Factor

This book makes total sense. Why not try the nutritional approach to ADD it can't hurt. The book brings up some great points. One being that people with ADD/ADHD are more prone to food allergies. Allergies to everyday foods can contribute to negative behaviors assocaited with ADD.

Many Doctors seem to have limited knowledge in the area of nutrition. This book gives one insight into possible alternatives to traditional medicines. Having family members with multiple allergies, I feel this book shows you other poosiblities. This was a great introduction to ADD and diet options.

This book advises that once you have been diagnosed with ADD by a physician, you should educate yourself as to alternatives before starting drug treatment. I was very glad to find that many other things mimic ADD and kids actually may not have ADD. This book took me through a step by step procedure to eliminate triggers that may cause symptoms. I am glad that someone finally realized that kids (and adults too) need alternative choices to drugs. I firmly believe that we are all different and some of us respond to drug therapy without complications, but to put a child on drugs without first determining if they really have the illness is criminal. If your doctor can't tell you what is causing the ADD, then do more research. This book will help.

My God, I was forced to read this book for a construction management class at a four-year university in the United States and struggled through every minute. I don't know what was more frustrating, having to read this dull-minded and repetative junk or reading four words at a time because for whatever reason the prestigious author, Christopher Day, was forced to go against conventional thinking and put two columns on each page. This was hands down the worst book I have ever read throughout my life. The guy is hypocritical of everyone who lives in an ordinary house and works in an ordinary job in an ordinary office building. Sorry Mr. Day, but most of us don't have the time and monetary security to write a 200-page book regarding soulful places. We just trudge off to work everyday in our non-biologically inducing office buildings. A bunch of junk!

A bit wordy and repetitive, but some of his ideas are first rate. The pictures are really nice too.

This is a seminal piece of work, that I would recomend for anyone involved with homes and living spaces, (I think that means everyone!) There is much wisdom in this book, and it is as much a book about how we live as it is a life philosopy book.
Best book I have read about our 'third Skin'

It's a stunning book. Greene, always the master of economy, never wrote a tighter or more beautifully focused novel.

When students are introduced to Greene, it's almost invariably The Power and the Glory or The Heart of the Matter (OK, maybe Brighton Rock), but this novel (and the electric, phantasmagoric thriller The Ministry of Fear) may serve as a better introduction to Greene's mammoth talents.

For an equally fascinating look at the spy game, see Tom Stoppard's brilliant play HAPGOOD.

The New York Times called this the best espionage novel ever. I agree wholeheartedly. In fact, this is one of the best novels I've ever read, period. A great strength of this book is that you really care about the protaganist. He's very much your average, decent guy with a wife, step-kid and dog. He puts in his hours at the office each day, then goes home to them every night, just as millions of us do. There are no fancy gadgets or outlandish threats to the solar system in this story. Thus, the drama, centering on believable characters, is all the more palpable. Once the story takes off you can feel the tension and anticipation buidling up all around you.

The plot is both simple and ingenious. British intelligence suspects a mole is passing info on sourthern Africa to the Soviets and moves to eliminate the suspect, leading to a great plot twist. Throw in what is for my money some of the best dialogue ever put on paper (e.g. the hilarious conversation about malteazers candy) and the result is an absolute classic. I've read several of Greene's novels including the renowned The Heart of the Matter, and The Human Factor tops my list. If you crave a novel that you just can't put down, this is surely it.

The story culminates at the very last word. The ominous sound symbolizes the fate of the naive, manipulated but idealistic character. Graham Greene tops John Le Carre in this best cold-war spy thrillier.

The book J Factor is Stephen Kanar's first book --- WOW! Great medical thriller. Didn't want to put in down. Actually finished reading at 3:00 a.m. Looking forward to more writings. A real page turner....left some loose ends that could be the beginnings of a subsequent book.

This book was referred to me by a friend with similar reading interests - I must admit I was less than enthusiastic about reading a "first attempt" novel...until I started reading.

I found myself engrossed in the story very quickly and anxious to get back to the book each time I had to put it down. As someone who reads very avidly I am anxiously awaiting the release of this author's next writing and moving him onto my list of "must reads".

