For most of us, life has become such a pressure cooker of unrealistic expectations, information overload, relentless marketing, and workaholism that we spend our days stressed out over being stressed out.

Guided by the timeless wisdom of her grandmother Francesca, renowned stress coach and humorist Loretta LaRoche makes us see the wisdom of a more civilized time, when no one carried a cell phone during a peaceful walk on the beach. Life Is Not a Stress Rehearsal takes an honest and hilarious look at the gizmos, self-help regimens, talking heads, comfort products, nutrition plans, and sexual freedoms that we have all come to believe will make our lives better. She shows us that in many ways, they're filling our lives with more stress and insanity and keeping us isolated from the thing that matters most in any healthy life: real human connection.

When you spend time with children or family, does it feel like you're wasting time that could be spent working? Do you spend more time preparing for the gym than exercising? Do you read about sex, but never go on dates? Do you carry a beeper or cell phone wherever you go even though you're not a trauma surgeon? Then Life Is Not a Stress Rehearsal is the book for you.

With Loretta LaRoche's signature mix of lighthearted insight and cutting-edge research, it will teach you how to take a step back and see the insanity for what it really is, take lessons from the way life used to be, and find your way to becoming a calmer, saner person. Among the topics Loretta discusses are:

• Just Have Some Lasagna and Shut Up!: On Living Without Guilt
• A Three-Dollar Bottle of Water!: On Consumerism and Common Sense
• Edgar Allan Poe in Analysis: On Individuality and Our Culture of Self-Improvement.
• Why Watch People Talk When You Can Talk to People?: On Turning to Mass Media for Connection