Medicine Books

This is a magnificent book, written by a woman whom I have known all my life and to this day she has never lived by the words "depressed", or "angry". Greatful and optomistic is her lot, and her mind constantly searching for meaning and truth. Her and her associates have done countless hours of research, interviewing expert Dr.'s specializing in the field of breast cancer treatment. This book will nourish it's readers, leaving them with self confidence, and knowledge as to what lies ahead enabling the reader to make the most intelligent decisions concerning treatments, and our most important decision, our attitude.

Reading this book it is hard to feel too glum although breast cancer is it's subject. For women who have been through some of what the author has experienced, whether the medical ups and downs or the personal struggle with faith and hope, this book provides empathy and sustenance. With humor, intelligence and relevant information, Ms. Baker gives women a peek into the experiences so many of us will go through and survive, perhaps even thrive. You just have to read her tale of what she heard while waiting for surgery! One of those things we all can laugh at only after the fact; to be able to laugh, love, and believe is the theme of this great little book.

Impressive doctors' sections including the renowned Chris Wright, PhD of Cambridge University discussing his research on Tamoxifen; Doctors N. Joseph Haroun, fellowship in endocrinology from Hopkins and Melita Braganza, researcher at University of Maryland discussing chemotherapy and radiation therapy. For me, these are the highlights of the book. For my wife, they were the poetry, illustrations, and the myriad of helpful suggestions and insights into things people don't usually discuss.

"If you are a breast cancer patient, you need no introduction to me, because you know me well already. I'm just like you...You and I have in common the unsettling feeling of our worlds shaken up, our schedules not in our own control, and the keen awareness of our own human vulnerability. When cancer strikes, it puts us all on even ground. Rich or poor, pretty or plain, waitress or CEO, it makes no difference. There is no escape route and the only special treatment we'll get is what's sent from heaven."

With this book, Sylvia Baker wrote one of the best books on the subject of breast cancer. It takes away the fear from surgery for those women who need to go through the process and this book offers lots of hope for the recover process. Baker herself is a breast cancer survivor and has gone through the whole ordeal. She wrote the book from the heart with the purpose of edifying and encouraging the reader, while being objective regarding the issue.
The author approaches the subject systematically, but always with the concern of the individual patient in mind. This book is highly recommended for everyone who was just been diagnosed with breast cancer or who is already in the recovery stage, and it's also a great and encouraging read for loved ones of breast cancer victims as it is a very helpful book -- one of the best books on the subject out there. Because of the excellent content, this book is just simply an encouraging read for everyone.

I really like the center of the book that lists all illness and injuries that children of all ages can experience. It gives information about what it is, what you can do to treat it and signs and symptoms that you need to see a doctor.
This book is going to be a valuable resource to us for many years to come.

Having this book with three young kids is a must! Great reference for sick babies and also loads of interesting stuff about growth and development.

I got this book as a gift, and I admit I rolled my eyes a bit and wondered what the person was thinking. That was then...this is now! With three kids ranging from 1 to 7 years old, this book is my essential health reference. Despite that fact that you can look up anything on the internet nowadays, this book is so well-organized and lists almost every condition you can think of, from vomiting to Fifth's disease to bug bites. The best part is that it lists very concisely which symptoms you can treat yourself, need to call the doctor for or go to the ER for. Certainly you should always go with your gut (I have a few times, wisely) - but this book is a huge help with guiding a parent through an illness. I pull it out at least five or six times a year. Highly recommended!

I bought this book after I had my first child 6 years ago. I have consistently referred to it and found the information very useful and the recommendations quite reasonable. It covers every subject you may encounter in a true reference format. The book comes in VERY handy when you have a sick or injured child, but are unsure if a trip to the ER is necessary. This book has been my standard gift to anyone expecting their first child.

This book is awesome. I'm a mother of 2 and didn't need any help with my first child, but my second child was very difficult and I found this to be an invaluable resource. It even lets you know when you should contact your doctor or when you should head to the emergency room. Being from Boston, I know that Boston Children's Hospital is one of the best in the nation. What is also great about this book is that it covers the developmental tasks of a typical child for a specific age group. It is a great basis to know if your child is under or over performing and helps you find your strengths and weaknnesses. It also has all of the growth charts in the back and an amazing appendix of different child illnesses. Anything you could possible want to know or have questions about when and if you need to be concerned is in here. It's like a Bible!

