Medicine and Health Books

Dr. Michael Holick is considered a pioneer in the field of vitamin D.
I consider the recent advances in vitamin D research one of the major breakthroughs in the entire medical field. Vitamin D is ultimately converted to a hormone that affects the entire body. If you think that vitamin D is only for the bones and you only need 400-600 IU a day as your multivitamin bottle and the US government tell you, then you are still living in the 1950s. Vitamin D has receptors in the bones (increases bone density), muscles (enhances muscle strength and power), lymphocytes (without adequate vitamin D they go wild and attack different organs and tissues, causing autoimmune disorders),
blood vessels (relaxes the arterial walls and lowers blood pressure by ~ 2-4 mmHg), heart muscles (prevents thickening of the heart ventricles), myelin (prevents multiple sclerosis), prostate, breasts, colon, pancreas ... (preventing cancers of these organs)...... brain cells (prevents degeneration of brain cells), skin, hair follicles (nourishes the hair and skin) ... etc. When your vitamin D level is inadequate, the body loads your bones with water (instead of minerals such as calcium and phosphorus(, the result is stretching of your periostium (lining of your bones) which results in excruciating pains in the shins, wrists, ribs, and the breast bones. These nagging pains and aches do not go away with anything except with vitamin D.
When your muscles lack vitamin D, you get very weak and very tired. Your quadriceps muscles become so weak that they cannot carry you without supporting yourself with your hands when rising from a sitting position, you have difficulty climbing stairs, difficulty reaching objects over your head. Elderly people will have constant pains and aches, they have to use walkers, and they lose their balance and fall, since their quadriceps cannot give them a sense of balance.
To add insult to injury, vitamin D level is outdated in almost every lab in the USA, most doctors do not check the level, some check the wrong type of vitamin D (there are 2 types). The new knowledge has not even made it into the curriculum of medical schools, and most medical students are not even aware of it. The US government still preaches the old daily requirement of vitamin D.
The daily requirement of vitamin was recently updated to 1000 IU a day, which is still inadequate.
Dr. Holick's book will teach you how to understand vitamin D for your overall health, how much of vitamin D you need, and how a safe exposure to the sun-without overdoing it- will ultimately give you vitamin D to liver healthier (and even longer).
Dr. Holick's recent review suggests that women who are vitamin D deficient have a 253% increased risk for developing colon and rectal cancer, and women who ingested 1500 mg/d calcium and 1100 IU/d vitamin D for 4 yr reduced risk for developing cancer by >60%.
I have been applying the new vitamin D research studies to clinical patient care in my office since 1999.


Shirwan Mirza, MD

Dr. Holick's work needs to celebrated for revealing an extremely important aspect of the human condition, i.e. we are not exposing ourselves to enough UVB to produce sufficient amounts of Vitamin D. As mentioned previously, this work does not need go into more scientific depth. It is not a work in biochemistry. It is a work which challenges people's thinking and the expectations of a pharmaceutical industry. It is criminal that a professor that has stated his objective scientific opinion would be removed from his position by a biased department chair. Is anyone saying to go out and cook ourselves in UVA all day every day? Are the people defending the pharmaceutical protocol prepared to explain what early versions of sunblock actually did to help INCREASE rates of sun cancer? You can look at this from either perspective, secular or non-secular. We evolved in the sun or this is a system the Lord created. We don't need more talking heads telling us not to do what the DATA supports that we should do. Bravo, Dr. Holick, for your lifetime of work, starting from UW to BU.

Holick's book, and his articles helped me find out why, after staying indoors for ten years, due to depression, MY WHOLE SKELEFeeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and UpdatedTON AND ALL MY MUSCLES ACHED. I went to a MD and found out I had NO vitamin D3 in my body, and over 100 tiny fractures. I'm on D3 therapy (50,000 I.U.s a week). I just purchased a UVB lamp. I feel so good, now. I'll be basking in the sun all year long. Thank you Dr. Holick, and keep fighting the good, and right fight. By the way, the writing is clear, tight, plain, and nicely organized. Dr. Holick, you changed my health and life.

Lightweight introduction to UV and vitamin D. No slight intended to Dr Holick who has been and is a key researcher on vitamin D and is presenting important health information to the public. But this book is like a friendly conversation between a well-informed doctor who is giving essential information to a lay audience, but he assumes they don't want much detail. If you have read a few web-pages about vitamin D, you may already know everything here - vitamin D RDA is too low, many people are deficient, deficiency is associated with a number of illnesses, sunlight exposure will give you what you need but don't get sunburned, supplements can also help but are inferior to sunlight because you need to determine appropriate dosage. The book has repeated information, padding (sentences along the lines of 'countless poets and songwriters attest to the enjoyment of sunshine'), while some things that could have been described in depth - like vitamin D toxicity from supplements (or potentially from diet I guess) - get short shrift. If you don't know much about vitamin D and want a high-level introduction, it's fine. If you wanted more detail or science, skip it.

