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
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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