If this was a first attempt then I feel he can only improve with experience - and the readers will be the one's to reap the benefits.

If you like Robin Cook,Patricia Cornwell, John Grisham, or Michael Palmer you will find this book a delight to read- in fact when you are through you will wonder where this author has been hiding himself and his work.

Steve Kanar has started a new genre of thrillers very like Tom Clancy's books. This one is different in that the cold war is over and the new 'war' is between health care provider and private citizen. A Benevolent Government (much like the Soviet Union) decides who does and does not get health care.

For pre-boomers, this is a cautionary tale, entirely believable. Brings up The Question: if you had a life-threatening illness, would you subjugate yourself to a 'benevelant' government for a cure?

As someone whose prospective first house is likely to be small--and even smaller inside--I've been looking around for useful ideas that will help me choose a home into which my Stuff will fit. (That's not just stuff; that's George Carlin-type STUFF, and it requires serious storage.) We're not just talking a smaller McMansion, but homes where the master bedroom is, on average, 10'x9' with badly placed doorways.

Azby Brown's book was an education in understanding the options even a small or oddly shaped space can afford. Though most of the actual implementations discussed would certainly work better in a Japanese home than in a '50s era raised ranch, the *ideas* are the thing. And these ideas are outstanding. Every inch of space is used to beautiful effect. Every opportunity is considered.

Especially choose this book if you're planning to remodel, as expert contractors and cabinetmakers will benefit from these pages; nevertheless, _Small Spaces_ is for anyone who still thinks that light neutrals and pint-sized furnishings are the only way to manage.

Azby Brown lives in Japan, and has written a number of books about Japanese design, or carpentry, from the perspective of a close observer.

This book deals with design and product approaches to living in small spaces without clutter. The premise is that the smaller a space is, the more it needs to appear empty if living in it is to be fully comfortable and satisfying. This isn't a book on how to load more gear into more "storage solutions", though some unusual solutions like underfloor storage are elaborated.

Granted a lot of this stuff is not going to be transferable to American houses, and some of the details, like miraculously small appliances are not even well illustrated (most ilustration are very good). But then there is a huge market for books covering professionally created 25 000 square foot spaces in Carmel by the Sea, or whatever, and I am not likely to fully implement ideas from those books either. Frankly adapting the spirit of this book is much more likely

Great book on how to store, and organize stuff like only the Japanese can do. For us North American's, applying these principles may be impossible because of the way our culture has brought us up. Still there are lots of great ideas, and it is quite interesting to what can be done with limited space with a little imagination.

This is a relaxed, somewhat witty book on aging and health by a zoologist with an emphasis on evolutionary biology. I particularly enjoyed Austed's use of statistical analysis in the beginning of the book in distinguishing popular notions about aging from what the raw data has to say. Austed uses statistics beautifully here. When Kant was trying (unsuccesfully) to formulate a science of metaphysics, he asked what other real life example of synthetic (additive) thought a priori was used by people. Math! Austed uses math to demonstrate apodaectically that what we generally refer to as extending human life is no more than altered longevity due largely to water purification, antibiotics, and less back-breaking labor rather than an actual delaying of the aging process. He also shows how our species tends to begin dying at about ten years of age according to the statistical dictate of mortality-doubling time. The limits of how old we may grow as determined by genetics is evidently about what it was back in Socrates' time, although these days longevity is greater. If cancer, according to professor Austed, were eliminated we could add a couple of more years to average longevity and likewise with heart disease; the two most prolific killers in the industrialized world. However, even if we unrealistically eliminated all disease, not only would our genes kill us somewhere around 90 years of age, but many of us would die from accidents in any event. Aging is determined by our genetic program and chance, not necessarily in that order, and the only possible hope we have for extending our limits of aging per se lies in some far off genetically engineered discovery. Presently, if you don't get flattened by a bus, your genes will get you, no matter how many vitamins you scarf down.

