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Reviews of The Best Alternative Medicine
From the Book Jacket
"If you have ever wondered whether there is any basis of fact under
the bewildering claims and counterclaims of alternative medical care, this
, is the book for you. In The Best Alternative Medicine, Dr. Kenneth
Pelletier, one of the earliest pioneers of mind/body medicine, offers clear,
up-to-the-minute scientific evidence for the most common alternative approaches.
What a gift this is! If you are a patient, I strongly suggest you read the
book before you try an alternative treatment. It may save your life."
-- Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., Clinical Professor, Family and
Community Medicine, UCSF School Of Medicine
"The medicine of the future will integrate the best of traditional
and nontraditional approaches to health arid healing. But why wait? Find
it today in The Best Alternative Medicine."
-- Dean Ornish, M.D., Founder and President, Preventive Medicine Research
Institute; Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCSF School of Medicine; author, Dr.
Dean Ornish's Program For Reversing Heart Disease and Love & Survival
"Based on an enormous body of research, this is a brilliant synthesis
of the emerging field of alternative medicine. Written in plain language,
This book will help anyone find their way in this exciting, complex area.
For many years I've personally looked to Dr. Pelletier as a guide in this
field. This book shows why."
--Larry Dossey, M.D., author, Reinventing Medicine and
Healing Words; Executive Editor, Alternative Therapies In
Health and Medicine
"There are a confusing number of therapies considered to be 'alternative
medicine' and an equally confusing number of claims, as well as disclaimers,
about their effectiveness. In this book. Dr. Pelletier uses a wealth of clinical
and scientific knowledge to steer a level course through this overwhelming
morass of information. The Best Alternative Medicine gives us the
facts we need to know -- what are the main therapies, what is the scientific
proof of their safety and effectiveness, and which conditions are they most
likely to help?"
-- Brian M. Berman, M.D., Associate Professor and Director, University
of Maryland School of Medicine
"In The Best Alternative Medicine, Dr. Pelletier's comprehensive
and authoritative review of the research on complementary and alternative
approaches to a broad range of medical problems will help the reader separate
fact from fiction in this burgeoning and confusing field. This book should
be in the hands of anyone considering alternative treatments, whether patient
or physician."
—Dr. Redford B. Williams, Jr., M.D., Director, Behavioral Medicine
Research Center, Duke University Medical Center; coauthor, Anger Kills
"Are you uncertain about which treatments are most effective in complementary
and alternative medicine? From herbs to nutrition, chiropractic to yoga,
and homeopathy to prayer. Dr. Kenneth Pelletier -- one of the pioneers in
the new medicine -- has assessed a mountain of research to provide authoritative
answers. This readable, scientifically sound guide belongs in the home of
every person interested in their health."
—Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., author, Minding the Body, Mending
the Mind
"Alternative medicine needs an 'evidence-based' middle ground for
the public and for practitioners. The research and wise counsel from
Dr. Kenneth Pelletier, in The Best Alternative Medicine, provides
us all with an inspired framework for integrating conventional and alternative
medicine.'
—John W. Farquhar, M.D., Professor of Medicine and
Director, Stanford Wellness Center, Stanford University School of
Medicine
"In The Best Alternative Medicine Dr. Pelletier gives us
the most up-to-date and authoritative information on which therapies work
and which don't. Concise, readable, invaluable."
—James S. Gordon, M.D., Director, Center for Mind-Body
Medicine, Washington, D.C.; author. Manifesto for a New Medicine
"It's so-o-o wonderful that we've finally moved beyond the old knee-jerk
head-butting between pro- and anti- alternative medicine forces and can now
engage in rational discussions of what works, what does not, and who decides.
Dr. Pelletier is an important change-agent in this process. His book is necessary
reading for all concerned."
—Tom Ferguson, M.D., Adjunct Associate Professor of
Consumer Health Informatics, University of Texas Health Science Center
"The real future of medicine is the integration of the best of evidence-based
conventional and alternative therapies. Dr. Pelletier's book is a landmark
contribution to the medicine we want and the medicine we need."
—Michael Lemer, President, Commonweal; author, Choices
in Healing
"Dr. Kenneth Pelletier's The Best Alternative Medicine brings
the global field of healing into focus by offering empirical wisdom in a
wilderness of wishful thinking. With an open-minded, appreciative analysis
of complementary approaches to wellness, Pelletier ultimately reveals that
there is no alternative to medicine -- only methods that work and those that
do not. An essential reference, it may well become a classic."
-- Dan Millman, Author of Everyday Enlightenment,
and Body/Mind Mastery
"Dr. Pelletier tells us not only 'what works' and what does not' but
all the 'maybes' as well, the gray areas where most of the important questions
about alternative medicine reside right now. This book gives readers the
essential information to make decisions about the 'maybes' that affect their
health."
