We say “et al.”, because this hefty book (504 pages) is a compilation of contributions by about 60 authors, of whom, 100% are doctors and about 90% are women.

As one might expect from a book with many small self-contained chapters by such a lot of doctors, the content is very diverse, though the style is consistent throughout, likely due to the authors working from a style sheet, plus the work of the editorial team.

About that content: the focus here is lifestyle medicine, and while much of the advice will go for men too (most people are unlikely to go wrong with “eat more fruits and vegetables and get better sleep” etc), anything more detailed than that (of which there’s a lot) is focussed on women. Hence, we get chapters on optimal nutrition for women, physical activity for women, sleep and women’s health, etc, as well as topics that can affect everyone but disproportionately affect women—ranging from autoimmune diseases to social burdens that affect health in measurable ways. There’s also, as you might expect, plenty about sexual health, pregnancy-related health, menopausal health, and so forth.

The strength of this book is really in its diversity; it’s very much a case of “60 heads are better than one”, and as such, we’re pretty much getting 60 books for the price of one here, as each author brings what they are most specialized in.

Bottom line: if you are a woman and/or love a woman, this book is packed with information that will be of interest and applicable use.

Click here to check out Improving Women’s Health Across The Lifespan, and do just that!

Here we have a book that’s aimed at women from midlife onwards. The author is not a doctor or scientist, but has been in the wellness industry in one form or another for pretty much her entire career (and she’s now in her 60s), so you can imagine she’s accumulated a lot of knowledge and experience.

As a result, what she delivers is a guide to aging female health that is comprehensive in its recommendations, while being quite light on the underlying science (which she herself may or may not understand—she neither shows scientific expertise nor scientific ignorance; she simply doesn’t discuss the science beyond the level of mentioning that it is there).

To this end, we get practical advice on supplements, HRT, nutrition, exercise, brain health specifically, sleep, stress-management, social considerations, and even “beauty bio-hacks”.

The style is polished, including in her self-presentation when discussing her own practices and life history. The book is written in British English, by the way, which means not only spellings such as “oestrogen” but also things like her mentioning when she was at her heaviest, post-pregnancy, she weighed 12 stone. This European reviewer had to look up what that is (apparently it’s 76 kg, or 168 lbs, for Americans).

Bottom line: the advice here is good, albeit by no means groundbreaking or deep. If you’re a regular 10almonds reader, you’ll doubtlessly know the main content already, though you’ll probably also pick up at least some new information, since she peppers a great miscellany of facts throughout her work. Which, given the very minimal referencing, may then require fact-checking by the reader, but either way, learning occurs. Which is what we’re all about!

Click here to check out A Better Second Half, and enjoy a better second half!

Fascia is an oft-forgotten part of the body—if something that is so ubiquitous and varied can be described as a single part. And yet, it arguably is—precisely because it is the connective tissue that holds everything else together, so by its nature, it’s ultimately a one-piece thing.

This “one-piece thing” is responsible for permitting us movement, and is also responsible for restricting our movement. As such, when it comes to mobility, we can stretch our muscles all day long and it won’t mean a thing if our fascia is stiff. And notably, fascia has a much slower turnover time (in terms of how quickly the body replaces it) than muscle, so fascia is almost always going to be the limiting factor.

Pilates instructor (with many certifications) Albini gives the reader the tools to loosen up that limiting factor. It’ll take time and consistency (it takes the body around 18 months to fully rebuild fascia, so that’s the timeframe for an ultimate “job done” to then just be maintained), but there are also some results to be enjoyed immediately, by virtue of myofascial release

In style, the book is half textbook, half workbook. She explains a lot of the anatomy and physiology of fascia (and does so very well). This book is, in this reviewer’s opinion, better than the usual go-to professional guidebook to fascia (i.e., for physiotherapists etc) that costs more than twice the price and is half as clear (the other book’s diagrams are unnecessarily abstract, the photos fuzzy, and the prose tedious). This book, in contrast, has very clear diagrams, hundreds of high-quality color photos, and excellent explanations that are aimed at the layperson, and/but aren’t afraid to get technical either; she just explains the technicalities well too.

The workbook side of things is a vast array of exercises to do, including for specific issues and to combat various lifestyle problems, as well as to just support general health and more mobility than most people think is possible for them.

Bottom line: if you’d like better mobility and have been neglecting your fascia (or have been a bit confused by it), this book is going to be your new best friend.

Click there to check out Myofascial Training, and free your body’s movements!