The Healthy Woman - Softcover

The Rodale organization here gives us a new series of woodworking projects that will occupy the home carpenter/craftsperson for many weekends. The editors have assembled six groups of American colonial-style furnishings projects that aren't as quick or as easy to complete as our projected fantasies of fast-forward lifestyle promises--but fulfillment seems more likely with the simple and direct designs provided by this book. Some of the original elegance of colonial design, granted, has fallen by the wayside, but changes have generally been made for good reasons. Adjustments to available lumber sizes and the use of modern materials such as routers and electric tools are all dealt with in a realistic fashion. There's even a recipe for milk paint that's reasonably practicable. Modern mail-order sources can bring us most of the materials needed for practicing this craft. Of the 40 craft items featured, some have lost their original function, such as pie safes and cobbler's benches, but can fill in as coffee tables and storage cabinets. If you find such countrification too affected, you may still take interest in the many furniture designs, children's toys and down-to-earth chests. Clear directions take the craftsperson from birdhouses to bigger challenges.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Women's health is hot! But if you're looking for a book that gives substantive coverage of the latest topics in women's health, this is not it. That is not to say this book is totally without merit, however. Put together by the editors of Prevention Magazine Health Books and the Rodale Center for Women's Health, The Healthy Woman tells us that "health" includes emotional health, financial health, employment health, healthy relationships, and "in general, feeling good about oneself." It includes some wonderful self-help articles from popular women's magazines on doing your own financial planning, getting ahead at work, and making and keeping resolutions. But there is only one paragraph on heart disease in women, almost nothing on sexually transmitted diseases, and even less on the controversies surrounding hormone replacement or hysterectomies. A great addition to self-help collections but only a marginal addition to consumer health collection. See also Barbara Bibel's "A Remedy for Women's Health Collections," LJ 8/93, p. 69-72.--Ed.
- KellyJo Houtz Griffin, Harrison Memorial Hosp., Bremerton, Wash.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.