A handy, easy-to-read guide that blends expertise with empathy.
A medical doctor provides sensible health care recommendations that don’t require a prescription.
In these pages, Wilkinson clearly and thoughtfully exhibits a wealth of knowledge about a range of common medical concerns. On the one hand, she identifies the medical conditions for which Americans most often seek care (such as pain, particularly back pain); on the other, she acknowledges very real barriers to access, including knowledge gaps and a lack of insurance. The text addresses these barriers, in part, by offering broad information on both pharmaceutical and natural remedies while also meaningfully connecting those two categories: Pharmaceutical products are often derived from natural sources, for example, and natural remedies may include doctor-recommended lifestyle interventions, such as wearing properly fitting, supportive shoes. The author arranges information broadly by topic (pain, allergies, cold and flu, and so on) and typically leads off each section with an explanation of a causal mechanism, such as the anatomy of pain, what exactly histamine is, or the functions of specific nutrients in the body. She then discusses and evaluates nonprescription treatment options, which can range from non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to chamomile tea and cognitive behavioral therapy. What makes the book so effective is Wilkinson’s own experience with patients. She regularly notes how her medical advice is informed by a family member’s use of cannabidiol products, her own seasonal allergies, or her habit of keeping a TV in her bedroom (a known obstacle to quality sleep); rather than speaking purely as a medical professional, she’s also speaking as a member of the public seeking care. The text offers honest evaluations of options, based on real data, as seen in its thorough footnotes. Also, if there’s no evidence that a product (or entire class of products, such as dietary supplements) has medical value, the author states as much in no uncertain terms.
A handy, easy-to-read guide that blends expertise with empathy.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9798993576206
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 28, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
Sedaris at his darkest—and his best.
In which the veteran humorist enters middle age with fine snark but some trepidation as well.
Mortality is weighing on Sedaris (Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002, 2017, etc.), much of it his own, professional narcissist that he is. Watching an elderly man have a bowel accident on a plane, he dreaded the day when he would be the target of teenagers’ jokes “as they raise their phones to take my picture from behind.” A skin tumor troubled him, but so did the doctor who told him he couldn’t keep it once it was removed. “But it’s my tumor,” he insisted. “I made it.” (Eventually, he found a semitrained doctor to remove and give him the lipoma, which he proceeded to feed to a turtle.) The deaths of others are much on the author’s mind as well: He contemplates the suicide of his sister Tiffany, his alcoholic mother’s death, and his cantankerous father’s erratic behavior. His contemplation of his mother’s drinking—and his family’s denial of it—makes for some of the most poignant writing in the book: The sound of her putting ice in a rocks glass increasingly sounded “like a trigger being cocked.” Despite the gloom, however, frivolity still abides in the Sedaris clan. His summer home on the Carolina coast, which he dubbed the Sea Section, overspills with irreverent bantering between him and his siblings as his long-suffering partner, Hugh, looks on. Sedaris hasn’t lost his capacity for bemused observations of the people he encounters. For example, cashiers who say “have a blessed day” make him feel “like you’ve been sprayed against your will with God cologne.” But bad news has sharpened the author’s humor, and this book is defined by a persistent, engaging bafflement over how seriously or unseriously to take life when it’s increasingly filled with Trump and funerals.
Sedaris at his darkest—and his best.Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-39238-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
PROFILES
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