Full of insight, understanding, and practical advise. This is a book from someone who's been there, done that, and found others to share the journey with. Together the people in this book share their experiences, challenges, and solutions. I highly recommend this book for anyone struggling with a chronic illness.

This book is not so much about self-care -- exercise, diet, medications, relaxation and such -- but it is very strong on getting the support you need to live successfully with a chronic condition. I used her material extensively in writing The Art of Getting Well: Maximizing Health When You Have a Chronic Illness.

Most of us don't like to ask for help. It makes us feel weak, guilty, needy or even "un-American." But mutual assistance is the way the world works. Register gives powerful reasons to ask for and accept help, likely places to find it, and ways of paying people back. She points out that most people like to help, and that we can help others in our turn.

Her book is also very strong on dealing with the medical profession and financial issues, how to keep your illness from impoversihing you. She continues to thrive with her condition, teaches at a university and has written several more books. She is an inspiring and practical teacher.

I read this book under the original title, and went right back to the bookstore and bought all the other five copies they had in stock. One went to my lupus support group's library, and I wanted to have extras to give to others struggling with new and lifelong diagnoses (while holding fast to a copy for me to re-read over and over over the years--I knew I was going to want to, and I have.) A dozen or so years later, it is still the best-written book on the subject.

When I was first diagnosed with three chronic illnesses (all within a few months in 1999), I read up online and in the public library. I started with the CDC web site for reliable medical info and also found a disease-specific local support group. But what really gave me the aha! that I'm connected to all people with chronic illness was reading The Chronic Illness Experience by Cheri Register. Reading the words of so many people in that book - they were so much like me, even though our illnesses were different. It really helped me develop my identity as a person with a disability and I've made fabulous connections with other people with disabilities who understand disability as a way of being more than just medical deficit. Many of my symptoms have been lifelong, but I no longer identify (most of the time!) as a weak runt, which was how I saw myself before. Hooray for disability culture and for being able to recognize and appreciate the experiences of other people with invisible chronic illness. -- it becomes less invisible when you see yourself (and your fatigue, pain, etc.) in others.

This book was recommended by the Arthritis Association, so I picked it up at the library first. I kept it well past the due date, and finally purchased a copy of my own because I know I need to read it again and again. It is first hand experiences from real people, confirming that what I am feeling is not unusual. I'm coping better since reading The Chronic Illness Experience. This is one book I will never lend out.

Brilliant.

Starts with trivial observations, ends with a philosophically complex discussion on the development of Lacan's view of the goal of & end of analysis, with great elaborations & case studies of the clinical structures in between.

Highly recommended.

Having read Annie Rogers' The Unsayable first, I felt I had a better understanding of the therapy to which Fink alluded. I would definitely recommend The Unsayable, simply because it is a much more in-depth look at cases, allowing the reader to take on the technique him/herself. However Fink goes further with the theory, opening up new passage ways to understanding different types of aberrant behavior. His book just opened my appetite for more Lacan.

Along with his book "The Lacanian Subject," this book of Fink's is THE best introduction for the English reader. To be sure, this book does not present the entire Lacanian project, but that is not its intention. Rather, Fink is trying to give the reader a basis with which s/he can go to the Seminars of Lacan. Indeed, it effectively accomplishes just this! For me, the highlight of this book is how it presents Lacan in his relation to Freud. By doing this, we get a very good look at what Lacan meant by performing his now famous "Return to Freud." To get a good introductory handle on Lacan, one MUST read these two books by Fink!

My familiarity with the language of psychoanalysis has come primarily through its usage by post-structural and feminist theorists. Reading this text has been like discovering a rosetta stone. The clinical examples that Fink uses has put flesh, so to speak, on some difficult and disembodied ideas with which I have previously struggled. Politically I find myself at great odds with Fink's forays into social commentary, but even this has been incredibly instructive.