As for special diets, lizard's eyes (special vitamins), and magnets and crystals, these are largely placebo actuators. Unless you have special nutritional needs, a sensible diet, adequate sleep, moderate excercise, and being rich are about as much as you can do to determine your future health and longevity outside of avoiding firefights with religious fanatics and other testosterone dementias. Austed doesn't really address low stress as a longevity booster except perhaps to mention the nobles tended to live longer than peasants in pre-antibiotic days. Austed excecutes a revealing discourse on tales of how certain societies in far away mountain regions tend to live to older than normal ages by eating goat yogurt and smoking ginko leaves: these are folk tales and the author uses various examples of innoent charlatanry to demonstrate exactly how gullible people are when they very badly want to hear what they've already made up their minds to believe.

I was a bit unmoved by Austed's refutation of the cellular Hayflick limit's role in aging. While controlled cell division is certainly crucial to normal development and cancer mitigation, cells, like whole organisms, are also sitting ducks for unforeseen catastrophy. A non-regenerating cell is also an accident waiting to happen through injury, free radical damage, or deliterious mutation. In terms of generalized deterioration (aging) nonregenerating cells are eventually going to deteriorate to the point where they outnumber healthy nonregenerating cells, at which point, disfunction (aging) is certain to occur; but then what do I know, maybe this is just "what I want to believe."

Austed's observation that we seek a way to study certain whale species for their menopausal physiology (rare in the animal kingdom) and lower than human cancer rates is intriguing. How this would be accomplished outside of simple skin sample research is questionable however.

All in all a good book to have read for interpreting the almost daily media reports of miracle breakthroughs in aging and health. Austed's reliance on hard statistical analysis is very helpful in this context.

Why do we age? The simple answer is, there is no simple answer. The simplest "simple" answer is probably, we age because we live, and living wears our bodies out.

In order to live we breathe because our bodies use oxygen to convert food into energy. But in the process something called "oxidative damage" happens to our cells. In other words: we rust. Inevitably. The two other main reasons why bodies wear out are connected to glucose and "browning damage", and to self-repair mechanisms of our cells that fail to stop and lead to uncontrolled cell growth - what we call "cancer".

The three processes of rusting, browning and cancer are part of aging. They are "how" we age. But "why" do we age at all? Why don't we stay healthy for, say, 150 years and then simply drop dead? In very simple terms the reason is: aging is genetic. The genes do not care about the body after the body has served its purpose: to replicate the genes and ensure that they can replicate again. This is called the "selfish gene" theory, an expression coined by Richard Dawkins.

Gerontology, the study of aging, is a field of science in rapid growth. I do not claim to be a specialist; therefore I do not want to go into much detail here. Steven Austad's book explains very well "what science is discovering about the body's journey through life". He ends his book with a chapter of particular interest for women ("Reproductive Aging, Menopause, and Health"), and a chapter on our hopes of how to make the best of our ultimate genetic fate ("Slowing Aging and Extending Life: Remedies and Expectations").

Apart from Austad's humor - it can be both droll and dry - I have particularly enjoyed his short portraits of scientists in the field of gerontology and evolutionary biology, such as the geneticist J.B.S. Haldane, the immunologist Peter Medawar, the American scientist Raymond Pearl (who in 1938 produced the first paper analyzing the extent to which smoking reduced life expectancy, but also was of the opinion that people above 50 should forfeit their right to vote, because they would have grown too foolish), the German physiologist Max Rubner, the gerontologist Alex Comfort (who discovered the joy - and profitability - of sex), the biologist John Maynard Smith, and the two-time Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling.

Austad's cameo of Max Rubner is my favorite because of its psychological insight into the downside of dedication and narrow focus: "The first scientist to investigate the rate-of-living idea in any rigorous fashion was the German physiologist Max Rubner. Rubner could make people very uncomfortable with his Teutonic bluntness. He was noted for his long silences, punctuated with outbursts of aggressively sarcastic humor. But he was also an obsessively precise investigator of the energy contained in food and the use of that energy by animals. Like obsessives everywhere, he felt that the significance of his obsession was underappreciated by others."

Wow, I am impressed. I never expected this to be a good book when I saw it on my collage reading list. This turned out not only to be scientific jargon, but keeps the reader facinated with the authors great personality which comes through in the writing.

