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YOU: The Owner's Manual: An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger (精装)
by Michael F. Roizen, M.D., Mehmet C. Oz, M.D.
| Category:
Health & fitness, Personal wellbeing |
| Market price: ¥ 268.00
MSL price:
¥ 218.00
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| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Geared to everyday people, You is packed with up to date and time proven information on how to stay healthy. Recommended to own. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 9 items |
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Publishers Weekly (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
Anti-aging guru Roizen and celebrated heart surgeon Oz combine their popular approaches to patient-centered care in this assessment of how much, or more to the point, how little, readers know about their bodies. After taking the quizzes in the book, readers may feel shocked by their ignorance of basic anatomy and the processes required to maintain physical and mental functioning. Each chapter focuses on a body part or system (heart, brain, digestive, reproductive, etc.) and discusses diseases associated with it; genetic and lifestyle influences on its aging process; and foods, supplements and habits that can prevent or reverse related illnesses. The book has an entertaining feel: friendly elves guide readers through illustrations of the body and cartoons feature alien creatures that enter the body and cause illness. The humor is irreverent (e.g., muscle cells surrounding dead heart tissue "start fighting with each other, like Jerry Springer's guests, instead of supporting each other, like Oprah's" [incidentally, the authors will appear on Oprah in May to promote the book]). Despite a 10-day, 30-recipe food plan and a less-is-more exercise regime, however, readers may have trouble using the information to create a lifestyle that will fulfill the authors' promise of weight loss, disease prevention and longevity. Even the recipes target one specific area of the body and weaken the overall conceptual framework. This lighthearted book will be most useful to those who like their health lessons served with a side of humor. |
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John Tyler (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
This is one of those rare non-fiction best sellers that actually deserves to be a best seller. The title gets your attention, so you crack it open expecting to spend five minutes satisfying your curiosity. Before you know it an hour has gone by and you're cruising along absorbing a wealth of medical information of intimate concern to you and your family. It does this with the aid of editorial layout techniques you've seen before ... multi-choice quizzes, truth-or-myth blurbs, factoids, clever and effective illustrations. While such techniques in other books often come across as cheesy, in this book they are used effectively, probably because they are built from such valuable and interesting information. The book is large, but it's not an encyclopedia. The focus is on organs and conditions that are most important to the aging process, and conditions most preventable. It concerns issues you talk about and are concerned with, e.g., what is the greatest threat to your arteries (its not cholesterol); what's the most revealing sign that you might have Alzheimers; fact or fiction - ginkgo biloba is a good brain function booster? Especially nice is every chapter ends with specific recommended actions. The last 57 pages regard exercise, diet, recipes. Written for the layperson in a concise but fun style. I might disagree with a minor point now and then, but on the whole this is a great additional to a health and fitness library.
Each year I update my short list of recommended reading for my adult health & fitness clients. I chose books that are some combination of breakthrough, effective, satisfying, and fun. You: The Owners Manual easily makes the list. (For those interested, other books that made the list for 2006 are: Healthy Aging, Joe X, Backsmart Fitness Plan, Stretching, and George Stella's Livin' Low Carb.) |
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Ingo Leung (MSL quote), Hong Kong
<2007-01-05 00:00>
Drs. Roizen & Oz have done an excellent job in guiding readers to lead healthier lives, with actionable information & vivid analogies, presented in a humorous & concise manner. The illustrations of various human body systems were nicely composed, & have made You: The Owner's Manual a surprisingly fun read. |
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An Australian reader (MSL quote), Australia
<2007-01-05 00:00>
A definite must have for anybody wanting to learn how to get the most out of their body. Very informative, very humorous and very practical. Just like a regular manual you would read when you buy an appliance, this "manual" clearly outlines all the necessary parts of your body, and how they fit together to create the incredible "machine" we call the human body. The book gives maintenance advice, how to deal with trouble spots and how to ensure you get the longest lifespan out of your body. This book is a winner!! |
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A Canadian reader (MSL quote), Canada
<2007-01-05 00:00>
Were we totally honest, not many of us can claim to know a lot when it comes to our bodies and how to care of it. We know that vitamins are good for us, hamburgers are not and things take a tail dove when we add cheese on top. Generally speaking, most of us know a little bit of this and some of that when it comes to our bodies and its maintenance and really not much else - which is reminiscent of our relationships with the DVD player (ouch!). Aiming to change how we take care of ourselves through improving our understanding and knowledge of the human body and the nutrients that affect it are doctors Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz. By the end of the book most of us will be better armed to go to battle to remain healthy, happy and relatively younger. The book also quantifies the age-saving tips.