"A Clinical Introduction to Lacanian Psychoanalysis" is a much more accessible book that its factual title implies. Author Bruce Fink does an admirable job of presenting the thought of Jacques Lacan, a French "poststructuralist" who built his theory on the work of Freud. After reading Fink on Lacan, I wondered if Lacan himself was ever as accessible. What makes this book so comprehensible is that Fink bases his discussion on Lacan's own admirably simple schemata of the varieties of mental disorders. At the same time, Fink understands and explains those cultural tendencies in the thought of Lacan that might put off an English-speaking reader. And Fink's writing style is nothing short of clear. His discussion of Freud's "Rat man" case is an excellent introduction to Freud's clinical style. In short, "Clinical Introduction" is a highly attractive book whose success both enhanced, in my eyes, the reputation of Lacan, a tough French thinker, and, through the example of Fink, showed Anglo-American appreciation of Continental thought at its sensitive best.

Growing up in Lima, Ohio during the Depression Era was a time of great adventures for Duke Murray! In these affectionate memoirs, Duke (aka. Dr. Emmett Murray, a retired family physician), tells 35 favorite stories from his boyhood years in the Midwest.
After some early mishaps, Duke's entry into grade school opens new worlds of enjoyment. Horace Mann Grade School and its vast playgrounds get long and affectionate descriptions. Adventures on his own find Duke up at dawn to watch the Big Top circuses set up, hauling huge ice blocks while working at Lima Ice and Coal, training the family beagle to hunt and to win show prizes, and taking X-rays of steel castings at a tank plant. Duke helps an eccentric neighbor go after night crawlers, and he faces death and family alcoholism in a school friend's life.
The book conveys the atmosphere of daily life in the 1930s, and Murray's contemporaries will find many a brand name and Age of Radio show to identify with. But Duke Murray goes beyond these to describe also the sounds, the tastes and the smells of the time. "Saturday Night in Lima, 1930s Style" is a golden example of his talent for evoking atmosphere.
Murray communicates a special fascination with life on the farm and the industry and humor of farming people. He describes the big meals, the homemade ice cream and grapes from the arbor. But his fondest memories are of making hay, raising chickens, cattle and hogs, and watching his aunts put up canned food stores for company in the days before modern refrigeration.
The book goes on to describe the dawning realization by America of the inevitability of World War II, and the rather frightening experiences of enlistment and service by all the three Murray sons in the U.S. Army. The book's chronology ends with Duke Murray in medical school, entertaining himself by winning a tall tale radio contest in Columbus, and singing barbershop quartets with his dissecting partners over their cadaver.
These tales will be especially enjoyed by fans of Lima and Allen County, who will respond with glee to references such as the Lima Rescue Mission and the Kewpie Hamburger Restaurant. However, the stories are more than local memoirs in that they evoke the 1930s overall, and depict the universal struggles of a young person learning to fill his shoes in America.
The book includes a map of Duke's old neighborhood, his immediate family tree, an appreciation of his storytelling history, and contact information. Come Reminisce with Me sounds a note of optimism with its attitude that life presents experiences from which lessons may often be derived. Dr. Murray shows that happiness and laughter can happen anywhere, and that life may not be perfect, but that it still offers a lot to enjoy, appreciate and be grateful for at every turn.
Reviewed by Robb Murray, July 1, 2003

Dr. Murray sews together his stories seamlessly. The stories are both quaint and hysterical. His eye for detail gets down to the last inch of the scene. He has a way of drawing you into the story so that you won't want to miss a beat. This book is great for the summer beach bag.

This is a book of many Special Stories. So well written you feel you were there. It is one of those books you cannot stop reading till you finish that last Story.

This book transforms you back to a simpler time in life and one where neighbors really cared about each other.Life at the time might not have seemed so easy but loyalty, manners, patriotic spirit and faith were essential ingredients to a wonderful childhood in the Midwest. You can almost picture yourself in the middle of the neighborhood the author describes and can visualize the characters he describes. It is so pleasant to read.

I must confess that my initial interest in "Come Reminisce with Me" was one of local history. But what I discovered was something deeper than descriptions of Lima, Ohio in the 1930s. Murray's simple style and delicious imagery of youthful experiences took me back to a time in my own life when each day was a new adventure. These memories are intricately woven with humor and humility, joy and compassion, leading the reader through youthful rites of passage on the road to evolving maturity.

Share this book with your friends, kids and grandkids and watch what happens. It's sure to spark dialogue about some of life's most endearing and enduring experiences and values.

Patricia Smith
Allen County Museum

The new addition updates this classic for the 21 century. The importance of history and examination continues to be the foundation, the limitations of imaging studies as well as their strengths are fully discussed. A most have for anyone caring for patients with abdominal pain.

