Women's Health Books

The author's surprise diagnosis of Stage 4 Cancer was what originally drew me to Letters to Sydney: Everyday I am Killing Cancer. I expected advice but what I found was inspiration. I purchased the book intending to give it as a gift to a family member who was also suddenly diagnosed (meaning no warning signs, recent mastectomy, etc. and then WHAM instant stage 4 diagnosis). I was seeking ideas for the challenging road ahead both for those fighting cancer and their family and friends.

Jose's book moved me so much it took me two months to finally give it away as originally intended. She first describes the horror at the diagnosis, then anger and devastation she felt with her baby daughter; facing the idea of never seeing her little girl grow up. That sad and tragic beginning led to hope and a will to live. From fights with doctors and treatment facilities (she wanted a healthy approach, they didn't always agree) and her regular letters written to her daughter so she'd grow up knowing her mother loved and wanted her, and more than anything wanted to be there for her.

I didn't read this book quickly but savored it, reading and re-reading certain passages over and over, lingering with it. Letters to Sydney made me cry in places, and smile in others. My genuine smiling while reading a passage is why I fell in love with this book and didn't want to let it go. (Yes, I could buy another copy).

All cancer patients must choose how to manage their illness and this book is an honest portrayal of one woman's struggle and triumph. I highly recommend it to anyone whether cancer patient or not. After reading Letters to Sydney I feel like I know Jose and so will you.

This book offers a lot of hope and insight for cancer patients and their families. Heather is a Stage IV patient who is cancer-free five years after her diagnosis. If you are interested in participating in your treatment and recovery, this is the book for you.

The book jacket warns you to keep your tissues handy, but this is much more than a teary rendition of a personal struggle with cancer. Heather Jose challenges the reader to question everything from your initial diagnosis to your involvement in treatment to your personal strength and faith. Her letters to her daughter of less than one year are the vehicle that shape a much more detailed recipe for any cancer patient. Read this if you don't know what to do ... give this book to anyone you know facing cancer. It is a source of hope AND a guide to what to do.

Ms. Glaze packs a lot of inspiration into 169 pages of fourteen women's stories of how they overcame life-threatening illnesses and even suffered the loss of personal relationships to go on with their lives. An uplifting book of stories that gives hope to anyONE who is faced with a devastating diagnosis, whether it is MS, a Stroke, Lupus, Diabetes, and more.

Even if you are not facing what Rita Glaze faced, no matter your challenge, this book will inspire and give you hope. It is written in down to earth phrases, and never feels artificial. It is quite possibly the finest book I have read this year.

Rita Glaze has managed to do what few have done before - offer hope through stories, told in a true and readable voice. She does not offer platitudes, or advice. She does not sugar coat or sensationalize the fact that disease can be difficult. She allows each reader to connect with different women, different choices, and different events and find hope in these connections. The women who chose to share their stories exhibit bravery in their candor and their honesty. Rita shows integrity in her portrayal of their choices and the effects disease can have on each person's life. Reading the stories, facing illness myself, I was able to realize that I had not exhausted my options and redirect my thinking and see my future in a different light. This book is a godsend for those facing illness, those who know someone who is, or anyone who needs or wants to understand how a major illness can change the life of those around them. Well done, and thank you.

I found this book several years ago at the public library. It delivers just what it promises, a useful method for improving circulation, health and thereby skin tone and color. Using this method provides a viable alternative to surgery. It's longer lasting, relaxing, non-invasive and cost-effective. A valuable book for anyone committed to self-responsible self-maintenance.

Because it's out of print, I've borrowed this book again several times since. I've also looked for something simliar to purchase, but nothing comes close. Alas!

This book was worth every penny and then some.

The technique works. Not only do you look younger
(after repeated use), but your face feels rejuvinated.

Thank you, Lindsay!

I discovered "New Beauty: The Acupressure Facelift" about five months ago and have practiced Lindsay's acupressure methods nearly every day since. I have noticed great results! I love this book and wish it would be re-printed. She provides a wonderful alternative to surgical facelifts--something plastic surgeons certainly wouldn't like! Still, I think all women should be able to learn about the benefits of facial massaging and exercises and decide for themselves if this method is right for them. It IS right for me.

I loved the raw honesty of Margaret Charles Smith's story. She tells about catching babies in a time when birth was not considered a medical crisis. As one of the last granny midwives, Margaret has much to tell us about how African-American midwifery was stamped out in particular, and how hospital birth gradually became the norm in this country. I devoured this book in a matter of hours, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history of birth in the United States.

Once I started reading this book, I could hardly put it down. I was impressed by Margaret Charles Smith's honest way of telling her extremely interesting story. She is a courageous person and devoted her life to helping mothers; most of them so poor, that they couldn't have afforded to give birth in a hospital. But given the choice, surely they would've chosen her,anyway, as she cared so lovingly for the mothers and their babies, in a way hardly possible in a hospital. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about midwives and births. There is also a lot that can be learned from it about the history of midwivery in the U.S.