Taking it one part of the human anatomy at a time, YOU: The Owner's Manual tackles areas like the heart and arteries, brain and the nervous system, sex and the sexual organs, cancer and many more. With heavy use of analogies, a hit-or-miss sense of humor - presumably to lighten the subject matter - and accessible language the authors dispense advice by describing and expanding on the topic and finally offering preventative and healing guidance. The focus on healthy living, easy to execute changes and nutrition is valued. This is not an extended advertisement for drug companies or supplemental services.
On the flip side, some of the wisdom is rather common knowledge; some of the language too dumbed down. New Yorkers might not be world renowned for their mastery of Queen's English and the authors might be aiming for the common touch, but offering advice like "Go On Da Pills" or using phrases like "most everything" are not exactly conducive to building confidence. Along the same lines, the book's layout is not the most dynamic or graphic. A later edition might improve on the organization and add more charts and graphs.
One other gripe is the authors' central thesis on staying young and reversing aging. The reader is never told the difference between how or why certain actions or nutrients help one achieve a number of years in lowering one's biological age. Why does ingesting one fruit make one 2.2 years younger over the years and not 2.1? Why do 30 minutes of crunches give me another 1.3 years and not 3.1 and so on?
Regardless, YOU: The Owner's Manual is a comprehensive book when it comes to the latest accumulated knowledge on health and the human body. Think of it as the pop version of Encycloepdia Medico if you will. Further value is provided through quizzes, dietary suggestions and regimens and recipes. Who knew lightly cooked spaghetti sauce helps one's sex life? |
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Amadan (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
This book is for people who want a breezy overview of the human body and how its internals work. The authors cover everything from (literally) head to toe, with chapters on your senses, your internal organs, your brain, your muscles, your bones, your hormones, and so on. There is of course a chapter specifically devoted to everyone's favorite body-related subject (sex), and another one devoted to everyone's least-favorite body-related subject (cancer). The final chapter consists of an "Owner's Manual Diet." (More about that below.)
This isn't an anatomy textbook - you get a description of all the important parts of your body, but the scientific names are incidental to the information about how care and treatment of all your various parts contributes to your health. And to make it more "readable," the text is full of rather cheesy jokes, and the illustrations are embellished with humorous variations on Latin names as well as little elves crawling around inside plumbing apparatus representing your internal organs. You: The Owner's Manual does not look or read like a textbook, but the humor is a bit sophomoric at times. Overlook that, and you'll learn a lot of interesting facts that even a fairly savvy student of health and fitness might not know. They even talk about how often you should poop and what it should look like! So maybe that's not something you thought you wanted to know, but now that you know it's actually another indicator of your health, aren't you curious?
Throughout the book, the authors refer to your "RealAge," which is supposedly the biological age of your body based on your habits. Practice good habits and your "RealAge" can be less than your chronological age, while bad habits will age you prematurely. The advice is good, though one wonders exactly how they are able to determine how many years you can add to your life by having frequent sex or by eating three bananas a day (1.6 and 0.6, respectively, according to the authors). (Yes, I know, it's based on statistical averages - which to me makes it seem a little misleading to suggest that doing a certain thing will increase your lifespan by some specific, measurable amount.)
Overall, I found this to be an informative, interesting, often enlightening book that taught me quite a bit I didn't know before. There were a few bits of advice I'd take with a grain of salt (some of the alleged benefits of certain foods haven't been proven), and a lot of other advice that, while probably a good idea, is not going to be practical for everyone. (How many people will really put on SPF 45 sunblocker EVERY TIME they go outside? Or throw away every sponge they use to wash dishes after one use?) But all this information is good to know, and you can read through the entire book pretty quickly.
