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

by Columbia University's Health Education, Steinhart (Illustrator)

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.

Genres: Health

368 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 1998

Reviews

[Hanna Pierre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an emotional, coming of age story of a diary writer named Alice that is a normal girl who just graduated from middle school to high school. High school changes everything. In the beginning, the most of her worries are when the boy she likes stood her up on a date. She will later realize that is nothing to get upset about. Then, at a party, she got slipped a drug which sparks her addiction. After that, she hangs out with the wrong people, and even runs away from home, struggling to make it on her own with her one friend, Chris. At school, she is tormented, and later on, is forced to join an insane asylum. Throughout the story, she tries to get back on track, and quit with the drugs and sex, but never succeeds. After she returns from the asylum, her relationships with her family and friends improves a bit, and she promises she will never do any of that ever again. In the end, she decides she doesn't feel the need to write in her diary anymore.

I gave this book four stars because I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It is a perfect book for a girl my age because it is easy to connect to the main character and conflicts. Although some of the issues Alice endures were not relatable, I enjoyed reading a book with a teenage girls' perspective. I liked reading material that was easy for me to understand and interpret. The narrator used diction that was much like how a teenager would talk which I liked because it gave me an even further understanding of what she was talking about.

Another reason why I liked this book is because of the many intriguing events. As a high school girl, I like to read things that spark my interest. This book definitely caught my attention with all of the events dealing with drugs and trouble. Those topics are, personally, extremely interesting to read about. The plot moved along at a fast pace which I liked a lot because usually, I get bored with a slow moving plot. Overall, the story line was great and really kept me on the edge of my seat.

Although I liked the plot, I did think that it was a little repetitive. It was very interesting how Alice was very into drugs and alcohol and then went clean, but this happened several times within the plot. Maybe the author meant to do that, but it was a little repetitive as the story went along. Other than that, the plot line was great.

[Morgan Warrior · Rating 4 out of 5]

The "Go Ask Alice" Book of Answers, is a book about physical, sexual and emotional health. The book is full of answers and questions from anonymous people that are answered by Alice. The Health Education Program of Columbia University's Health service, formed by a group of professional health educators, is a service called "Alice". Alice gives her personal opinion or advice to help answer questions from anonymous person. In the book, Alice answers questions about relationships, sexuality, sexual health, etc. It's a question answer format book that gives it a more even flow with hard-to-ask questions about sex, STD's, drugs etc. Questions that were asked in the book was; "am I still a virgin?, "should I shave my pubic hair?", and "how long does marijuana hang out in your body?" Alice answers the questions truthfully giving the best advice. The "GO Ask Alice" is also more of a guide book to guide people in their everyday situations. This was a good book to read when wanting to get advice on real life situations. I would recommend this book to anyone who is seeking or for someone who wants an opinion from someone else's point of view.

[Mango · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was dir-ty (say that dirt like in the song dirty love BTW).

I rated it five stars because though it was dirty, it was wayyyyy entertaining and probably has many facts that most people probably don't know about.

Now I know what these bumps in my arms are. Now i know how to meditate. Now I know how kiss? Now I know when not to have sex? Now I know that nothing really happens if you eat sperm?

Anyway, this book was mildly amusing and factual and I give it five stars.


Though, I feel stupid because I thought this book was a whole guide on Go Ask Alice. LOL

[Ali · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am going to start volunteering at Planned Parenthood as a teen councelor and thought it would be good to prepare myself for the random and often ridiculous questions teens ask. This book allowed me to get out the giggles before heading into the "classroom".

[Casandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is like a teens FAQ guide. Its very detailed, and it has some funny questions in it as well, but they are all serious questions and have serious answers.

[Tracy Schillemore · Rating 3 out of 5]

A not bad book for the puberty stricken.