The "Go Ask Alice" Book of Answers: A Guide to Good Physical, Sexual, and Emotional Health - Softcover

Program, Columbia University's Health Education

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0805055703 ISBN 13: 9780805055702

Publisher: Holt Paperbacks, 1998

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

Columbia University's Health Service is headed by Jordan Friedman. A professional staff of health educators lead workshops, produce audio/video programs and Internet sites, and conduct research on health-related topics. The "Go Ask Alice Web" site receives over half a million "hits" a week.

Reviews

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.

The title within the title refers not to the 1970s YA classic but to a Web site maintained by Columbia University Health Services. Set up to answer questions about relationships, sex, physical and mental health, nutrition, and related matters, the site eventually was opened to the general public as a quick-reference forum. The book's seven chapters round up queries the site has received and responses to them from Columbia-associated health educators. Boldface headings, ranging in tone from straightforwardness to glibness (e.g., "Hangover helper" and "Lesbian oral sex: Is it better to give than to receive?"), lead readers into each subject. Under them, questions are presented as letters to, and answers as letters from, "Alice." Although not highly detailed, the answers are forthright, quite practical, and often encourage seeking further medical advice. Sidebars containing additional information appear throughout, the Web site address is given at the end of each chapter, and a lengthy resource section, including books and films (many of them major motion pictures), is appended. Stephanie Zvirin

The Go Ask Alice web site is a popular source of health information for young adults, more than a half-million of whom send anonymous inquiries about sex, mental health, nutrition, drugs, and relationships to the site each week. Professional health educators from Columbia University's health education program provide accurate, nonjudgmental answers that encourage young people to learn about and care for their bodies while developing the necessary skills to become healthy adults. This book addresses an assortment of the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) organized by subject, e.g., relationships, sexuality, and emotional health. The extensive resource guide lists organizations, web sites, books, and films for each subject. Broader in scope than Michael J. Basso's The Underground Guide to Teenage Sexuality (LJ 4/15/97), this book is highly recommended for all public libraries and consumer health and young adult collections.?Barbara M. Bibel, Oakland P.L., CA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0805055703
• ISBN 13: 9780805055702
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368