8 Weeks to Optimum Health
A Proven Program for Taking Full Advantage of
Your Body's Natural Healing Power
by Andrew Weil, M.D.

back to top ^

Enduring Seeds
Native American Agriculture and Wild Plant Conservation
by Gary Paul Nabhan (Author)

In this collection of seven essays, Reid, a mountaineer for 25 yearsfor 25 years, or he's 25 years old? , aims high: it is the soul of the climber at timberline that holds his interest. Reid believes we can find our way "home," back to our roots, by visiting mountains and wilderness. Blending facts and his emotions,, the author beautifully and passionately describes his experiences on the slopes and the residue from each. In the Tetons, he glimpsed the affinity between love and death. Atop the sacred Navaho peak Tsoodzi, he underwent spiritual reawakening. In the Catskills, mountain became educator. Retracing part of the 1833 trail of ol' Joe Walker's party in the Sierras, Reid discovered the joy of perseverance, which the group found on "gazing at last on the great blue dream of the Pacific." A better guide than Reid would be hard to find. (May)per MS, but May on drop sheet/should have changed date on mss; sorry; may it is
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.d

back to top ^

 
Energy Medicine
The Scientific Basis of Bioenergy Therapies Forward
by Candace, Ph.D. Pert

Book Description
There is growing interest world wide in the field of mind-body medicine and the effect which the natural "energy forces" within the body play in the maintenance of normal health and wellbeing. This in turn has led to interest in how these energies or forces may be channelled to assist in healing and restoration to health. This book, written by a well known scientist with a degree in biophysics and a PhD in biology, brings together for the first time evidence from a wide range of disciplines which is beginning to provide an acceptable explanation for the energetic exchanges that take place in all therapies.

back to top ^

Fast Food Nation
by Eric Schlosser

From Booklist
Everyone frets about the nutritional implications of excessive dining at America's fast-food emporia, but few grasp the significance of how fast-food restaurants have fundamentally changed the way Americans eat. Schlosser documents the effects of fast food on America's economy, its youth culture, and allied industries, such as meatpacking, that serve this vast food production empire. Starting with a young woman who makes minimum wage working at a Colorado fast-food restaurant, Schlosser relates the oft-told story of Ray Kroc's founding of McDonald's. The author also tells about the development of the franchise method of business ownership and the health and nutrition implications of fast-food consumption. In a striking chapter, Schlosser gives a glimpse into the little-known world of chemically engineered flavorings, both natural and artificial. The coming together of so many diverse social, scientific, and economic trends in a single industry makes this book a relevant, compelling read and a cautionary tale of the many risks generated by this ubiquitous industry. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
 

back to top ^

Food Not Lawns
How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden And Your Neighborhood into a Community
by Heather C. Flores

From Publishers Weekly
For Flores, "practicing ecological living is a deeply subversive act," and while most gardening books do not include warnings that COINTELPRO "can and will...rape you," it is only because most gardening books do not encourage "guerilla gardening" after describing the basics of garden planning and pruning. More advanced topics range from integrating barnyard birds into a garden to getting more mileage out of the home water cycle to the benefits of a balanced insect population. The illustrations are amusing as well as helpful, and though the index is not extensive, the book, overall, is a much better read than the average gardening book, both in terms of range and entertainment value.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

back to top ^

 
In Defense of Food
An Eater's Manifesto
by Michael Pollan (Author)

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In his hugely influential treatise The Omnivore's Dilemma, Pollan traced a direct line between the industrialization of our food supply and the degradation of the environment. His new book takes up where the previous work left off. Examining the question of what to eat from the perspective of health, this powerfully argued, thoroughly researched and elegant manifesto cuts straight to the chase with a maxim that is deceptively simple: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. But as Pollan explains, food in a country that is driven by a thirty-two billion-dollar marketing machine is both a loaded term and, in its purest sense, a holy grail. The first section of his three-part essay refutes the authority of the diet bullies, pointing up the confluence of interests among manufacturers of processed foods, marketers and nutritional scientists—a cabal whose nutritional advice has given rise to a notably unhealthy preoccupation with nutrition and diet and the idea of eating healthily. The second portion vivisects the Western diet, questioning, among other sacred cows, the idea that dietary fat leads to chronic illness. A writer of great subtlety, Pollan doesn't preach to the choir; in fact, rarely does he preach at all, preferring to lets the facts speak for themselves. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 

back to top ^

 
Limits To Growth
The 30-Year Update
by Donella Meadows (Author) Jorgen Randers (Author) Dennis Meadows (Author)

From Publishers Weekly
Updated for the second time since 1992, this book, by a trio of professors and systems analysts, offers a pessimistic view of the natural resources available for the world's population. Using extensive computer models based on population, food production, pollution and other data, the authors demonstrate why the world is in a potentially dangerous "overshoot" situation. Put simply, overshoot means people have been steadily using up more of the Earth's resources without replenishing its supplies. The consequences, according to the authors, may be catastrophic: "We... believe that if a profound correction is not made soon, a crash of some sort is certain. And it will occur within the lifetimes of many who are alive today." After explaining overshoot, the book discusses population and industrial growth, the limits on available resources, pollution, technology and, importantly, ways to avoid overshoot. The authors do an excellent job of summarizing their extensive research with clear writing and helpful charts illustrating trends in food consumption, population increases, grain production, etc., in a serious tome likely to appeal to environmentalists, government employees and public policy experts. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

back to top ^

 
Molecules of Emotion
The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine
by Candace, Ph.D. Pert