The only thing I dislike about this book is that I did not write it myself. I grew up in South Alabama during the depression years, the daughter of a country doctor. I have been with my father to deliver babies in little houses that had no floors, no electricity, no plumbing. Often when he could not be two places at once, my father sent one of the midwives to do deliveries, and he had total faith in them. I can vouch for the authenticity of every word of this wonderful book, and the heroism and skill of these wonderful women.

Not only are there some very good affirmations that a person can use on a daily basis, but there are actions that will help reinforce the positive affirmations. I highly recommend this book to any one who is starting on the path of self acceptance or even those who have traveled the path aways already.

This is a fantastic book that every woman should read, large or small. It helps you with your self-esteem so that you can focus on the more important things in life. You will learn or perhaps re-learn how you don't have a weight problem, society does. You shouldn't change your body to fit the culture, that's not healthy and takes a big chunk of your time; time you could focus on more important matters like your career, school, children, etc.

Reviewed by Barbara Altman Bruno, Ph.D. Dr. Cheri Erdman, author of Nothing to Lose: A Guide to Sane Living in a larger Body has written another very good book. While her first book was more narrative, Live Large! is a workbook. It is meant for women seeking a better life in their larger bodies, to interact with the bite-size bits of material on each page. Erdman subdivides the book in two ways: first, in sections for initiation into body-size acceptance, inspiration, determination, and living large. Within each of these sections, each page has a dominant theme which she calls "the big idea." Some of these big ideas include "my body, my business" (a catch-phrase she learned from her work with larger women), "body size is unrelated to the quality of a person's life," and "healthy bodies come in all sizes." Each big idea is "fleshed out" in an explanatory paragraph. Then Erdman offers an affirmation related to that particular big idea. Affirmations are a tool which I also recommend to my clients because they can enable people to change the self-critical voices in their heads into self-affirming ones. While these affirmations - positive sentences stated in the present and repeated to oneself - can seem like science fiction when one first tries them, they can actually establish a new truth in one's mind. Finally, she recommends a "size-wise" action, often accompanied by journal-writing, to reinforce the experience of the big idea. These actions are generally do-able pieces which together form a big picture of someone living a positive life in her own, present body. Erdman's doctoral research led her to the concept of a "spiral of size acceptance." That is, most people do not go directly from hating their bodies to accepting them. Their path tends to look like a spiral, where they advance and yet sometimes feel like they're back at an earlier place. Most of us can relate to feeling better about ourselves, only to have someone's nasty, lipophobic comment send us reeling. Erdman reminds us that such setbacks are only steps along the path. Because each person's path can be different, we can choose a "big idea" which fits where we are at that moment. We do not have to work through the book page after page. We can return to pages which relate to our current situation; we can meditate on a section or take a size-wise action. Her book offers support at every step. What I especially like, in addition to the thoughtful structure of Erdman's book, isits message that to live large is not solely about having a larger body. It is about expanding into our spirit, which is much larger than anything physical. It is about living our purpose. There is much wisdom in this small book, both in its construction and in the messages it imparts. I recommend it.

A wonderfully written, honest,and thoughtful account of life as a large person. It is engrossing and informative, even if you're a sylph.

We received Living Large at a book signing party and hadn't yet had the chance to read it. I found it on the shelves the other night and tore through it within several consecutive nights of reading well past the time I should have!

Mike has done a tremendous job of speaking to those who might know his experience, but he also offers a tremendous gift to anyone who cares about someone who struggles with weight or lives as a fat person. He tells the truth about himself -- the easy and the hard truths -- and allows the reader to see the world a little bit differently as a result.

I have recommended his book to my entire family in hopes that we can better understand those we love in our lives who struggle with this very issue.

I'm neither a man, nor overweight, but neverthelesss I found LIVING LARGE to be a fascinating book. I read it in two sittings. Berman's account of his struggle with food--with the yo-yo of weight gains, the humiliations of being fat, the sheer discomfort of the extra weight,his hard-won advice, the dynamic within his marriage--is very compelling. He's honest about the good things (and there are many) in his life, as well as the challenges.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is, or wants to support someone who is, living through breast cancer.

I bought this book the day after I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I wanted a book that was the equivalent of the "What to Expect" books written for expectant and new parents. This book completely fit the bill. Dr. Kaelin's explanations of the science and lingo surrounding breast cancer and treatments are thorough and accessible. She also provides information about how you'll feel during and after surgery and treatment, what you'll need to have on hand to support your healing, and how to manage the side effects of treatment.

One of my favorite things about the book is that information regarding lumpectomy and mastectomy is separated, as is information regarding radiation therapy and chemotherapy. I really appreciated this, as I was having difficulty reading the websites that covered all this information all together--it was too scary. Having this information separated made it possible for me to read only what applies to my own situation, but I also know that I have the other information if I should need it.

