Customer Reviews

Dr. Rosenfeld's Guide to Alternative Medicine : What Works, What Doesn't And What's Right for You

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

For those of us who do not know the difference between Ayurveda, Chelation, and Iridology, Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld comes to the rescue. In his practical book, Dr. Rosenfeld's Guide to Alternative Medicine, he spells out the difference between these and many other alternative therapies which more people are going to everyday. I wholeheartedly reccomend this work to be on anyone's bookshelf who is even romotely interested in knowing different therapies used today.

Dr. Rosenfeld's book is well written and accessible for laypeople. The narrative is interesting, and the author's wit and humor came through. However, I found the content excessively judgmental in places; in fairness to the author, he admits his biases in most places. The book's principal failing, in my opinion, is one common to books of this sort - oversimplification. For example, the author's classification of chiropractic approaches - and his attendant opinion - did not fully capture the principal differences between practitioners, and appeared to dismiss some credible independent research. As a result, his recommendation was less complete than it could have been. I observed this in a few other areas of the text, though not frequently. In fairness to the author, I must admit my own bias, as a chiropractic college administrator. :-) In general, I applaud the author for his attempt to assist health care consumers in wading through the admittedly murky waters of so-called alternative medicine and complementary therapies.

I find the negative reviews of this book to be far too extreme. In the process of vehemently complaining that Dr. Rosenfeld bashes alternative medicine, they reveal their own excessively anti-establishment agenda.

The fact is that, with the human body and health, we're dealing with something so intrinsically complex that a great deal of uncertainty is inevitable regardless of what theoretical perspective we adopt, whether conventional or unconventional. Under these circumstances, the wisest approach is to identify the best elements of all approaches and try to integrate them, even if that means we have to start with a messy eclectic mix.

Since no one has all the answers when it comes to health, no one source, including Dr. Rosenfeld, should be solely relied upon to decide how to proceed. Instead, we have the burden of reading widely and listening open-mindedly to people with varying viewpoints, and then proceeding based on our best judgement.

In that regard, I find Dr. Rosenfeld's book to be an excellent resource. He is very fair and open-minded, while at the same time applying an appropriate level of critical thinking. Moreover, the claim that Dr. Rosenfeld tries to undercut alternative medicine is totally wrong. If you actually read the book, you will find that Dr. Rosenfeld is neutral, cautiously optimistic, or clearly supportive of many alternative treatments, including some that I didn't previously take seriously myself (e.g., hypnosis).

As Dr. Rosenfeld would say, here's the bottom line. If you're interested in alternative medicine (you should be), this book is an excellent resource to add to your collection. Read it and consider what Dr. Rosenfeld has to say, but don't solely rely on it.

Why not 5 stars? Because, again, nobody has all the answers, so nobody can have the final word on this subject. Moreover, the book is now approaching a decade old, and the subject of alternative medicine is ultimately much too large for one book anway.

Here's why I gave this book four stars even though it is a very good book:

My mom is 85 years old, and believes in everything from astrology to reincarnation to you name it. That's fine, except that when she told me that she was going to stop seeing her regular doctor and instead see a craniosacral therapist for her severe neck pain, I felt that I should help her to evaluate alternative medical practices. I did this after my own research showed that there's no good evidence that craniosacral therapy has any benefit.

Bottom line is that although what I read of the book shows that it might convince someone that not all therapies are beneficial, and that quacks exist, it did not convince my mom.

So if you're buying it for a similar reason, realize that it may not do the job.

For those of us who do not know the difference between Ayurveda, Chelation, and Iridology, Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld comes to the rescue. In his practical book, Dr. Rosenfeld's Guide to Alternative Medicine, he spells out the difference between these and many other alternative therapies which more people are going to everyday. I wholeheartedly reccomend this work to be on anyone's bookshelf who is even romotely interested in knowing different therapies used today.

To read the rest of this review and to view others, go to the World Wide Web Book Review at their NEW address: http://WebBookReview.com

If you have read other books by Dr. Rosenfeld, this is another of his well written books that helps one to understand health and medicine. It also informs the reader that there are other treatments available that sometimes are more effective than conventional treatments.

It's a great book if you're looking for other alternatives to drugs. I'm going on a cruise and Dr. Rosenfeld highly recommended taking ginger. Ginger in pill form is the most convenient for traveling if you tend to get seasick.

This book is a good example of why NOT to get advice from someone with their own axe to grind.

Dr. Rosenfeld is clearly and utterly a Medical Doctor. He sees little or no use for modalities that do not agree with traditional medical ideas. He basically is judging his competitors in health care! How objective can he be? Consider the source.

Clearly, this is a spokesman for the medical profession who is continuing the age-old attack on anything but traditional medicine, either out of ignorance or malice. That maybe harsh for those who give the book a quick read and let the humor brush over the misleading information. For anyone interested in a overall views of alternative medicines you need to read books by individuals not on the complete other side of alternative medicine. The book does do a good job of introducing common alternative methods but is very limited on todays specifics procedures.

Any book on alternative medicine would be much better served were it not written by a medical doctor adhering to the outmoded egotistical attitude characteristic of many practitioners of Western medicine in the U.S. Anyone who has actually researched the topics in which he professes to be an expert would know that chiropractic care is one of the safest alternatives to "conventional" treatment with drugs and surgery for many health problems. To attempt to warn readers of supposed potential side effects of chiropractic care including "bladder disturbance, leg weakness, and rectal and genital malfunction" without mentioning that the incidence of such problems is nearly nonexistent is irresponsible and misleading. Dr. Rosenfeld would do far better to base his work on actual research instead of the misinformation still being disseminated by the American medical "establishment", and anyone interested in the topics he includes should look elsewhere for their facts.