Shelley Peterman Schwarz

This second edition of Multiple Sclerosis: 300 Tips for Making Life Easier (Demos, 2006) came to me as a freebie as a bonus for taking part in a survey. It was first published in 1999. The current paperback edition has 114 pages, including an adequate index, and seems well organized and thought out.

It includes a Preface by the Vice President of the Professional Resource Center of the National MS Society.

The three hundred tips are organized under seven general categories, and whenever a show more product that may not be generally available is mentioned, the author provides a symbol directing the reader to the end of the section, where companies selling the product are listed. This is helpful, I think. Though I object to books and periodicals that focus on trying to sell products, the purpose of this book is clearly not on product sales. Here the author is doing her readers a favor by providing names, addresses, phone numbers and Websites for specialized products.

My one objection about this book is the same as my objection to much of what the MS Society puts out--you get the impression that most people with MS are fairly well heeled. In fact, you might even think that maybe you can't afford to have MS--when you read about how people with MS have rebuilt their houses, installed raised garden beds in their yard, and got themselves new lift-equiped vehicles.

Shelly Peterman Schwarz seems to assume that everyone has a car and a garage, owns a dishwasher, has a house and yard, and can afford to travel. Once or twice she mentions taking a bus but it's rare. And in the hospital can everyone afford a private room? She advises us to hang a "Do Not Disturb" sign on our hospital room door so we can get more rest. You can't do that if you're in a room with roommates.

Maybe I'm being too harsh here. She's clearly writing from her own experience, which is what she knows. She's done a good job on this book, as far as it goes, in my opinion. I just wish she had expanded her horizons a bit to include the many persons with MS who are in the lower-income brackets.

(24 January 2010) show less

I was surprised by this book. It wasn't filled with "exercise," "lose weight," etc. It was filled with helpful information on ways to actually make one's life easier (not just for arthritis--the author has MS) when you're dealing with an aggravating condition. Common sense things, like bagging your groceries in a different way, and RESTING BETWEEN TIRING TASKS, something that some of us need to have hammered into our head. I felt that it gave me permission to take things slower and easier, show more and although the book is somewhat dated (1997), some of the ideas presented are going to be implemented immediately! show less

A tiny little book with big ideas. Subtitled "300 tips for making life easier" this book will help those needing accessibility in their daily lives. Written by a wheel-chair bound women who has M.S., this book has ideas from the simple to the expensive for accommidating wheel chairs in the home. I was a bit disappointed that there weren't more ideas for arthritis sufferers or we boomers who just need a little assistance. I think the book would have been aided by drawings or photos that would show more explain what the idea represents, like changing a door handle with a dowel or PVC pipe. It also could have indicated the level of expense by using $$ like travel books do. All in all, it is a great book for anyone that wishes to remain in their homes. show less

My initial feeling was that this book would have been better as a series of magazine articles. Then I realized that it's better as a collected group of tips and discussions and resources. Some of the information is stated without attribution -- do people in their 80s really require three times the light of a 20-year-old? who says? -- but much of it seems well-grounded. The author isn't an expert by objective standards, but by living the need for adaptation. As I've gotten older, I've show more realized that wealthy people can afford to make change easily, but I've worried about what I'll need to do as someone without much money. This book has good ideas. Probably few will use all or even many, but if a few ideas make life easier, it's money well-spent. show less