Gostei muito do primeiro livro do Robert Sapolsky, o Memórias de um Primata. E este não me desapontou. Muito bem embasado, com bastante pesquisa (e prática) sobre o que é o estresse, como funciona e como nós lidamos bem ou mal com isso. Com aquela discussão necessária de natureza vs. criação, bons exemplos e um bom humor que te mantém ligado ao texto. Do tipo de livro que recomendo para leigos também.

Трошки для мене затехнічно, та я впевнена, що простіше і не вийшло б. У Сапольськи можна відкривати будь-що на будь-якій сторінці і буде цікаво, повчально і з добром.

O pierdere de timp

Așa aș descrie această carte. Asta aș scrie chiar pe copertă. De ce cred asta? Haideți să analizăm mai multe aspecte ale cărții:

1. Terminologia de specialitate
Cartea folosește o mulțime de termeni de specialitate, iar autorul pare să presupună că toți cititorii au experiență în domeniul medical. Deși nu este neapărat dificilă de parcurs, abundența acestor termeni devine obositoare, chiar dacă sunt explicați ocazional. Problema este că sunt atât de mulți încât devine aproape imposibil să-i ții minte, mai ales că, de obicei, sunt definiți o singură dată, iar apoi reapar peste multe capitole.
Deși cartea este etichetată ca fiind destinată "oricui", oricărei persoane interesate să înțeleagă efectele stresului asupra sănătății, stilul său face ca aceasta să fie mai degrabă potrivită pentru un public specializat.

2. Cum putem diminua efectele stresului?
Pe copertă scrie mare "cum îl putem combate", referindu-se, desigur, la stres. Sunt o persoană care se stresează foarte ușor și adesea mă confrunt cu stres din diverse motive. Din acest motiv, aveam mari așteptări de la această carte, sperând că va fi un remediu. A fost așa? Din păcate, nu.
Pe măsură ce citeam cartea și eram tot mai dezamăgit, am început să caut alte surse de informare despre metodele de combatere a stresului și chiar am reușit să fac câțiva pași în direcția dorită. Însă acest progres nu a avut nicio legătură cu cartea. Promite multe, dar oferă foarte puțin. Numărul de "sfaturi" prezentate este atât de mare și de complicat încât autorul mi le putea rezuma într-un apel telefonic. Și sincer, dacă nu i-aș fi acordat atenție în timpul apelului, probabil că rezultatul ar fi fost același.

3. Conținut
Dacă nu oferă soluții concrete, atunci despre ce este cartea? Care este conținutul celor peste 600 de pagini?
Autorul ne explică în detaliu efectele negative ale stresului asupra organismului. Din păcate, nu este nimic revoluționar aici. Poate că este doar cazul meu, dar eram deja familiarizat cu multe dintre ideile prezentate. E drept, autorul le explică în detaliu, însă uneori nu simțeam nevoia unui nivel atât de profund de informație.
Unele părți sunt interesante, mai ales cele în care explică mecanismele unor boli și legătura lor cu stresul. Cu toate acestea, paralelele frecvente cu lumea animală devin, în timp, repetitive și plictisitoare.

First of all, the book should not be perceived as a self-help book - in fact, I imagine any reader who goes through the book in hope of getting immediate self-healing advice would be quite disappointed. Although the last chapter is devoted to applying the information to the reader's personal life, it doesn't hand out meaningless advice ("do this and that and every problem suddenly disappears" type of stuff). Sapolsky simply gives scientific information on the possible consequences of both controllable and uncontrollable factors such as life styles, personality traits, genetic components etc. in response to stress. He tackles the difficult feat of explaining such a complex subject, effects of stress on human physiology AND psychology, with a style so humorous and easily read.

The book is divided into fourteen chapters, each dealing with a different aspect of the effects of stress. The first ones are more packed with information about physiological pathways and such to prepare the reader for the upcoming ones. Some of the information (for example the ones about CRH and ACTH regulation) are repeated just enough to not let you forget any of it.

Some familiarity of physiology is going to be welcome but not completely necessary - although I would imagine it would be harder to digest the information if you have no relevant background whatsoever. I skimmed through the explanations of some pathways but most of it are essential to properly understand the book.

The examples of animal testing and human trials presented (building blocks of every chapter) are sufficiently interesting to keep you reading. There are always scientific work on the matter included, from every perspective in controversial topics.

