Fitness Books

This is the best book on ADHD that I have read! Sometimes the scenarios were so right on that I felt like the author must live in our house. I feel like I have a much better understanding of my daughter since reading the book. I put into practice some of the tips right away and noticed results immediately. Before reading this, I was still questioning my daughter's diagnosis but not anymore. This book may have saved my daughter's self-esteem as I now feel confident with how to help her get through her hard times.

My daughter's pediatrician recommended this book. It is a look into my daughter's present struggle with an explanation of "why" & how to help. It gives insight into her future struggles & how to prepare & possibly even avoid some situations. It explains the DIFFERENT way ADHD affects girls than boys! Highly recommended!

I would highly recommend this book to parents and guardians of girls with ADHD. I saw many of my daughter's behaviors and symptoms very clearly at each stage of her life - how I wish I had had this book when she was younger! We were fortunate to have a pre-school teacher who was experienced enough to point out to us the "red flags" she was observing with our daughter's behavior in the classroom and how she related to other children, and she was professional enough not to diagnose her, but referred us to neurologist who made the diagnosis, so we caught her ADHD early, which made a huge difference. This is an eye-opening book, and will help prepare you for what may be coming as your child progresses through school and life stages. It has given me the information that I needed to understand how I can help my daughter succeed and grow and how to relate to her effectively now and in the future. Now I know why she's so tired when she comes home from school and this book makes it so obvious! The real-life examples are riveting and heart-breaking and will make any good parent want to do anything they can to help their daughter avoid those pitfalls that these women experienced throughout their lives. Bravo to the authors for recognizing that research done on boys with ADHD can only provide a piece of the puzzle - we all know that boys and girls are different and as a result, present ADHD symptoms and behaviors in different ways, as you will see when you read this book. Don't hesitate to buy this book - you will be glad you did and your daughter will be too!

would have helped me understand my daughter, and myself, better. This book presents the research in a way any parent can understand. It also let me know what to expect for the future. Most of the books I've read ignore the differences between ADD in boys and girls-- not this one. This book should be handed to parents of ADD girls as soon as the diagnosis is made, if not sooner.

After being frustrated and watching my daughter start to fail I was finally able to convince teachers that she had a problem with add, just because your daughter is not bouncing off the walls doesn't meant there isn't a problem. This book help me to explain many painful experiences so that the staff was able to finally step in and help. My daughter is now in excelled classes, not on meds and yes we still have our interesting days but we are able to handle them better. Our social worker used this book to give an inservice during the summer. Teachers are often taught to identify boys who cause problems as add candidates. Girls who are day dreamers or chatty cathys are overlooked, and often highly intelligent children mimic add qualities, and are just 'hardwired' differenly, they can be seen as challenging authority and problems, too often used as tutors to their classmates, when they get home is when they have a melt down, but being people pleasers somehow hold it together all day at school and save it for mom. Get the book! It saved our family.

Not a tremendous amount of useful info. a lot of the herbs recommended are in a different language; therefore, not useful to those that speak English....

Excellent book and easy to read. It does explain what Ayurvedic is all about and how to improve your health and well being. It has so many suggestions, you will find what is best for you.

The book is very useful to understand Ayurveda's principles and the remedies seem very good (I already tried some and they worked quite well).

I consider this book as a very valuable secret, which everyone must have. A must buy!!!

Any Metaphysical person will enjoy learning about alternative ways to keep your body in tune with the Natural way of Living!

Whether you are trying to loose weight, gain weight or try to grow bigger muscles, this book has certainly many nutirition tips for you. "Fueling your body" concept changed my nutrition habits and now I have more energy during the day and exercises, eat more food that I like and it is now much easier for me to preserve the body image that I want.

I am very happy with this book. This book is very complete and really well organized. It was recommended to me by both my personal trainer and my Cycle class instructor (also a personal trainer). I am not an athlete but I do an hour or two of fitness work nearly every day at the gym. I was glad to see lots of information for my level of fitness and as well as my fitness program. Book discusses not just what to eat but how much, and ratios, and the whys of each. I think this book is useful and helpful no matter how little or how great your level of sports and fitness activity.

This book is very informative and explains nutrition in a way that is easy to understand. It has great tips and it helped me to balance my exercise routine and eating pattern. This book is great for a serious athlete to a casual exerciser and I would highly recommend everyone who wants to obtain knowledge about a healthy lifestyle to read this book.

I recommend this book to everyone. Although Nancy Clark calls it a Sport's Nutrition Guidebook, this is really a guide on the way everybody should eat in order to be healthy. She begins by giving general guidelines on what eating every day should be like. She explains why everything is important: carbs, protein, fat, sugar, dairy. Then she goes on to explain what it is each of these types of food does in the body and how and why we should eat them. She also explains how to eat and when to eat. It is an extremely detailed book where you get a whole new outlook on food. There's also some great chapters with recipes.

