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Book Review of Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers : An Updated Guide To Stress, Stress Related Diseases, and Coping ("Scientific American" Library)

A2JC4life avatar reviewed on + 40 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4


This is an extraordinarily well-written book about stress. The information contained is quite technical, but the author does a superb job of illustrating these technical concepts with everyday things the average person can understand. Garden hoses, toilets, the banking system and, of course, zebras, are all employed at one point or another to explain the physiology of stress. There are not really any practical ideas here for managing stress; the focus is more on how stress affects the various systems of the body. You will, however, have an amazing understanding of all of these intricate mechanisms by the end of the book! Copious end notes flesh out some concepts which are over-simplified in the main text.

Some readers will want to be aware that a lengthy paragraph of erotica is employed at one point as an illustration (it is not superfluous; it is a very effective teaching tool), and that, as is common with modern scientific works, there is a distinctly evolutionary bias.