Fitness for Travelers: The Ultimate Workout Guide for the Road

This book was just what I needed to maintain my workouts while traveling. The sections on different exercises with or without equipment were perfect, because you can't always predict what space/equipment will be available.

I bought this for a friend who is on the road constantly. She loved it--and it has gotten her working out regularly everyday from her hotel room. I'm now buying a copy for myself. :-)

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Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner's Guide: 33 Healing Herbs to Know, Grow, and Use

I have to say something right up front. I am not a beginning herbalist. I have been studying and using herbs for years. And I am a teacher, helping others to learn how to incorporate herbs into their lives for health and well-being. Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner's Guide satisfies both the herbalist and the teacher in me. It is an excellent guide for learning about herbs, a treasure trove of practical recipes and ideas as well as a priceless gift of wisdom and insight from one of the leaders of the herbal movement in America.

There are a lot of herbals available, many of them written by Gladstar herself. Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner's Guide outshines any number of them on a number of levels. The book is beautifully done, a true feather in Storey Publishing's cap. The pictures are rich and vibrant and the material is presented in a clear and helpful way. There are four main sections. The first is a simple introduction to herbs and herbal medicine in which Gladstar's enthusiasm is immediately apparent. The second section, an introduction to making your own herbal remedies, provides step-by-step instructions for making the most basic and practical of herbal preparations, including teas, tinctures, and salves, among other things. In the third section Gladstar discusses nine herbs that most of us are familiar with, revealing uses for them that may not be so familiar at all. The fourth section presents twenty-four herbs that are safe and beneficial for most people to use regularly, but which readers may not find familiar.

As I read through the book, I was pleased to see many new recipes and ideas mixed in with some of Gladstar's tried and true recipes, such as her Fire Cider and Gypsy Cold Care Remedy. I had been afraid that perhaps the book would rest on the laurels of its predecessors. It does not. Gladstar's text is fresh and warm, making you feel as though you have a wise friend in the kitchen with you, urging you to try something new and take charge of your health in any way you are able. This warmth and wisdom is indeed a trademark of Gladstar's. She shows us the way back to the Wise Woman inside of all of us and encourages us to rediscover our ancestor's connection to the plants, honoring our own inner wisdom and ability to be healthy.

Years ago, I met Rosemary Gladstar at the Women's Herbal Conference that she founded, and which takes place every summer. After delivering her opening address, she stepped off the platform and waded through the people straight to where I stood, feeling like an alien in my Islamic hijab, in the midst of gauze skirts and tube tops. She embraced me, and welcomed me like an old friend. This book does the same thing. It envelops the reader in warmth and welcome, teaching her the way of herbs with wisdom, experience, and confidence.

by Khadijah Lacina

for Story Circle Book Reviews

reviewing books by, for, and about women

Rosemary Gladstar's latest work is a great kindle book. It has a table of contents that is complete enough to help you get started, but it also has an index. Finding the exact herbal recipe you want is easy, and there are plenty to choose from. The book covers all the basics for a beginner. It has just about everything a home herbal medicine chest would need. The plants used are easy to obtain, common plants, not rare things from Asia or South America. Ms. Gladstar covers all the basic ways of applying herbs in health care such as tea, syrup, oil, salve, tincture, pills, baths, poultices, and compresses.

I have been using herbs to treat my family for 20 years, and wanted a reference to have on my kindle that would allow me to easily find things. This book fits that need nicely.

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The minute I saw this book I had to pick it up. It was on one of my favorite subjects, herbalism. The book is about home-grown medicine and more specifically about herbal medicine. The book is beautifully illustrated with color pictures of each of the 33 herbs discussed, tips on how to grow the herb and it's medicinal uses.

She starts the book with a introduction to medicinal herbs, their benefits, starting a medicine garden and general introduction to the world of herbs. In chapter 2 she talks about how to make your own remedies. Herbs can be used in the forms of teas, syrups, oils, salves, tinctures, herbal pills, baths, poultices, and compresses. There is also information on the dosage and duration of herbal treatments.

She talks about herbal gardening in the ground and in pots, and makes a distinction between herbal tea for pleasure and herbal tea for medicine. Generally the medicinal herbs are steeped longer and have a stronger taste. Each of the 33 herbs has it's own beautifully illustrated section and recipes for that herb. For example, in the secation on Thyme there is Thyme Syrup, and Thyme Honey.

This book is very comprehensive and a superb begnners guide as well as a good source for more advanced students of herbalism. I plan to buy a copy of this book for my library. -Valerie Lull, Author, Ten Healthy Teas

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I am new to the use of herbs and find that many of the more "encyclopedic" books tend to be heavy on the academics of herbs and less informative about the common sense aspects of herbal uses. I love that this book explains not just when to harvest the herbs, but why. It is perfect for those of use who are just starting our herbal garden and learning about a more natural way of healing. It is also informative enough that the more experienced herbalists will find this book useful.

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Rosemary.. I LOVE YOUR NEW BOOK! The layout and information is so so easy to follow. I want

to buy one for all my clients and my 6 siblings.. very exciting and so affordable. Just had to tell you!