The Sports Nutrition Guidebook is a useful resource for the average, healthy individual to have at hand as a nutritional resource. This book is more of a healthy living guide, than a sport specific guide, Individuals who are engaging in sports that require a lot of anaerobic activity, like football or baseball will not find this book as useful, but they will still find some great instruction. For endurance sports such as running or cycling, or for the general weekend warrior looking to have nutrition be a part of a healthy lifestyle, that is not concerned with larger than normal weight loss, this book is a good esource.

While basic advice is well-written here, that shouldn't be really new to anyone who is familiar with good nutrition: a balance of proteins, carbohydrates, fiber, and dairy; and the importance of regular meals, some care is taken to readjust thinking about fad diets and dietary myths, especially in preparation for physical activity. Unbalanced approaches to carbohydrates, fluid, protein, etc. and their dangers are detailed in an easy to understand format. The chapter on misusing a healthy lifestyle for rapid weight loss or other eating disorders is tactfully written.

The last third of the book is a useful recipe guide that applies principles taught in the book into practical meal planning steps that are neither arduous nor difficult for active individuals to adapt to. Creating a healthy approach to the body, especially in view of a fat obssessed society calls for balance and patience. There is nothing sudden or radical about the advice in this book, as it is above all, caling for a lifestyle that is healthy and active and is designed to provide nutrional advice for helping individuals achieve those goals. This book is a great resource for active people, who want sound, scientific advice that meets the needs of individuals in today's fast paced society.

This is a good book on the topic of psychotropic plants, though I have to admit that I'm a little shocked that the opium poppy wasn't included. Oh well. There are enough books on that subject that I'm sure if you really want to study the "black smoke" you can find another book to read. It presents an interesting subject in an approachable, readable format. My one complaint is that parts of it read a little too New Age-y, which irks me. But that's the way I am. Aside from that one (rather small) problem, I would readily recommend this book to anyone looking for an all-in-one look at this branch of botany.

The authors Richard Schultes, director of the Botanical Museum at Harvard and Albert Hofmann, discoverer of LSD and former director of the Pharmaceutical-Chemical Research Lab in Basel, Switzerland, together have over fourteen years of research in field of botany, chemistry and ethnobotony. In their book the authors offer an ethnobological look at the sacred use of hallucinogenic plants and include: an introduction to hallucinogenic plants, a plant lexicon, overview of plant use chart, detailed section of fourteen major hallucinogenic plants, and concludes with an overview of the chemical structure of hallucinogens.
The plant lexicon includes ninety-one known and most common hallucinogenic plants with: a colored picture for each plant, botanical name, geographic location, hallucinogenic properties and a short description of the individual plant. Following the lexicon is a chart overview of each plant that includes: usage in history, context and purpose, preparation, chemical components and effects. Following the chart is a detailed account fourteen major hallucinogenic plants. "Most of these plants are or have been culturally and materially important...that they can not be overlooked "(81). The authors include: a descriptive history, gathering techniques, rituals, the chemical make-up of the plant, pictures of ceremonies, and artwork of "visions" by people.
Plants of the Gods is more than a research book, it is a guide to understanding the role hallucinogens play in various religious cultures using a scientific and anthropological approach.

This review is based on the 1992 publication:
Schultus, Richard E., and Albert Hofmann. Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers. Rochester: Healing Arts Press, 1992.

This is a good starting point for working with Psychoactive Plants. It is however not quite as informative as the author's "The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications". If you are interested in working with plants but are not sure then this is the book for you to get the real information you need to make a informed decision.

If you're looking for information on how to prepare psychoactive plant medicine and, well quite frankly, how get high, this is not the book for you. However, if you'd like to gain more wisdom and insight into shamanistic practices around the world, this is a wonderful history that draws you into the mind of the shamin. I loved this book. It gave me new respect for the wisdom of those ancient people of whom we know so very little. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in shamanism and herbalism. It offers insight into not HOW but WHY psychoactive plants are ingested. Plant medicine is afford the tremendous respect it so rightly deserves.

Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers
by Richard Evans Schultes, Albert Hofmann, and Christian Rätsch

Publisher:Healing Arts Press/Inner Traditions

Year:2001 (revised and expanded edition)

ISBN:089281979-0

Categories:Book Reviews, Recommended Books

Reviewed by Jon Hanna, 6/26/2007

It may be a rare thing for a second edition of a book to warrant its own review, but such is definitely the case with the new edition of the Schultes' and Hofmann's 1979 classic Plants of the Gods. The updated version was produced as a German translation in 1998 by Christian Rätsch, and Healing Arts Press released the English translation of this in late 2001. It is a thing of beauty.