IF YOU BUY ONE BOOK EVER BUY THIS BOOK, AND IF YOU BUY ANOTHER, BUY THIS ONE AGAIN!

I thought this book was more informative on David's movies than THE actual David Duchovny. I love The X-Files and David Duchovny but wouldn't say that this was informative enough on the David I want to know about. I wanted to know what he is like, what kinds of things he likes and this book only told me about his movies. Even though, it was informative on the good and bad movies of Mr.Du, I think the author could have done better. I wanted to know the real David.

I just loved this book! There's so much imformation on him that I'd never of known if I hadn't read this book. Good pictures also!

If you want to know who mulder really is! Your love this biography! David Duchovny is a god!!!! READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!

The suggestions made in this book are very helpful, but not the full picture. I think a lot of people with fibromyalgia need prolotherapy as well as following the advice on supplements, sleep, etc. outlined in this book. I recommend that people suffering from fibromyalgia also read "Prolo Your Fibromyalgia Pain Away" by Dr Ross Hauser.

I followed a similar protocol to this a few years ago when I thought my fibromyalgia was very bad. I was a strong believer that you could overcome the condition with nutritional supplements and exercise and that the key was to take responsibility and work very hard to restore your health. I got significantly better, but still had pain and restriction. The condition worsened again, despite my efforts and determination. This time the pain and weakness were so severe and debilitating that I could not manage to exercise any more. This was bound to happen because the cause of my fibromyalgia had not been determined or treated. In my case, the cause was lax ligaments. Apparently, this is a common cause of fibromyalgia. The muscular pain and tension was the result of my muscles overworking to stabilise my weak joints. I am finally on the road to recovery after receiving prolotherapy.

If ligament laxity is the unknown cause of your fibromyalgia, then the treatment protocol recommended in this book will probably work for a while, but then your problem might come back worse. My condition became so bad that I could no longer perform any activity I needed to do or enjoyed doing (like reading because of severe eye pain).

If you suffer from fibromyalgia, the advice in this book is worth taking into account but please also look into prolotherapy.

I believe that this book is a God-send to people that have fibromyalgia. I have had this syndrome for 5 years and when I picked up this book and read it all I could say is THANK GOD for this wonderful man and his research. DO NOT waste your money on any other book about this subject;JUST GET THIS ONE!!!!!!!!!

I have had fibromyalgia for many years but no one could diagnose it until now. But the physician put me on many medications such as anti-inflammatories, 2 antidepressants, which knocked me out for 2 days at a time, and pain pills. The pain continued and I only felt disconnected. Getting out of bed was a major task due to pain and a drug-induced state. I recently 2 months ago saw this book and had some hope. I immediately went to GNC the next day with my husband and bought everything Dr. Elrod suggested. At first I thought, "How am I going to take all of this stuff". But I divided it up in 4 doses a day and within 3 days I was sleeping all night and my pain was almost completely gone. I had the stiffness due to lack of exercise, due to extreme pain. But now I am doing stretching exercises and walking and I feel better and better each day. I have incorporated eating more nutritious meals and not only do I feel excellent, but my mind is sharper (because it is not focused on pain and exhaustion) and I have more energy and not to mention, my complexion is 100% better. I look healthy again!!! I am back to doing the things I enjoy like working out in the yard. My husband is thrilled because he gradually saw the life completely "zapped" out of me and has now returned. Words can not express how grateful I am for this book. Thank you Dr. Elrod!!!!!!!!

and you will be able to pick up everything worthwhile in two minutes. If I had done that instead of [buying it], I would be a few dollars richer.

I ordered this book after reading the hype in Men's Fitness or whatever magazine employs these folks. A diet that helped maximize testosterone without supplements, etc. sounded like a good thing--and it may be, except that the whole diet is in two pages. First, you figure out your maintenance calorie level then you add or subtract depending on whether you want to gain or lose weight. Then you subtract the amount of calories that 2 gm of protein per kg of bodyweight provides and split the rest with fat and carbs. That's it. Does it work? I'll see. It will be exactly the same amount of protein I have been eating with slightly higher total calories and quite a bit more fat.