This is an easy to read book that has scientific research that convinced me that we all need vitamin D to prevent many of the health problems that are prevelant today. The author writes that vitamin D is best absorbed from natural sunlight and shows how this balances with the problem of too much sun which causes skin cancer. There is alot of skin cancer information in this book also. I highly recommend this book!

This is a very moving account of one woman's ordeal with breast cancer. I read it in only a matter of hours; I was impressed with not only her courage and strength, but with the humor with which she dealt with cancer.

Whether you have cancer, know someone who does, or simply are interested in finding a cure, this is a great read on the subject.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 29. Exactly 1 year and almost 2 months ago. Humor is what helped me through my year of hell. I had a masectomy, 16 chemo treatments and 33 radiation treatments. Mt new lift kit is scheduled for next summer. I tell my story to anyone that will listen. Jennie Nash hits it right on the nose. Funny, my name is Jen. Thank you..

As a mother of a newly diagnosed breast cancer patient, I found this book to be extremely helpful in offering me a glimpse into the dynamics of this disease. The emotional and physical pain of the author brings to the forefront how very devastating this disease is to all involved. I have bought this book as gifts for friends who have been diagnosed after a survivor recommended it to me.

I read this book cover to cover. It is very worth reading for anyone facing mastectomy and a choice of breast reconstruction methods. The author had a terrible time recovering from breast cancer surgery, but it is very important to distinguish between the physical difficulties caused by the surgery itself (relatively minor) and the physical difficulties caused by the choice of reconstruction (major). The large abdominal scar mentioned in another review is a feature of her "free TRAM flap" reconstruction, a reconstruction choice that can have excellent cosmetic effects when it works but is very physically costly otherwise. I recommend instead the books on breast cancer by Musa Mayer, who is more thoughtful (and also a survivor) and much more medically informative.

This book, The Victoria's Secret Catalog Never Stops Coming and other Lessons I Learned from Breast Cancer, was just what I needed. I was diagnosed with the dreaded BC three weeks ago. I went through a lumpectomy a week ago. I spent the last 3 weeks pouring over technical medical books, reviewing statistics, researching information on the web and learning as much as I could about the disease. I purchased this book on a whim, thinking it may give a perspective that would help alleviate the stress I was going through.
I laughed, cried and also realized that I was not alone. The descriptions of friends and family mirror my situation as well.
The book is now an all time favorite of mine that I hope others will read and also be inspired to tell their story.

Dr. Wilson is an internist who took time to write this book for women who want to maintain their husband's (and their own!) health in a simple, understandable way.

Topics include diabetes type II, prostate health, cholesterol and cholesterol-lowering drugs, heart conditions and more. The doctor covers supplements like fish oil--so this is not a book that only covers ethical drug treatment. Bravo. The book definitely goes into detail that you might or might not get from your family phsyician, and it does it in the most accessible, easy-to-grasp way.

Dr. Wilson felt so strongly that if women would have a readable guide for health, they could influence the health of their partner in a significant way. I agree. I can't see who wouldn't benefit from having this valuable book to read and refer to.

This book is at the same time immensely readable and yet quite profound. Dr. Wilson does a superb job of taking medical information that to the layman might appear quite complex, and explaining it in very readable and understandable terms. This is quite a gift! She talks TO people, not DOWN to them. I especially appreciated her candor in the chapter on "Regrets and Longings". By allowing her readers to feel her own pain at being horribly and unjustly accused of a professional error in judgement, she validated the pain of everyone who might find themselves in a very difficult position that took them totally unaware. This is a great gift she gives to her readers. She comes across as human yet totally professional.

Many books on health either try to cover too much or simply focus in one small disease area. Of these two choices, I prefer those that look at one small area and cover it well. It had never occurred to me that a health book could also focus on the common health issues of one sex or the other, of a certain age. Your Husband's Health was a pleasant surprise in this regard.

Dr. Wilson is an internal medicine physician, and combines her experience with the statistics about what is mostly likely to go wrong with a middle-aged man. I found the book to be an eye-opener for me, and benefited from understanding more about how excess carbohydrates can cause my triglycerides to increase (along with my waistline).

The book begins with psychological issues, an area often not spoken of very much concerning middle-aged men. Dr. Wilson sympathizes by describing her own experience with being hauled into a lawsuit that didn't really reflect her culpability. The book goes on to cover depression and alcoholism.