The primary and most dramatic improvement is the inclusion of numerous new photographs and art images. Although this second edition retains many of the same photos, it introduces a lot of new ones as well. In some cases, the item depicted-such as the statue of Shiva with Datura flowers in his hair (p. 11)-has been revisited with a higher-quality photo. Frequently, black and white images have been replaced with a similar image in stunning full-color. While this works superbly in most cases, there are a few situations-such as the replacement color photo of an aerial view of the Kuluene river (p. 24)-where the original black and white photo was much better. New psychedelic art is featured throughout from the likes of Pablo Amaringo, Walangari Karntawarra Jakamarra, Nana Nauwald, and Donna Torres. There are even some incredible watercolor paintings done by Christian Rätsch himself (think Codex Seraphinianus on acid)-where can we see more of his art!? A beautiful mural of an ayahuasca ceremony that graces a wall at the Cuzco Airport in Peru reminds us that some countries have a more enlightened attitude towards the use of psychoptic plants.

"Fourteen Major Hallucinogenic Plants" of the first edition has been altered to become "The Most Important Hallucinogenic Plants," and expanded to include new sections on Anadenanthera colubrina, ayahuasca analogs, Salvia divinorum, and Duboisia hopwoodii. There have been numerous expansions on the old chapters as well, including many additional species of the genera discussed. Six new plants have been added to the "Plant Lexicon," and this section has been vastly improved through the addition of color photographs. Previously, the majority of the plants described were depicted via illustrations, with only a few photo images; this situation is now reversed, with only a few illustrations. (It is a shame that there are any drawings remaining, although I suspect in some cases it might be hard to obtain photographs of the plants in question. Still, in other cases it should not have been difficult-photos of Banisteriopsis caapi, Lagochilus inebrians, Mandragora officinarum, Mimosa tenuiflora [= M. hostilis], Peucedanum japonicum, Scirpus atrovirens, Tabernanthe iboga, and Virola theiodora are all available via the web). The map of "Native Use of Major Hallucinogens" has been expanded to include Hyoscyamus sp., Duboisia sp., and A. colubrina, and the depicted range of Cannabis use has been increased.

Some problems that the original book had are, alas, retained or, in a few cases, exaggerated. The gutter of the book is too tight, causing one to crack the spine to get a full view; this was the case in the earlier edition as well. New layout glitches include shaded backgrounds for text boxes being placed too close to the edge of the text (in some cases touching it), and headlines that sit too close to the images. The problem of citing alkaloid contents as fixed numbers is still present (although in a few cases ranges are presented). Those with little knowledge on the subject might actually believe that all dried Trichocereus pachanoi plants have a 2% mescaline content, while this is actually the peak of the range that can be determined through a survey of the scant few published isolation analyses (which dips down to 0.33%, and even lower in published HPLC analysis), and may not be typical. In new cases when ranges are presented, such as the case with Mimosa tenuiflora root-bark said to contain 0.57 to 1.0% DMT, the information may not be correct. (M. tenuiflora has been reported to contain 0.31 to 0.57% DMT with specific analyses available in the literature of Gonçalves de Lima 1946 and Patcher et al. 1959, and there have been unsubstantiated counter-culture claims of 1% to 11%, see ER Vol. X, No. 3, 2001 and Ott 2001). Both the new and the old editions of this book are riddled with statements about alkaloid contents that are presented as if they were fixed amounts, when in reality alkaloid content can be highly variable.

Some new errors are introduced with this edition. Spelling mistakes are peppered throughout (they've misspelled author Hofmann's name on the back cover!), and awkward phrasings are not uncommon in those sections that were translated from German. In some cases, plants are presented as containing specific alkaloids that they do not have. For example, it is remarked that "The Turkey Red variety of the grass Phalaris arundinacea contains liberal amounts of DMT." This is in error, as this variety contains liberal amounts of 5-MeO-DMT, not DMT. Also, photographs of four cacti-Ariocarpus retusus, A. fissuratus, Astrophyton asterias, and Aztekium riterii-known in México as "peyote" are depicted, with the statement "They primarily contain the substance mescaline and other psychoactive alkaloids." This too is in error, as only A. riterii has been found to contain trace amounts of mescaline, and no mescaline has been found at all in the others. (It was interesting to see that Rätsch considers a heftier amount of mescaline, "0.5-0.8 gram" to be a dose, compared to the Shulgins' more conservative 200-400 mg dose listed in PIHKAL; I tend to agree with Rätsch.)

Any and all criticism of this book should be viewed as minor, as it is truly a marvelous work. Rätsch has taken a great book and made it better. Especially if you own the first edition, you owe it to yourself to pick up this revamp. It is visual delight, a joy to read cover-to-cover, and it will no doubt be revisited repeatedly for years to come.

I am a reiki teacher/master and give this book to my level I students as a reference guide. To me, Pamela's book captures the heart of reiki and reflects her deep understanding and practice of reiki. I also especially like the language she uses that speaks to my scientific nature (I hold two M.S. degrees) without detracting from the mystery that unfolds as you practice reiki on yourself and others. I highly recommend this book and suggest you check out Pamela's website. I also recommend the book "Practical Reiki" by Richard Ellis to my students because it is full of beautiful images and photographs.

Excellent book on Reiki. I just purchased in last week and have already recommended it to several clients of mine...a few of them western medical doctors. It demystifies the subject in a language anyone can follow and more importantly it will not turn off the most closed-minded reader.