Another thing I learned is that cardio is dangerous. If you don't run, you won't have a heart attack while running or get hit by a car. Good points. Should one do a little postworkout cardio or some on off days? The book is silent, but says that lifting is all that is necessary. The lifting in the book is essentially cardio--especially for the first two weeks when it is three circuits of about ten exercises with 20 reps. That will get the lactic acid building up as well as running hills and keeping good form for that many reps is about as boring as a treadmill.

Will it work? Who knows (even the authors don't seem to know--they admit that their wonder testosterone diet is based on a test with no control group in which they didn't even measure testosterone levels)but the results of the people in the book don't seem too impressive. All the guys they showed droped some weight and look better but are by no means huge or cut. They improved their chin up ability slightly for what that is worth, but no news on body fat percentage, etc. In fairness, the authors did not use the Body For Life trick of taking very muscular but fat guys and showing them all ripped, oiled and shaved after 12 weeks of dropping fat.

All that said, I'm going to give the diet and workout a fair shot for a little variety, if nothing else. It could turn out to be the best program ever. The book certainly isn't, however.

I read this book back in 1992, but in light of all the Atkins-hype, I felt compelled to share my success with the plan in this book and give credit where it is due. What I got out of it is if one performed at least 40 minutes of cardiovascular exercises at least 4 times a week (which includes something as affordable and low impact as brisk walking, which the Dr. highly encourages in his book) and watched their fat intake (which was 20-40 grams of fat per day for women and 30 to 60 grams of fat per day for mean I believe) that one got down to and maintained their ideal, healthy weight. It worked, and wasn't restrictive because I could eat whatever I wanted as long as I stayed in the 20-24 g range. I didn't even try to count calories. I was one of those individuals who struggled with her weight since childhood, teetering around a size 14 as an adult, which isn't enormous, but isn't healthy for someone only 5'3", and I got down to a size 8 in 2-3 months. Also, I was a vegetarian, so I ate MOSTLY carbohydrates. Therefore, I find it confusing how the current trend is anti-carb and potentially high-fat when I achieved such success on a high carb, low-fat diet. This book is worth the read. Hope this has helped some of you out there who are looking for a "doable" weight loss plan. Good luck.

The book was recommended to me by my doctor to lower cholesterol in 1990. I stuck to the routine for a full year, lost twenty pounds and lowered my cholesterol from 250 to 160. Felt great the entire time. I still have the book and still use many of the recipes and menus. The menus make it easy. The recipes are easy and great tasting. It really just sets up a common sense approach to eating.

The book disappointed me. There is no definition of what luck is or how it can be measured. Luck in this book doesn't have anything to do with chance events. People who think they are happy, self satisified, and consider themselves lucky, are lucky. They answer some questionaires about themselves in the same way. Unlucky people have common answers too and get lower scores. But Dr. Wiseman doesn't give his tests to random people and check how well the test measure luck in the general sense (for example does indebtedness correlate well with high scores). You get to rate yourself against his pool of data to see if you're lucky or unlucky. Finally, there are some exercises you can do that will help you improve your lot in life, and thereby your luck or is it the other way around. The advice is quite sensible and easy to follow, but it's not going to help you draw to an inside straight the next time you need to.

The Luck Factor by Richard Wiseman is definitely one of the more interesting/entertaining books I have read in my lifetime. I am not much of an avid book reader, but I do know a good book when I read one. Throughout the book, the doctor details the data gathered from many people of various types who he studied to discover just what exactly makes one person "luckier" than another. One thing he found was that persons who exert themselves socially create more contacts and more opportunities for "lucky" events. He spent eight years doing many elaborate tests and comparing the data from these tests. And with the results, he compiled this masterpiece book that everyone should read--especially the unlucky!

Although the concept of taking concrete steps based upon scientific data to improve your luck seems strange, Dr. Wiseman has developed a few core concepts that allow anyone to increase the amount of good luck they experience. If you are looking for tabulations of double-blind studies on luck, this isn't the book for you. If, however, you want to find out what the average lucky person does that you might be overlooking, this book is a must read. The author adopts a simple workbook/diary approach that allows the reader to improve chance opportunities and develop the tools necessary to capitalize on those opportunities.