Customer Reviews

You Being Beautiful: The Owner's Manual to Inner and Outer Beauty (Thorndike Large Print Health, Home and Learning)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This book is truly awful. The information is insultingly over-simplified. Most of it is stuff that we already know from high school science class and general existence. It contains tons basic personal care instructions that anyone living in this country already knows (brush your teeth, wash your face, etc.). I bought this book hoping to find information like what to eat for strong hair, clear skin, etc. This book doesn't teach that, and it doesn't tell me anything I (and you) don't already know. More annoying than that: Pages upon pages are wasted on ridiculous cartoons that are supposed to teach us something, but are really just a lame attempt at humor (I don't need a jelly doughnut included in the spine to learn that vertabrae are squishy, nor do I need to see the artist's rendition of Fred and Wilma Flintstone arguing to see all that couples fight about money). There are pages of extremely basic workout advice that depict a male cartoon lifting weights for no reason that I can figure, and most of the VERY ugly drawings of people have pointed gnome ears (also for no apparent reason). Additionally, there seem to be a lot of jokes in the book geared towards men, while I don't know any man who would buy a purple book on "being beautiful". There's a great deal of commentary about men's issues (like balding) as well, so it's hard to tell who the hell this book is meant for. Please don't waste your money or time on this piece of garbage.

Please know that I do not give one star reviews lightly. I had high hopes for this book and I was very excited to purchase it. However, this book completely missed the mark.

Now the first thing I am going to mention I believe has been mentioned before, but it is worth repeating. The illustrations. They are awful. I believe the look of a book sets the tone for the content. Why on earth would someone write a book about being beautiful and have such hideous illustrations?

The next thing I realized while reading through is that I couldn't quite figure out who this book was aimed towards. It was written in such a simplistic way that it really assumed everyone reading it must be completely daft or a preteen. On the other hand much of the content was based on those who are a bit older 40's and 50's. So that was odd. It was also heavily content geared toward both men and women. Now, I am not saying men and women can't both be beautiful, but perhaps two books would be in order. This book is heavily marketed towards women so why do I have to read through so much info about balding?

The writing itself is very choppy and the advice was juvenile. Wash your hair because it locks in bad smells. That is very basic advice and common sense. Anyone who wakes up in the morning after a late night at the bar would realize that hair traps smells.

I bought this book because while I am great with basic hygiene (I would think most of us are. Shower regularly, brush teeth, wash face, etc...these are all heavily detailed in the book) I could always stand some extra advice. Such as a few easy hair styles to make you look polished, extra advice on face washes and masks to use, etc...

This book mentioned several things in great excess such as cosmetic surgery. Wrinkles make you look ugly, but hey there is always botox! I don't have a problem with cosmetic surgery, per say, but I don't feel like it is necessary to being beautiful and I think mentioning it so much was bad form.

As I was trying to figure this book out my significant other said, "It's like they made this book for aliens to show them how human bodies work and how we keep ourselves clean." That is exactly it. This book is full of information I am sure you already know, written in an ugly format.

I had to take return this book. I found it complete rubbish. It might help you, but I really don't see how. Other books could do it so much better. I might spend more money, but I would rather have 4 books that really help me look and feel beautiful than one book that does nothing.

Oh! One last thing. What about being a beautiful person? I thought this book could have used more of that. More time devoted to how good, and lovely people feel when they do good things for others.

So if you have very low self esteem or have absolutely no idea how to care for yourself then I suppose this book might be useful. Otherwise, I suggest you look elsewhere.

I have several of the "You" books, which I think are helpful and generally well written. This one was an insult. The content was slim compared to the other books. It seemed like a rush job to capitalize on the franchise. That I could have overlooked, but the tone had me rushing to return this book, which is extremely rare for me.

It's as though the target reader is a 10 year old who would find the references to boogers irresistible. For example, there is a diagram of a finger, with a pointer identifying matter under a fingernail as a booger.

Some humor is welcome, but know your audience. Assuming repeat "You" buyers are an obvious target audience, this book misses the mark.