As as a devoted student, and one who practices Reiki, I was initially impressed with the elegance, scope and reliability of this beautifully written book. It is absolutely authoritative, but reads in a very personal way. I literally have stacks of Reiki books that seemed compelling at first, but "Reiki: A Comprehensive Guide," has risen to the top and withstood the test of time. It is the only Reiki book that I refer to regularly on an ongoing basis. As my practice grows, I find new things to explore in this book, and I am always rewarded with solid and soulful insight and guidance.

I have recommended, to all my Reiki students, that they read and study Pamela Miles' excellent book! (I have included myself :-)

I own more than 80 Reiki books (e.g., Haberly, Petter, Gray, Rand, etc.) --but I regard this Reiki book, highly--amongst the "top 3". (The others: Bronwen & Frans Stiene: Reiki Sourcebook and Japanese Art of Reiki.)

Pamela Miles is a "purist" and I value her book because of its' honest, integrous and insightfull approach to Reiki!

With this outstanding reference work, everyone in the Reiki community has benefitted!

Pamela, I have you to thank (I mean this most sincerely) for my re-connection with SELF-Reiki! And, it has extended to my Reiki students, also!

One of the very best books on Reiki: what it is, how it works, how to use it

Pamela Miles, the author of "Reiki: A Comprehensive Guide" is founding president of the Institute for the Advancement of Complementary Therapies and has 35 years experience as a clinician, educator and lecturer in natural healing. She has been a student of meditation and yoga for 45 years. The author began practicing Reiki in 1986 and was initiated as a Reiki master in 1990. She has developed Reiki programs for implementation in prominent New York City hospitals, published numerous articles in peer-reviewed professional journals, and presented and taught Reiki at medical schools and conferences.

This is a thoughtful, informative, enlightening book, written in an engaging and conversational style, peppered with anecdotes, that let's its readers know that here the author is opening up her heart. It is a book that is useful to seasoned Reiki practitioners, the newly-minted Reiki practitioner and the individual for whom Reiki is a new experience as practitioner or as recipient. For anyone who is interested in bringing Reiki into their lives and are without a clue as to where and how to begin, "Reiki: A Comprehensive Guide" offers an excellent starting point.

The book is divided into fourteen very well-organized chapters, moving from a description of what Reiki is and what it does, its history, the components of Reiki training, and formulating a Reiki practice, to the last few sections devoted to the role of Reiki in integrative medicine and the science and research methodology underpinning that role.

The author deals fairly but squarely with the unhappy reality that much of what most of us were taught about the origins of Reiki from Hawayo Takata, who brought the practice to the West, was simply untrue: a useful myth, perhaps, but without historicity or any factual basis. Miles addresses this without hesitation, but always reminds us of what really matters: the unassailable fact that Reiki works. Even in the absence of an explanation as to how it works, in the absence of a clinically demonstrable therapeutic mechanism, it does what it says it does. While honoring and clarifying the history and traditions of her own Reiki lineage, Miles is respectful of and offers recognition to the many different styles of practice which have developed since the time when Hawayo Takata first brought Reiki out of Japan.

As a practitioner and teacher of Reiki and other healing modalities (I integrate Reiki and the Bach flower remedies into my practice of traditional Ayurveda), I am profoundly grateful to Pamela Miles for all she has done for both Reiki as well as for complimentary and integrative medicine. The author, considered to be one of the senior-most Reiki Masters now practicing, has forged a strong and graceful link between Eastern and Western medicine, and I hope that we see more of her writing in the near future.

Here, at long last, we have an insightful, straightforward and intelligent book appropriate for seasoned Reiki practitioners and medical professionals as well as individuals who are simply looking for objective explanations.

I have lived my life by the Feng Shui practices for many years and frequently pick up new books to explore other avenues of my fascinating art.

I found Back to Balance on Amazon and was impressed by what I saw on the web page and ordered the book. I was throughly impressed with the author's interpretation and descriptions throughout the book and feel that the author has a very good sense of Feng Shui and can explain it to the layperson in simple to understand terms.

I found this book to be right on the mark.

Thank You,

Jenny

I am not a Feng Shui Expert, nor did I have any interest in Feng Shui. However, I was at a party over the weekend and noticed this book on the hostesses coffee table and the title intrigued me. I picked it up and began leafing through it. I did not realize that I had spent over an hour off in the corner to myself going through this book until my wife came to retrieve me.

I went out the next morning and bought a copy of the book for myself.

I had always thought Feng Shui was a complex subject and very difficult to understand. I never gave it my credence as I was under the impression that I would have to hire some bohemian woman to come into my home wearing fluffy skirts and spraying incents to get my home into balance. I was mistaken. Just from looking at the back cover of the book and seeing a picture of the Author, I realized my impressions were mistaken.

