Lifestyle Books

The authoritative book on the subject

It is an excellent book which is profitable to any reader. It is full of interesting things that are all you need if you are a Star Trek fan.

This book is very useful. It is concise, informative, and very readable. If you want a good guide book on comparative religion, but don't want to spend a large amount of time tracking things down, then this is the book for you.

Just finished this title. It's in a pamphlet form, but is very comprehensive and brilliantly formatted. I now have a much better understanding of the cults compared to orthodox Christianity. If you have ever been interested in what cult members believe, you must add this book to your collection.

I had never heard of these books until me and my parents went on vacation. I went and bought some books to read while we were driving i bought two of the books series number 7&8. I read those and knew that i had to get the rest of the series and i did as soon as i go tback home i went out and bought all the rest of the books 1-6. I have read all of them and it has only been a couple of days i read like 2 books each night it was great. I love these books so much now i am just waiting for the next one to come out i really can relate to what happens in these books sort of anyway since i quit school it's hard but i still can but i just want everyone to know that these are some awesome books.....YOU SHOULD READ THEM ALL!!Keep up the excellent writing please!

Once again, the authors of the "Turning Seventeen" have done it again. They managed to write a 6th outstanding book. "This Boy is Mine" was one of my favorites though. This one touches way to close to home for me. Just like them I had a clique of friends and I started having troubles with one of my friends and before I knew it they were all making plans without me. We are all back together now, but those times we were a part were the worst. The reason these books are so good, is b/c I m sure most girls can relate to them. The books make you want to keep reading. Every night when I read one of the books, I have to force myself to stop, otherwards I would end up reading the book in one night. I love these books, and hope they keep making more. The only problem with this and these books, is that they are not long enough.

My children and I love this book. It is so heartwarming to read about Wan and Dona and their love for each other and their mother. This book has everything - a great story and humor that children will enjoy and underlying moral tones that parents will appreciate. I can't wait to read more books by these authors to my children.

I have identical twin daughters (3 years old) and bought this book to read to them. They love it and ask me to read "Wan and Dona" all the time. It's a cute book about their special twin relationship and their relationships with others (mother, grandfather, puppies, etc.). The book is set in Minnesota and we live in Minnesota so it has even greater appeal. I would highly recommend this to anyone with twins, although it doesn't even have a huge focus on the fact that they're twins so it would be great for all kids! I can't wait for the rest of the series.

It has become almost a commonplace to note that though we live longer and healthier lives, we are also more concerned about our health than ever before. Whilst many commentators have written on different aspects of this paradox , there has until now been no satisfactory survey of the whole. Fitzpatrick gives us, from his perspective as a GP, the most penetrating analysis yet published of the rise of the New Public Health, and of its dangers for patients, doctors and the relationship between them.

Fitzpatrick presents a history of the way that health has become a major personal and political topic, by looking at the different health scares of the last few years, the screening tests and 'healthy living' recommendations that have been introduced and accepted in spite of dissenting academic criticism We are all familiar with instructions to eat healthily (just why is it five or six portions of fruit or vegetables per day anyway?), drink a certain number of units of alcohol a week, take exercise, and subject ourselves to screening tests of dubious efficacy . However, it is only when we are confronted by the whole panoply of measures that we realise how far things have gone and how rapid the pace of change has been. The result is that we now tolerate, if not actively seek out, a level of interference in our personal lives which would have been unthinkable even ten years ago.

How to explain the astonishing success of the new public health amongst doctors and the public? A cynic would say that there is a straightforward financial motive for many doctors' enthusiasm for these measures, and though there is some truth in this, it is not the most important part of the story. Fitzpatrick provides an excellent account of the gradual process by which the medical profession has lost confidence in itself, as the old arrogance has been replaced by acute self doubt. The crisis of modern medicine is graphically illustrated by the volte face of the BMA in its attitude to alternative medicine: from a defiant defence of the 'demonstrable and reproducible benefits' of orthodox medicine in 1986 to a posture of 'abject relativism' in response to 'complementary ' approaches only seven years later .

