Schenck is an advocate, but her points are clear and convincing.
Schenck details the benefits she and many others have experienced by going raw.
The live food diet is another step in the process of questioning what and how we eat. Fresh, local and organic foods have a strong toehold in the American consciousness, but uncooked food as a potential factor in dietary health has been a somewhat unexplored area. Schenck shines a steady light on the topic in this inclusive guide to eating food raw–that is, less than 118 degrees. She presents thoughtful evidence from clinical studies, traditional authorities and testimonials that affirm the health-giving qualities of eating live foods, including physical and mental soundness, emotional balance, economy, pleasure, ecology and longevity. She also discusses the indications that cooked foods are not only less nutritious, but possibly toxic: By changing the chemical structure of our food, cooking and processing results in the accumulation of indigestible and harmful substances, creating a biological terrain ripe for disease: "Cooked food is prepared in utensils that emit toxic metal, plastic or paint particles." She notes, however, that a completely live food diet is no simple matter, requiring both substantial will power and specific adjustments for each individual, and she addresses methods of transitioning from a cooked food diet, what to expect during detoxification and how to stock a pantry of live foods. She provides numerous appropriate recipes, and fields frequently asked questions about such topics as drinking alcohol, going on a partial diet of raw food and the dangers of bacteria in raw food. She also explores controversial nutrition issues, from irradiation to the acid/alkaline balance.
Schenck is an advocate, but her points are clear and convincing.Pub Date: March 30, 2006
ISBN: 0-9776795-0-0
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An absorbing, wide-ranging story of humans’ relationship with the water.
A study of swimming as sport, survival method, basis for community, and route to physical and mental well-being.
For Bay Area writer Tsui (American Chinatown: A People's History of Five Neighborhoods, 2009), swimming is in her blood. As she recounts, her parents met in a Hong Kong swimming pool, and she often visited the beach as a child and competed on a swim team in high school. Midway through the engaging narrative, the author explains how she rejoined the team at age 40, just as her 6-year-old was signing up for the first time. Chronicling her interviews with scientists and swimmers alike, Tsui notes the many health benefits of swimming, some of which are mental. Swimmers often achieve the “flow” state and get their best ideas while in the water. Her travels took her from the California coast, where she dove for abalone and swam from Alcatraz back to San Francisco, to Tokyo, where she heard about the “samurai swimming” martial arts tradition. In Iceland, she met Guðlaugur Friðþórsson, a local celebrity who, in 1984, survived six hours in a winter sea after his fishing vessel capsized, earning him the nickname “the human seal.” Although humans are generally adapted to life on land, the author discovered that some have extra advantages in the water. The Bajau people of Indonesia, for instance, can do 10-minute free dives while hunting because their spleens are 50% larger than average. For most, though, it’s simply a matter of practice. Tsui discussed swimming with Dara Torres, who became the oldest Olympic swimmer at age 41, and swam with Kim Chambers, one of the few people to complete the daunting Oceans Seven marathon swim challenge. Drawing on personal experience, history, biology, and social science, the author conveys the appeal of “an unflinching giving-over to an element” and makes a convincing case for broader access to swimming education (372,000 people still drown annually).
An absorbing, wide-ranging story of humans’ relationship with the water.Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-61620-786-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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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