The man sources of physical problems that cause early deaths are covered in the forms of:

Too little High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) in the blood (HDL helps remove cholesterol from artery walls);

Heart Disease;

Cholesterol in the body;

Hypertension (high blood pressure);

Cancer.

In a final section, Dr. Wilson looks at other nagging concerns including being overweight, diabetes, erectile dysfunction, urologic problems, sleep disorders, getting men to go in for a check-up, and being aware that men don't want erectile dysfunction as a side effect of a medication or medical treatment.

Dr. Wilson keeps it simple. If you can read at an 11th grade level, you will understand just about everything.

I did find her ideas about exercise to be unrealistic. She is able to discipline herself to do an hour of exercise a day before going to work. Good for her! But she feels that middle-aged men can be encouraged to do that also. I'm skeptical. Even when I'm feeling like exercising a lot, I seldom exercise every day. Many of my workouts last less than an hour, unless I find something I really want to read or watch on television while I am on the treadmill. Also, with age and arthritis (not to mention being overweight), exercise is an increasing challenge. I also thought that her ideas on weight loss are also a little optimistic. I graded the book down by one star for these reasons. In terms of making it clear what the issues are though, this is a five-star book.

As I finished the book, I found myself reformulating my diet to add even more vegetables and low-glycemic fruits . . . and low-fat protein.

I am 53 and read Your Husband's Health out of curiosity about my own
health. I seldom go to the doctor so most of this was new and
interesting information. I particularly liked the section entitled
Regrets and Longings. I wish my wife had read that ten years ago. The
book is well written, concise and kept my attention. There are some
wonderful stories and humor interspersed with the medical information.
I highly reccomend this to midlife men and their wives as a good place
to start understanding their own health and preserving that health for
later in life.

Your Husband's Health: Simplify Your Worry List came out at a critical time for my husband and me. His best freind, Tom, and his wife were on vacation last month. Tom went swimming in the ocean, became very short of breath, and keeled over dead. It was a terrible shock to all of us, and has made us understand our own mortality.
I countered the fear for my own husband by studying the pertinent advice in this well written book. It now seems relevant what the doctor has been saying about cholestoral and blood pressure. I understand my husband's emotional changes and growth at mid-age much better.
Although the sections on deadly physical problems helped me through the crisis of Tom's sudden death, I probably benefitted most from "Regrets and Longings" because i better understand what I can do to keep our marriage happy and fulfilling for the both of us.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who cares about a man in the mid-life age range, it may help you save his life.

Sorry, meant to mark four stars.

I like that it has so much information all in one place, however much of the information in this book can be found on the internet (although with A LOT more work). This book gave me a much appreciated focus to my cancer research.

There are breakthoughs that the book does not cover (for example fungal infection) and it was written when the understanding of prions (the cause of mad cow disease for example)and their role in health risk was only beginning.

Would like to see a more updated version, almost 10 years old, a more recent version could only be better.

With a working diagnosis of advanced ovarian cancer, this book gave me HOPE and DIRECTION. Statistics say: One in two men and one in three women will face cancer. IF POSSIBLE, be prepared in advance to know what course you would take. BUT, if you or a loved one are diagnosed with cancer, have courage! There are MANY choices BESIDES surgery, radiation and chemo. Better choices! This enormous book will educate you.

Don't miss the AMAS test on pages 702-705: an accurate blood test that can detect ANY cancer up to 19 months BEFORE conventional medical tests for cancer can find it! This test gave me GREAT PEACE of MIND as it ruled OUT cancer for me before my surgery to remove a grapefruit-sized endometrioma (NON-malignant). Praise the LORD!

Im a 33 year old young woman, who was diagnosed with advance local breast cancer 5 months ago today (24 May 2001, date of diagnosis). I was fortunate enough to have a close friend in the US who know of this book, due to working with one of the doctors who are published.

This book has become my Bible and has literaly saved my life. Im sitting here tonight in the wee hours of the night to let you know that today I have no turmors and am living cancer free. Five months ago I have 4 tumors all at approx 4cm each, today they are all gone, by the grace of God and his direction led me to this book which in turn gave me the information, the wisdom and guaidence to get through this tragic disease that so many people, possibly thousands world wide die from.

God Bless the all those who contributed to the truth about cancer. I thank you.

"Enza"

A large part of beginning to win the battle with cancer is reasearch and information, so that one can make informed decisions about ones own health care. This book provides a wealth of easy-to-understand information about the options to conventional treatments. Whether or not one chooses to prescribe to any treatment offered in this "encyclopedia" of different modalities, one is almost certain to come away from reading with one of the greatest cancer fighters of all - hope!