As a General Surgeon in an undeveloped country (Dominican Republic) I have found this book very practical in order we may diagnosis in and acute abdominal pathology without the help of TAC. Must of the time we use clinics and ultrasound and the book gives the keys for a close aproximation to the diagnosis.
Perhaps is a popular book in USA but we have no translation of it in Spanish and I think it is excellent for helping medical students and residents to improve in their knowledge about acute abdomen.

historical point of view of surgical practice, this book give a concise but extremely useful method of clinical thinking.
items were treated with a logical approach, in a frendly manner , with wisdom and experience.
best then the chapters in the surgical or emergency txtbooks.

One of the most influential medical texts ever. Cope's work gets only more relevant with increasing fragmentation of care. I would argue the book is especially useful for those NOT planning a career in surgery. The work is concise, accurate, and filled with memorable language. If you spend half an hour on the appendicitis section you should be equipped to make the diagnosis correctly. Other sections are equally good, as Dr. Silen has the sense not to fix what is not broken.

I readed this book the first time 26 years ago, and it gave me a "sixth" sence as a suregon. Today I, as orthopaedical surgeon still have in my mind the essentials of the Dr. Cope's master-piece. I think it must be as a duthy ("a must be read book") in every serious medical school, to teach alumnii the surgeon's mind...even if the alumnii goes to clinical areas later on.

Great book. Not very much ceremonial information. Seems to be based more on storyline than facts.

In this book, Carson, an ex-marine, describes his apprenticeship in Oklahoma's Kiamchis mountains with an old Choctaw "conjure" (medicine woman) named Mary Gardener. The process included a prolonged purification (diet, smudges, tobacco, fasting), ceremonies, vision quests, all of which are fairly typical of NDN medicine practices. Towards the end, he helped Mary treated people afflicted with some of the many diseases likely to be encountered by the conjure: spirit -of-war disease, tiny-animals-frolicking-about-in-the-water,cloud, feather, little-gray-men-who run-the-world, birdsnake disease, television sickness and many many others. He provides a taxonomy of these diseases and their treatments, which i found very interesting. Carson learnt that each animal can cause its own specific disease which is illustrated by its own specific myth, usually featuring the Choctaw culture hero, Yellow Tobacco Boy. And not only animals: the elements, elementals, plants, stones, spirits - the collection of sentient entities and their ability to do harm to an unaware human is, to the conjure, inexhaustible.

Carson was not alone in his studies - Mary had apprentices from all over, including New Orleans and Mexico; apparently, in the universe of North American medicine people information flows copiously, if not freely. The apprentices learn about proper protocols for asking help from animals either in the individual form or from the collective animal spirit. A central theme in the book revolves around the all-important knowledge of the human energy body, or "shilip". The Choctaws recognize 22 gradations within the shilip, the viewing and manipulation of which have a central role in the healing process. Ahilip is tightly integrated into a complicated cosmology, and this connection in turn is an integral part of the healing process. Once cannot be healed apart from the interconnectedness with the cosmos. The patient/client is seen holistically; a disease, or misfortune, is reflection of a wrong energetic turn in life which the conjure works to right.

The arduous training proved to be too much and Carson bailed out. Or lived to write about it :)

I found the book interesting and a quick read. The description of healing practices was certainly fascinating, not to mention Carson's sporadic interactions with "paranormal" aspects of conjure's reality. Disconcertingly, however, the book jacket reveals that Carson is also the author of "medicine cards" through which one can "discover power through the ways of animals". Hmmm... suspicious, as it implies the man may have jumped onto the New Age wagon. We'll see how it all pans out - i'll definitely be on lookout for more info about Choctaw "conjures."

I love this book. It was so exciting to be reading his journey into Native American Medicine. My sister, Debby Cody, is a reader of the Medicine Cards and I admire David's expertise and his boundaries of what is best for him.