—Walter M. Bortz, II, M.D., Palo Alto Medical Foundation
"All good medicine is the result of a marriage between an open mind
and a generous heart grounded in the principles of rigorous science. The
Best Alternative Medicine is good medicine and it delivers exactly what
it promises."
—Christiane Nortlu-up, M.D., author,Women's Bodies,
Women's Wisdom
"When traveling to a new land, it helps to have an authoritative guidebook
written by an experienced and professional traveler. The Best Alternative
Medicine is just such a guide for those venturing into the land of complementary
and alternative medicine. It points out the highlights, great sites to visit,
and, importantly, how to avoid pitfalls (and rip-offs). Don't leave home
without it!"
—David Sobel, M.D., M.P.H., Director of Patient Education,
Kaiser Permanente Northern California; author. Mind & Body
Health Handbook
From Print and Online
Complementary and alternative medicine, which ranges from acupuncture
and chiropractic care to more esoteric disciplines such as Ayurveda
and traditional Chinese medicine, was a $14 billion industry by the
year 2000. As the public's interest in health practices outside the
purview of conventional medicine has increased, so has the controversy
about the efficacy of such methods. But while conventional doctors
criticize the absence of conclusive clinical evidence for most alternative
therapies, there is nevertheless a growing number of people who suffer
from chronic illnesses and, frustrated by the usual medical route, are willing
to try new modalities. In The Best Alternative Medicine, Dr. Kenneth
Pelletier of the Stanford School of Medicine addresses the debate head-on
with the goal of providing an authoritative consumer reference guide that
focuses on the existing body of clinical research (funded in large part by
the National Institutes of Health) and the safest applications of the 12
most common practices. Pelletier, who is also the director of the National
Institutes of Health's Complementary and Alternative Medicine Program and
the author of Sound Mind, Sound Body: A New Model for
Lifelong Health, evaluates
those approaches mentioned above as well as mind-body medicine, supplements,
Western herbal medicine, homeopathy, naturopathy, and the healing applications
of spirituality from three perspectives: what works, what doesn't work,
and what is "in
the works." He
then presents an A to Z of health conditions--from AIDS and arthritis
to osteoporosis and varicose veins--with bulleted points referencing
the beneficial alternative therapies. While Pelletier is clearly an
advocate of complementary and alternative medicine, he takes a discerning
position and carefully cuts through the jargon and unsubstantiated
claims to present an unbiased, evidence-based resource that will be
invaluable to people considering a new approach to their health care.
--Rebecca Wright for Amazon.com
Pelletier (Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer) examines the most popular
alternative therapies being used today--from homeopathy and Western
herbal medicine to traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda--with
an eye toward integrating them with traditional medicine. A clinical associate
professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and
director of the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Program, Pelletier
notes that while many forms of complementary alternative medicine (CAM) are
not recognized by the medical community, consumer interest in them has risen
dramatically. If, as Pelletier concludes, optimal health stems from
attention to all aspects of life--physical, psychological, spiritual and
environmental--then CAM therapies, which take all of these aspects into account,
will become even more common. Far from suggesting that traditional medicine
be bypassed, Pelletier emphasizes that CAM can increase its effectiveness
at a relatively low cost. He cites numerous studies in which CAM
has fostered the healing process, as well as other studies that either have
negated certain claims for alternatives or proved inconclusive. In the second
section of the book, Pelletier discusses how CAM can be used for specific
conditions such as cancer, heart disease, AIDS and depression. This forward-looking
book will be useful to those seeking to address all aspects of their
well-being. BOMC, QPB, One Spirit alternate. (Feb.)
-- From Publishers Weekly
©Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Pelletier, clinical associate professor of medicine at the Stanford
University School of Medicine, is not a newcomer to alternative medicine.
His best seller, Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer, first published
in 1977, remains in print, and he continues to be a leading researcher
on the topic. His latest work explains alternative and complementary
medicine including commonly used treatment modalities and 75 medical conditions
and correlating therapies. What sets Pelletier's work apart in this
genre are cited studies and references. The selected bibliography alone
is more than 50 pages long. However, since specific treatment recommendations
are absent, readers will need to extrapolate exactly what it is they need
to do for their condition. Yet, this is the most authoritative work on
the topic to date and deserves a place in all but the smallest consumer
health collections.
--
A Valeria Long, Amberg Health Sciences Lib., Spectrum
Health, Grand Rapids, MI
From Library
Journal ©Copyright
1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
This forward-looking book will be useful to those
seeking to address all aspects of their well-being.
-- Publishers Weekly
Stanford Univ., CA. Provides scientifically based answers to questions
such as, What are the most effective therapies in complementary and
alternative medicine? How can they be used to prevent illness and enhance
the quality of life? Discusses hundreds of individual treatments. Includes
a section organized by condition. For the interested reader.
--Book Info
Unless otherwise indicated,
Dr. Kenneth R. Pelletier. All Rights Reserved.
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