Bestselling author and oncologist Groopman (How Doctors Think, 2008, etc.) and eminent endocrinologist Hartzband collaborate to help readers rethink their health-care choices.
Wading through medical information can be daunting, as both the authors are well aware. They explore the roots of how individuals make medical decisions through research and confidential interviews with patients. The authors investigate individuals facing medical decisions and detail the powerful internal and external forces, such as family background or personality, TV ads or Internet information, that can affect those choices. They begin with the story of Susan Powell, who was prescribed synthetic statins to manage her cholesterol. Against her doctor’s advice, she declined the medication for a number of reasons, including familiarity with a woman suffering side effects from the medicine and because of her father's refusal to treat his high cholesterol. The authors categorize Powell as a “doubter,” a skeptic of non-natural medical solutions. Other personality types include “believers,” patients who favor more aggressive treatment. The authors are quick to point out how technology is also changing medical decision-making. “Surveys show that more than 60 percent of people search the Web for medical information, and that number is increasing all the time,” they write. Learning to properly comprehend the statistics, risks and benefits readily available on the Internet, referred to here as “health literacy,” can help readers make healthier choices now to create better outcomes for the future. For readers who are not already proactive with their health care.
Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59420-3111-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Penguin Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2011
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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