The other great thing about this book is that the language is very carefully chosen to avoid references to struggling and fighting, but focuses instead on coping and living as well as you can during and after surgery and treatment. This positive approach is calming and reassuring to me.

There are several books and dozens of web-sites with information and guidance for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. This is, by far, the best that I've seen. It is written in a way that is easily accessible and full of great information and data. I highly recommend this as a resource for both the cancer patient and anyone interested in the subject.

This book was the first one I read after being diagnosed with breast cancer, and it is a book to which I often return. It's written in a down-to-earth, approachable style that still conveys current information without oversimplifying it for the lay reader. The author is a doctor who is a noted breast cancer expert AND a breast cancer survivor herself. These facts combine to make this book a very valuable resource and an important addition to the "must-have" books on breast cancer.

This is one of several new books on eating disorders in adult women (as opposed to children and teenagers). The author speaks with an authentic voice and gives real examples of women who have come face-to-face with eating disorders. She makes no false promises about recovery, but gives suggestion on what someone who has one of these terrible diseases can do to improve their life. Gura also looks at the husbands/partners in an eating disordered woman's life and differentiates them by personality type.

Perhaps the most chilling statistic is the "rule of thirds": one third of women with eating disorders will recover completely, one third will never recover, and one third will achieve partial recovery. That's either two-to-one for improvement, or two-to-one against recovery. Take your pick.

Even so, her writing is eloquent, and she speaks from a place of knowledge. She doesn't sugar coat the facts.

Finally! a beautiful, well written book about eating disorders that effect adult women, the author did not sugar coat a thing. This book is a honest inside look of adult women suffering in silence. I have read several books on the subject of eating disorders, They are always teenagers or younger. The books all say the same in how anorexics/eds are very hard to treat/usually go untreated/and the sucess rate of recovered anorexics is low. All these teenagers they are writting about obviously grow up. I dont understand why there is no mention of Adults who are still dealing with eating disorders. So when i came across this book i took a deep breath and said Finally! a book that calls out the TRUTH! adults suffer with EDS not just young people. I highly recommend this book!

Lying in Weight exposes the myth that eating disorders are time-limited ones that resolve themselves when a woman leaves the battleground of adolescence. Although eating disorders tend to have their roots in adolescence, the author convincingly argues how "An eating disorder can fit into any part of development and slowly but powerfully disrupt proper development of the whole."

A main theme of this book is that when the key psychosocial developmental milestones have not been achieved, women are more vulnerable to eating disorders during stressful life transitions. In particular, the adolescent who does not develop a solid identity is at increased risk for an eating disorder when life stresses arise during her young adulthood, pregnancy, parenting, and older adulthood phases of life. This book provides a wealth of information, understanding, and insight as to how the "latent beast" of eating disorders can surface throughout the lifespan. And, equally as important, Lying in Weight provides hope that with therapy, commitment, and resiliency, recovery is possible: for the 16 year-old struggling with anorexia, for the 65 year-old battling bulimia, and for everyone else in between.

Frankie Rella is a hero for his actions on 9/11. His TV interview with Dan Rather gave millions of Americans an idea of what our police, firemen and medics were going through on that tragic morning in 2001. Those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, should be remembered for their bravery.

This book pays homage to those who served "in the trenches" on that morning. It is well-written and puts you right in the middle of the action in lower Manhattan, New York.

This is one of my favorite books on my book shelf. Partly because all of the proceeds from the book's sales go to the widows of 9/11. Rella is a Saint.

~=Gregory M. Kuzma=~
Author On the field from Denver, Colorado...The Blue Knights!: One member's experience of the 1994 summer national tour (N)

Who knew that among the dust of the collapsing towers, in the unifom of a paramedic, worked the observant mind of a gifted writer.
From the first moments of the tragedy through the aftermath. See 9/11 as it was lived by those who were there and get the point of view of theose who lost their lives as heroes.

I'm not sure how everyone else felt after 9/11. I was not yet a resident of Manhattan, but like the rest of the country was deeply affected by what I was seeing on TV and around me as my friends and I cried, prayed, phoned, gave blood, and wondered what else could we do. Francis Rella describes his own helpless feelings through a protagonist who brings a smile to your face and tears to your eyes all at the same time. After all the hype and media over 9/11, it's nice to read a real story written by a real guy. With a real heart. With vivid imagery and thoughtful characterization, Rella recreates the paramedics' fall of 2001 for those of us in civilian clothes. I couldn't put it down.

Shipping time was very quick. Book was in excellent condition, just as described and had all of the required materials with it (CD, etc.). Just as good as the school book store, but at a cheaper price!!

This book is very well written and extensive. Required for one of my classes and a permanant addition to my book collection. I am impressed.

This was an awesome price for this book...my school charges $120 for it and I only paid $77 that was a great price...The book has alot of good detail, and is helping me tremedously with my Peds and OB class :)