"Scientists also believe that symmetry is equated with a strong immune system - indicating that more robust genes make a person more attractive." ~ pg. 29

You would think a book about beauty would cover such topics as skin care creams and plastic surgery. While these topics are included this book is more about caring for your entire body, mind and soul. There is a discussion about depression and an interesting section on spirituality.

I was surprised that the authors recommended that you stay away from DMAE in skin creams as it is in a cream I use from Derma E that has produced some very good results. See The Wrinkle Cure to read more about the benefits of DMAE. The authors also explain why it is best to use a cream with Vitamin A at night instead of during the day.

Since I figured Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet Oz would give ideas about what prescriptions to take for various disorders I was pleased that they recommended some natural remedies for things like headaches and back pain. I had also never heard that you could use lemon oil for insomnia.

There is some very good advice in this book including the information on hair replacement surgery. Who knew you could get a lot of scarring and end up with less hair anyway? After reading this book you may also decide not to go for a tattoo, manicure or pedicure. You could quite easily end up with hepatitis B or C.

While I found out many reasons why my skin and hair are changing as I age (I'm 41) I didn't find the answer to why my gray hair is curly instead of straight. There is however a picture that shows why our hair turns gray as we age. In fact, there are tons of pictures to show how the body works and they make the book all the more enjoyable.

If you are thirty or older I think you will enjoy this book. The authors promote meditation and exercise and have great advice for anyone who feels they are growing older. Some of the products they recommend (and I've tried and loved) include:

Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm

Kiss My Face Bar Soap

Avalon Organics Revitalizing Shampoo, Peppermint

~The Rebecca Review

Whoa...am I disappointed in this one! I have read two other books from the Oz/Roizen team and found them funny, helpful and informative. When I was about 12 I was given a book called "Growing Up and Liking It". Believe it or not, I really DID remember all the tips about washing your hair and brushing your teeth. I needed to pay nearly twenty bucks to read that I needed to add cleaning my toilets several times a week to be "beautiful"?? I think not!

I was hoping this book would be as fun and helpful as the other books but it was very lacking for me. I saw Oz give his stamp of approval to "bioidenticals" on Oprah's program yesterday. That means Dr. Oz has gone to the dark side from science based, proven medicine to airy fairy wishful thinking. I want the old Dr. Oz back.

I was disappointed in this book. Here's why:

1. The book had almost nothing to say about looking good (in your own perspective) independent of looking good because you are healthy and well groomed.

2. The information was so basic in most cases that it wouldn't serve as substitute for a briefing from a Web site devoted to the subject.

3. There were no sources for most of the suggestions which makes it hard to check out the advice.

4. I only found one set of information that was new and potentially helpful to me after plowing through all the material.

5. There's an overtly male perspective that will leave many women feeling uncomfortable with the advice. One of my favorites along these lines is a description of an ideal day as one that ends with lovemaking. That's great for men who fall asleep afterward anyway, but what about women who feel energized then?

The book makes you feel like you are being talked down to. In addition, the illustrations look like they were designed for young teenagers in the 1950s.

Much of the advice is more useful than you would expect from the brief references.

On the good side, I liked two things about the book:

1. You are encouraged to go through a lot of possible subjects to check out how you are doing. Most of us just research what we think we need to know about and might miss something that we don't know to investigate.

2. A lot of nutritional methods and alternative therapies get full mention. That's unusual in a book coming from a couple of M.D.'s.

If you liked their earlier books, you'll probably like this one, too. If you haven't read any of their books, I suggest that you skip this one and pick up one of the others.

I have to agree with many of the reviewers that indicate the information is extremely basic and the illustrations rarely add much, if any, value to the discussion. Since the target audience is probably women in the 35-55 range, the tone and silly cartoons would be more appropriate for a preteen target audience. I find the tone of the book patronizing at best, insulting at worst. I purchased this book after hearing Dr. Roizen interviewed on the radio. He indicated there were certain ingredients in soap and shampoo which should be avoided, but said you'd have to read the book to find out. However, I have yet to find any comment about this in the book! Perhaps if anyone else finds this info in this tome, they could post a comment. This was the type of factual, information I was looking for and have come up empty handed.

