Anyone with a passing interest in beauty treatments can tell you that avocados go on your face, not in your hair, but no one can give you these essential tips quite like a thick, glossy fashion mag can. In the same unique tradition comes The Home Spa. This manual by Anne Harding, editor of Spa magazine, and Janice Biehn, a Canadian health writer, urges readers to embrace the spa as a lifestyle choice, not just a place to escape to. The result is a book that covers the entire spectrum of new-age offerings, from meditation, to stress diagnosis, to self-massage. Though some useful tips are included, the book is spoiled by too many trite supplications, such as “float the petals from three roses in the tub.” Disappointingly, the authors relegate their supposed focus – creating a spa at home – to the final 20 pages, obscuring the purpose of the book altogether. While it is pretty, and simple, and may be an appropriate gift for the dowdy in your life, ultimately The Home Spa contains nothing new for the woman with a healthy interest in her body.