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Encyclopaedic survival guide to adolescence
DISSECTING ROOM
Lacklustre attempts at healthy cuisine Healthy Living Cookbook Rosemary Stanton. Sydney: Macmillan. 1998. Pp 202. AU$29·95. ISBN 0-7329-0923-6. The Sensitive Gourmet Antoinette Savill. London:Thorsons. 1998. Pp 132. £17·99. ISBN 0-7225-3713-1. cookbook is supposed to look so enticing that anyone who opens it will instantly feel compelled to pick up a saucepan and start creating the mouth-watering dishes prescribed. I am not much of a cook, but upon opening the Healthy Living Cookbook, I too had the irresistible urge to pick up a saucepan. However, this was mainly with the thought of inflicting grievous bodily harm upon the people responsi-
A
ble for it. Which one of the two designers had the idea of printing half of each recipe in pale pink lettering? On white pages this does not make for easy reading, especially when combined with a tiny typeface. A substantial part of each page is also blank, a layout that
Encyclopaedic survival guide to adolescence Changing Bodies, Changing Lives Third edition. Ruth Bell (and other co-authors of Our Bodies Ourselves) with members of the Teen Book Project. NewYork:Times Books. Pp 411. $23. ISBN 0-8129-2990-X.
urving adolescence has never been easy. Changes in emotions, appearance, social life, and relationships can make the progression from childhood to adulthood very confusing. Enduring this process with grace always requires a little help, which teens obtain from many different sources. To get the facts straight, some of us go to our peers, although the wisdom collected in this way is usually a little, well, misguided. Some of us go to television, where a barrage of highly useless information is obtained very quickly. The truly brave even go to their parents, who will most likely cough nervously, stammer something incoherent, and then hand over a book. Anyone who has had this experience knows about “the book”. It may be preachy and patronising, it may be sappy and boring, it may be too dated, too conservative, or too specific. Whatever the reason, it is never quite right, and one is left more confused than before. Ruth Bell, the author of Changing Bodies, Changing Lives, has created a source for teenagers on everything from sex and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) to drugs, violence, emotions, and more. Originally published in 1980, this third edition has been greatly revised and expanded. For example, the 1998 edition features sections on eating disorders and living with violence, as well as highly
S
2032
expanded segments on STDs, safer sex, substance abuse, rape, and emotional health care. The latest publication also features a closing part entitled “Changing Things”, which discusses the state of, and teenagers’ role in, current society. Changing Bodies, Changing Lives contains a great deal of valuable information on a wide range of topics. Many books written on teenage health and sexuality focus on only one thing: be it AIDS, homosexuality, eating disorders, pregnancy, &c. The wonderful thing about Bell’s book is that it brings together all these topics to form a veritable encyclopaedia. One of the other great things about this book is the style in which it is written. There is a breezy, conversation-like flow to each chapter, and the information is presented in easily understandable terms as opposed to the medical or scientific jargon found in other books. Best of all, each page is filled with the drawings, cartoons, poems, and first-person accounts of other teenagers, which make the reading seem less like research and more like talking to a good friend. This is what Marina, a teenage parent, said about life with her daughter, Kira: “After I had Kira, I couldn’t believe how my life had changed. I couldn’t stand just sitting home all the time watching her, so I started going out and leaving Kira with my mother,
tends to make a reader consider a book poor value for money. The author Rosemary Stanton should not get off scot-free either. In a healthy living cookbook I find it odd there should be no mention of Kcals, only kiloJ. Admittedly the book is Australian, which presumably also accounts for the inclusion of barbecued ocean trout and barbecued octopus. My stomach would not be up to preparing this second dish (step one being “remove octopus heads”), let alone eating it. Preparation times are not given either, so I had to rely
and if my mother wouldn’t watch her, I’d drag her along with me. When she was real little, she used to get up a lot during the night, and I hated getting woken up. So sometimes I would just let her cry and cry and it would wake everybody in the house up and we’d all be miserable in the morning. Then when she was about nine months old, Kira got so sick I had to take her to the hospital. She was in there for almost two weeks. I was so scared that she was going to die because I didn’t take care of her the way I should have. That’s when I decided I had to grow up and take some responsibility. I decided I’d have to change and not go out partying or running around. I wanted to be a good mother.” Any teacher, counsellor, or social worker could have told me that being a teenage parent isn’t easy, but it is so much more effective to hear those words from somebody who could potentially be a friend of mine, someone whom I know and trust. Ruth Bell’s Changing Bodies, Changing Lives has something for everyone. A book for teenagers, yes, but also for those simply looking to broaden their knowledge, answer a question, or see what the concerns are of teenagers today. If you think you know everything already, think again— I thought that too at first. The truth is, one simply can’t educate oneself enough on the topics detailed in this book, and hopefully, the next time a parent coughs nervously and hands over a book, Changing Bodies, Changing Lives will be the one they choose to give.