BRAVO!!! this is going to be a best seller.

Thank you for getting this out there for us!

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Vietnam Wives: Facing the Challenges of Life With Veterans Suffering Post-Traumatic Stress

I am officially an "expert" in combat PTSD with all sorts of fancy letters after my name, and I can say that Aphrodite Matsakis's VIETNAM WIVES and Patience Mason's RECOVERING FROM THE WAR [also available from Amazon.com] do more good than a planeload of folks like me. Nobody should have to go through it alone--not the veteran, not his or her spouse, not their children, parents, friends, employers, therapists. Healing (and protection against secondary traumatic stress) happens only in community--at least that's what I conclude from 11 years working with veterans. Both of these books are useful to not only their main audience, the veteran's spouse, but to veterans themselves and anyone else who wants to make their hearts wiser and their understanding deeper. I recommend these books frequently, and for years they were hard to find.

Identifying information on reviewer:

Jonathan Shay, M.D., Ph.D. is a psychiatrist whose only patients are Vietnam combat veterans in the Boston VA Outpatient Clinic. He is author of _Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character_ (available from Amazon.com)

This book is not just for Vietnam wives, but the veteran, his family and anyone who wants to be informed about PTSD. It examines how the disorder is developed and how it affects the victim and everyone around him/her. The goal is to gain insight about how PTSD can be recognized, treated and ultimately lived with in a manageable state. It is clearly written and can be understood by non-professional people.

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This book has stories that I personally have never even fathomed. What an eye opener I read this with an open heart, weeping the whole time.

I am very glad that I had read Nam Vet first because without some background this book can be a bit much. I recommend this book AFTER reading something more general like Nam Vet and An Operator's Manuel for Combat PTSD. All these books show the reader a world that the average person is just not aware of, teaches compassion and shows us solutions.

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This book has helped me understand my mother bettershe was a WW II Korea and Vietnam wife....should have read it sooner ...Also helps me understand my, unfortunately, "Vietnam" ex-wife a little better too. Worth the read for anyone wanting to understand the stress on those warriors left behind.

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If you have a husband or boyfriend--even a father, son or brother--who seems unable to "get it together" in his post-Vietnam life, this book can help you at least begin to understand and identify the underlying reasons for his unreasonable and anti-social behavior. The isolation you may have felt and that you even may have to live with is explained in clear and understandable detail. There are many anecdotal stories that, taken together, begin to build a picture in your mind about your particular situation. Doing so aids in your own ability to both accept certain behaviors and learn to use coping techniques with your spouse that may make life more bearable. Certainly this book opened my eyes to the realities of the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) condition, helped me realize that certain problems were actually controllable, and did not mean the end of the world had arrived. Vietnam Wives: Facing the Challenges of Life With Veterans Suffering Post-Traumatic Stress

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Cardio Core 4x4: The 20-Minute, No-Gym Workout That Will Transform Your Body!

I ordered this book because I am a runner who tends to ignore the whole strength-training side of the exercise spectrum. Having been through a few courses of PT to fix various running-related injuries, I was intrigued by Jay's concept of "prehab" -getting people to do strengthening/PT-like exercises BEFORE they are actually injured. Because this book promised to focus on the core and specifically on the hips and glutes (the parts I've ended up in PT for in the past), I thought it would be just what I needed. And the idea of getting it done in only 20 minutes, at home, with no equipment was appealing -given the choice between spending an hour driving to the gym and lifting weights or an hour going for a run, I was picking the run every time (which is why I kept ending up injured!)

The pros: I was right -this book is exactly what I needed. The exercises are like hardcore versions of the ones I learned in PT. They target just the right body parts and after doing them just a couple times, I notice a difference in the way my hips and legs feel during a run. None of the exercises require any equipment, and they give you a good workout. Though there's not a whole lot of cardio involved (there is some -mostly jumping exercises), I am drenched in sweat by the time I finish. The background story Jay gives of his life and how he ended up coming up with this program is entertaining and easy to read, and his tone is motivational with out being overly peppy or annoying.

The cons: Let me say up front that I am not the most coordinated person on the block -I usually need a couple times of watching an exercise video before I get the steps down and I've given up on anything that requires complicated footwork (like Tae Bo) because I'm just too klutzy. That said, I found the descriptions of some of the exercises very difficult to follow. There are pictures and text, but sometimes, even with reading and re-reading the text and studying the pictures, I still can't figure out what I am supposed to be doing. I have found that some of the descriptions aren't very well done -for example, there's just a generic instruction at the beginning of the exercise part of the book to "repeat each exercise 10-20 times". Then the exercises are shown. But some exercises involve multiple steps (such as circling your leg one way then the other) -I'm not sure whether you are supposed to go 10 times one way then 10 times the other or whether you are supposed to go one way then reverse and repeat that 10 times. Other places, the title of the exercise will be something like "Forward/Backward Circles" but the description only talks about going forward. There is nothing in the description, anywhere, about going backward. I assume from the header I'm supposed to do that, but it doesn't actually say. I suppose this isn't life-or-death important -I've just been guessing and doing what I assume is the right thing. But I'm a bit anal-retentive when it comes to my workouts so I hate not knowing EXACTLY what I'm supposed to be doing.

