Customer Reviews

Nature Doctors: Pioneers in Naturopathic Medicine

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The tradition of naturopathic medicine has its roots in the European nature cure movement of the nineteenth century. This book elegantly captures the growth of this tradition into a dicipline through the stories of the great nature doctors. This is not a dry history. It is a telling of the principles and methods of naturopathic medicine through life stories of the men and women who developed it. What I appreciated most about the book were the quotes. These nature doctors were colorful characters who didn't mince words with the medical establishment--"the pill jesuits and poisoners"-of their time

Although the presentation of the material may seem dry to people looking for juicy contraversies/"issues" in medicine, the book will prove quite savory indeed for those looking for historic facts in the development of naturopathic medicine in the U.S.
This book is a must-read for those wishing to grasp the historic record of naturopathic roots and its intended direction to change the way medicine is practiced. Lust, the founder of naturopathy, was not blinded by idealism in the sense that a physician should only use what were historically known as the natural/alternative therapies. Instead, he insisted that the doctor of the future will be a regular physician who has changed his (or her) ways; that is, use what medicines and methods that have historically proven meritous AND embrace and integrate new, well-founded knowledge in science and medicine as well.
Get this book. It will open your eyes!!!

There is so little available on the history of naturopathic medicine, this book is a great gift. It is not exactly written like a driving action adventure, but it is history, and the people discussed are revealed in many intriguing facets and at many levels. A must read for anyone interested in the field.

I highly recommend this book for study. The author gave good background information for each of the important 'pioneers' for Nature Cure, leading up to the Naturopathic Movement.

In this book, the authors provide a uniquely detailed survey of different founders of Naturopathic medicine, defined by them as "the application of the principles of naturopathy within the context of modern scientific knowledge that has evolved through the last half of this century." They suggest that "With his call 'Return to Nature!' Rousseau must be considered the spiritual father of the nature cure movement."

The book contains separate chapters on 22 pioneers of natural medicine, including Vincent Priessnitz (the "father of hydrotherapy"), Sebastian Kneipp ("the World's most Famous Nature Doctor"), Louis Kuhne, Adolf Just, Heinrich Lahmann ("the First Scientific Nature Doctor"), Benedict and Louisa Lust ("the Father" and "Matriarch" of Naturopathy), Henry Lindlahr ("Founder of Scientific Naturopathy"), and John Bastyr ("Father of Modern Naturopathic Medicine"). I am not aware of any similarly detailed survey of such practitioners.

The book is packed with fascinating details, such as that Mahatma Gandhi wrote that "the writings of Kuhne, Just and Father Kniepp are simple, popular and useful for all." Concerning the origin of the term Naturopathy, the authors note that it "came to Lust's attention during a competition," and "was chosen out of some 150 submitted."

This book is VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for anyone interested in the origin and development of Naturopathic medicine.

There is some interesting history in medicine back in the 1800's and early 1900's, and some interesting issues to mull over. Unfortunately this book makes the history uninteresting, the characters two dimensional, and the issues are really not dealt with at all.

You would be better off looking at the history through some other lens than this book.