Health & Medicine Book Reviews

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Released: Jan. 24, 2017

"Thirty days on LSD therapy makes for a fascinating trip, indeed, and a learning opportunity for readers interested in the past and present therapeutic uses for psychedelic drugs."
How self-administering tiny doses of LSD abated the disintegration of the author's mental health and family life. Read full book review >
ATTENDING by Ronald Epstein
HEALTH & MEDICINE
Released: Jan. 24, 2017

"Worthy reading for medical students and practitioners but also applicable to other fields: artists, writers, musicians, teachers et al. can also fall into formulaic ruts and autopilot behavior and need literally to change their minds."
Can the encounter between doctor and patient be improved? A renowned family physician thinks so, and he explains how in this compendium of a lifetime of experience. Read full book review >

IS IT ALL IN YOUR HEAD? by Suzanne O'Sullivan
BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Released: Jan. 17, 2017

"An intriguing look at how mental processes affect and alter our views—and feelings—of health and illness."
Feeling out of sorts? Take two imaginary aspirin and call us in the morning. Read full book review >
AMERICAN HOOKUP by Lisa Wade
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Released: Jan. 10, 2017

"An eye-opening, conversation-starting examination of sex on the American college campus."
How and why American college students are engaging in nonintimate one-night stands. Read full book review >
OUR BODIES, OUR DATA by Adam Tanner
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS
Released: Jan. 10, 2017

"A thorough report, carefully researched and well-documented, aimed at both general readers and policymakers."
A disturbing look at the threat to privacy created by the lucrative and growing health care data-mining industry. Read full book review >

SIRENS by Joshua Mohr
BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Released: Jan. 10, 2017

"An entirely candid, compelling memoir of addiction and the long, fraught road of recovery."
A novelist's account of how learning to live with a susceptibility to substance abuse helped him take control of his life in middle age. Read full book review >
NICOTINE by Gregor Hens
by Gregor Hens, translated by Jen Calleja
BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Released: Jan. 10, 2017

"In a book that is as much a paean to smoking as it is a eulogy, Hens is both poetic and unforgiving about the pleasures and pains of smoking."
A memoir about cigarette smoking whose meditations provide an intellectual frame for the addictive habit. Read full book review >
YOU CARRIED ME by Melissa Ohden
BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Released: Jan. 9, 2017

"Ohden's perseverance is inspiring, but the presentation lacks the emotional and literary heft her important story warrants."
A memoir of mothers, daughters, adoption, and abortion. Read full book review >
HEALTH & MEDICINE
Released: Jan. 3, 2017

"Couch potatoes take warning: the experiences described in this testimonial are often tough to read about, and the conclusions, while sometimes convincing, might best be taken with a touch of skepticism."
On the heels of the paleo diet comes a new claim: taking on the physical challenges of the environment faced by our prehistoric ancestors can undo what easy calories and effortless comfort have done to our bodies—made them fat, lazy, and weak. Read full book review >
THE DRUG HUNTERS by Donald R. Kirsch
HEALTH & MEDICINE
Released: Jan. 3, 2017

"Highly informative and accessible for general readers."
Biopharmaceutical consultant Kirsch debuts with a popular account of the search for new drugs, from prehistory through the rise of big pharma. Read full book review >
THE STRESS TEST by Ian Robertson
HEALTH & MEDICINE
Released: Jan. 3, 2017

"An intriguing overview of important developments in brain research, specifically as it relates to finding 'the right mental balance we need for each challenge that faces us.'"
A veteran neuroscientist and clinical psychologist explores the changes that occur in our brains depending upon how we deal with challenging situations. Read full book review >
HEALTH & MEDICINE
Released: Dec. 27, 2016

"A book that should have wide appeal, not only to those fighting the battle of the bulge."
Americans spend more money on the war against fat than the war against terror. As Tara writes, "we are indeed a nation at war with a body part." Read full book review >
Kirkus Interview
Clinton Kelly
January 9, 2017

Bestselling author and television host Clinton Kelly’s memoir I Hate Everyone Except You is a candid, deliciously snarky collection of essays about his journey from awkward kid to slightly-less-awkward adult. Clinton Kelly is probably best known for teaching women how to make their butts look smaller. But in I Hate Everyone, Except You, he reveals some heretofore-unknown secrets about himself, like that he’s a finicky connoisseur of 1980s pornography, a disillusioned critic of New Jersey’s premier water parks, and perhaps the world’s least enthused high-school commencement speaker. Whether he’s throwing his baby sister in the air to jumpstart her cheerleading career or heroically rescuing his best friend from death by mud bath, Clinton leaps life’s social hurdles with aplomb. With his signature wit, he shares his unique ability to navigate the stickiest of situations, like deciding whether it’s acceptable to eat chicken wings with a fork on live television (spoiler: it’s not). “A thoroughly light and entertaining memoir,” our critic writes. View video >