I found this book very easy to follow, written in simple terms to explain things that were out of my expertise. I enjoyed walking around my home after reading the sections and looking hard at the placement and balance of my home and thinking of ways to improve upon what I already had. I appreciated the author's perspective that I could use what I already had and enhance, altar or decrease as opposed to completely redoing.

Another plus I found with this book was the author's web page and a link to speak/e-mail directly with a professional on the subject for additional questions I had.

I will now keep this book "Back to Balance" on my coffee table for future parties at my home.

- Howard

My sister is what I would call a Feng Shui "Person". She has been trying and trying to explain Feng Shui and its principles to me and I just haven't really given it much credence.

My sister bought me Ms. Fretwell's book and asked that I read it. To be honest, the selling point on the book was that Ms. Fretwell is a local author and I always try to support my fellow Virginians.

However, after reading the book, I can now say "I get it". I am glad I sat down and took the time for something that was important to my sister, but even more surprised as the presentation of Ms. Fretwell's book.

For someone like me, that didn't want to waste their time and was somewhat forced into reading it, this book was perfect for me. The layout and table of contents outlined the approaches and the chapter breaks allowed for me to put the book down and come back at another time without feeling that I had to backtrack through the book to remember where I was.

I would recommend this book to any novice Feng Shui person as its simple and basic approach led me to an understanding of the principles behind this latest craze.

Not that I will ever admit it to my sister, but I did buy some pink lightbulbs for my house.

A TRUELY inspiring, well thought out book that offers a simple approach to what can be a complex and confusing subject.

I enjoyed the book and will recommend it to friends !

Kimmie B

I have to agree with the previous reviews, this is a very good Feng Shui book. As an owner of many Feng Shui books, I found this one very useful, easy to read and understand. I will be using this as my main source for Feng Shui reference.

Thank you for a truely inpirational book !

Swimming is such a technique oriented sport and it is almost impossible to hone your technique without a coach. I have been fortunate to have been coached by Emmett for the past seven years and I find something to work on at each practice. This is an excellent book for swimmers who have the discipline to coach themselves. The second part, Swimming the Right Way describes the techniques to streamline your body and maximize your power. By integrating this technical information with the workouts in part three you can ultimately translate theory into body memory. This takes some discipline and the rewards will be worth it. All you need to swim like a fish is in here. Just do it.

I am a semi novice swimmer, I found very important information on this book, and for the contents I think it has a lot of interesting info for advance swimmer. I would hightly recommend it.

I grew up swimming competitively. I was introduced to Emmett in my early thirties and began attending his master classes a few years ago. Emmett is a fabulous communicator, and the concepts that he teaches completely revolutionized my swimming. I am now able to swim longer, faster, and with much less energy than ever before. Just recently, I placed second in my age group in a 2.4 mile swim in Austin, TX, and it was Emmett's training that took me the entire way.

I was at first skeptical that a book format of these concepts would be possible or as good as swimming with him personally, but this book completely blew that notion out of the water (so to speak). As I read the text and studied the diagrams, I was completely impressed with his abilities to communicate via the written word. It is an easy read, and the ideas are explained clearly and woven together beautifully. Studying this book, applying the concepts, and following the workouts will take you from complete novice highly skilled and efficient swimmer. I keep a copy of it on my nightstand, and it will probably remain there for many years to come. This book is a must read for anyone who thinks he might be interested in learning to swim or improving their already advanced swimming skills.

I really enjoyed reading this book and wanted to take the time to reivew it. I am an experienced swimmer, swimming for many years, coaching age group and master's teams over the years. I have also taught swimming at many levels. I tried to look at this book from the eyes of a beginner and found it very helpful. The book covered such topics as how to pick out a suit and goggles all the way to pool etiquette. How glad I am that Emmett covered that! As an experienced swimmer I found the workout information invaluable. The workouts are very good and I found the workout schedule or cycle very apppicable to my level of swimming. The more competitive swim cycle or season information helped me map out a plan for the coming year. So I can confidently recommend this book to the beginning swimmer and the more competitive swimmer.

This is the best comprehensive freestyle book available, and I think I've read them all. I used the 1st edition about 6 years ago to rebuild my stroke, went through at least 2 copies of it and gave away about 4 others. The 2nd edition is not just a new cover: everything has been updated. Even if you have the 1st edition you should get this because it covers new developments in freestyle stroke mechanics. There are two elements that make this book exceptional. First is the instructional part, which puts hydrodynamics in practical terms, understandable to everyone and well-illustrated. It follows (maybe even leads) the current theories of efficient freestyle. It starts at a basic level, with balance drills etc, moving all the way through full-stroke integration, and then to power and speed. Second is the series of detailed workouts. It's the only book I know of that lays out a realistic workout progression for adult swimmers of any level. By realistic, I mean spending 50 to 75 mins a session, with a good combination of technique, endurance, and speed work. It's also realistic about the range of speed for most fitness swimmers -- so it's especially helpful for adult swimmers who want to learn or refine their freestyle and get a sense of accomplishment. You can start at the beginning and virtually coach your way through to the end. It's like doing Masters swimming with an expert, only self-coached. And Coach Hines has a distinctive sense of humor that makes an instructional book fun to read. A great accomplishment.

