Review_NONFICTION98 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ SEPTEMBER 2, 2019
Review_NONFICTION Review_NONFICTIONHealth & Fitness
Accessible Yoga: Poses and
Practices for Every Body
Jivana Heyman. Shambhala, $24.95 (224p)
ISBN 978-1-61180-712-7
Yoga teacher Heyman, co-owner of the
Santa Barbara Yoga Center, presents a
practical, creative, and clear-cut approach
to his discipline, aiming to make it acces-
sible to people with different body types and
physical concerns, including disabilities.
Offering useful information for students
and teachers alike, Heyman covers basic
principles of yoga and gives detailed
instructions for different poses, with
modifications to suit various needs. For
example, a chapter on the sun salutation
provides variations for students unable to
get down on the floor or put weight on
their knees, with sequences that can be
practiced in a chair (or wheelchair), on a
mat, or lying in bed. Heyman’s guiding
belief, he explains, is that yoga teachers
should adapt the pose to the person,
rather than the person to the pose. Other
chapters walk readers through warm-ups,
standing and balancing poses, backward
and forward bending, inverting, and
twisting, with helpful accompanying
photographs. Heyman also takes care to
point out that pranayama (breathing
techniques) and meditation, though
sometimes neglected by Western yoga
classes, are vital to the practice, and acces-
sible to most people. This user-friendly
manual provides a welcome and valuable
service in potentially opening the world
of yoga up to an even wider population.
(Nov.)The Knee Injury Bible: Everything
You Need to Know About Knee
Injuries, How to Treat Them, and
How They Affect Your Life
Robert F. LaPrade, Luke O’Brien, Jorge
Chahla, and Nicholas Kennedy. Da Capo
Lifelong, $21.99 trade paper (384p) ISBN 978-
0-7382-8483-5
People looking for information on knee
injuries will find a treasure trove of advice
and a “road map to recovery” in this well-
organized guide. The authors—orthopedic
surgeons LaPrade and Chahla, orthopedic
resident Kennedy, and physical therapist
O’Brien—deliver on their key goal, as
described in the introduction, of giving a
“more holistic and educated view of yoursold as rosefish or ocean perch), along with
preparations —grilling, roasting,
poaching, and others—and acceptable
substitutes for when you can’t find a specific
fish (e.g., jack
and tilapia can
be substituted
for meaty
grouper). There
are 15 recipes
for shrimp, 19
for oysters, 25
recipes that call
for canned
anchovies, and more than 30 for salmon.
The selections are smart: fried haddock
en adobo, halibut gravlax with dill, and
sauteed sablefish with rosemary and
Madeira wine. For down-to-earth comfort
food, there’s also pasta with imitation
crabmeat and fennel cream sauce, as well as
a tuna melt and tuna casserole. This superb
collection conveys Seaver’s experience,
enthusiasm, and creativity. (Oct.)Nothing Fancy
Alison Roman. Clarkson Potter, $32.50
(320p) ISBN 978-0-451-49701-7
Roman is an Instagram star who writes
for the New York Times and Bon Appétit, and
in this cheeky, entertaining primer, her tone
sometimes verges on the frantic: she’s fond
of writing in all caps, and making ironic
pronouncements (“I’m just going to live
my truth”). There are clever turns of
phrase (escarole is a “gateway chicory”;
seasoning chicken in advance is “a casual
brine”), but sometimes the prose loops the
loop so many times that it becomes tauto-
logical, as when she declares that martinis
shouldn’t be considered “extremely and
exclusively fancy.” (Why? Because she
says so.) The language in the instructions
themselves is not exactly Escoffier-worthy:
“Knock yourself out with your decorative
prowess” when scoring eggplant for roast,
and spread yogurt on leg of lamb “as if you
were applying a mud mask.” On the prac-
tical side, each recipe includes instruc-
tions for preparing ahead, and mostly
simple desserts include a double-crust
“galette” with sour cherries and tahini,
and a turmeric-tinted loaf cake. Aimed at
millennials, the recipes are fun and
enticing, though the presentation can be a
bit much. (Oct.)“cleaner, simpler” shiitake mushroom
and tofu pad Thai, home cooks might be
dismayed to turn the page and find a dozen
ingredients that didn’t make the initial
shopping list. Once the reader learns the
book’s quirks, the recipes themselves are
manageable and flavorful. (Oct.)★ Gennaro’s Pasta Perfecto!:
The Essential Collection of
Fresh and Dried Pasta Dishes
Gennaro Contaldo. Interlink, $30 (176p)
ISBN 978-1-62371-926-5
“There is no limit to the joys of pasta,”
writes chef Contaldo (Panetteria) in this
excellent cookbook. He sorts the 100
recipes into four main pasta types that
include classics and inventive variations:
dried (linguine with clams; whole wheat
tagliatelle with anchovies and walnuts),
fresh (orecchiette with tomatoes and lemon
burrata; fusilli with rabbit and orange),
filled (broccoli and sausage parcels in
tomato sauce; seabream ravioli with capers,
lemon, and cherry tomato sauce), and baked
(rigatoni with meatballs; butternut squash
lasagne). Whether Contaldo shares an
anecdote (“My sisters would patiently
make each meatball”), celebrates Italy’s
regional cooking (“Sicilian cooking is all
about simple ‘cucina povera’ ”), or offers
ingredient substitutions (“If you can’t get
this shape, then use conchiglie or penne”),
his introductions for each recipe are fun to
read. In conjunction with these recipes
are plenty of pasta fundamentals, such as
basic sauces, matching shapes to sauces
(rigatoni can be used in baked dishes and
ragùs, while farfalle is best with pesto),
and info on the equipment needed for it
all. This delightful cookbook will educate
and inspire. (Oct.)The Joy of Seafood:
The All-Purpose Seafood Cookbook
with More Than 900 Recipes
Barton Seaver. Sterling Epicure, $35 (496p)
ISBN 978-1-4549-2198-1
Chef Seaver (For Cod and Country) distills
his vast knowledge of seafood in this
encyclopedic work. Noting that today’s
technology allows for frozen fish to be
just as good as, if not better than, the fresh
seafood in stores, Seaver shares the best
preparations for over 100 species. Each
entry opens with an overview of a species
and its aliases (Acadian redfish is sometimes