This massive (1116 pages) book is published by the editor of the magazine 'Alternative Medicine.' The first section consists of richly detailed accounts of the successful cancer treatment plans of 23 respected alternative physicians from Robert C Atkins to Charles B Simone. Part 2 is a fundamental explanation of the nature, causes, politics and prevention of cancer. I have never read a better 225 pages on the subject. When you come closer to understanding the conditions that precede cancer you are empowered to change those conditions and assume control over your own body. The final section presents alternative therapies one by one from nutrition, botanicals, and metabolic factors to physical and energy support therapies ranging from ozone and thermal (infrared heat) to acupunture and magnetic. In all, a finely-written explanation of a life-and-death topic meant for those who have cancer, their friends and families who refuse to give up and, who knows?, maybe even your doctor! This is a book I run to every time an acquaintance is diagnosed. I learn about the specifics of their condition and the hope that exists beyond the conventional.

The informative book contains well over 1000 pages of good reference material. The book discusses the causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment options, and prognosis of certain conditions and it contains about two thousand full-color illustrations that let you see disease symptoms up close, understand the anatomy, and view treatments. It also comes wtih a CD-Rom that explores different body systems. I think this is agreat book for the average person to buy, read and have around the house. The more information we get and the more we know about our bodies, diseases and anatomy, the better off we are in general.

The colored pictures are extremely useful. It shows you exactly what each illness is like. This is the best home medical reference available.

This book is worth owning and I am glad I have it. It is not a substitute, obviously, for seeing a doctor nor is it a substitute for solid research on the internet. But for basic problems, the information is good.

After my son was born, the doctors noticed some abnormalities with him. With each passing week, his problems were being reevaluated. I could read in detail the information on each new assumption made by his doctors. I usually use the internet to research such things, but found it more comforting to read these descriptions, review the pictures, and even readup on related topics.

There are also very helpful charts that you can use to try to narrow down the causes of your medical problems. I plan to use this for my 10 year old daughter as well as myself.

I have over the years purchased the FOUR top rated home medical guides in my quest to find the best. By best I mean the one that meets all of my families needs. I tried to be as unbiased as possible in examining all four books, concentrating my efforts by comparing them for organization and content. Sadly all four have their own shortcomings. All provide solid a reference for home/family health. But some are far better than others. I rated all based on a max. of five stars possible. I compared all as to content and completeness of info provided. Actually comparing the info provided for various illnesses and diseases.

NUMBER ONE
I can not say enough about this book by far the best of the best at 4.65 stars. The nearest competitor came in at 3.9 stars. Very good graphics (color) and photos. Lots of extras, including contacts and web sites to further info. Very well organized and lots of info. Is by far the most complete and most comprehensive.

Dr Janda performed surgery on my should a couple of years ago. He's an incredibly talented and caring individual who's extremely passionate about helping others by preventing sports injuries. His book is easy to read, incredibly interesting and insightful into big issues in health care, and is 100% from the heart.

The story of Roger Hall (inventor of the Lego type breakaway baseball / softball base) is amazing for both his challenges and persistence. Roger lost a friend after a freak sliding injury resulted in death (due to complications). Roger spent the next eight years working to create a breakaway base that would reduce the chance of injury. When he finally had a working design, he found he could not manufacture and market the base himself. He teamed up with a manufactuer who then did not promote the product. He then broke ties with this manufacturer and tried to have the bases made overseas, but the original manufacturer blocked the tooling to create the bases. The book dives into the reasons why a major sports equipment maker would neglect to produce a safer baseball base, why the insurance industry doesn't get involved to reduce its medical expenses, and why professional and college teams do not demand safer equipment. The story is incredibly interesting!

I expected The Awakening of a Surgeon: A Family Guide to Preventing Sports Injuries and Death by Dr. David H. Janda to be technical, dry and boring. Well, was I surprised to find it engaging, very readable but also, very alarming.

While doing his residency in orthopedic surgery, Dr. Janda discovered that the majority of baseball and softball injuries came about by players sliding into bases. Most of these injuries were caused by stationary bases. He researched various breakaway bases, and found a set that he thought would prove to be much safer. He convinced the University of Michigan to replace six of their fields with stationary bases, and the other six with the new breakaway bases. He had a group of volunteers record the injuries due to sliding over a two year period. At the end, the results were amazing! Injuries were reduced by 96% and cost of treatment reduced 99% with the breakaway bases. This helped lead to his founding The Institute for Preventative Sports Medicine. It is one of the very few independent research groups that focus solely on prevention and is not funded by sporting good companies.