This is NOT just for moms who plan to breastfeed two, but ALSO for breastfeeding moms who might get pregnant while breastfeeding. I could have used it earlier in my 2nd pregnancy, but I waited until I couldn't wean my first. Great information on how it affects contractions and it helps to affirm that breastfeeding while you're pregnant is just fine. A few tips for positioning and lots of stories so you know you are not alone. I'm still tandem nursing after 14 months at it! Plus nine if you count in-utero time. Might sound strange to some, but you find yourself doing things different than you might think once you're the mom.

This book really helped me sort out what was best for our family when I was pregnant while nursing a 2-year-old. What I liked about the book is that it is, as much as possible, based on research rather than opinion. So many health care professionals advise their pregnant patients to wean their nurslings, regardless of age, when this advice is completely unsupported by evidence. I also was very grateful for the non-judgmental tone of this book. She acknowledges that there is no one approach for every family, but without downplaying the vital importance of breastfeeding for as long as mother and baby wish to. I'd recommend this book for any mother who is pregnant or has a baby while nursing an older child.

I bought this when I got pregnant and was still nursing my almost-two-year-old. It's nicely written with entertaining illustrations and lovely pictures of many tandem nursers. It made me feel like whatever I decided was okay, and whether I end up weaning before the birth, nursing two on demand, nursing one on demand and one to schedule, or even if he starts up again after weaning once the baby comes, it's all been done before and it's all doable.

This is a great support book, even for those women who are only breastfeeding one child. It offers great ideas and is a must have for any nursing family.

I wasn't overly impressed by any of the ones I saw, so I dug this out instead, figuring I could at least get a little heads up on what to expect in terms of nursing (like everyone else posting reviews, I've got a nursing toddler and am pregnant; having gotten thru the worst of the soreness, I don't expect weaning soon). In the event, this book offers a nice overview of other impacts on the family of adding a new baby to the mix: sleep issues, routines, keeping the toddler happy while the newborn has you fully occupied, etc. And unlike some of the other second-child books, this one is firmly focused on attachment parenting/co-sleeping/extended nursing/etc.

Flowers' narrative voice is pleasant without wasting your time. As with all too many books about breastfeeding, the format is a little large for holding comfortably while nursing. The voices of many, many mothers who have Already Been There are included within a structure that lets you look up an answer to a question you have quickly.

T. R. Pearson is probably my favorite author -- I look forward to reading his books and stop by amazon on a regular basis to check for his new works. Augie's Quest was a most interesting read for me for two reasons -- Pearson was the author, and I have been personally touched by ALS (my father and one of my brothers died from the disease). The story of Augie, his journey with ALS, his drive and determination to work towards a cure, to pursue new paths in search of a cure -- is most captivating -- and knowing T. R. put the words to paper assured me that many people would find this book and come away being touched by Augie's story -- for the story itself and for the superb writing. When you finish this book, think about a donation to Augie's foundation, and then come back to amazon and search out Mr. Pearson's other writings -- mostly fiction -- you will be glad you did.

Augie: Thanks for sharing your world past and present! Your book gave me a terrific insight into ALS and your fight for life and significance. You are an inspiration to us all and I came away with a better appreciation for my own life and what is important!

Thanks

Kim Megonigal

I was a little disappointed in Augie's Quest. I saw Shirley McClaine on a talk show and she was so hyped up about the book and about how Augie was so instrumental and amazing in his quest. True, Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) is a horrible and quickly invasive disease, but I was more interested in how Augie dealt with his disease than with the tremendous amount of research and technical aspects of ALS that are given in the book. I was looking for a more personal insight into Augie and his wife, Lynne, in their daily dealings with this disease. However,if you know someone with ALS, you will find this book very informative.

"Perhaps no other disease takes the physical and emotional toll quite like ALS, and I can think of no one who understands this more fully than fitness pioneer Augie Neito. Augie's Quest speaks to us all about life, how we choose to live it, and what can happen -- physically and emotionally -- when the unexpected hits us in the face. But Augie's story is about more than how one man chooses to face adversity, it's a playbook for how to live life on your own terms. Anyone who reads Augie's Quest comes away enriched by the experience."

