Customer Reviews

Better Eyesight: The Complete Magazines of William H. Bates

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In his introduction the author refers to the contents of the Better Eyesight magazines as a treasure chest. Actually this compilation is priceless! It is chock-full of absorbing information ---articles by Dr. Bates, case studies and many testimonials from people of all ages and all walks of life --- covering supposedly irreversible conditions such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, cataracts, glaucoma and many more. If you are not amazed by what you read in at least one case history, then you'd better have someone check you for a pulse. The book also confirms that Dr. Bates' teachings had nothing to do with eye aerobics and everything to do with relearning how to RELAX the mind and the eyes for better vision and improved overall health.

Even though I'm not a novice at natural vision improvement (see Relearning to See review), this book has greatly inspired me. The moment I began reading Better Eyesight, it was like stepping back in time to get personal advice from Dr. Bates in his clinic. It was also uncanny to read many unique observations so similar to my eye re-education experiences. I'm on the homeward stretch of my 20/20 goal (or keener!) and Better Eyesight has bolstered my motivation. It's helped remind me to quickly recognize and correct myself when I lapse into poor vision habits and my progress has surged.

Dr. Bates humbly stated that he had no external cure to improve eyesight. It was nature's way of healing and he cited cases where people improved their vision with no knowledge of his teachings. (I know of two adults who hated their prescribed glasses as kids, quit wearing them, and their sight returned to normal.) However Dr. Bates found that most people, especially those who'd worn lenses for any length of time, needed to relearn the relaxed use of their eyes to have any chance of reversing locked-in strain and blur.

Dr. Bates appeared to have high scientific principles, yet knew the limitations of science and the dangers of submissive adherence to authoritative dogma. He once believed the orthodox teachings and it took him many years to reconcile their errors to his satisfaction. His findings were well documented and published in the medical journals and scientific literature of the day and apparently went unchallenged. Instead Dr. Bates was ostracized and ridiculed in such a bigoted and arrogant manner. He seemed to take it all in stride with a sense of humor by interspersing his wit in many articles squarely aimed at the nay-sayers.

Better Eyesight also gives glimpses of Dr. Bates beyond the eye clinic. His ethics, values and philosophy towards industrialization, mass-education and modern medicine closely parallel views of more contemporary social critics such as author Ivan Illich. In Limits to Medicine --- Medical Nemesis, Illich provides a definition from a medical dictionary of iatrogenic conditions or disorders. In essence, they are those caused by medical intervention. Progressive myopia has to be the granddaddy of all iatrogenic disorders, mainly due to the prescribing of full-power compensating lenses, and not the genetic disorder falsely invented.

Another interesting facet of Dr. Bates was his discovery of adrenaline, now a household word when we hear overpaid professional athletes on TV talk about their adrenaline rush. Yet sadly the benevolent work of improving vision naturally for which Dr. Bates dedicated his life is so little known and has been so grossly maligned. Thankfully his teaching methods and writings were preserved and have been edited and annotated by the author in this legacy. Hopefully it will help set the record straight and give Dr. Bates more widespread recognition that's long overdue.

Maybe some future day when these teachings become mainstream principles a museum will house a chamber of horrors displaying artifacts of the iatrogenic era. Animated lifelike figures in a "Blind Faith" section could depict people straining to see through Coke-bottle glasses, poking bloodshot eyes to insert contact lenses and having corneas burned by lasers. Aghast parents will be at a loss to explain to their children how so many people willingly paid to be maltreated in the name of progress.

This books is more easier to understand then the other book by Thomas Quackenbush. This book is more practical in that it explains the principles of better eyesight and how to improve on it. The Relearning to See book is great but it's more of a scientific academic fact kind of book. This book is more motivating as it gives case studies and proof that the method works. You can't get this priceless information anywhere else. It is my opinion that this book is the best book out there on natural improvements of eyesight. If you have only one book to choose for eyesight. Get this one. It's a legend in it's own right.

I am amazed by how much this book has helped me. Bates' principles really do work! I have only been reading the book for about a month, yet my eyesight is improving. I can't wait until my next eye appointment so I can surprise my ophthamologist (who gave me stronger glasses at my last eye exam -- they are now too strong for me to wear!).

William Bates was a scientist, researcher, visionary, and a rebel. In his magazines are presented a multitude of case histories about his patients. We get to hear the stories of a wide variety of individuals, their temperaments, and what techniques worked for them. The style is dated, but the essence of his teachings are timeless.
An invaluable resource in your 'vision' library. It's large, but can be digested in bite size articles. A wonderful collection.