What I find alarming is Janda's conviction that nobody is much interested in preventing sports injuries--from sporting good companies to insurance companies to schools and communities. Surprisingly, most baseball and softball leagues (from professions to amateurs) refused to start using the breakaway bases despite Janda's research. Many times there's a conflict of interest. "The National Operating Committee for the Safety in Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE), [is] an organization funded by the sporting goods manufacturers." Of course they're not going to rule against equipment manufactured by their sponsors. Janda ponders that unsafe and defective automobiles are required to be recalled, but "Why aren't sporting goods manufactures subject to the same standards?"

Janda also provides lots of autobiographical information about his childhood, his schooling, his family, and how he became interested in medicine. He also spends much time discussing his efforts in the area of prevention. There are also a number of appendices at the end that are helpful to parents by covering such topics as Preventing Soccer Injuries, Playground Safety, Dehydration, Swimming and Water Safety, Preventing Baseball and Softball Injuries, and a Prevention Checklist--just to name a few.

As a physical education teacher of 31 years and someone who coached varsity sports for 24 of those years, I can't recommend The Awakening of a Surgeon enough.

What a GREAT read! I thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Janda's book. It was informative, thoughtfully written, and contained just the right amount of humor. Dr. Janda is a person of integrity who genuinely cares about his patients and has an interest in preventing people involved in sports from becoming his patients. This is a very good book for individuals who want to prevent injuries for their children.

This book is absolutely Magnificent! This book is great for anybody! I fully encourage you to read this book! All coaches everywhere should have it! So, now go out there and buy the heck out of it!!!

This is an essential book for parents and weekend sportsmen, an inspirational book for anyone who has ever believed in or fought for a cause, and a good story for just about everybody. It is also a good mystery: why haven't the recommendations of Dr. Janda and the Institute for Preventative Sports Medicine been widely implemented nationally? It seems like a no brainer: the recommendations don't seem to interfere with the enjoyment of the sports, they have been proven to dramatically reduce injuries, and they greatly reduce health care costs. The recommendations seem to make everybody happy. What's the problem? Read the book to find out. I may be prejudiced because Dr. Janda saved my arm, but I loved this book and so has everyone to whom I have given it. I even have something to tease Dr. J about next time I see him: initially entertaining the thought for even a brief second that he had a prayer of taking sliding out of softball.

Too complex for me! Especially with three kids a job a husband pets and god knows what else. I do believe in his theory, though, and I'm certain it works. Maybe when my last baby goes to college I'll give it a try.

Wish I'd read this book before moving to Seattle, one of the darkest cities in North America, and living there for 17 years! Each year when the rains started and lasted for months and months, I'd typically gain 15-25 pounds. If the sun came out long enough in the summer, I'd sometimes lose most of my winter weight. When the sun was out, diet was easy. When the sun was not shining, I could not stop eating. I arrived in Seattle weighing a petite 103 pounds and wearing a size 5 and left Seattle barely able to sqeeze into a size 14-16.

Now I've moved to a sunny state and have quite a few pounds to lose. The high-carb, low-fat diets left me hungry all the time. The low-carb diets left me feeling depressed. The carbohydrate addicts diet was too restrictive, no carbs except at one meal per day. On the Circadian diet, I don't feel an overwhelming urge to eat all the time. In fact, last night, after a very small dinner, I felt more full than I usually do after a very large meal. The diet is palatable, too. While protein is emphasized during the day, a little bit of carbohydrate is allowed, and it makes the meals a lot more appetizing. So, I can have a few chunks of pineapple with my cup of cottage cheese when I'm in a hurry and have to prepare a quickie lunch. Or I can have a piece of high fiber bread with my omlette at breakfast. And I can have some protein with my carbs at dinner. Eating out is easy. After failing at high-carb, low-carb, Weight Watchers, Diet Center, et cetera, I finally have a satisfying way to eat and am losing weight. In fact, I easily lost three pounds my first week on the diet. I learned a lot of useful information from other diet books but could not stick to the diets. After reading The Circadian Prescription, I find losing weight is pretty easy! With the other suggestions in the book, I overall feel much better than I have in years!

This guy makes a lot of sense. check it out.

I had dimly begun to suspect the reasoning myself - advertising bombards us with "Carbohydrates Are For Energy", but they always seem to put me to sleep during the day when I need to think clearly. Peeking inside, Dr. Baker says effectively 'duh you idiot that's right save the carbos for dinner'. Liking this reinforcement of personal intuition, I immediately bought the book !

"Protein-in-day, carbs-at-night" is of course not patentable, but it seems to work, and the details are worth $1.00, plus which it is fairly information-dense, not one of those padded tomes.

