Rating: 
Summary: Wow. What a stressful read
Review: Upon finishing this book, one wonders for exactly whom was it written. Certainly not for the average layperson looking for some answers on how to control everyday stress and lessen its effects. Those were the main reasons I picked it up recently. I truly thought it sounded like what I was looking for but I was completely wrong. What you get is 320 pages of what stress does and how it affects animals and humans. But we know this already, don't we? We know stress can kill. We know it can cause disease, psychosmatic illness and the like. What you get is a long, descriptive detail of all of these types of illnesses and, really, the way that you can't do anything about them. The author is quick to point out that there's not much hope if you were born into an unaffluent socioeconomic class or if you had a poor upbringing. I'm all for reality...I know the author is simply reporting information the best way he can collect it and present it; I just tend to disagree with his presentation and some core beliefs of stress. Do NOT, I repeat DO NOT buy this book if you are an average person going through a stresfull time in your life and looking for some answers. Do NOT pick this book up if you are in a bad way and searching for options in dealing with stress in a managable manner. After all of the long-winded descriptions of how stress can tear your body apart, there are TWO pages in the book with suggestions of how to deal with stress. TWO. In this reader's opinion, one should go buy HOW TO STOP WORRYING AND START LIVING if you're looking for a book to teach you ways to cope with stress. If you were assigned this book as a pre-med college student as a sort-of Cliff Notes on how the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems work, then knock yourselves out...I have a copy that I'll sell you. For super cheap. Forget this book unless it was assigned to you as part of that college reading or suggested to you by a co-worker in the health field. You'll find no solutions here...only bad anticdotes and lots and lots of boring , long-winded facts about something we've known for years: Yes, stress can kill. Now, go out and buy a book that will teach you how to avoid it and ways to deal with stress when it can't be avoided.
Rating: 
Summary: Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers
Review: Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers written by Robert M. Sapolsky is a book about stress cause and effect, stress-related diseases and coping. Now that was a mouthful, but the book is meant, I believe for medical professionals to understand what really happens to people when daily life closes in and takes hold of your life. Saying this, I do NOT want to scare away potential lay readers in that if you read this book not only will you recognize stress, but you'll know why stress is there and the mechanisms that cause and control stress.What happens, physiologically, to people over time as stress builds-up is delt with in this book, as first-rate science shows ways to reduce stress. I found the book to contain a lot of information about hormones that affect you brain and deals with depression and emotional termoil; giving the reader tools to effectively manage stress. The lay reading public might find that this book to be a little over their head with medical terms, but the skills for management of stress and the causal effect are easily understood by everyone. The author has studied patterns of stress-related physiology and diseases among wild baboons in Kenya and has brought this knowledge to effective correlation in this book. As you read this book, you will have the unusual opportunity to learn how to manage stress effectively in your life... thus living longer and more healthy. The author's writing style is easily read and not overbearing, as you understand more about stress in your life. The book can be rather stimulating, as science books go for the nonscientist, but also, you'll find that it conveys an excitement, making the subject matter interesting and accesible. A love for science is not needed for reading this book, but it helps.
Rating:
Summary: Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers
Review: Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers written by Robert M. Sapolsky is a book about stress cause and effect, stress-related diseases and coping. Now that was a mouthful, but the book is meant, I believe for medical professionals to understand what really happens to people when daily life closes in and takes hold of your life. Saying this, I do NOT want to scare away potential lay readers in that if you read this book not only will you recognize stress, but you'll know why stress is there and the mechanisms that cause and control stress. What happens, physiologically, to people over time as stress builds-up is delt with in this book, as first-rate science shows ways to reduce stress. I found the book to contain a lot of information about hormones that affect you brain and deals with depression and emotional termoil; giving the reader tools to effectively manage stress. The lay reading public might find that this book to be a little over their head with medical terms, but the skills for management of stress and the causal effect are easily understood by everyone. The author has studied patterns of stress-related physiology and diseases among wild baboons in Kenya and has brought this knowledge to effective correlation in this book. As you read this book, you will have the unusual opportunity to learn how to manage stress effectively in your life... thus living longer and more healthy. The author's writing style is easily read and not overbearing, as you understand more about stress in your life. The book can be rather stimulating, as science books go for the nonscientist, but also, you'll find that it conveys an excitement, making the subject matter interesting and accesible. A love for science is not needed for reading this book, but it helps.
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