An ambitious and confoundingly uneven exploration of psychobiological interdependence. Dubovsky (Psychiatry and Medicine/Univ. of Colorado Medical School) is onto something—but not the rhetorically loaded ``deceptions'' of the title, into which frame the text is force-fit at some cost to clarity and credibility. The business of the book is examining mind-body connections and their implications for health and health care by explaining psychodynamic and biochemical actions and interactions and exposing prevailing misconceptions and their ramifications. It opens with padded conventional wisdom asserting the overlap of mental and physical processes, then usefully introduces the phenomena of somatization and psychosomatic illness as physiological expressions of emotional pain. In the gray area of depression, all ambiguities are veiled by a confident schematic rendering of the intimate correlation between mind and body systems at the level of the synapse: If maladaptive emotional behavior becomes automatic after repeated episodes of stress (a process known as ``kindling''), healthy brain circuits atrophy. That elucidation of brain biochemistry, like the descriptions of the workings of the cardiovascular and immunological systems in the later section on heart disease and cancer, presupposes a degree of scientific literacy discontinuous with the popular tenor and thrust of the psychological models and the casual assimilation of supportive research; the result is at once overtechnical and oversimplifying. Dubovsky writes sentiently, however, about psychosocial resources for medical patients, and saliently about how the managed-care industry both reflects and perpetuates the traditional mind-body dichotomy. At his judicious best—respecting the multiplicity of psychobiological events and responses, or cautioning against the very cognitive leaps he seems subtly prone to make—he does contribute to the substance and dimension of a fascinating discussion. For the shelf well-stocked with other perspectives.
Pub Date: March 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-393-02943-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1997
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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