Reviews

Writing in the down-to-earth style her many fans know, ``Dr. Ruth'' begins her autobiography in 1939, the year she was sent from Frankfurt to a school for German-Jewish orphans in Switzerland. She never saw her parents or grandmother again. The sadness, loss, and hardships of those years and, following the war, in Israel on a kibbutz, form a compelling portion of this book. No less interesting is the story of her improbable rise from uneducated survivor to academician and, finally, sex therapist and media celebrity. Westheimer's distinctive voice is nearly audible. Because of her popularity and her inspirational story, this is recommended for most public and undergraduate libraries. Terrill Brooks, Baker Coll. Lib., Flint, Mich.

This autobiography by the tiny, energetic TV and radio personality ``Dr. Ruth'' is jam-packed with fascinating details about her remarkable life, both before and after she became America's most popular sex therapist. The book starts in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1939, when as a 10-year-old she boarded a ``kinder transport'' train for Switzerland with dozens of other German-Jewish children, never to see her parents again. Karola Siegal spent World War II in a Swiss-Jewish children's home and, at 16, emigrated to Israel, where she traded her ``too German'' first name for her middle name, Ruth, and began a quest for an education that led her to the Sorbonne and to New York, where she eventually received a doctorate from Columbia University Teachers College and a certificate as a psychosexual therapist from Cornell. Not to worry, Dr. Ruth is as open about her own life as she is in giving advice to others, and she candidly discusses her own sexual awakenings, her three marriages, her two children and her delight in her media career in this engaging book. (November)