Dr. Jeffrey Trent
President and Scientific Director, TGen

This is a different read compared with Tuesdays with Morrie. It contains a wonderful mix of narrative and personal testimony. While it tells the story of Augie's life, it is much more focused on what Augie has chosen to do with his life: find a treatment for ALS, and, cut through some of the academic/scientific red-tape that slows the process. As I was reading I kept thinking of a friend in Idaho who said, "I would never trade what I have learned from this disease for anything in the world!" I was especially struck by the quote: "Life is not measured by how many breaths we take, but by how many moments take our breath away." Thanks, Augie! Well done!
John Free, Ph.D. (Psychologist)

The only reason that B12 is not being hailed as the new miracle drug is because it is not possible for a pharmaceutical company to get a patent for it and make lots of money from it. Another result from this absence of profit is that doctors are not being informed that many ailments can be caused by a B12 deficiency and, therefore, do not test for a B12 deficiency and, when they do, they use the wrong test and, even when they use the correct test (which is rare) they misinterpret the results and, even when they prescribe a B12 supplement, they order the wrong type of B12, in the wrong form, etc., etc...
The best thing you can do is to order an extra copy of this book and just give it to your doctor. Unless he is a complete egomaniac, he will appreciate the information because there aren't any other authoritative books on this subject, and the total amount of time devoted to teaching about B12 in medical school is only about 2 minutes.
Although it's true that someones ailment could be caused by something other than a B12 deficiency (the author admirably points this out in the introduction), not being cured when the cause is something as simple as a B12 deficiency because doctors are not trained to look for this, is tragic, especially when you consider the seriousness of some of the illnesses that a B12 deficiency can cause.
My sister suffered from depression for 20 years and tried a variety of medications, none of which helped very much. When she started a weight loss program that included small amounts of B12 given by injection, it seemed to help her mood. When she mentioned this to me, I did some research and found this book. I then found her a doctor who was willing to provide her with B12 injections of 2.5 mg (2,500 micrograms) three times a week. In a matter of a few weeks, her depression was gone. Before the B12, she just wanted to go somewhere and wait to die. Now, at age 54, she is planning and looking foward to the future. (By the way, the B12 must be in the form of injections to be effective.)
(NOTE: I plan to ask her doctor where he orders B12. It's perfectly legal for someone to order it for themself and it will save someone a lot of money if they give themself their own injections. The thing is, the manufacture of vitamin supplements is not regulated so it's super important to find a reputable supplier that manufactures to pharmaceutical standards. If I get any information on this, I'll add it to this review.)

A fantastic treatise on a much overlooked medical problem!

As a third year medical student, I was largely unaware of the prevalence of B12 deficiency and its devastating repercussions. This book, a combination of anecdotal evidence and solid research provides a strong case for the importance of B12 testing (using Methylmalonic acid urinary testing not serum B12 levels!) and B12 treatment.

The chapters on B12 & Multiple Sclerosis as well as autism were particularly interesting!

All in all a great book! Easy to read, but with profound repercussions.

I have some technical questions I would love to ask the authors, should they wish to contact me.

Paul Theodorescu
paultheo2004@yahoo.ca

This book is a must read for everyone in contact with other human beings. I have dealt with the devestating effects of b12 deficiency for all of my 20's and 30's (at least) with everything getting nothing but worst in the last year. My little boy shares many of my symptoms and is being tested as we speak...now that we know how to test! My son's doctor had no idea how to test him. Two weeks into B12 therapy most of the symptoms that have been plaguing me for years are gone! The rest are slowly improving and I suspect that they will continue to improve. When I think of all the doctors and tests and appointments and medications and theories I have had over the past years, it is downright depressing. All I needed was what my body was screaming for...B12! Cheap, easy to get, effective and mandatory B12!!!!

This book lays it out well and is very well referenced. The format is very reader friendly with many great examples. If you are looking for a book that you could bring into your doctor for their education (for your own survival!), this is the one. It is an absolute horror that this illness goes unfound for so long in so many people. Protect yourself and your loved ones and have this book on hand always. This is the best gift you could give anyone. It saved me in ways I don't even want to think about. Thank you to the authors for this important piece of knowledge that is far too ignored in the medical community.

This book contains critical information that could change the lives of many people. Anyone with any sort of unexplained health problems, from Alzheimers to leg pain to autism, must read this. I also wish every doctor would read it and become more aware of the prevalence of B12 deficiency. After reading it at the library, I bought a copy for myself and one for my doctor.

If you have or suspect having a vitamin B 12 deficiency or if you need to learn about this deficiency for any reason, I recommend you read carefully the book " Could it be B 12 ? An epidemic of Misdiagnoses " by Sally M. Pacholok and Jeffrey J. Stuart. But don't let it be your only source of information about the deficiency. Because at least half of alternative reliable scientific reports about this subject strongly disagree with the major allegations of the authors of this book. You must also be aware of the alternative opinions before deciding on what to do about your vitamin B 12 deficiency. I am not a medical expert and do not say who is right or wrong. However, I am glad I researched other sources of information after I was diagnosed with B 12 deficiency and after I read this book. I couldn't find any other books on this subject but there are a lot of serious scientific reports published on the internet by credible hospitals, laboratories, medical journals etc. You don't have to be a medical expert to understand them, they are written for the general public. Some of the information on the internet is crap but a significant portion is reliable , very informative and based on sound scientific reasearch and experiments.

