Review: A.J. Rochester – The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Losing Weight and Getting Fit

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Rose Herbert

The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Losing Weight and Getting Fit

A.J. Rochester

A.J. has struggled with being big all her life and when she realises she is obese she decides to get professional help – Dr. Nutcase, Crusher and a nutritionist. This book chronicles how other people can follow her process and aim towards being thinner themselves.

As a talking book read by the author herself, the expression and nuances of language were amazing. It was engaging to listen to, and although I couldn’t say the topic matter was that interesting to me personally (knowing most of the things already), I was happy to listen to it on my walks to the bus.

Something that irked me were references to Pluto Pups. What is a Pluto Pup anyway? Additionally, the subscription to eating diet yoghurt. I’m of the belief that yoghurt’s fats are good for you, because that’s the way it’s made by cows. The amount of sugar added to those things to make them palatable is going to kill your diet anyway, and could have major effects on your metabolism. So my suggestion would be to eat pot-set yoghurt, because it naturally has lower sugar, and the fats are good for you.

Another thing that didn’t work in the talking book format were the lists of allowed food (too long, couldn’t remember most of them by the end) and the listed menus (boring to listen to). The passages about what to do about food in general, the psychology element and exercise were good though, and I didn’t get bored.

If you haven’t heard/read the first book (which I’m currently in the process of listening to), then the human element is slightly missing in this novel. However, A.J. does a good job of projecting her personality into it, and there’s a good chance you’ll be hooked anyway.

I think this book is a valuable addition to any ‘dieter’s’ bookshelf, provided you actually get into it. A.J. has some super valuable points that are useful. I disagree with fat being the only enemy (added sugar is also bad), but the underlying bones of the diet – eat less, move more – are solid.

I completely support A.J.’s suggestion that if you have abuse in your life, you need to get professional help before you can do anything about your weight. I often see smokers who should be thin because of the effect cigarettes have on the body that are fat. There has to be some underlying cause there, and getting psychiatric help is a great idea. If you can prove you have a problem, Australia has a ‘Mental Health Care Plan’ that means you will be able to see a psychologist cheaply. No excuses!

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Review: Jeff Sparrow – Money Shot: a journey into porn and censorship

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Rose Herbert

Money Shot: a journey into porn and censorship

Jeff Sparrow

I must admit I felt some trepidation when this book arrived at my doorstep to be reviewed. The lurid pink cover, even the title, didn’t see very appealing to me – despite this being a book I ordered. A book about porn…

I got stuck into the novel just as I promised myself I would though – and it turned out to be an enlightening and interesting journey. I couldn’t say I enjoyed it, but it was interesting.

It’s difficult for me to pick out bits of this novel, because this is a non-fiction book, a genre which I rarely attempt to read and review. Something in this book’s favour is that I did stick with it, and it wasn’t unpleasant like some other non-fiction book I have come across. Sparrow was an engaging writer, and his sense of humour carried the book. The conversational tone, and the individual episodes of speaking to each of the interest groups, worked.

I’ve never really thought about the XXX-stores, other than a passing ‘ew, I could never be caught going in there’, but this book is quite an eyeopener. Chances are, some of the DVDs in there are ones that were never permitted by the Australian registration board.

I had to feel a little sorry for the old men who are described by Sparrow – it seems a little cruel to be picking on them when they are being open about their desires. I agree there is something a little sleazy about the whole idea – but isn’t that what porn is? It’s easy enough to imagine people in cinemas getting off on a screen reel, but I’m sure most people at some point have watched porn in the privacy of their homes.

Zombies, Poppers and Pork is a particularly witty and well written chapter. Sparrow effectively manipulates his reader into feeling negative about Wolstencroft from the beginning, so you aren’t all that shocked to here that he is somehow a libertarian fascist!

Perhaps the most important thing is that there should be a mid-line between porn and complete puritanism. The points Sparrow makes about the Bible Planetshakers, and the natural curiosity of teens are very relevant and somewhat worrying. There is such a thing as good porn!

From nannying the net (internet filters) to predation on children, almost everything about porn in Australia is covered in this book. There are things that some people wouldn’t be interested in reading about, and I did find myself skimming a couple of chapters towards the end (racial porn for example). Do you have an interest in the future of porn, and the worrying ideas of Tony Abbott and completely censoring the net (with filters that also chop out useful sites)? An open mind is a must.

