A thought-provoking proposal to look at health care in a new, more whole-body way.
McAllister looks at health through a chiropractic lens.
In her nonfiction debut, the author, president of the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress, outlines the “chiropractic narrative” that underlies her vision of a more holistic model of understanding health care. McAllister largely bases the narrative on what she refers to as the Foundational Seven pillars of health: Investment, Replenishment, Nourishment, Movement, Adjustment, Contentment, and Revitalizement. McAllister positions this whole-being outlook in opposition to what she views as the fragmented, compartmentalized nature of modern life. “Today’s world is full of ‘experts’ in every field, but they aren’t asking about the sum of the parts,” she writes. “This leads consumers to feel overwhelmed, catatonic even, with misconceptions, fads, and lies about the human frame.” In each chapter, the author concentrates on a different pillar, expanding on key elements like dietary practices (warning readers not to be “seduced by the Big Agriculture and Big Food siren song”) and consistent exercise (“To create a supercharged life,” she bluntly asserts, “building muscle must be a primary focus”). She likewise stresses the mental aspects of health, urging her readers, “Don’t smudge life’s lens with worry and anxiety.” The reader may worry about potentially dubious claims; McAllister states that, “With appropriate supports found in the neuromusculoskeletal structure, the body has the opportunity to heal injuries without medications or surgeries.” The author walks that back a bit with her assertion that chiropractic treatments don’t exist to replace necessary medical treatments, but rather to “complement them in meaningful ways.” On balance, McAllister’s argument for the benefits of her whole-being chiropractic approach, with its emphasis on sound diet, consistent physical training, and the importance of inner contentment, is both uplifting and sensible.
A thought-provoking proposal to look at health care in a new, more whole-body way.Pub Date: yesterday
ISBN: 9798887505558
Page Count: 200
Publisher: ForbesBooks
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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