Seems like a good idea--snappy format, lots of heads, bulleted items, lists, references, clinics. . . chapters on the latest research on heart disease, cancer, diabetes; health quizzes; alphabetical lists of common complaints; lots of self-help--even how to deliver a baby in an emergency. But it comes at a price: vitamins and diet therapy everywhere, plus lists of ""underground"" medicines (laetrile gets a whitewash). Shirley Linde was co-author of Dr. Atkins' Super-Energy Diet. So beware. One wants to laud and magnify the consumer approach in medicine. People should know more about their bodies, know what to tell and what to ask the doctor, the pharmacist, the hospital staff. Also one's curiosity is bound to be titillated by chapters which tell you what goes on at the expensive sex therapy clinics (and--if you will--how to do-it-yourself at home). You also find out about the rejuvenating or body-restoring resorts like Maine Chance or those privileged watering places in the Caribbean or California. All this in one volume is a lot. Plus some reasonable chapters on child care and the major milestones in development (which ends up with a guide to illicit drugs). So you pays your money--? Some may find this volume hot. Some cold. We are luke.