Review

For hearts and minds

THE HEART ATTACK RECOVERY PLAN: the positive approach to managing your lifestyle
David Symes
THE STROKE RECOVERY PLAN: a practical guide to getting better at home
RL Hewer, D T Wade
Vermilion, 1996, £8.99 each

These two books arrived for review two days after my father had had a stroke. This meant I examined at least one of them as something of a consumer. The Stroke Recovery Plan offers a comprehensive and readable account of what strokes are, how they affect their victim and what can be done to best survive them. But the first 70-odd pages of this book are (readable) physiology, and I know that the parts my family found important were the later pages, which detail practical help and ideas.

Although the information in this book is easy to read and very useful, including contact addresses, its very comprehensiveness might stop it from being the book you would offer to a family newly coping with a stroke patient. Some sections were very informative, but others seemed to raise worrying questions, especially for the lay person, which may never need to be answered or even worried about.

The Heart Attack Recovery Plan is extremely wide ranging in its approach. Its title suggests that it concentrates upon recovery, but in fact it goes further. Several sections deal with how to prevent heart attacks, and are aimed at anyone ‘living with the risk of heart attack in the family’. These include stress and its management, healthy diet and good nutrition, and a positive use of leisure time. A great deal of information is included in this book, and probably those recovering from heart attack and their families could benefit from all its sections. I did offer it to a young person who is (genetically) ‘living with the risk of heart attack’, but received a polite but firm refusal. I’m sure the author would understand the positive approach of someone with a heart defect who did not want to read about possible outcomes at this stage in their life. A pity, yet understandable.

Both books can be highly recommended to anyone wanting to know more, whether personal or professional. They could benefit both carers and educators who wish to widen their knowledge of the subjects and help other people survive a worrying time.