Fitzpatrick also considers why health has become such a public concern over the last decade or so. This section is short and thus appears

somewhat schematic but does provide the basis for further work. Many commentators have noted that the ending of the Cold War has thrown up massive problems for the old ideologues of the West, as the initial triumphalism rapidly evaporated to be replaced by a general feeling of stagnation. Fitzpatrick notes that '[c]hanges in society now appear no longer to be the result of conscious or planned human activity , indeed things appear to be out of control'. At first sight this may seem exaggerated, but then think of the almost mediaeval suspicion with which GM food has been greeted. In these circumstances, any hope of achieving progress in society is just not on the agenda , and the retreat to narrow concerns about health is understandable. It is also understandable that the government should take advantage of concerns about health to strengthen its grip over an increasingly fragmented society The result , as Fitzpatrick puts it, is that 'when health becomes the goal of human endeavour it acquires an oppressive influence over the life of the individual'.

In the short term, the trends identified in The Tyranny of Health are likely to get worse . Only last week a distinguished cancer specialist was advocating that men over 50 (a category in which I have recently acquired a vested interest) should abstain from sexual intercourse and thus cut their risk of cancer of the prostate . Indeed the prostate looks set to become the organ of the decade, although I fear that until we have acquired our own distinctive ribbon we cannot compete with the other cancers.

How then to reverse the tyranny of health ? Fitzpatrick recognises that this book is very much a preliminary work , but it does lay the basis for future work which should be aimed at defining the links between, on the one hand, the tyranny of health and the crisis of medicine, and on the other, the stasis of the new world order. The medicalisation of life and the politicisation of medicine should both be resisted, for as he puts it '[i]n the absence of a forceful movement from below, medical intervention becomes a vehicle of government policy, not politics writ large, but politics on a small scale, petty, intrusive and moralising'. Fitzpatrick is certainly not against the idea of doctors being involved in the politics of health , but he emphasises the importance of maintaining clear boundaries. Doctors should reassert their autonomy from the state and '[d]octors who aspire to a wider political role, would be best advised to pursue this, not in their surgery, but in the public sphere. At a time when health has become such a political issue, he insists that 'the first responsibility of a doctor as a doctor is to provide medical treatment for individual patients'.

On first inspection, this book appears similar to Petr Skrabanek's The Death of Humane Medicine (1994). But Skrabanek's' critique, though often perceptive, was that of a cynical, detached libertarian,. Mocking his gullible medical colleagues and expressing a certain contempt for the general public, his approach was ultimately sterile. In contrast, Fitzpatrick's is a much more serious work. It is a major contribution to our ideas of health and disease at the begining of the 21st century, which deserves to be considered alongside contributions by writers such as Susan Sontag and John Berger .

In the preface to this remarkable book Dr. Fitzpatrick describes breaking into the house of an elderly couple during a bitterly cold February. The couple had succumbed to a combination of infection and hypothermia. While waiting for the ambulance, Fitzpatrick, a primary care physician working in a blue collar Borough of London, England, found an untouched leaflet describing the dangers of anonymous sex and the virtues of condoms. This leaflet had been distributed to 23 million homes in the UK, around half of which contained either an elderly couple or an old person living alone. At this moment Fitzpatrick reflected upon the absurdity of the "everyone is at risk" campaign and the motives of a government that did little to prevent the elderly from freezing to death and yet enthusiastically supported "healthy living".

The conclusion that Fitzpatrick reaches will surprise and enrage both those who agree and disagree with his view. The author is nothing if not blunt stating, "the governments health policy is really a programme of social control packaged as health promotion." In an era when social institutions are increasingly discredited (think Congress, the Senate or any other political institution), irrelevant (e.g., unions) or ignored (e.g., religious proscriptions against premarital sex) the government has seized upon personal health as a means of reconnecting with society and regulating and supervising people's lives.

At first glance Fitzpatrick's contention might be viewed as absurd and eccentric but think about it, how many aspects of your life are affected by concerns about health? Do you feel guilty driving to work when you might walk? Do you eat salad when you would prefer a steak? Do you miss out on a Friday night excursion so as to not have a drink or to avoid a smoky atmosphere? Medical jurisdiction over lifestyle extends into the home, the workplace, our schools and neighborhoods. This might not appear coercive but combined with endless screening programs of increasingly intrusive nature and daily announcements regarding another necessary alteration to keep us healthy and the insidious regulation of life becomes more apparent.

This might all be forgivable if it were the case that these changes in lifestyle were of benefit but Fitzpatrick explains they are not. With the exception of smoking there is very little evidence that the proposed adoption of a "healthy lifestyle" will have any noticeable benefit to the individual. For example, changes in diet to reduce cholesterol will increase the life expectancy of an average 65-year-old man by between 2.5 and 5.0 months. If you are younger than this, the benefits are so small as to be incalculable. Essentially your odds of having a heart attack under the age of 65 are very small; if you start a diet of muesli and skimmed milk while avoiding all fatty food your risk will be reduced to very, very small. When stated like this many might choose to live happily, if a little more riskily, eating bacon and drinking whole milk rather than existing "safely" on a boring diet.