David Carson is of Choctaw descent and has studied Native American spirituality since growing up in Oklahoma Indian country, but his latest CROSSING INTO MEDICINE COUNTRY is something more than spiritual reflection. Here he pursues initiation as a ceremonial healer with Choctaw medicine woman Mary Gardener, studying plant and animal forces and human energy manipulation for three years. Health and spirituality blend in a survey of Native teachings and health insights which blends a memoir with a set of special reflections.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This is one of the wisest books to come down the pike in a long while in my humble opinion. Mr. Carson is a great story teller, Medicine Man, who understands the power of humility and transformation. This book is a wide ranging exploration of events in the authors life working with some powerful healers, elders, and medicine people. He documents the road of the healer and what is required to advance on this path of solitary intent, finding pain and suffering along the way, but also openning one to some astonishing vistas of spirt. This book is probably for healers and others who have already embarked off of the shores of a status quo sensibility to find and recover the authenticity of one's soul. It certainly is not a journey for the weak of heart. As the author notes, not everyone is called to this path, but for those who are, a vigilance of courage is required to walk the winding road ahead. As one goes further down this road mystery opens to reveal something not everyone is capable of understanding at this moment in time.

This is one of the best books on Medicine Power I have read in a long time; and Mr. Carson is a guide worth the price of admission. This book speaks to more than just one's mind, it grabs hold of one's soul and teaches it something profound.

Dr. Fancher makes many excellent points in this book. There is a lot more reform that needs to happen in psychology and psychiatry. It's good that there are courageous people like Fancher who will raise these crucial issues.

I am giving up half-way through. The outline of this book is great, and the points made are valid. But it is not written well. Specifically, it is very wordy and repetitive. The author makes a point, discusses the point, then makes the point again a page or two later. I got it the first time.

I am toward the end of the section on the Behaviorists, and have just decided it is not worth finishing. I would give an example of the wandering wordiness, but it would take too much text to convey this oft-repeated problem. An editor needs to get hold of this and fix it up.

That's a shame - the author does a very good job of defining the theory and the scientific basis of the major schools of psychotherapy, and then noting how far the theory is from its scientific claim. For the intellectual content, I agree with other reviewers that this is one of the best books to do this. However, it is a lot of work to slog through all this writing to cover the wide but discrete range of theses presented.

The author makes profound statements about the human condition, normalcy, and pathology, including as understood by the schools of therapy. But he presents this elliptically. His case could be stronger if he simply stated his counter-arguments, supported them, then went on to the next chapter. The counter-arguments actually add up to a nice profile of what it means to be human, whether disturbed or not!

I was excited to get this book. I have read a lot on this topic. Like the author, I am also trained as a psychotherapist, and like the author, I am quite concerned about the way that therapeutic training ignores the truth that most of what we do is based on philosophy and belief and only to a small (but increasing) degree on science.

I was surprised at the quality of writing when I began reading. I then figured out my mistake: I picked this used book up for a good price, thinking it was written by Raymond Fancher, who wrote the marvelous book, Pioneers in Psychology. That also covers historical and philosophical bases of psychology. When the writing proved annoying, I looked closer and realized it was a different Fancher!

If you conduct research in this area and want a good account of the premises of the major schools of psychotherapy, and you want a good account of their criticisms, this is a valuable book. for example, an ambitious undergrad could write a strong paper with guidance from these arguments. But you will have to work at it -they are not clearly presented.

