Monday, December 29, 2008

Textbook of Natural Medicine or The Art of Aging

Textbook of Natural Medicine

Author: Joseph E Pizzorno Jr

Unsurpassed in its authority and scope, the 3rd Edition of the most thoroughly researched and carefully referenced text on natural medicine has been revised to include the most up-to-date information on its application to specific health problems. With over 90 well-known contributors and 10,000 citations of peer-reviewed research literature, practitioners will find accurate, detailed pharmacologic information on herbs and supplements, and crucial knowledge for making recommendations to patients.
• Clearly organized into 6 distinct sections and written by the leaders in complementary and integrative medicine for an easy-to-reference, authoritative text.
• Covers in-depth, evidence-based natural medicine approaches on over 75 specific diseases for the most comprehensive information on the actual practices and recommendations of naturopaths and complementary practitioners.
• A glossary of Section V clarifies and defines terms allowing botanical information to be read with ease.
• Every chapter has been updated to include the latest research and knowledge on natural medicine.
• Natural medicine interventions in Section V include a section on Drug Interactions to help practitioners avoid adverse interactions between natural and conventional medicines.
• 36 chapters have been added to sections on Philosophy of Natural Medicine, Therapeutic Modalities, Syndromes and Special Topics, Pharmacology of Natural Medicines, and Specific Health Problems to bring readers up to speed on newly emerging and important treatments.
• Four appendices have been added — Current Hormone Replacement Therapy Prescriptions, Glycemic Index, SeligmanAttributional Style Questionnaire, and The Optimal Food Pyramid.



Book about: Creative Fashion Design with Illustrator or Unleashing Microsoft Windows Vista Media Center

The Art of Aging: A Doctor's Prescription for Well-Being

Author: Sherwin B Nuland

In his landmark book How We Die, Sherwin B. Nuland profoundly altered our perception of the end of life. Now in The Art of Aging, Dr. Nuland steps back to explore the impact of aging on our minds and bodies, strivings and relationships. Melding a scientist’s passion for truth with a humanist’s understanding of the heart and soul, Nuland has created a wise, frank, and inspiring book about the ultimate stage of life’s journey.

The onset of aging can be so gradual that we are often surprised to find that one day it is fully upon us. The changes to the senses, appearance, reflexes, physical endurance, and sexual appetites are undeniable–and rarely welcome–and yet, as Nuland shows, getting older has its surprising blessings. Age concentrates not only the mind, but the body’s energies, leading many to new sources of creativity, perception, and spiritual intensity. Growing old, Nuland teaches us, is not a disease but an art–and for those who practice it well, it can bring extraordinary rewards.

“I’m taking the journey even while I describe it,” writes Nuland, now in his mid-seventies and a veteran of nearly four decades of medical practice. Drawing on his own life and work, as well as the lives of friends both famous and not, Nuland portrays the astonishing variability of the aging experience. Faith and inner strength, the deepening of personal relationships, the realization that career does not define identity, the acceptance that some goals will remain unaccomplished–these are among the secrets of those who age well.

Will scientists one day fulfill the dream of eternal youth? Nuland examinesthe latest research into extending life and the scientists who are pursuing it. But ultimately, what compels him most is what happens to the mind and spirit as life reaches its culminating decades. Reflecting the wisdom of a long lifetime, The Art of Aging is a work of luminous insight, unflinching candor, and profound compassion.


Publishers Weekly

The septuagenarian surgeon whose brutally honest demythologization of death in How We Die garnered a National Book Award offers a mushier, platitude-filled treatise on aging, calling it a "gift" that establishes boundaries in our lives, making everything within those boundaries all the more precious. Brief, frank descriptions of droopy penises, declining hormone levels and loss of hearing and bone density are accompanied by reminders that stroke is not a normal consequence of aging and that our bodies are like cars and taking good care of parts extends their usefulness. A gushing tribute to pioneering cardiac surgeon Michael DeBakey, now aged 98, teaches the importance of knowing one's limitations and learning to function within them, while now-80-year-old actress Patricia Neal recalls how sheer stubbornness and a browbeating husband enabled her recovery from a debilitating stroke at 39. Nuland learned life lessons from two fans, a cancer survivor who understands that it's her response to adversity, and not the adversity itself, that shapes her future, and a formerly depressed octogenarian who now doesn't allow herself the "luxury" of despair. Although some of Nuland's devotees will be comforted by his hopeful if familiar advice, others seeking more of the bracing, defiant insights that made him famous will be disappointed. (Mar. 6)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Karen McNally Bensing - Library Journal

Americans are living longer but not necessarily better lives. Late life is often filled with pain as well as physical and mental disability, much of which, argues National Book Award winner Nuland (surgery, Yale Univ.; How We Die), is a result of the "current biomedical campaign against the natural process of aging." Aging itself is not a disease but an important risk factor for many debilitating disorders of old age, he asserts. In an informal study of older adults, the author, now 77, observed individuals (himself included) who live active, fulfilling lives often despite serious health challenges or extreme age. He identifies three key practices for a rewarding late life (which he applies to his own life): developing satisfying personal relationships, maintaining physical abilities, and being creative. The book also casts a critical eye on life-extension research, suggesting that work on preserving physical and mental function as long as possible is far more valuable. "We must study how to be old," Nuland writes. This literate, thoughtful book—an excellent "textbook" for successful aging—is highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ10/15/06.]



Table of Contents:
An Incident in the Subway     3
How We Age: Body and Mind     19
Approaching a Century: Michael DeBakey     61
Making Choices     87
Three Who Overcame     116
A Friendship in Letters     143
Adding Centuries to Our Years     181
Drinking from the Fountain of Youth     217
Wisdom, Equanimity, Caring-Principles for Every Age     251
A Coda for Aging     275
Acknowledgments     287
Index     291

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