Book Description
There is growing interest world wide in the field of mind-body medicine and the effect which the natural "energy forces" within the body play in the maintenance of normal health and wellbeing. This in turn has led to interest in how these energies or forces may be channelled to assist in healing and restoration to health. This book, written by a well known scientist with a degree in biophysics and a PhD in biology, brings together for the first time evidence from a wide range of disciplines which is beginning to provide an acceptable explanation for the energetic exchanges that take place in all therapies.

back to top ^

A Movable Feast
Ten Millennia of Food Globalization
by Kenneth F. Kiple (Author)

From Publishers Weekly
Recycling much historical material from the magisterial Cambridge World History of Food (which the author co-edited), this slender volume distills 10,000 years of food history into just 300 pages. While the first work was notable for its rich multiplicity of voices and deeply informed scholarship, this one is a bit of a hash, owing to its author's insistence on squeezing a far-ranging narrative into the narrow framework of globalism. Far from being a new economic concept, the globalization of food, asserts Kiple, is as old as agriculture itself (globalization being murkily defined as "a process of homogenization whereby the cuisines of the world have been increasingly untied from regional food production, and one that promises to make the foods of the world available to everyone in the world"). The strongest material examines the spread of agriculture and its ramifications: it's a paradox of civilization that increased food production encourages population growth, which invariably creates food shortages and disease. That said, gastronomes will find scraps to nibble on here and there—who knew, for example, that the Egyptians trained their monkeys to harvest grapes? (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 

back to top ^

 The Omnivore's Dilemma
A Natural History of Four Meals
by Michael Pollan (Author)

From Bookmarks Magazine
In The Botany of Desire (2001), about how people and plants coevolve, Michael Pollan teased greater issues from speciously small phenomena. The Omnivore's Dilemma exhibits this same gift; a Chicken McNugget, for example, illustrates our consumption of corn and, in turn, agribusiness's oil dependency. In a journey that takes us from an "organic" California chicken farm to Vermont, Pollan asks basic questions about the moral and ecological consequences of our food. Critics agree it's a wake-up call and, written in clear, informative prose, also entertaining. Most found Pollan's quest for his foraged meal the highlight, though the Los Angeles Times faulted Pollan's hypocritical method of "living off the land." Many also voiced a desire for a more concrete vision for the future. But if the book doesn't outline a diet plan, it's nonetheless a loud, convincing call for change.<BR>Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
 

back to top ^

Plenty
One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally
by Alisa Smith, J.B. Mackinnon

From Booklist
Smith and MacKinnon revolt against the industrial model of food distribution and determine to spend a year eating nothing raised or cultivated beyond a 100-mile radius of their British Columbia home. They seek not just health benefits and fuel efficiencies but they also want to reconnect with small, local growers, millers, fishermen, and ranchers to create a community where the consumer knows both where the food comes from and who has produced it. British Columbia, with its Marine West Coast climate, its rivers full of salmon, and its proximity to the sea, offers unique opportunities to pursue this resolve. Along the way, the authors learn a lot about nutrition and uncommon varieties of fruits, vegetables, and herbs, and all the data is shared with the reader. Satisfying all their family's hungers proves daunting but scarcely impossible. Entries for each month conclude with a recipe reflecting use of seasonal ingredients. Knoblauch, Mark
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
 

back to top ^

Seeds of Deception
Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You're Eating
by Jeffrey M. Smith

From Publishers Weekly
Recent news headlines have focused on the disagreement between the U.S. and Europe over genetically modified foods: the U.S. exports them, but the European Union doesn't want to import them, believing their safety remains unproven. Are genetically modified foods safe? Longtime anti-GM foods campaigner Smith presents the "opposing" case. He offers cases where GM produced results that were at best unexpected (increased starch content in potatoes), at worst grotesque (pigs without genitals). He describes how one corporation reportedly tried to bribe Canadian government scientists into approving genetically engineered bovine growth hormones they deemed unsafe; how some scientists have reported their careers were threatened as a result of their refusal to approve certain GM products in the U.S.; and how "conflicts of interest, sloppy science, and industry influence" can distort the approval process. The cases Smith presents are scary and timely, but he explores only one side of the story. Readers looking for a balance consideration of genetically modified foods will want to look elsewhere.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition

back to top ^

Soil Not Oil
by Vandana Shiva (Author)

With Soil Not Oil, Vandana Shiva brilliantly reveals what connects humanity’s most urgent crises—food insecurity, peak oil, and climate change—and why any attempt to solve one without addressing the others will get us nowhere.

