Customer Reviews

Shaman, M.D.: A Plastic Surgeon's Remarkable Journey into the World of Shapeshifting

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Shaman MD is a compelling story of a journey into one of the last refuges of human and planetary mystery. This is a journey not for the weak of heart. The risks can be life changing, or life threatening. Hiking along the high jungle deep into the Amazon forests of Ecuador with Jaguar, Anaconda, and hundreds of species of poisonous snake hidden from sight, is not always something many in our domesticated culture would care to risk. Or high in the Andes entering into poisonous fume producing caves seeking knowledge and power.

Bruce's story unfolds as autobiography on the plains of Africa where she grew up in a family not afraid to march to its own beat by abandoning the comforts of western culture. With great courage, Bruce, tells her own story as a fifteen year old girl getting pregnant and choosing to keep her baby. The astonishing story unfolds in her return to America by entering college and then medical school followed by completing a surgical residency no other women had achieved to that point.

The story eventually takes her into the world of indigenous healing and cross cultural norms on many different continents working with elders, shamans, sangomas, and sages. The story underscores the personal transformation she finds in these simple and honest communities still honoring our Earth Mother and those who remain conversant with her language.

As someone who has walked this same path, I can only attest to its power to transform lives. The question, of course, can you let go of your cultural inhibitions, to enter into another way of knowing?

This is a great book, by a modern visionary. My only regret is that Bruce has not written another book.

This is my second copy. . . There's so much to grasp in this book that I need a second reference copy. . .. Just the notion that we have the ability to shapeshift our life from moment to moment and with an enormous heart. . . . what a great gift!!!

I recommend this book very highly indeed. Eve Bruce is an extremely courageous woman, who has learnt a great deal from her fascinating, often painful, life, and sets a good example for coping admirably with adversity. She writes quite beautifully and very readably, and besides the fact that her personal story is an absolutely fascinating one, she is full of wisdom. The book will be of particular interest to those who are already pursuing some form of shamanic studies, but only those with very closed minds will have nothing to learn from it. For a 'real doctor' her grasp of the principles of so-called 'alternative medicine' is quite exceptional too!
Ann Merivale

I bought Shaman, MD because I had seen Dr. Bruce for a consultation for a breast reduction, and I wanted to know more about that word, "Shaman" and how it related to the surgeon who was to perform my breast reduction. What a great read! I really loved the fact that I had found a surgeon who was open-minded and it was nice to see another side to "practicing medicine." I really recommend this book to anyone interested in learning what shapeshifting means and how it can help to improve your life. Dr. Bruce is not only a great surgeon, but a talented writer, as well. Her book has definitely peaked my interest to learn more about shapeshifting and Shaman techniques.

This book was not only poetic and fascinating ... it was an education on so many levels. Must read if you are interested in shamanism, alternative healing, or the plight of the human spirit.

In this incredible book, Dr Bruce relates her experiences in bringing together the medical sciences and the healing powers of tribal shamans. She writes eloquently and passionately about the mating of these two worlds that up unitil now have been considered as very different and even opposed to each other. She has bridged that gap and has the courage to tell us how she did it and why. This is a must read for any one interested in medicine. the healing arts, anthropology, and the remote cultures of the Amazon, Africa, Andes, and Himalyas. An amazing and magical book!

Dr. Bruce busts some myths that the right brain can't be in harmony with the left brain. A board-certified physician AND a shaman, Dr. Bruce is living proof that one can expand their view of transformation beyond what is "logically possible". Logic only takes one so far, the rest requires an ability to see other angles, and other ways of perceiving reality.

In this incredible book, Dr Bruce relates her experiences in bringing together the medical sciences and the healing powers of tribal shamans. She writes eloquently and passionately about the mating of these two worlds that up unitil now have been considered as very different and even opposed to each other. She has bridged that gap and has the courage to tell us how she did it and why. This is a must read for any one interested in medicine. the healing arts, anthropology, and the remote cultures of the Amazon, Africa, Andes, and Himalyas. An amazing and magical book!

Dr. Bruce likes to refer to "scientific studies" to substantiate some of her claims without citing the source of these supposed studies. The most preposterous being the "study" about the "randomized" trial to test the effectiveness of long-distance prayer, presumably the Harris et al study done in 1999. These and other studies such as the Columbia Miracle study in which it was reported that women prayed for from thousands of miles away by strangers were more likely to become pregnant than those who weren't are studies that have turned out to be a fraud.
Although the book is interesting when Bruce talks about her family and her reasons for studying shamanism, her details and descriptions of the visions are just too freaky.
I also don't buy what she says about a person being able to genuinely change from without before changing from within. I think this claim is only used to justify her career.