not to steer patients away from surgery, though, but to ensure that they’re fully prepared. Two chapters, solely from Brenda Redner’s perspective, add an extra dimension to the book, showing how impotence and surgery inevitably affect partners. The Redners also espouse a Christian view of both love and manhood, but the religious message is never overpowering, and the probing questions at the end of each chapter ensure that this interactive guide will have wide therapeutic application for patients and couples alike.
A successful, Christian-slanted guide for couples looking to reclaim healthy sex lives despite erectile dysfunction.Pub Date: June 27, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4834-5390-3
Page Count: 158
Publisher: Lulu
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
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Noted jazz and pop record producer Thiele offers a chatty autobiography. Aided by record-business colleague Golden, Thiele traces his career from his start as a ``pubescent, novice jazz record producer'' in the 1940s through the '50s, when he headed Coral, Dot, and Roulette Records, and the '60s, when he worked for ABC and ran the famous Impulse! jazz label. At Coral, Thiele championed the work of ``hillbilly'' singer Buddy Holly, although the only sessions he produced with Holly were marred by saccharine strings. The producer specialized in more mainstream popsters like the irrepressibly perky Teresa Brewer (who later became his fourth wife) and the bubble-machine muzak-meister Lawrence Welk. At Dot, Thiele was instrumental in recording Jack Kerouac's famous beat- generation ramblings to jazz accompaniment (recordings that Dot's president found ``pornographic''), while also overseeing a steady stream of pop hits. He then moved to the Mafia-controlled Roulette label, where he observed the ``silk-suited, pinky-ringed'' entourage who frequented the label's offices. Incredibly, however, Thiele remembers the famously hard-nosed Morris Levy, who ran the label and was eventually convicted of extortion, as ``one of the kindest, most warm-hearted, and classiest music men I have ever known.'' At ABC/Impulse!, Thiele oversaw the classic recordings of John Coltrane, although he is the first to admit that Coltrane essentially produced his own sessions. Like many producers of the day, Thiele participated in the ownership of publishing rights to some of the songs he recorded; he makes no apology for this practice, which he calls ``entirely appropriate and without any ethical conflicts.'' A pleasant, if not exactly riveting, memoir that will be of most interest to those with a thirst for cocktail-hour stories of the record biz. (25 halftones, not seen)
Pub Date: May 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-19-508629-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
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This early reader is an excellent introduction to the March on Washington in 1963 and the important role in the march played by Martin Luther King Jr. Ruffin gives the book a good, dramatic start: “August 28, 1963. It is a hot summer day in Washington, D.C. More than 250,00 people are pouring into the city.” They have come to protest the treatment of African-Americans here in the US. With stirring original artwork mixed with photographs of the events (and the segregationist policies in the South, such as separate drinking fountains and entrances to public buildings), Ruffin writes of how an end to slavery didn’t mark true equality and that these rights had to be fought for—through marches and sit-ins and words, particularly those of Dr. King, and particularly on that fateful day in Washington. Within a year the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had been passed: “It does not change everything. But it is a beginning.” Lots of visual cues will help new readers through the fairly simple text, but it is the power of the story that will keep them turning the pages. (Easy reader. 6-8)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-448-42421-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
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