If there were still hippies, this book would not have to be written. Thinking back to those days, I recall my friend Alex coming from therapy one day and saying, "Psychologists basically want you to conform." He was right then, but in our age of conformity, common sense statements like that will not be enough to educate a public inundated with data showing the efficacy of therapy. This book fills that vaccuum and reveals the hidden ideology of each of the contemporary schools of psychotherapeutic schools so cogently, succinctly, and logically that it would probably be blacklisted by most graduate Psychology departments. It is equivalent to Galileo's revelation that the Church had a vision of the solar system, not based on study but on wish-fulfillment. Taking on the psychoanalytic enterprise, behaviorists, Beck's cognitive psychology, and psychopharmacology in one fell swoop, he demonstrates effectively that that the theorists and practitioners of these various "methods" have molded their views in the same way pre-Columbian map makers designed atlases: through conjecture, impressionism, and powerful cultural biases. Regardless of the implied assertions by many that psychotherapy is rising to the level of a science, Fancher shows this to be far from the case. This is of particular importance today as there is a strong move toward defining evidence based or empirically based therapies that work--probably an artifact of pressures from HMO's rather than greater sophistication of understanding the nature of mental illness. Fancher presents two major problems: one is that in dealing with what is a "healthy individual," one must have an ideological basis; and second, the "subjects" are not reliable. Ever take an employment test with a question "Have you ever stolen from an employer?" How would YOU answer? This is a rather crude example, but you get the point. But if you think about the claims therapies make, and think rationally, it seems fairly obvious psychologists are either poorly trained in logic, poorly educated in the nature of human culture, value, and imagination. One gets the feeling from reading the anayses of the reasoning behind what makes therapy work that most psychologists/psychiatrists don't even read the newspaper. One salient example is the popular Beck Cognitive Therapy industry. Your thinking determines how you feel; change your mind, change your emotions--all in 12 easy sessions. I can imagine Doestoevsky or even John Steinbeck in these sessions. "See, John, when you THINK people are poor and exploited and powerless, you will feel sorry for them and write those pessimistic books of yours. Now, just look around, do you see anyone starving to death in my office?" That might be a bit of hyperbole, but not far from the truth. But it is certainly the truth that such methods--if taken at face value--have the potential of converting the search for the end of psychological suffering and the search for meaning to a reductionist level that approaches the quest for mental health on the same level of taking dance lessons to get dates. Fancher hits home when he challenges each of the popular forms of therapeutic schools, showing even psychopharmocology is an enterprise based on Nielson ratings, figuring out what therapists want their patients to feel, then trying to get the chemistry right. At times the author uses a bit more ammunition than he needs. Having hit the nail on the head, he will occasionaly add a few swings of the hammer. Also, while psychopharmocology does have its ideology, it does appear to relieve some suffering at least some of the time, so I'd be hesitant to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Rather than provide more summary, I'd make the point that if you are interested in the field of therapy or counseling--either as a professional or consumer--if you don't read this book, it would be like trying to play chess without knowing what any of the pieces do or how the game is played.

This is the best book on comparative clinical psychology/psychiatry I've ever read.

If psychotherapists/psychiatrists were considered faith healers (which this book makes clear they are), this book would qualify as a book on comparative religion, and it would make one question their faith.

Psychoanalysis, Behaviorism, Cognitive Therapy, and Biological Psychiatry are all analyzed, with their core beliefs and assumptions described in detail. Each school's standing with the scientific facts is mentioned.

Cultural reasons why Americans accept certain therapies, or come to accept them in spite of their unscientific bases, are also given.

The most noticable omission is the lack of any discussion of Albert Ellis' Rational Emotive Therapy, although many of the comments about Beck's therapy apply to RET too.

The chapter on biological psychiatry could have provided more background on its history, as well as mention more specific psychiatrists' and pharmaceutical companies' influences. For biological psychiatry, "Blaming the Brain" by Elliot Valenstein (mentioned in this text's acknowledgements) is also recommended.

Without coming out too strongly (which could create a backlash), the book does an excellent job of pointing out how biological psychiatry's illness model is used to justify prescribing psychoactive drugs with no proven specificity in treating "illnesses", in a culture which otherwise wages war on psychoactive drugs.

The only noticable editorial error was a major misspelling of "renaissance".

Okay, I wrote this, so of course I like it--and since I have to give it "stars" in order to post, I give it five.

But the point of this "review" is to say that the book will be back in print this Fall (2003), from Transaction Publishers/Rutgers, with a new intro and a new title--"Health and Suffering in America: The Context and Content of Mental Health Care."

The hype about mental health care in the last five years or so has grown more and more outrageously false. I'm glad Transaction wants to keep this book in print, as a corrective to the nonsense that those who profit from mental health care would have you believe.

There is no way to change the ending. We all die. That's a fact. But Marion Rosen brings some cheer into the search for the end. She survives two major bouts with cancer. It's a surprise ending in a way. I enjoyed her novels and now Her book on cancer is very special indeed. Congratulations to the author!

"Dance Like Nobody's Watching", what a positive and uplifting book. As I closed the book after reading about Marion's positive experiences and how she was always there for those who needed her, I felt a big warm hug from my dear friend and colleague. This is a book that I will read more that one time.

"Dance Like Nobody's Watching" is an unusual insight into how people diagnosed with cancer face their everyday problems. The author skillfully blends the emotional, spiritual and clinical aspects of fighting this disease.