This book is a literally a lifesaver! For years I have struggled to stay awake, alert and function with ADD, Candida and other health problems....the diet that is recommeneded allows me to feel alert when I need to be alert and relaxed when necessary by eating differently at different times of the day,and not be famished and weak with hunger in-between. This concept is radically different from anything else that I've ever read..but it works! I've always assumed that somehow each individual was so unique that we needed different diets ....this is a diet that seems to work for everybody, regardless or age, sex, health or lack of it...The breakfast shake in particular is a gem..and can even be used for lunch if needed..it gives me lots of energy and carries me to lunch without the usual mid-morning hunger that usually plagues me.
I have even introduced a friend to the concept and she was blown away too. Thank you Dr. MacDonald, from the bottom of my heart.

This comprehensive book tells all about coconut oil. It will answer all your questions and then some. It will also explode all those outdated beliefs about oils and fats. I now know the properties of coocnut oil, specifically how it is beneficial to my health, and what to look for when buying it. A great book for my library.

Excellent book. I recommend reading all of Bruce Fife's coconut books, starting with Coconut Oil Miracle. Eat coconut oil, just like he says.

This is an excellent reference of a very simple, healthy, natural product that has so many wonderful attributes. In the short time I've owned the book and used coconut oil I know my health has improved! I'm telling everyone about the benefits of this wonderful product!
Annie Mansfeld

I love this book!!! It is so well written. I have learned some amazing things from it and I love the section in the back for remedies (quick reference) It is my favorite book on this subject!!!

This book is great; easy to read and follow, very informative; it's like being your own doctor, taking charge of your own health with what nature has given us.......COCONUTS !!! One can live on coconuts as they have all the nutrients that our bodies need. Tom Hanks survived on coconuts for four years in CAST AWAY.

Very interesting book.
I had a hard time laying the book down.
Everyone should take a look at this.

Dr. Becker is a brilliant medical researcher who has devoted his life to the study of something most doctors barely understand that it exists: the body's electrical system.

Among many other topics, Dr. Becker describes
- the body's inbuilt electrical systems,
- how he was able to use electrical current to get bones that would otherwise not have grown together to do so,
- how he offered to create a means of inducing anesthesia with electrical currents, but was politely turned down by lesser doctors,
- how one can measure electrical currents flowing at acupuncture points (in other words, why there must be something to acupuncture),
- why he thinks there may be something to homeopathy,
- to what extent electrical systems play a role in the salamander's ability to regenerate tissue,
- the harm that (everyday) electromagnetic fields can cause.

The tragedy of Dr. Becker is that he is so far ahead of his time that he is largely overlooked. All the same he sometimes paints with a little too broad a brush. All the same, I heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in the life sciences.

A great job by Dr. Becker. Electromagnetism affects all lifeforms on earth. The effect it has on our health is dramatic and cannot continue to be ignored by mainstream medicine. Becker is a true pioneer.

The one criticism that I have with this book is that Becker failed to mention the excellent research done by Albert Roy Davis and Walter Rawls.
Davis was the first scientist in the world to discover that magnetism consists of two separate energies with different effects, it's not a singular form of energy with a singular effect, as is still widely believed today. The North and South poles have opposite effects.

Davis found that South pole magnetism is harmful to our health and will cause bacteria, germs, and even cancer to grow and spread at an accelerated rate in the body, while North pole magnetism will quickly stop the growth and assist the body to overcome disease. Just as Becker has said, Davis and Rawls found that many devices used in hospitals actually compound the problem. Radiation, for example, emits positive and negative electromagnetic energies. The positive energies can actually stimulate the growth of the cancer cells, similar to the way positive (South) magnetic energies do.

The first book by Davis and Rawls, "Magnetism and Its Effects on the Living System", goes into detail about how magnetism affects the physical and mental development of animals, the growth of plants, and among other topics, a detailed account of the effects both negative and positive magnetic energies have on cancer. "The Magnetic Blueprint of Life", the last of their books, expresses the relationship of air ions to health, how magnetism can be utilized in energy production, and it has in-depth information on how these positive electromagnetic energies, which are all around us, endanger us to a greater degree each and every day. We are being lied to about the safety of many electrical products on the market today, cell phones included.

If you have the books by Robert Becker and Davis and Rawls you'll be way ahead of the rest of the population in your knowledge of electromagnetism and its effects on all living beings.

If you really want to understand how the body works and is being influenced by our environment you must read this book. What an eye-opener. The author is someone thinking ahead of his time and much of what he predicted has come true.