The Owner's Manual Diet at the end, I'm afraid, falls in the "impractical" category. The recipes look good, and they are certainly healthy, but first of all, the authors lay out a one-size-fits-all 1600 calorie-per-day meal plan that is not appropriate for everyone, male and female, regardless of your current weight and activity level! And if you engage in a regular, vigorous exercise program, their diet is also a little lacking in protein, I think. But more importantly, while they claim that many of the recipes are "easy," I found that the majority were either NOT easy or contained lots of high-end specialty ingredients you won't easily find at every neighborhood super- market. "Grilled vegetable sandwich with fresh goat cheese"? "Teriyaki tofu with red bell pepper and shiitakes over whole-grain jasmine rice"? OK, not ALL the recipes are that yuppified, but how many of you regularly stock your kitchens with arugala leaves, whole wheat gemelli pasta, mirin, light silken tofu, and wasabi powder? (Ingredients among each of several recipes I just flipped open to at random.) If you are never short of various kinds of vinegars, oils, spices, and fresh produce, then you might have the ingredients on hand to make most of their dishes, but I really can't see these meals being the sort of thing most working people can prepare on a regular basis. It's a great mini-cookbook full of healthy, flavorful recipes, but it's certainly not a sustainable diet plan.
However, since that's just the last chapter in the book and doesn't detract much from the overall message, I deducted only one star from an otherwise exemplary "owner's manual," for the small number of items that I found to be impractical and/or questionable. Read this book with just a little bit of skepticism, rather than accepting everything as gospel truth, and you'll find it to be quite worthwhile. |
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Melissa Niksic (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
My husband's doctor suggested that he read this book, so of course my husband bought it, handed it to me, and said, "Read this and tell me what it says!" Well, I did, and I was very impressed with the quality of this book. YOU: The Owner's Manual is a comprehensive overview of the different organs and systems that make up the human body. Science has never really been my thing, and I was afraid that reading this book would generate unpleasant flashbacks to my high-school biology days. That wasn't the case at all. The authors present a lot of useful information in a very humorous way, which kept me very engaged. The basic goals of this book are to educate people on how the human body works and also explain what can be done to stay healthy and lower your "RealAge" (referring to ones biological age instead of chronological age).
I like the fact that this book is geared toward the everyday person. The authors assume that the people reading the book aren't huge health or fitness nuts, and so the aim of the book is to explain how a little effort can go a long way. There are a bunch of tips on how to alter your lifestyle in small ways, and then the books explain how those small things will make a big difference in your overall health. The book also contains a bunch of interesting facts that will make for great dinner conversation. (Did you know that human beings grow a new set of eyelashes every five weeks? Were you aware that women who have sex without condoms are less likely to be depressed because semen acts as a powerful mood-altering chemical? This is fascinating stuff!)
Finally, the book includes a 10-day diet that is designed to help people jump-start a healthy lifestyle. I haven't tried the diet yet, but I'm probably going to suggest to my husband that we give it a shot. The recipes look pretty easy to make and they also sound quite tasty!
Overall, this is a fantastic book. Everyone should read it so they can learn how to protect their most important asset: themselves. |
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Stamm (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
This book is written by two very high profile physicians, yet it is written in a way that anyone can understand. It is easy to read and the diagrams use humor to illustrate the human body. It makes a wonderful reference book. You can only read chapters that pertain to you and any given time. I gave this book to a friend that was having heart issues. I also bought it for myself as preventive health tool. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
This review is written from the perspective of a former hospital administrator (non-clinical).
I read this book from cover to cover in one sitting. I found the information very easy to digest. The doctors did a wonderful job of distilling information down to the pertinent facts. They also managed to keep the medical terminology to a minimum. If you want a good, but admittedly basic, primer on the body and health, this is the book for you.
This book now has a place in my living room library so that I can grab it for quick reference. Unless you are a clinician (doctor, pharmacist, nurse, etc.) I think that you can learn a lot from this book.
I thought the lifestyle and nutrition tips were very helpful. If you ever wondered which vitamins you should be supplementing, that is covered. How about fish, should you eat it, should you avoid the mercury? Fish consumption is covered as well. Does your husband need Lycopene to reduce his probability of prostate cancer? How much lycopene does he need? If any of these types of things are of interest to you, I recommend this book.
I have recommended this book to all my friends (not in the healthcare industry) that are looking for a good basic book about the body. It is also a excellent resource for those young adults in college, or recent graduates. |
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1 Total 1 pages 9 items |
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