A smart, authoritative, and elegantly written healthy living manual.
A physician explores the key elements of a healthier life in this debut self-help book.
At first glance, the table of contents of Nair’s compact guide seems simplistic. It includes “ten essential factors,” such as “Think,” “Eat,” “Move,” and “Sleep,” which the author says “will help guide your time and energy when trying to be well.” These seemingly obvious words take on more powerful meanings, though, as Nair explores them in detailed but uncomplicated chapters. The first, “Think,” presents a four-step critical thinking approach that one may use to analyze health claims regarding specific behaviors and therapies; Nair points out that “Science-based health advice should be our standard beyond simple ‘evidence.’ ” Other chapters are similarly lucid, insightful, and meaningful. “Eat,” for instance, describes “Five Dietary Principles” that are encouraging, if not all eye-opening; however, “Your Best Weight is Good Enough” addresses the fact that it’s easier for a person to set a goal of being “healthier” or “thinner” rather than “healthy” or “thin.” The significant difference, advises Nair, is the “-er” suffix, which makes a goal seem more achievable. Other refreshing principles in this chapter include “Suffering Is to Be Avoided” and “There Are No Forbidden Foods”; it also includes seven specific actions one may take to eat healthier. Overall, the author’s approach is to be reassuringly positive and empathetic rather than scolding. Other chapters unfold in much the same way, with thoughtful discussion, recommended actions, and a helpful summary at the end. One of the book’s strengths is that it features many options, rather than a single method, for reaching a particular goal; in “Move,” for instance, Nair has a simple answer to the question about which exercise is best; it is “the one you will actually do.” In addition to such sensible counsel, the author includes extensive references in every chapter.
A smart, authoritative, and elegantly written healthy living manual.Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9782077-7-9
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Road One Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
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
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