A Woman's Book of Life: The Biology, Psychology, and Spirituality of the Feminine Life Cycle

Rating:
Summary: Enlightening and interesting....
Review: I found this book enthusiastic, enlightening, and interesting. Perfect balance of spirituality, a woman's point of view, and valuable scientific information. A must-read for open-minded, intellectual women.

Rating:
Summary: scientific, but entertaining!
Review: I found this book to be very insightful and fun! Normally I don't read these kind of books, but I found this one very enjoyable. Borysenko makes so many fascinating points and backs them with evidence and examples that aren't boring. It's opened my eyes to many things and explained a few things that were unclear to me before I read this book. I've recommended this book to every women I know and even men!

Rating:
Summary: Iluminating and Thought-Provoking
Review: I sat down and read this book in two days...I just couldn't put it down. For the first time in my life (I am a young woman in my twenties) I am looking forward to the process of growing older and wiser. Even looking forward to experiencing the changes my body will go through in menopause. I no longer fear getting older and losing my "beauty". This book has caused powerful insight and reflection moving me closer to my potential. The mystery of womanhood is celebrated and embraced in this book rather than touted as less important than "traditional" roles. I will refer back to this book again and again, as well as recommend it to the women in my life who I hold the dearest.

Rating:
Summary: Everyone Should Read This Book
Review: If you are a woman, or have a woman in your life (mother, wife, daughter, etc.), you should read this book. In other words, whoever you are, you should read this book. It's accessable and easy to read, but packed so full of information and new ideas that even if you disagree with half the book, the other half will open your eyes.

Dr. Borysenko is a scientist, with strong interests in health, spirituality, mind-body interaction, and the role of women in our society. This book synthesizes those ideas into a fascinating whole. It's definitely pitched to the layman (layperson?) rather than to scientists, and presents a broad range of ideas in an accessible and entertaining manner.

Borysenko's goal is to describe the physical and mental changes women undergo in their lives, and to outline a positive way to view each of the phases in a woman's life - childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and maturity. She synthesizes a tremendous amount of science and wisdom to do it, discussing everything from genetics and cell division to Lakota Sioux attitudes towards menstruation. Few readers are likely to agree with everything Borysenko writes, but her ability to take disparate information and combine it is sure to give every reader some new insights into women's physical and mental development, and ways in which women can craft their role in life.

Borysenko introduces most chapters with the ongoing story of a hypothetical character, "Julia", as she matures through each of Borysenko's stages of life. As some of the other reviewers have pointed out, Julia seems to be an idealized verion of Dr. Borysenko herself, an upper-middle class white American with strong interests in womens' development. While this may alienate some readers, I think it's worth sticking with the book. Again, the book is so full of information, presented so well, that a reader may find herself uninterest in Julia but interested in Borysenko's advice on mediation, or on hormonal vs. lifestyle therapy for menapause, or by her information on cultural body image standards in the U.S., or by any of a hundred other things.

Rating:
Summary: Everyone Should Read This Book
Review: If you are a woman, or have a woman in your life (mother, wife, daughter, etc.), you should read this book. In other words, whoever you are, you should read this book. It's accessable and easy to read, but packed so full of information and new ideas that even if you disagree with half the book, the other half will open your eyes.

Dr. Borysenko is a scientist, with strong interests in health, spirituality, mind-body interaction, and the role of women in our society. This book synthesizes those ideas into a fascinating whole. It's definitely pitched to the layman (layperson?) rather than to scientists, and presents a broad range of ideas in an accessible and entertaining manner.

Borysenko's goal is to describe the physical and mental changes women undergo in their lives, and to outline a positive way to view each of the phases in a woman's life - childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and maturity. She synthesizes a tremendous amount of science and wisdom to do it, discussing everything from genetics and cell division to Lakota Sioux attitudes towards menstruation. Few readers are likely to agree with everything Borysenko writes, but her ability to take disparate information and combine it is sure to give every reader some new insights into women's physical and mental development, and ways in which women can craft their role in life.

Borysenko introduces most chapters with the ongoing story of a hypothetical character, "Julia", as she matures through each of Borysenko's stages of life. As some of the other reviewers have pointed out, Julia seems to be an idealized verion of Dr. Borysenko herself, an upper-middle class white American with strong interests in womens' development. While this may alienate some readers, I think it's worth sticking with the book. Again, the book is so full of information, presented so well, that a reader may find herself uninterest in Julia but interested in Borysenko's advice on mediation, or on hormonal vs. lifestyle therapy for menapause, or by her information on cultural body image standards in the U.S., or by any of a hundred other things.