A look at books

By Ken Steele

This month there is one book and a couple of DVD's that I took out of the GVPL (Greaster Victoria Public Library) and enjoyed.

The book is entitled: "Super Immunity: The Essential Nutrition Guide for Boosting Your Body's Defenses to Live Longer, Stronger and Disease Free" by Joel Furman, M.D. (Harper Collins 2011). The promise on the Book Jacket Flap is that: "we can supercharge our immune system to protect our bodies against disease - everything from the common cold to cancer ... the evidence is overwhelming ... nutritional science has made phenomenal strides and discoveries in recent years... What we eat has everything to do with our health."Written in easily readable language, the evidence for nutritional immunity is well-documented with over 25 pages of footnote references, at the end of the book, primarily from scientific journal articles. Laying out this evidence encompasses 173 pages, while the remaining 105 pages contain recipes that allow the reader to put super immunity nutrition into action.

An entertaining and inspiring DVD is: "Still Bill: Bill Withers" (Docudrama Films 2009). "Still Bill is an intimate portrait of soul legend Bill Withers, best known for his classics ... 'Lean on Me'... (and) 'Just the Two of Us.'"The youngest of 13 children, Bill grew up in the coal-mining town of Slab Rock, West Virginia. As a child, and up until 28, he had a stutter and was told he would never amount to anything. He joined the U.S. Navy at 17 and was trained as an aviation mechanic. He did not enter the music industry until age 32. Self-described as manic-depressive, Bill has thrown his support behind the case of stutterers.

An instructional video with calming benefits is: "A.M. and P.M. T'ai Chi for Beginners" with David Dorian Ross and C.J. McPhee (Gaiam 2006). This DVD is easy to follow and whether or not you believe in "energy channels" in the body, if you engage your mind and body in these exercises you will feel the tingle of increased circulation. This DVD contains two T'ai Chi sessions: one for the end of the day to clear the body and prepare it for rest; the other to invigorate you for the start of the day. The DVD also contains conversations with David Dorian Ross and Carole J. McPhee explaining how they came to the practice of T'ai Chi and why they continue.