I was recommended this book by Amazon when I purchased a "Living with Cancer" cookbook. I have been recently diagnosed with breast cancer and decided to read this so I could hear a "survivors's" story, and get hope and inspiration for my complete recovery. Whereas the storyteller does survive 2 major cancers, and does give good insight on body-spirit connection,nutrition, meditation, and reaching out for support, I was left feeling quite depressed after finishing the book. The storyteller survives, Thank Goodness, and apparently remains cancer free, but pretty much all the other characters in the book whom she befriended thru various support groups, eventually succumb to their cancer and pass away.
This may indeed be reality, but not one that I needed to be confronted with repeatedly at the beginning of my journey. So, if you are just starting down this cancer path, and you are looking for hope and inspiration, beware, this book may not be the answer to your prayers!! To be totally honest, even though the storyteller survives, and I am really happy about that, there was so much death in this book that I would not recommend it to anyone who does not want to dwell on where their journey might take them.

My heartfelt thanks to Marian Rosen for this amazing book and sharing her battle with two forms of cancer. It is honestly and beautifully written, transcending any story I have read about cancer. This is an intimate account of what the author experienced and how she learned to cope with life-threatening diseases (breast and ovarian cancers),embrace life, and survive. Dance Like Nobody's Watching shows that one can move from a feeling of helplessness to hopefulness, from fearing death to choosing life, from feeling out of control to taking charge, and from feeling alone to finding a wealth of support from family, friends, and support groups.

Dance Like Nobody's Watching is not only a story about cancer, but also a highly informative or instructional manual/how-to guide for dealing with cancer. I was greatly impressed with the wealth of information presented on treatment,research, legislation, and groups dealing with cancer.

I highly recommend this book for everyone, including those with cancer or those who have friends or family members with cancer.

I thought this book was helpful to me by listing all the stressors that many people wouldn't think of. I hadn't thought of chocolate as a stressor and tylenol. These were to i didn;t think of. But all this info in this book helped tremendously. It helps you loose wieght along with de-stressing yourself. I also learned that drinking tea does not help you but hurt you.

What more could we want?? This superbly written book is well organized, referenced and easy to read and understand. And...the authors are transformed into our personal "coaches" who are cheerleading for our success along the weight continuum. They readily share detailed, thought provoking life-altering information and are with us all the way.

Drs Clark and Rosch have proved that quality gems can come in small packages. De-stress, Weigh Less is an excellent, compact reference book for anyone trying to lose weight, minimize the adverse effects of stress, prevent a stroke or heart attack, reduce the ravages of diabetes, improve over all health or just add zest, energy and years to life. It has sufficient research evidence for medical practitioners following a scientific based practice with their clients. At the same time it is written in user-friendly terms anyone can understand. The thought provoking questions, examples, menus and suggestions for substitutions provide life style changes that ensure success in life enhancement activities. I am using De-stress, Weigh Less as a reference book for myself and will enthusiastically recommend it to my clients. Judith O'Neill, RN, MN, COHN-S

De-stress, weigh less is a well organized compacted book with all the data one needs to know for staying fit and noting which foods cause stress and weight gain.

I liked having the checklists handy, which foods reduce the stress of boredom, weekly goals, the recipes and the tomato sauce for a week and the exercise data showing the symptoms of too much exercise.

For me the best aspect of De-stress, Weigh less is having the exact listing for which foods are vitamin rich along with the deficiency symptoms.

Usually when reading a book that states you need more protein or Vitamin B, for example, you will not get examples of what this is. I liked having this data listed so I could make adjustments in my diet.

The book covers MSG, eggs, sweeteners, binge eating, time management, allergies, food sensitivities and much more in six steps to follow.

I already eliminated Aspartame from my diet and liked seeing the list of what types of items this can be found in. The book also touched on the confusion between assertive and aggressive - an issue I have faced many times in deciphering the two meanings.

There is a food seduction test in step two. The index is extensive and covers every aspect for this no-diet plan to permanent weight loss.

Drs. Clark and Rosch have proved that high quality gems can come in small packages. De-stress, Weigh Less is an excellent, compact reference book for anyone trying to loose weight, minimize the adverse effects of stress, prevent a heart attack or stroke, reduce the ravages of diabetes, improve overall health or just add zest, energy and years to life. It has sufficient research evidence for medical practitioners following a scientific based practice with their clients. At the same time it is written in user friendly terms that anyone can understand. The thought provoking questions, examples, menus, and suggestions for substitions provide life style changes that ensuer success in life enhancement activities. I am using De-stress, Weigh Less as a reference book for myself and will enthusiastically recommend it to my clients.