All in all, it is a great book that I would recommend to everyone who are either professionally involved or at least interested in the subject - they are certainly in for a great read full of well-written information.

To summarize: Adrenaline is a DEATH drug. It's designed to keep you alive for the next 15 seconds, or to ease your death. As such, it's necessarily thriftless. If you can survive to the 16th second only by losing a limb, it's worthwhile to sacrifice the limb. Otherwise, it's wasteful and disabling.

Zebras don't get ulcers because they (mostly) only release stress hormones 'in the event of an actual emergency'. Humans deliberately evoke stress on an everyday basis, and the reckless decisions the body makes under the influence of stress hormones, too often, results in the loss of limbs, supression of the immune system, etc.

Recommendation: don't pull the fire alarm unless there's a real fire.

I finished it at last!
I did like it but the journey was such a pain. It was the first science-y book I read and the beginning was tough. But I do think I’ve learnt a lot, and hopefully it will stick for my exam haha.

Going forward, I'm not going to stress myself over anything.

While, I'm aware of how cortisol wreaks havoc, this book provides sheer evidence why our lifestyles are leading to shorter life spans.

More letting go, sleep and meditation for me. For the ones who are fascinated by jargons in the biology and neuroscience field, grab this book already!

Dr. Sapolsky is everything you could want from an author on a serious topic like stress: a world-class leader in the field of research, a clear and perceptive writer, and equal parts hilarious and profound. Learning about the physiology and psychology of stress would be interesting either way, but learning about it through his book is at least doubly so. Highly recommended.

I'm so frustrated by wading through this sea of mud that my review will be bullet points.

* 35% longer than it should have been

* desperately needs editing for clarity

* conversational tone muddies the concepts and slows the flow

* topically gallops in a dozen directions

* the scientific support is at turns glossed over or excessively technical without purpose

I could go on, but I'll spare you. It reads as if it wasn't written, but dictated, by someone who loves the sound of his own voice -- Gilderoy Lockhart teaching a sophomore psych seminar. There is good science, but you have to wade through a hip-deep bog of verbiage and mentally restructure the book as you read it.

Great book about stress in a medical sense. It describes the mechanism of stress following from different causes. Quite informative and nicely written, though a little medical knowledge is needed to understand all of it. I missed a part on how you can bring your body into stress by eating/drinking or using drugs. That would have been an interesting addition!

I encountered a link to a speech by Sapolsky on Pharyngula, I think, and was immediately engaged by his speaking style. His books, or this one at least, is similarly easy to get into, and manages to discuss topics of fair complexity in an incredibly approachable way. He's clearly aware that his book might be read by a wide range of audiences, and strives to provide something for everyone. I'll definitely be working my way through the rest of his catalog.

The book is fascinating, too, although as he notes many times, thinking about and addressing stress is difficult, because trying to act to reduce stress can itself be stressful. As he elucidates what's currently known about the links between stress and disease, a lot of interesting things emerge, some of which are essentially throwaway trivia, like the idea that anti-depressant medication takes a while to work on people that are clinically depressed because of the physiological nature of depression; he doesn't really spell it out, but the obvious corollary is that is someone takes AD medication and instantly feels better, they're probably not actually depressed. This insight was immensely powerful to me in this over-prescribed age of ours.

Non-Fiction. Twelve chapters on how stress is going to kill you, followed by six chapters on why stress is stressful, when it's not, and what we can do about it.

If you're a worrier, this may not be the book for you. I won't lie, it upset me in the beginning. There are so many ways that stress can affect your health, your memory, the way you age, how you deal with stressors, and even how your children deal with stressors. The book can become a source of stress itself, one that far outweighs the few methods it gives for dealing with stress. But it addresses a lot of important issues, like the economics of stress and the way poverty and pay inequality have life-long health ramifications. It's not just about stress on a personal level, but a social, cultural, and political one. It also looks at the role stress plays in mental illness, pain, infertility, and addiction.

The science can be quite dense at times, but Sapolsky is good at walking you through it and recalling topics he introduced earlier so you never have to feel like you're studying for something. He makes this easy to read, even if the subject is a difficult one. He's a great writer with a sense of humor, an obvious love of science, and respect for views that aren't his own. He offers multiple approaches for any given problem and points out questions we don't have answers for yet.

Four stars. Good science writing that challenges assumptions and doesn't take itself too seriously. Also includes extensive end notes and an index. If you read this, get the third edition; it's revised and updated.