Search from Google under the headings of vitamin B12 deficiency, homocysteine, methyl malonic acid, intrinsic factor and pernicious anemia. A lot of articles will pop up among them by reliable hospitals such as the Mayo Clinic and some labs etc. Also search under the same headings from the websites of Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia, American Family Doctor and Lab test on line. There are many other websites that include reliable information on Vitamin B 12 deficiency. After reading the book " Could it be B 12 ? An epidemic of Misdiagnoses " my initial reaction was an anger towards my doctor who diagnosed me with a B 12 deficiency believing that he had given me false information. I also had written a very favorable review of this book immediately after having read it two and a half months ago on January 19 2008. I have hereby replaced on April 11th 2008 my previous review of the book with this one based on my subsequent research on the internet about the topic from about ten different reliable scientific reports from different sources. My initial review was based only on the book. The present review is based on both the book and my subsequent extensive research. About half of the medical literature agrees with the authors of this book on the method of diagnosing and treatment of the vitamin B 12 deficiency. The remaining 50 % that disagree also base their views on sound scientific studies.

The authors of the book claim that most doctors in the world are ignorant about vitamin B12 deficiency. After finishing the book I initially bought this argument. However, after conducting the research on the internet I mentioned above I disagree that most doctors are ignorant about it. Surely there are a lot of doctors who are in fact ignorant about it and who misdiagnose. Even my doctor told me some things about vitamin B 12 deficiency some of which I still think are wrong. However, not all doctors who disagree with the authors are ignorant ; there are many among the disagreeing doctors who are very knowledgeable about this subject. Their methods of diagnosing and treating the deficiency maybe different than that of the authors. That does not necessarily make them ignorant. You can see this for yourself by reading their reports on the internet where they express alternative opinions about vitamin B 12 deficiency. Yet the authors of the book accuse all doctors who disagree with them with ignorance. I feel that it is unfair and unconvincing to accuse everyone who disagrees with you with ignorance. I got suspicious about that and found the alternative opinions. I am glad I did not let this book be my only source, I almost went and expressed my disatisfaction with my doctor based on this book. I regret that after reading the book and before reading alternative reports I got into an argument with a neuropsychiatrist whose acquaintance I made in a sports club who challenged the views in the book when I mentioned them to her.
Fortunately I did not go and quarrel with my own doctor based on the book ( it scares me to think I almost did ) because I had the sanity to investigate the deficiency from alternative sources.

The major allegations by the authors about which there is approximately 50 % agreement and of course 50 % disagreement among medical experts throughout the whole world have to do with the method of diagnosis and treatment of vitamin B 12 deficiency.

The authors claim that a serum ( blood ) B 12 test for a deficiency is unreliable by itself and must be accompanied by urinary methyl malonic acid ( MMA ) and serum homocysteine tests. Because in some cases a vitamin B 12 deficiency may damage the nervous system many years before it shows up on blood tests. Doctors who rely on the vitamin B 12 blood test alone could miss a B 12 deficiency if it does not show up on the blood test. The authors allege very strongly that the best measure of B 12 deficiency is the urinary methyl malonic acid and creatinine ratio test done properly along with serum B 12 and serum homocysteine tests. In the medical literature I researched there is strong support for this view. But there are also equally strong arguments in favor of the alternative view, claiming that on the contrary urinary MMA test results are not a reliable indicator of vitamin B 12 deficiency and that serum B 12 tests are more reliable. This is exactly the opposite of what the authors of the book claim.The book mentions that there are doctors that claim this. And it claims that these doctors are ignorant. However, in the reports the doctors state the reasons why urinary or blood MMA tests are unreliable and explain the results of scientific studies in support of their view. They are by no means ignorant.

The other major disagreement is about the method of treatment. The authors of the book claim that Vitamin B 12 oral tablets even in high doses are very often ineffective in treatment of the deficiency and insist that pain free injections directly into the blood is indispensible as a treatment method. They claim that nobody should lose time and risk ineffective treatment with oral tablets. In some cases this maybe true for swallowed oral tablets which have to cross the digestive system. However, I came across many different reports on the internet that mention the effectiveness of sublingual ( under the tounge ) oral vitamin B 12 pills that are also absorbed directly into the bloodstream. Especially during the recent several years many independent studies throughout the world indicate that sublingual vitamin B 12 pills have been found to be as effective as injections into the blood, making the injections unnecessary in many cases. After discrediting the oral tablets and strongly promoting the injections throughout their book even the authors back off from their claims on page 153 under the heading : " A Final Word about Oral B 12 " where they admit the promising recent studies about the efficacy of oral tablets administered sublingually. After I took 1000 mg of swallowable oral tablets for four months my serum B 12 level shot through the roof rising from far below the lower limit to more than twice the upper limit ! My doctor told me to discontinue swallowing the pills.

So, read the book and read any serious other sources you can find on the internet and then decide with your doctor about how you will proceed to diagnose and treat your or your loved one(s)' vitamin B 12 deficiency. Just don't take everything the book or the reports say for granted. Make your own analysis and draw your own conclusions based on a varied rich source of reliable information about this subject. Good luck !