c.2026, various publishers
$29.99 – $35
various page counts
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Truth Contributor
Every square inch of your calendar is full.
Summer’s like that, and you have no time for laying low or even getting sick. So stay well, take care of yourself, and read these great health-related books…
Common sense says that you should listen to your body. If it hurts, stop. If you’re thirsty, drink. In the new book Organ Speak: What It Really Means to Listen to Our Bodies by Giulia Enders, illustrated by Jill Enders (HarperOne, $30), you’ll see why it’s essential to pay better attention to your inner workings, and how to do it. This is an easy-to-understand book that will actually make you very impressed with yourself. You’re a complex, wonderful thing. Take care of you.
It should come as no surprise that kids change you. But in Dad Brain: The New Science of Fatherhood and How It Shapes Men’s Lives by Darbe Saxbe, PhD (Flatiron Books, $29.99), you’ll learn how the lifetime alterations that any father can experience could go deeper and wider, physically, emotionally, and socially. Surprise: fatherhood alters non-biological Dads, too. Find out how that happens.
Summer is a time when you want to participate in sports or just outdoor family activities. If everything hurts too much to even think about that, then you need Unlearn Your Pain: The Science of Recovering from Chronic Pain, Fatigue, Anxiety, and Depression by Howard Schubiner, MD (The Open Field, $35). Here, you’ll get a plan for re-wiring your brain to deal with the pain your feel, whether it’s physical or mental pain. Ask your doctor if this might be a good companion to current treatment, then try what’s in this book. It can’t…. um, hurt.
Along those same lines, look for Rewired: The Breakthrough Tapping Method to Stop Overthinking, Calm Your Body, and Finally Feel at Ease by Nick Ortner, Jessica Ortner and Alex Ortner (Hay House, $32). Can relief for your anxiety and speeding brain really be as easy as tapping your finger? Can you stop your outsize emotions in a quick, discreet way? Find out more in this simple-to-understand, wide-ranging book that might help.
And finally, why not reach back a few centuries for what ails you? Look for Self-Help from the Middle Ages: What the Seven Deadly Sins Can Teach Us About Living by Peter Jones (Doubleday, $30) and see how Medieval physicians and patients dealt with the peccadilloes of humans and the way they behaved back then. This is a fun book, a historian’s delight, and it might just teach you a thing or two about your body, something that’s as old as time.
Be sure to check with your doctor if you’re not feeling well, and if these books don’t quite fit what’s wrong, then head to the bookstore or library and ask to be escorted to the health or self-help section. There, you’ll find books on a wide variety of illnesses, ailments and maladies, from First Aid to self help. Be sure to ask because, like your calendar this summer, the shelves are full.