Everyday Energy Boosters: 365 tips and tricks to help you feel like a million bucks by Susannah Seton & Sondra Kornblatt

Since it's February, and since it's winter, I thought this would be the perfect time to peruse this little book. Who couldn't use more energy in the gloomy winter months, especially given that there's less light during the day and, depending on where you live, it's cold most of the time.

This started off well. I liked the authors' style, and I agreed with most of the suggestions, things like learn how to say no, get more sleep (but not too much), get out in the sunlight (what little there may be in the winter), take short walks, sing, dance, etc. Little energy boosters that I'm sure most of us are familiar with.

Then it got sort of strange. Suggestion 159 is "Get a Headset" - meaning get yourself something so that you can talk hands-free on your phone. This allows you walk around and multi-task, which should give you more energy, I guess because you are saving yourself time. But just a mere two pages later, we are told "Turn Off All Beepers, Pagers, and Cellphones" because often we are too connected. Um, what? And by suggestion 169, we are told to "Mono-Task". So, what would that headset be for again?

There are an awful lot of suggestions for "natural" energy boosters, meaning dietary supplements. I'm all for being healthy, but this book seemed to be pushing a lot of alternative vitamins and minerals, which I can't agree with. I know people want smaller government, but there is no oversight in the supplement industry, and that worries me. Some companies are great, and their products are exactly what they say they are. Others are much shadier, and you can either get what is basically a placebo, or you can get something that has far more of a substance than it you think you're getting. It's just too risky, in my opinion.

Finally, by the last third of the book, it sounded like the authors were getting desperate for ideas. In fact, I realized that one of the suggestions is listed TWICE; "Solve Your Problems While You Sleep" is suggestions 279 AND 312. I thought at first that they were perhaps wording it just a bit differently, but no - it's an exact duplicate. Sorry, but that's bad editing (or sheer laziness on the authors' part).

Overall, disappointing. I skimmed through a lot of the latter half, and I was certainly out of energy by the time I closed it for good.