1. "Most technological cures for cancer, for example, were found to be carcinogenic themselves"
2. From the beginning, life has been dependent on Earth's natural electromagnetic environment. Today this natural environment is submerged beneath a torrent of electromagnetic fields that have never before been present...In Cross Currents I will show how both the human body electric and the Earth's body electric have been damaged by this alteration; I will then explain what steps we must take to prevent the disaster that is fast approaching.
3. Hospitals were becoming dangerous places to enter; patients sometimes entered with minor illnesses and left with permanent disabilities resulting from complication after another. Some patients discovered the various disciplines of energy medicine, which appeared to have three outstanding things to offer. First, they would do no harm; second, they often seemed to do some good; and third, they were much less expensive than orthodox medicine.
4. The physicist, biologist, and physicians were absolutely certain that life forces simply did not exist, and that all living things were simply chemical machines. They knew that the living organism was simply a collection of structures, which work chemically and were integrated by means of central nervous system, with no involvement of electricity or magnetism.
5. Nature must have a mechanism of self-repair; otherwise, life would not have succeeded. Self-repair requires a closed-loop control system-that is, one in which a certain signal indicates injury and causes another signal to effect repair. As the repair proceeds, the injury signal diminishes, and when the repair is complete the signal stops.
6. Salamander limbs regenerate at the Neuroepidermal junction and negative electric current signals primitive cells in the blastema to redifferentiate and growth back the limb. As the blastema grows, the salamander current becomes highly negative and slowly returns to its original baseline.
7. In a number of experiments, I was able to show that the DC electric currents I was measuring from a variety of tissues, including nerve fibers, were actual semiconducting. As a result of interest stirred up by these experiments, many people began to make electrical measurements of other growth processes. All rapid growing tissues were found to be negative in polarity. Interestingly, cancers in animals or humans always showed the highest negativity.
8. The frog's red cells could be dedifferentiated by electricity, but only with vanishing small amounts (measured in the billionths of amperes). Electricity was clearly a stimulus to regeneration. Instructions to regenerate were retained by mammals. Therefore, the growth control system required for regeneration was present. For electricity to turn on the control system for regeneration the right amount of electricity and right polarity was required.
9. I proposed that the acupuncture pointes were just such booster amplifiers, spaced along the course of the meridian transmission lines. Metallic acupuncture needles inserted in or near such a point would produce sufficient electrical disturbance that the amplifier could not operate, and the pain would be blocked.
Input DC electrical signals carried the information that injury had occurred along the acupuncture medians to the brain, where parts of this group of signals reached consciousness and was perceived as pain. Output DC signals caused the cells and chemical mechanisms at the site of injury to produce repair.
11. In the 1880s, Dr Allison Apostoli treated cancers of the cervix and uterus with DC electricity by inserting a positive electrode into the tumor and passing between 100 to 250 milliamperes of current through the tumor to a large negative electrode on the abdomen producing electrolysis within the tumor. He reported prompt relief of pain and bleeding, and shrinkage of the tumors, but he reported no long-term results.
12. All rapidly growing tissues were found to be negative in polarity compared with the rest of the body. The highest negativity was found in malignant tumors. In 1977, Doctors Muriel Schaubel and Mutaz Habel used stainless steel needles inserted directly into the tumors. Doctors Schaubel and Habel used three leves of current: 3 milliamperes, ½ milliampre, and 960 millimicroamperes. With the 3 Ma current there was significant destruction of the tumor, with about twice as much at the positive as the negative location. At the ½ MA there was destruction of the tumor at the positive electrode. At the lowest level of current there was a reduction in the weight of the tumors with both the positive and negative electrodes. The conclusion was the tumor destruction was the result of local electrolysis at the needle electrode.
13. The local toxicity of electricity kills cancer cells, but the real hazard is stimulating other cancer growth with the use of electricity.
14. Dr Kenneth McLean claimed that rats inoculated with cancer survived if they were treated with extremely high strength DC magnetic fields.
15. Pulsed magnetic field treatment for bone nonunions also has been reported to slow the growth of animal tumors. Pulsed magnetic fields have a major effect on the stress-response system. Exposure of the whole animal for a short time causes a rapid stress response, with a marked increase in the activity of the immune system. For a time, the immune system has the upper hand and defeats an increased growth of the cancer. However, continuing the exposure beyond the short term results in a decline of the stress response and the immune system falls to below normal levels. Tumor-cell growth is then enhanced by both the drop in immune-system efficiency and the direction of the pulsed magnetic field on the cancer cells themselves.
16. Dr Becker discovered that some human cancer cells in a culture appeared to dedifferentiate when exposed to electrically generated silver ions. An electrical-charge transfer sends a signal to the nucleus of the cancer cell that activates the primitive type genes, and the cell dedifferentiates.