I attended this books author's (Thomas Quackenbush) Natural Vision Improvement class in 1996 and read his book 'Relearning To See-Improve Your Eyesight Naturally' and 'Better Eyesight-The Complete Magazines of Ophthalmologist William H. Bates'. The book and class resulted in my eyesight improving to 20/10 (better than 20/20)and sometimes clearer (30/10...)for distant vision and I can read very small fine print clear from 2-3 feet away and farther (depending on the print size) and up to 3, 2, 1 inches from the eyes. He cured my Presbyopia. Age 54, year 2011 and it still works, method keeps my vision clear!
The Bates method also corrected a wandering eye and astigmatism condition I had in 2009-2010 due to a neck and back injury from a dishonest chiropractor throwing my hip, back, neck bones out of alignment, then trying to sell me 240 treatments to start and stating I will never be cured. Eventually I found a new, honest, effective chiropractor, but healing from the bad chiro's injury is slow.
I am grateful for the Natural Vision Improvement knowledge Mr. Quackenbush has taught me. It keeps the students eyesight clear for life even under adverse conditions!

I have only had time to peruse the book a bit, but I am hopeful to use the techniques to improve my eyesight. Per the eye doc, I am supposed to wear glasses for reading, but I have avoided doing so for years now (everyone I know that wears glasses seem to get stronger prescriptions as the years go by.) The book is large and filled with anecdotes and information. I will update my review after I finish the book and employ the exercises.

This book is an important addition to Better Eyesight Without Glasses and Relearning to See.

However, an organization need better graphics, reading is continuous and tiring due to the large number of texts, but the information is important and detailed, highly recommend.

Porém, necessitaria de uma organização gráfica melhor, a leitura é contínua e cansativa devido ao grande número de textos mas as informações são importantes e detalhadas, recomendo.

While I whole-heartedly recommend the Bates method, there are a few things about this book people should be aware of:

1. An integral part of Bates' writings was removed, specifically his teaching on sun gazing. All references to it including those found in patients' letters and testimonials are either altered or removed. The editor claims Bates changed his teaching in his later years to closed-eyed sunning only, despite evidence to the contrary.

It is a shame that while the teaching of open-eyed sunning is unorthodox and politically incorrect, for people suffering from cataract, it may well be the potential cure they won't hear about anywhere else.

2. Another interesting omission from the book that I uncovered has to do with teacher qualifications. In Bates' time, the only way for him to spread his teaching, in addition to his publishing effort, was to train teachers. Nowadays, anyone interested in his method can easily gain access to his writings. For those who somehow still think they need a teacher, keep in mind that Bates is no longer around to train anyone, there is no reliable accreditation, and testimonials should never be relied upon. Nevertheless, Bates had the foresight to lay down some guidelines for them:

"The teacher, if he is to benefit the patient, must himself be able to derive benefit from the various methods recommended. If his vision is 10/10, he must be able to improve it to 20/10, or more. If he can read fine print at twelve inches, he must become able to read it at six, or at three inches. He must also have sufficient control over his visual memory to relieve and prevent pain." -- Better Eyesight, December, 1919

The above paragraph is nowhere to be found in the book. Such an omission obviously doesn't serve the interest of the readers. If this information becomes more widely known, one can expect to see Bates teachers start to discredit him or even deny being one altogether.

3. Bates taught a variety of methods and swings aimed at relaxing the mind and the eyes, and he told us that different people may find different routines helpful, and something that is helpful for one patient may produce no result on another. In this book, the editor repeatedly assures us that the so-called infinity swing is the best which, not surprisingly, is to be found only in his other book. I found this swing to be nothing more than an adaptation of something I first read about in Corbett's 1949 book (something she called nose-drawing). I personally much prefer nose-drawing big circles to the infinity swing.

The implication of all this is clear. Anyone who desires to read Bates' writings should read his original, unaltered texts. They don't need any editing. They are not in book form, but can be found in a website called central-fixation. It is a free site dedicated to the memory of Bates, and with which I'm not affiliated.

As someone who has read almost all of his writings, I can say there is really not that much to read if one confines one's reading to only the articles by Bates in each issue of his magazine. The best way to start is to read all the sections entitled Suggestions or Suggestions to Patients, etc. And the most important thing is to remember to really practice what one has read.