If you are interested into insights about censorship of porn in Australia and learning more about the guidelines that govern its import, this is the book for you. Due to the content, I would recommend it only for adult readers. It would likely be a useful read for people in the porn industry of Australia.

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Review: Gregory Kuhn – Why Quantum Physicists Don’t Get Fat

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Rose Herbert

Why Quantum Physicists Don’t Get Fat

Gregory Kuhn

This ‘novel’ is a weightloss guideline book. To clarify, I don’t actually need to lose weight, nor have I been actively trying to lose weight (other than reducing portion sizes because I now have a desk job). I have been the size I am now for the last 5 or so years, maybe longer, and I have never been overweight. I’m always interested in various weight things though, as now that I’m in my 20s I don’t want to find overnight I have gained a bunch of weight.

I liked the way the book used a couple of headlining scientist quotes for each chapter. However I got a bit annoyed with them as time went on as it felt like they interrupted the flow of the text, and as relevant as some of them were, other just felt like filler.

Kuhn really is quite sneaky in the way he positions the reader to take his opinion on and follow his weightloss strategies. You find yourself nodding along, and then bam! He hits you with something new. I loved the analogy of the browser for weight loss strategies. Neat! It explained the idea of changing the way you think to lose weight, and changing the strategies you use to do it.

The language is simple to understand and easy to read, even the more theoretical parts. I found myself 20% of the way through the book (thanks Kindle Cloud for telling me where I was up to) and not knowing how I got that far into it! Things went downhill from there though.

Chapter 9 is where the author loses me. He suddenly begins suggesting that our expectation that our parents love us makes the universe make them send us material expressions of love. Now, I agree to some extent that expectations can drive what you have been given, but also that those expectations do not magically change the cosmos. He then goes on to suggest that the real you is making the decisions, which seems a little counter-intuitive if you imagine that if that was your parents, they can’t be really making the decision sanymore, because it is you who is suggesting to them that they should give you presents.

As a scientist, I can’t accept Chapter 10 either. Those neuropeptides that do signal, which are created when you have a thought, they don’t support the evidence he just presented. Perhaps I’m clinging to old science here (and I’m sure that is what he would suggest), but I have no reason to. The suggestion that my cells have been reprogrammed by years of thinking ‘I’m smart’ to expect to be anything other than being smart is ludicrous. It’s still possible to make stupid decisions, even if you are thinking (or perhaps because you are thinking) ‘I’m smart’. I particularly have a problem with this style of thinking, because it implies that people with mental illnesses have programmed themselves to expect to be sick. If cognitive behaviour therapy (which is aimed at changing the way you intitively think) worked the way this author is suggesting fat busting works, there wouldn’t be any more mental illness.

So you can probably tell that by this point in the book I was feeling pretty irritated at the author. I kept reading though in the hopes that the second half of the book would be better because it was time for part 2.

The conversational tone of this novel made me as the reader feel like it was me alone being talked to. I can imagine that this is something that some people would like, because it brings to mind a supportive figure who is going to help you through your weight-loss goals.

Chapter 12 and 13 make excellent points, and I can understand their relevance. Feelings are a thermometer for your state of being! I do agree that feelings play a powerful role, but not that you can overcome everything with them as the author is suggesting. The author then suggests that because I feel that some of the things he has said are ‘silly’, I either don’t have unwanted weight, or I’m not in enough pain over my weight to try something new.

You must honestly feel good about everything you eat. If you eat the cake, you must truely appreciate it. Don’t eat it, if it doesn’t make you feel good. What this book asks of you is a complete mindset chnge, that even with a manual like this one, is very hard to achieve on your own. It is easy to continue to eat the way you always have, but you now need to feel good about whatever it is you are doing to try lose weight.

I was looking for a real rational approach to losing weight, a handbook of approach, things that I could use to prevent gaining weight. I didn’t find it here, and I didn’t really find anything here particularly worthwhile. This book really seems like another fad ‘diet’ to me – change the way you think, and the weight will magically drop off. Don’t bother reading the whole thing – skip straight to chapter 15-17 with the eating, moving and 6 major points, and you will probably have gotten the most out of this book with the least effort.

This is an ebook that I received after missing out on a hard copy through Goodreads First Reads program. This has not influenced my review in any way – my opinion is my own.