Condemning industrial biofuels and agriculture as recipes for ecological and economic disaster, Shiva champions the small independent farm instead. With millions hungry and the earth’s future at peril, only sustainable, biologically diverse farms that are more resistant to disease, drought, and flood can both feed and safeguard the world for generations to come. Bold and visionary, Soil Not Oil calls for a return to sound agricultural principles—and a world based on self-organization, community, and environmental justice.

back to top ^

Spontaneous Healing
How to Discover and Enhance Your Body's Natural Ability to Maintain and Heal Itself
By Andrew Weil, M.D.

From the Publisher
In this book, Dr. Andrew Weil, one of the most authoritative, and important voices in the field of health and healing, makes clear the reality of spontaneous healing. He illuminates the mechanisms and processes of the body's healing system, delineates the ways in which an individual can optimize the functioning of his or her own system, and outlines the alternative medicines and treatments available to aid the healing system, not only in the remission of life-threatening diseases but also in response to everyday illnesses and in day-to-day upkeep of basic health. In clear, concise language, Dr. Weil explains how the healing system operates, its interactions with the mind, its biological organization, its systems of self-diagnosis, self-repair, and regeneration.

back to top ^

The Wisdom of Menopause
Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing During the Change
By Christiane Northrup, M.D.

Publishers Weekly
Northrup (Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom), cofounder of the Women to Women health-care center in Maine, offers a celebratory, "psychospiritual" approach in her comprehensive guide to menopausal health and well-being. Beginning with the premise that, though difficult, the "hormone-driven changes that affect the brain... give a woman a sharper eye for inequity... and a voice that insists on speaking up," Northrup details hormonal imbalances, mood swings, serious illnesses, treatment options and all the other symptoms, side effects and decisions women face in midlife. Middle-aged herself, Northrup writes from experience and, more important, from her professional expertise as a physician who has treated many women and researched menopause. While much of the health-care material here is available in other sources, Northrup's approach a description of symptoms, followed by both traditional and alternative treatment options along with some anecdotes is particularly useful. Occasionally she veers off into New Age jargon, but she is a firm believer in the relevance of tangential influences on physical health, including emotional and financial well-being. The specific medical advice on sleep, diet, breast health and the empowerment motif will bring insight, comfort and confidence to women embarked on "the change." Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
 

back to top ^

Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom
Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing
By Christiane Northrup, M.D.

From the Publisher
Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom powerfully demonstrates that when women change the basic conditions of their lives that lead to health problems, they heal faster, more completely, and with far fewer medical interventions. Now Dr. Northrup brings us vital new information about the best techniques of Western medicine and the best alternative therapies, showing how to incorporate both into a complementary whole. She guides readers through the entire range of women's health problems, and offers strikingly new, positive perspectives on normal processes, such as menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause.

back to top ^

Worldly Wonder
Religions Enter Their Ecological Phase (Master Hsuan Hua Memorial Lecture)
by Mary Evelyn Tucker (Author), Judith Berling (Commentary)

Earthlight, Vol. 14 No. 3, Spring 2005
Would recommend for a thorough, insightful, inspiring discussion of the role religions are beginning to play in the ecological crisis.

back to top ^

Worldchanging
A User's Guide for the 21st Century
by Alex Steffen (Author), Al Gore (Foreword), Bruce Sterling (Introduction)

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. This 600-page companion to the eco-friendly website of the same name (www.worldchanging.com) is chock-a-block with information about what is going on right now to create an environmentally and economically sustainable future-and what stands in opposition. Along the way, editor Steffen and his team make the stakes perfectly clear: "Oil company experts debate whether we will effectively run out of oil in twenty years or fifty, but the essential point remains: if you're under thirty, you can expect to see a post-oil civilization in your lifetime." The organization of the hefty volume mimics that of the website, divided into sections on Stuff, Shelter, Cities, Community, Business, Politics and Planet. Typical readers will be introduced to new concepts such as harvesting rainwater, zero-energy houses, South-South science and the use of flowers to detect land mines in entries on everything from "Knowing What's Green" to "Demanding Human Rights." Each entry is brief but comprehensive; for example, the passage on "Better Food Everywhere" focuses on "Where it Matters Most," "Better Restaurants," "Community Gardens," and "Urban Farming." All entries wrap up with reviews of pertinent resources-including books, websites and moves-where readers can get more detailed information. With color photos on nearly every page, and written by a small army of contributors living and working around the world (with biographies almost as fascinating as their contributions), it's hard to imagine a more complete resource for those hoping to live in a future that is, as editor Steffen puts it, "bright, green, free and tough."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 

back to top ^

The World Without Us
by Alan Weisman (Author)

From The New Yorker
Teasing out the consequences of a simple thought experiment—what would happen if the human species were suddenly extinguished—Weisman has written a sort of pop-science ghost story, in which the whole earth is the haunted house. Among the highlights: with pumps not working, the New York City subways would fill with water within days, while weeds and then trees would retake the buckled streets and wild predators would ravage the domesticated dogs. Texas’s unattended petrochemical complexes might ignite, scattering hydrogen cyanide to the winds—a "mini chemical nuclear winter." After thousands of years, the Chunnel, rubber tires, and more than a billion tons of plastic might remain, but eventually a polymer-eating microbe could evolve, and, with the spectacular return of fish and bird populations, the earth might revert to Eden.
Copyright © 2007

back to top ^