Dr. Attig's book is an important part of a paradigm shift in our thinking about grief. He has thrown open a door to new thinking about how we can continue to be in relationship to loved ones who are no longer alive. This book is eloguently written with the ring of truth from the lives of real people. An excellent addition to our knowlege and understanding of grief.

This is such an important book that it is required reading in my Introduction to Death and Dying course. It has valuable information, yet it is verty readable. It is presented as a very human book.

Dr. Thomas Attig's book, "The Heart of Grief: Death and the Search for Lasting Love," is an exceptional follow-up to his first book about grieving, "How We Grieve: Relearning the World." Each chapter of "Heart of Grief" begins with a real life situation involving the death of a person and the consequences of that death on those who are still living. His premise is that people who have passed away can still be an important and essential part of one's life. You don't have to get on with your life without them; you can get on with your life with them. Although there is an element of `advice' giving in "Heart of Grief," the book is much more story-telling. It's like a good novel-you can read it for the dramatization of some essential human truths. I recommend it highly.

I'm willing to bet that whoever wrote the editorial review for Publisher's Weekly (above) has never known the crushing agony of losing someone to death that s/he truly loved; or suffered the kind of pain that still drops you to your knees, years, even decades later, begging for mercy. The kind of anguish where you'd gladly give your own life just to make it stop. The kind you bear when you know they are never coming back and there is nothing you can do. I'm very happy for that reviewer. I hope he or she will never know it. But Heart of Grief must be read by those who understand all too well the overwhelming tidal wave of hopelessness that accompanies the loss of a loved one. Where Publisher's Weekly found this book simplistic, I found beauty in its quiet simplicity.

Being of a metaphysical sort, I've read just about all the reincarnation / life after death / love never dies / hypnotic regression / soul mates for eternity / communicating with the dead / type books. I've been spellbound by all of them and will probably continue to read them as they are published because it's a fascinating subject. Besides helping us to understand the process of dying and what comes after, these books pledge that we will someday be reunited. They all assure us that the deceased are still very much alive and well and with us daily, so there is no need to grieve. But they also often come with the stipulation that we must let go so that our loved ones can move forward, and because we want what is best for those we love, we attempt to suppress our grief, no matter how much it hurts us. While the theory seems reasonable, by trying to ignore our suffering, we compound it. We cannot stop the hurt just because we want to. It's not an electrical switch. It's not a water faucet. And it's just not that easy. Grief is complex, binding us with ropes so twisted we cannot seem to find the end that will untangle us.

Heart of Grief shows us that we do not have to let go, and in fact, encourages us not to. With compassion and a comforting voice, Thomas Attig sets forth practical ways to keep and strengthen the bonds of love with those who have died. I found it to be a very spiritually healing and uplifting book that has made a dent in my grief and a difference in my life.

On September 11, 2001, many sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters died. I lost my own son 10 years ago and since that time I have wondered what can really be of help to parents, or other grievers in learning to live with such loss. Now, more than ever, life seems so fragile in this world and the need for understanding grief as important as ever. It is so hard when grief is so great. Our fears of our own mortality spring to the front stage of our emotins nakedly exposed to others. I recently found Tom Attig's The Heart of Grief and it met me right where I was. Using his personal experiences of grieving people, Attig describes a process of learning to love in a new way. He recounts the stories of people's losses and provides a myriad of ways that grievers have found to continue loving the ones they have lost.
Of course, we do not stop loving or forget our loved one. Death does not end our relationshipwith the deceased, but it is different. They are forever gone from this life. Attig suggests that sometimes people fear that when they accept the loss it means they have stopped loving the deceased person. Many people, who are unable to let themselves feel the full impact of their loss, find themselves stuck in wishing for the past and the return of a loved one. Consequently, there can be no real acceptance of the loss. Attig emphaasizes the need to BE SAD because what has happened IS SO SAD. Feeling intense sadness scares many people, so Attig encourages us to find someone to accompany us on this journey, a spouse, a friend, or a professional.
Most importantly, Attig writes that if we do not fully accept and greive our loss, we may have difficulty ever loving again. It is only through acceptance of our losses that we can continue to love those who have died in a new way and to love those who are still with us and love us. The use of real peoples' stories of loss are inspirational and give hope. Attig provides numerous examples and possiblities of ways to learn to love anew. Whether you are grieving a loss yourself or know someone who is, this book is very readable, relateable, informative and comforting. We all will be grievers some day. I highly recommend this book. I has a permenant place of importance on my bookshelf.