This is no celebrity addiction memoir. And it is no 'former child star falls from grace' saga, either. It is the heart-wrenching and perilous story that thousands and thousands of perfectly ordinary women and men lived themselves, silently, numbly, and with obedience and love. By making her search for redemption public -- despite the inevitable backlash -- Mackenzie Phillips may very well help others find it for themselves.
"I felt many things while reading this book -- which I did in one overnight sitting -- but when I reached the last page I felt only one: a tremendous respect for its author and a deep appreciation of just exactly how courageous she is to publish this book.
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Every diet plan has a gimmick, but Harley Pasternak's is simpler than most: the number five. The author's "five factor" system (previously seen in his 2005 book, 5-Factor Fitness) includes five small meals a day, five workouts a week and a list of five factor foods-basics like egg whites, lean poultry and beans-in each of five food categories. More than 100 pages of low-calorie-if not particularly imaginative-recipes are included (such as Chicken and Rice Miso Soup and Roast Beef with Carrot-Pear Slaw), each of which include five ingredients and take five minutes to prepare. The in-demand author, whose clients' testimonials are scattered throughout the book, never fails to sound cheery, so even if daily rounds of five-factor strength-training sound daunting, his liveliness will help give readers courage: "Don't worry, my plan is the easiest, most effective exercise program you'll ever use." Though it might help to have the schedule of a Hollywood star-getting in five meals a day presents its own challenge for busy nine-to-fivers-his exercise plan is mercifully brief, the diet itself is flexible, and he doesn't require giving up any foods. In fact, Pasternak gives readers one "cheat day" a week-the better to demonstrate "how well the 5-Factor Diet is working."

John O'donohue hits a lyrical mark again with this book that boldly takes up an eternal verity and ideal—beauty. O'Donohue's premise is urgent and sweeping: "Politics, economics, religion and the institutions of family and community - all have become abruptly unsure. At first, it sounds completely naive to suggest that now might be the time to awaken and invoke beauty. Yet this is exactly the claim that this book explores." And so the author, who has a background in philosophy and has written about Hegel, seeks "intimations" and manifestations of beauty, finding it in music, colour and movement, as well as some less likely locations—imperfection and death. Beauty is sensuous and present, but it is also always pointing to the transcendent. Its trail leads to the recognition of God, with O'Donohue quoting Dostoyevski—"Perhaps it is beauty that will save us in the end"—as well as medieval Christian mystic Meister Eckhart, whose thought he weaves through the book. O'Donohue writes like a poet ("Memory is the place where our vanished days secretly gather"), and he generously quotes from other poets across cultures and times. He also liberally draws into his circle of imagination the great philosophers of beauty, from Plato and Aquinas to contemporary German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer. The resulting book is a lively and informed discussion among great minds—a digest of provocative views on an inexhaustible and compelling topic. Beauty: The Invisible Embrace falls like rain on the parched plain of contemporary discourse.