My other issue with the book is it's size. The publisher should encourage a smaller, more interesting and informational text, rather than these giant books that 2/3 of which is a waste of time. They want you to think that you're really getting your money's worth with this giant book, think again. Since most of his books are purchased by women, I suppose Dr. Roizen assumes women have the time to waste plowing threw these tomes, looking for the occasional tidbit of value. He has some great information, so I wished he would treat his book audience with more respect. In the future, I will stick to watching him on TV or listening on the radio as this is far more useful time spent.

Despite the book's claims and attempts to appear like a revolutionary and scientific breakthrough, there's nothing in these pages that you couldn't pick up from a middle school health class.

Most of the book's contents are sheer fluff. It begins with a quiz designed to rate how beautiful you feel. It's entirely pointless in that the results tell you what you already know ("You want to make changes" - well duh, that's why you bought the book in the first place), and the results are never utilized further. There are further 'quizzes' of this type scattered throughout the book, all of them just as meaningless and time-wasting as the first.

The pages are chock-full of other such 'factoids' that have little bearing on self-esteem or beauty. Did you want to know the mating habits of lions? You'll read about it here, for entirely unfathomable reasons other than to make you glad you're not a lioness. The information presented is insultingly simple, and you don't need to pay ANY amount of money to have someone tell you 'washing your hair will improve your beauty! IT'S TRUE!' or 'if your teeth are flat, then you probably grind your teeth!' What's worse are the scattered recommendations that ARE NOT scientifically proven, and fully admitted to.

One such example is the discussion of aromatherapy, where one section warns against using products that arouse allergic reactions. But in the very next set of paragraphs, they recommend using lavendar and peppermint scents (saying that there's no scientific proof as to their effectiveness, they just 'like' them), when a large percentage of people are biologically allergic to lavendar.

There are countless 'witticisms' and attempts to be funny that drown out any possibly useful tidbits (and believe me, there's only a scant handful if that), with unhelpful footnotes that only lead you to yet more crappy jokes. The 'helpful' diagrams depicting the scenario at hand are loaded down with more of this tripe; apparently they thought it was necessary to include an anteater in the woman's uterus to suck up the you-know-what, along with a duck swimming in the bladder. Why? I! DON'T! KNOW!

Don't waste your money on this garbage. Unless you have no real concept about the importance of bathing regularly and need to be told how to wash your face, all you'll be buying is common sense laced heavily with painful failed attempts at wit.

I've always liked Dr. Oz but was pretty disappointed. The only thing I enjoyed about the book was his philosophy on beauty (wich you can just read on the back cover). That being beutiful is totally within your own control and to stop blaming your appearance on other things or people. But with that being said, don't expect any delicious beauty tools or advice.

You can tell he loves science because that is mostly what the book is about. Instead of giving some good advice on acne he spends several pages/illustrations on how your skin works, why you hair gets fuzzy, how depression affects your appearance, etc etc.

When he does get around to trying to give us women some tips they are disappointing.The book is filled (and I mean brimming) with "duhs" like, "You should always brush out your hair before you get in the shower to wash it," and "Getting your rest is an important part of looking good," or, "It's important to wash your face every morning and night." Isn't that your mother's job to teach you that in 6th grade?

The illustrations are bad too. They're actually pretty wierd. Overall this book was totally unappealing to me. I would recommend Bobbi Brown Beauty: The Ultimate Beauty Resource

The audio tape of this book motivated me to go to work so that I could continue listening to the thought provoking advice by Dr. Oz. Typical of Dr. Oz the book is about health and being the best on the outside and inside that you can be. Face it people do judge a book by its cover and beauty is on the minds of most of us. Dr. Oz cuts through the hype from those who profit off women's desire to feel beautiful. Don't waste any more money on products with ingredients that don't work. Dr. Oz covers the whole spectrum from both the topical products and the foods to consume for a more youthful appearance. Face it most of us want to look healthy and good for our age. When we are at our best physically then it often follows that we also feel good about ourselves emotionally. This is a must read/listen to if you want to be able to wade through beauty information from a reputable source that doesn't sell his own product line. Buy this audio book because there is so much good information that you'll want to have it on hand to refer to again and again.