And perhaps it's just because I'm still unsure about the exercises but it is taking me way longer than 20 minutes to do each workout -I'm hoping I'll get faster as it becomes more second-nature. But still the 4x4 workout is a series of several exercises -first 21 exercises performed on hands and knees, then 5 performed on hands and feet facing up at the ceiling (like crab postion) then 6 more (plus a cooldown) done while sitting/lying on the ground. That's 32 separate exercises (more than half of which have to be done twice, once for each leg) at 10-20 reps each -I just don't see any way that's going to fit into 20 minutes.

Jay Cardiello now has a series of exercise videos called jcore that I believe is based on this book. I am tempted to order them because 1) I could see a video demonstration of some of these confusing exercises and 2) since they are limited by video runtime, the workouts would actually stick to the 20 minute promise. Alas, the video set costs over $100, which is why I decided to start with this book. I just wish that the descriptions of the exercises were clearer and also that there was some sense of progression -a "beginners should do 5 reps of this exercise, 10 reps of this one, skip this one while intermediate/advanced exercises should do X" sort of thing. I enjoyed reading the first part of the book so much and was so inspired to try the exercises and then I just found myself utterly flummoxed by the poorly written descriptions and lack of overall guidance when it came to the workout part. I think this could be a great exercise book if only the exercise part was easier to follow! I'm still going to keep up with the workouts as best I can because I can see that they are benefiting me -I just wish I knew exactly what I was supposed to be doing. Perhaps I'll be asking Santa for the jcore videos for Christmas!

I have followed numerous workout routines over the years, trying to find the 'right one' that I can do at home to make a seriuos difference in the way I look. Jay's routine worked like a charm my hips slimmed down, my abs became literally ROCK solid, my arms developed the long lean cuts I always wanted, my back got a LOT stronger and my back pain disappeared for good, and my legs leaned out perfectly (hello skinny jeans!). The exercises in this book are genious, and I was able to start out very easy and progress the level of difficulty as I needed. I saw results literally within a few days of following his entire plan. My clothes started to feel big on me and I felt so much stronger. The results have only because more noticeable ever since, for the first summer ever I felt confident on the beach. Now I know how to fit the most effective workout in to my schedule no matter where I happen to be. My daily tasks no longer seem as difficult as they once did, my core is rock solid, and I'm so happy I finally look the that I want! I HIGHLY recommend this book for everyone.... you won't be disappointed.

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I LOVE this workout and have never felt better. I don't get to all the exercises in the 20 minutes, but I just set the timer and get to work. When the timer goes off, I stop. My core has never felt better and it's helped me immensely in my voice class (yes, breath support!). I combine this w/ walking 5 days a week for 20 minutes and I'm in the best shape of my life (at 52)!

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Jay C. has here written a manifesto on fitness. Without being preachy, nor demanding any specific religion or denomination the chapter on "spiritual" fitness is right on the mark. The chapter on "emotional" fitness is perhaps over simplified. The chapter on nutritional fitness is easy to follow and accurate, if a little over simplified. These three chapters are more than a repeat of what your mother taught you at her knee. They also are organized and practical. Some of the advice is derived from folklore, and I doubt if truly scientifically tested. There are many observations like the number of bacteria per square inch on the bottom of a woman's purse that are well worth noting, and that if the advice is taken (don't put your purse on the dinner table) would improve one's hygiene and health.

Then Jay delivers his 4 x 4 program. This can all be squeezed into a 4 foot by 4 foot space without any tools other than your own body. The program is divided into standing, on all fours, and inverted on all fours. I fully agree that if an individual can complete the entire program, over time he/she will improve their physical fitness and their appearance. I think many computer jockeys without previous work out or Yoga experience would be hard put to perform at least a quarter of the exercises. For instance, positioning one self on hands and knees, thread one leg cross under the body and then up, twisting the body, so that one arm and the belly button now point to the sky while maintaining the posture on one leg and one arm. Yes, Jay admits his program owes much to Yoga traditions. The exercise directions when aligned with the pictures are simple enough and fairly easily followed. The entire program is a good core program and will improve posture and stability of any person. The cardio aspects come from the number and speed of the repetitions needed to complete the program in 20 minutes.

Would attending Yoga classes be better? That depends on the Yoga style attempted. Also, Jay intends this program to be self directed and available anywhere anytime. Living rural, I do not have Yoga class experience but have worked through many Yoga DVD's. I feel Jay's program is beyond basic Yoga classes. The same goes for Pilates from which Jay also borrows.

While this is a good book with many good observations, hints and a good program, I think the difficulty level of several of the exercises and the folklore nature of many of the suggestions as to emotional and nutritional fitness take it out of the five star recommendation level.

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I have read many many books on fitness and training. This book stands out as a Must Have. The approach of this book is perfect and is just what the industry needs. The language is simple for everyone to read and the exercise ideas are awesome. If you are a beginner trainer, house mom, or advanced trainer, there is something for everyone in this book. I have taken many ideas away from this book and added them to my training protocol for my ahletes and general population.

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