The "Go Ask Alice" Book of Answers: A Guide to Good Physical, Sexual, and Emotional Health [Paperback]

Columbia University's Health Education Program (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 1998

A frank, streetwise Our Bodies, Our Selves for young men and women.

What's the best way to minimize a hangover?
Is it normal to have sex without experiencing an orgasm?
How can you tell if a friend of yours is suffering from an eating disorder?
Does smoking pot have long-term consequences?
Does Seasonal Affective Disorder really exist?

These are the questions young people are asking ... and until now, there's been no reliable book that has provided sensible, honest, and comforting answers specifically for this audience. The Go Ask Alice Book of Answers is a groundbreaking guide that mines the best material from the eponymous award-winning Web site. From sex and relationships to alcohol and drugs to fitness and nutrition, this comprehensive handbook is the first of its kind to provide much-needed information for young adults who cannot get reliable or anonymous information from conventional channels.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Was it a one-night stand or true love? What are the symptoms of chlamydia? How do I know if my drinking is out of control? While questions like these may be a parent's worst nightmare, they weigh heavily on the minds of today's teens and twentysomethings. Thankfully, The "Go Ask Alice" Book of Answers has come to the rescue, providing straightforward, nonjudgmental, comprehensive answers to the toughest, most embarrassing questions teens (and adults) have about their sexual, emotional, and physical health. Inspired by Columbia University's award-winning and hugely popular Q&A Web site, this essential book is packed with answers to questions initially posed online. The university's health service staff has collaborated to ensure that each topic--from how to kiss to the effects of LSD--is given candid, educated attention in an easy-to-digest Q&A format. Queries posed to "Dear Alice" are answered with humor, understanding, and a complete lack of didacticism. A thorough list of resources is included, providing telephone numbers and Internet addresses for related health organizations, as well as directions for where to look on the Go Ask Alice Web site for more information on the immense variety of subjects. With this excellent book in hand, older teens and college students will be better prepared for the journey to adulthood. And grown-ups would benefit as well from the wealth of information contained in these pages. (Ages 15 and older) --Brangien Davis

From Publishers Weekly

Go Ask Alice, an information service originally available only to Columbia University students but later accessible to others through its Web site, takes book form in this eye-opening collection of questions and answers. The queries are representative of those e-mailed by anonymous visitors to the Go Ask Alice Web site. Responses are from experienced health-care providers and professional health educators. The special value of this work is the personal nature of the questions?they are often ones many people would be afraid to ask or wouldn't know whom to ask?and the positive, sympathetic nature of the responses. Topics includes relationships, sexuality (anatomy, physiology and sexual response), sexual health (reproduction, contraception and sexually transmitted diseases), emotional health, fitness and nutrition, alcohol, nicotine and other drugs, and general health. Whether about nose piercing or sniffing lighter fluid, from a worried lesbian or anxious bulemic, all questions are taken seriously, treated respectfully and given straightforward, nonjudgmental answers. Some are marked with an "R," indicating that more information is to be found in back-of-the-book sources, which often include Web sites and e-mail addresses. A word to parents of the college-bound: don't let them leave home without it.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks; 1 edition (September 8, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805055703
• ISBN-13: 978-0805055702
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,067,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #73 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Personal Health > Teen Health > Drug & Alcohol Abuse

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kids, sex, life -- they all gotta come together somehow, November 16, 2003

By 

Brian Connors (Yarmouth, MA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The "Go Ask Alice" Book of Answers: A Guide to Good Physical, Sexual, and Emotional Health (Paperback)

At www.goaskalice.columbia.edu, there is one of the best sources for advice on sex, relationships, and health for people ages 14 and up. This book is the print version.

It has nothing to do with the adolescent potboiler written by Beatrice Sparks; its information on drugs and sex is technical, explicit, and meant to give answers, not scare people. The gamut of advice given runs from flirting to penis size to the effects of various drugs on the body to urinary tract infections, and it's delivered with humor and understanding, without the judgementalism that seems to be the case in many more traditional books.

While I wouldn't recommend it for anyone who hasn't hit their 13th birthday yet, this book is an antidote for prudishness and the information vacuum far too many young people live in, and in a world where basic information on sex and life can often be hard to find or heavily polluted by unnecessary moralism, this book can help ease fears and educate the uneducated in a way that scare stories and sermons can't.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent factual information, March 1, 2002

By 

"[e-mail]" (Milwaukee, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The "Go Ask Alice" Book of Answers: A Guide to Good Physical, Sexual, and Emotional Health (Paperback)

This book fills a definite need for adolescents. It presents the facts, not fallacy, to all of the questions they have that parents and other caregivers may be too embarrassed to talk about. It is from an extremely reputable source (Columbia University), and is readable and accessible to the average teen. Kudos to the people who put together "The Go Ask Alice Book of Answers".

13 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WAKE UP CALL, May 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The "Go Ask Alice" Book of Answers: A Guide to Good Physical, Sexual, and Emotional Health (Paperback)

I think everyone should read this book especially every teenager. The wrighter of this journal went through just about everything. I could only imagine how it felt. Some of my peers at school read some short segments of Go Ask Alice and they couldn't believe how true and explictedly described it was. I also think this book could wake up some teens in this world and it could let them know that no matter what some of their peers may say drugs are not cool and they can ruin everything you want and everthing you have going for yourself just like it did for the writer of Go Ask Alice.