Katie Addleman-Frankel 445 Briar Hill Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5N 1MB
THE LANCET • Vol 352 • December 19/26, 1998
Lacklustre attempts at healthy cuisine Healthy Living Cookbook Rosemary Stanton. Sydney: Macmillan. 1998. Pp 202. AU$29·95. ISBN 0-7329-0923-6. The Sensitive Gourmet Antoinette Savill. London:Thorsons. 1998. Pp 132. £17·99. ISBN 0-7225-3713-1. cookbook is supposed to look so enticing that anyone who opens it will instantly feel compelled to pick up a saucepan and start creating the mouth-watering dishes prescribed. I am not much of a cook, but upon opening the Healthy Living Cookbook, I too had the irresistible urge to pick up a saucepan. However, this was mainly with the thought of inflicting grievous bodily harm upon the people responsi-
A
ble for it. Which one of the two designers had the idea of printing half of each recipe in pale pink lettering? On white pages this does not make for easy reading, especially when combined with a tiny typeface. A substantial part of each page is also blank, a layout that
Encyclopaedic survival guide to adolescence Changing Bodies, Changing Lives Third edition. Ruth Bell (and other co-authors of Our Bodies Ourselves) with members of the Teen Book Project. NewYork:Times Books. Pp 411. $23. ISBN 0-8129-2990-X.
urving adolescence has never been easy. Changes in emotions, appearance, social life, and relationships can make the progression from childhood to adulthood very confusing. Enduring this process with grace always requires a little help, which teens obtain from many different sources. To get the facts straight, some of us go to our peers, although the wisdom collected in this way is usually a little, well, misguided. Some of us go to television, where a barrage of highly useless information is obtained very quickly. The truly brave even go to their parents, who will most likely cough nervously, stammer something incoherent, and then hand over a book. Anyone who has had this experience knows about “the book”. It may be preachy and patronising, it may be sappy and boring, it may be too dated, too conservative, or too specific. Whatever the reason, it is never quite right, and one is left more confused than before. Ruth Bell, the author of Changing Bodies, Changing Lives, has created a source for teenagers on everything from sex and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) to drugs, violence, emotions, and more. Originally published in 1980, this third edition has been greatly revised and expanded. For example, the 1998 edition features sections on eating disorders and living with violence, as well as highly
S
2032
expanded segments on STDs, safer sex, substance abuse, rape, and emotional health care. The latest publication also features a closing part entitled “Changing Things”, which discusses the state of, and teenagers’ role in, current society. Changing Bodies, Changing Lives contains a great deal of valuable information on a wide range of topics. Many books written on teenage health and sexuality focus on only one thing: be it AIDS, homosexuality, eating disorders, pregnancy, &c. The wonderful thing about Bell’s book is that it brings together all these topics to form a veritable encyclopaedia. One of the other great things about this book is the style in which it is written. There is a breezy, conversation-like flow to each chapter, and the information is presented in easily understandable terms as opposed to the medical or scientific jargon found in other books. Best of all, each page is filled with the drawings, cartoons, poems, and first-person accounts of other teenagers, which make the reading seem less like research and more like talking to a good friend. This is what Marina, a teenage parent, said about life with her daughter, Kira: “After I had Kira, I couldn’t believe how my life had changed. I couldn’t stand just sitting home all the time watching her, so I started going out and leaving Kira with my mother,
tends to make a reader consider a book poor value for money. The author Rosemary Stanton should not get off scot-free either. In a healthy living cookbook I find it odd there should be no mention of Kcals, only kiloJ. Admittedly the book is Australian, which presumably also accounts for the inclusion of barbecued ocean trout and barbecued octopus. My stomach would not be up to preparing this second dish (step one being “remove octopus heads”), let alone eating it. Preparation times are not given either, so I had to rely
and if my mother wouldn’t watch her, I’d drag her along with me. When she was real little, she used to get up a lot during the night, and I hated getting woken up. So sometimes I would just let her cry and cry and it would wake everybody in the house up and we’d all be miserable in the morning. Then when she was about nine months old, Kira got so sick I had to take her to the hospital. She was in there for almost two weeks. I was so scared that she was going to die because I didn’t take care of her the way I should have. That’s when I decided I had to grow up and take some responsibility. I decided I’d have to change and not go out partying or running around. I wanted to be a good mother.” Any teacher, counsellor, or social worker could have told me that being a teenage parent isn’t easy, but it is so much more effective to hear those words from somebody who could potentially be a friend of mine, someone whom I know and trust. Ruth Bell’s Changing Bodies, Changing Lives has something for everyone. A book for teenagers, yes, but also for those simply looking to broaden their knowledge, answer a question, or see what the concerns are of teenagers today. If you think you know everything already, think again— I thought that too at first. The truth is, one simply can’t educate oneself enough on the topics detailed in this book, and hopefully, the next time a parent coughs nervously and hands over a book, Changing Bodies, Changing Lives will be the one they choose to give.
Katie Addleman-Frankel 445 Briar Hill Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5N 1MB
THE LANCET • Vol 352 • December 19/26, 1998