A sly, irreverent take on the latest obsessions regarding self-improvement.
New Yorker staff writer Marx (Starting from Happy: A Novel, 2011, etc.), the first woman elected to the Harvard Lampoon, brings her wit and quirky curiosity to the timely topic of mental acuity.
Frothy, funny, and abounding in quizzes, exercises, and questionnaires, the author’s latest romp takes readers to the field of applied brain studies, of great interest to an aging population. “With more baby boomers reported to be afraid of losing their minds than of dying,” she writes, “the worried well—and also a few who aren’t doing so hot—spend more than a billion dollars a year on brain fitness.” She, too, would like to transform her brain “into a spiffy young noggin,” and during her four-month quest for “cognitive rejuvenation,” she engaged in “brain-boosting pursuits” that may or may not have had any positive impact. Along the way, she discovered befuddling controversies. Alcohol, for example, “does not kill brain cells” but does damage dendrites, which conduct messages from one cell to another. According to some experts, rearranging furniture stimulates the brain, as does taking a nap, ingesting ginkgo biloba, not ingesting ginkgo biloba, consuming antioxidants, and creating “top one hundred” lists. “As someone whose favorite sport is sitting,” Marx confesses, “I would just once like to hear some bad news about physical exercise.” Alas, “better thinking” turns out to be a benefit of aerobics. Willing to try some form of meditation, Marx chose “mindfulness,” clicking on a YouTube video featuring clouds, waves, sunsets, “and any number of other pictures that look like the photographs you’ve removed from store-bought frames.” Since bilingual students tend to do better on certain intelligence tests, Marx set out to learn Cherokee from Memrise, “a free website that teaches memorization through crowdsourced mnemonics.”
A sly, irreverent take on the latest obsessions regarding self-improvement.Pub Date: July 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4555-5495-9
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Twelve
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2015
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