Fitzpatrick's bottom line is that people need less moralizing when they are well and more health care when they are ill. Doctors should retreat from the moral sphere and return to helping people live their lives, as long and as healthily as possible, with their vices that make life happy and livable.

It is a relief to read a text on personality development, and to discover that it is about the histories of distinct, unique persons. It is a further relief to discover that when one's way of having grown up and stayed in character until now is understandable, it is a way of living and thinking and feeling that is no longer necessary. This is a liberating book

As a practicing counselor and therapist, I consider, "Understanding Life-Style, The Psycho Clarity Process", to be a big "breath of fresh air" for the profession of applied psychology. For too long this field has been mired in mechanistic-reductionistic approaches which emphasize labeling over understanding and a "therapist knows best" mentality over true collaboration. Finally, a book that speaks in an artistic and scientific way about a psychology and process that helps people understand how primitive childhood and often unconscious beliefs are responsible for the many emotional and social maladies of our times. Rather than framing human processes as mental disorders, "Understanding Lifestyle" frames them as "creative processes designed for a (non-conscious) purpose" - amazing! Rather than viewing therapy as something the therapist does for the client, this unique book focusses on the client and therapist as "co-workers" - equally amazing! This unique and wonderfully written book is not only beneficial to the therapist attempting to locate a pathway through the cobwebs of psychological theory and human difficulty, but also to the layperson wishing to understand self and others. Filled with practical examples the therapist and average human being can readily relate to, this book is a must read for anyone intersted in "Psycho Clarity" vs. "Psycho Complication" and "Psycho Babble". You will never think about your clients, yourself or others in the same way ever again. A truly life altering book!

This is just a wonderful book; the illustrations are bright and fun. My daughter who is 3 loves the rhymes and the use of fun unique words. It is perfect for any girl especially if she has a farm connection. I highly recommend this book.

This charming illustrated book is creative and heartwarming for all ages. It is bright and imaginative. Two thumbs up for author's Corinne Isaak and Karen Cooper.

I am officially a Janis Jibrin fan; she's a true expert in the field! This book could only be described as unofficial because it debunks the so-called fad diet plans of the last dozen years or more and replaces these lies with real world facts. Read it even if JUST to get the great descriptions of what these bizarre diets are all about and what the problems with them are. Janis Jibrin goes into what really works, as well. She has a witty style and her normal approach to weight control is actually more lasting than a diet plan because this even affects your attitude toward food and health. Since reading it, I have lost many pounds and I am within a few pounds of my target weight. All without risking my overall health and happiness by adhering to some kind of wacky Cabbage Soup diet or Blood Type diet or whatever fad-of-the-month diet there is out there. Get this book and you will not believe how many useful ideas and quick tips there are in it! And don't be surprised if this book blows away some of your most closely held notions of food, diet, exercise, and health. It's the real thing.

This book has helped me to lose six pounds! It's great. Ms Jibrin offers sensible advice on how to go about getting started on a diet. It was just what I needed after the holidays. I've incorporated many of her tips into my daily life and I feel a lot healthier. Instead of making me feel bad for carrying extra weight, Ms. Jibrin made me feel great about making the effort to get in shape, eat healthy, and lose weight. This is a really great book.

I've been in the position of hiring a number of assistants -- and firing a bunch of them, too! -- and I can't say how much I appreciate having it now. Of course, if I had had Mr. Horowitz's advice all along, I probably would have been more intelligent about my hiring and have had less firing to do! I have the book on my office bookshelf. I'll be referring to it from now on.

I just read through this easy to follow, easy to understand, easy to use book on the best methods of hiring and firing. I definitely recommend it to anyone in the position of having to hire and/or fire anyone!!! This is a useful guide that I will look at for guidance throughout my corporate career!

A good general-purpose finance book. Covers pretty much all the bases and is straight-forward.

This makes it perfect not only for someone just starting off to make sure they're on the right track, but also for people who are trying to put their finances back in order. Also great for those who may be established but just want to use their money more wisely.

If you're really only interested in investment info though, I would suggest buying a different book specifically on the topic.

This is a great book to find out all types of information about personal finances. It includes buying a house, a car, mutual funds, stocks, insurance, credit cards, and more. I learned something new on every page. The book is written in a very easy language to understand.