Customer Reviews

Textbook of Natural Medicine e-dition: Text with Continually Updated Online Reference, 2-Volume Set, 3e

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have read the critical reviews of this textbook and I disagree with them. As a naturopathic physician and educator, I have found this textbook to be an indispensible learning tool for anyone serious about understanding natural medicine. A work of this magnitude is bound to have imprefections. The Textbook of Natural Medicine is an incredibly ambitious work. More importantly, it is a groundbreaking work. Many others have come later to improve upon what Drs. Murray and Pizzorno have created here, but this book is the grand-daddy of all of them. Murray and Pizzorno have done more to advance awareness of naturopathic medicine in the world than anyone. This textbook is only one part of their legacy. Moreover, it is not the work of just two people, but a collaborative effort that includes many contributors. This book was written by practitioners with tremendous intelligence and experience, who were practicing complementary and alternative medicine decades before most people even knew what it was. This evolving work that deserves the highest regard, even with its flaws. There are critical aspects of natural medicine that exist nowhere in print except in this textbook. Any healthcare practitioner who has not studied it cannot claim to be an expert in natural medicine.

The Textbook of Natural Medicine is an amazing compilation of information on natural medicine, clearly the definitive work on natural medicine to date. What is perhaps the most amazing about this book is it's comprehensive nature. From detailed information on the history of naturopathic medicine to wonderfully complete discussions of individual herbal medicines, this book has it all. Even difficult-to-categorize subjects like detoxification, food allergies and stress management have been included. For the practitioner, perhaps the most valuable feature of this two-volume set are over 70 chapters dedicated to specific health problems. These chapters include sections on both diagnostic and therapeutic considerations, enabling the physician to get a quick overview/review of general features of the disease, appropriate diagnostic approaches and possible differential diagnoses, as well as solid, science-based natural therapeutics. Definitely a "must-have" for health-care practitioners.

The third edition of the Textbook of Natural Medicine is an extraordinary accomplishment. This will be seen as the moment when natural medicine truly took its place at the forefront of modern healthcare.

Under the stewardship of Michael Murray and Joe Pizzorno, this edition provides guidance for practitioners and laypersons alike in the application of natural interventions in treating all manner of diseases and afflictions. As a naturopathic practitioner, I owe a debt of gratitude to Murray and Pizzorno, and to all of the contributors to this wonderful text. Such loving attention to the art and science of natural medicine must not go unrecognised.

Some have critcised previous editions for a lack of scientific rigour. If one is to refer to conventional medical texts from only a generation ago, they will find significant errors and outrageous claims. For a system of medicine with little-to-no corporate or government funding, naturopathy has performed extraordinarily well to achieve its current position - where the science exists, we detail it. Where it does not, we demand it. People must realise that in corporate, profit-driven healthcare, there are aspects of natural medicine that shall likely never be researched; this does not, however, invalidate them. Individuals must decide which is the most appropriate healthcare service for them...and then partake of it.

If you are a naturopathic clinician - I implore you...purchase this book. If you are a medico - invest in the future of medicine, and give yourself a head start among your colleagues. If you are a member of the public - buy this text, integrate it, and take charge of you and your family's health and destiny. Your wellness is your responsibility, and yours alone - the Textbook of Natural Medicine is here to help you realise that goal. A landmark publication for an age in desperate need of a more rational, more compassionate system of medicine.

The textbook of natural medicine is an eclectic collection of all the medical lore the "Mainstream AMA worshippers" have rejected. This is extremely useful since a lot of that stuff works! Unfortunately, the editors did NOT do their job of ensuring quality, uniformity and relevance. They were however quite complete.

The book cautions readers to prescribe therapeutically useful dosages and then in many cases suggests inadequate doses or too infrequent admnistration.

Irrelevant discussions, e.g. of how witches being burned at the stake during the inquisition relates to the role of women in modern medicine fill up a small but noticeable portion of the book.

Some of the material, such as that on heavy metal detoxification, is flat out wrong - and dangerously so. The editors did not ensure that contributors who proclaimed themselves experts in a field actually WERE experts.

With that all said, many effective therapies are suggested, much correct information is included, and most of the content is relevant. However it is up to the reader to go find OTHER sources and to collect the experiences of patients to sort out what it is in this book that works, and what does not. I'd say it is 70 or 80% accurate - a good place to start but certainly not the sole foundation for a medical practice that is going to make very many people well.

Health care professionals who read this book as a supplement to more traditional (and editorially mature) works will find much invaluable information that is not available elsewhere. Any type of physician would be well advised to read this book if they want to find new ways to help their patients solve problems that aren't amenable to the standard approaches.

The extensive referencing is useful and interesting even if it was included primarily to ape the "AMA worshippers" game of pretending that what doctors do is scientific. Naturopathy is at least as scientific as allopathy, which isn't saying all that much. Unfortunately, the poorly written sections also do not refer to appropriate literature where accurate information can be found so the extensive referencing really doesn't ameliorate the book's problems.

The book is also not as technical as the editor's sales material (above) states - it is accessible to people with a reasonable amount of technical knowledge regardless of whether they have studied biology or medicine. This book is a good place for patients to look who have problems where their MD knows how to keep them from dying, but not how to make them better.

I'd give this book a cautious "buy" reccomendation. It is good enough to be useful and there really isn't anything else comparable. But I do hope the editors will have a much improved third edition out soon.

Benedict Lust was an incredible pioneer of health. He himself was healed by Father Kneipp a priest, practitioner of hydrotherapy and hygienic diet. Kneipp was so successful that the New York times reported in one year, the year of his death, that over 30,000 people were successfully treated by his methods in Germany (NYTIMES 6/17/1897). Lust affected by Kneipp's treatments wanted to do the same thing in the U.S. However, Lust expanded on Kneipp's methodology adding mechanotherapy (manipulation), exercise, herbs, and homeopathy. Yet, the basis of all Lust's treatments were hydrotherapy and dietetics. Lust and his fellow practitioners were extremely successful. This approach to treating disease was so influential that doctors in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) called for reforms using less drugs and more hydrotherapy, and dietetics (JAMA Sept,21 1901, 738-41; JAMA July 26, 1924, Vol. 83, No. 4, 246 - 9--just a few citations).

Much of what Lust was advocating back then, finding proper nutrients and vitamins to treat chronic disease and cancer, is actually cutting edge today. Vitamin therapy, like high doses of IV vitamin C, has found a resurgence of interest (especially after two time Nobel prize winner Pauling). Even now Thomas Jefferson University Medical Center is conducting clinical trials with IV vit. C to treat Non-hodgkin's Lymphoma (See clinicaltrials.gov: NCT00626444). In the same vein, the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) reported three different cases with a confirmed diagnosis of cancer successfully treated with IV vit. C. In addition to treating cancer, scientist are finding that certain trace minerals like selenium may actually inhibit the progress of AIDS (Journal of Biological Chemistry, Nov. 28, 2008, Vol. 283, No. 48, 33183 - 90). I could go on how contemporary medical science has found important (re)discoveries in vitamin D to treat IBS, multiple sclerosis, and celiac disease, how a compound indolcarbonol-3 found in broccoli can be used to prevent heart disease, or how antimicrobial properties in garlic and oregano oil surpass antibiotic drugs in efficacy, but time and space do not allow.

The truth of the matter is Lust's work (and the contribution of others) was so forward thinking that research today is validating it. As drugs continue to fail and increase horrendous side effects, people will look for solutions elsewhere. I recommend that anyone interested in the future of sound health care look to the past and read these materials. The reader will find that the future of medicine is not in the research lab of a drug company but in the healing power of natural remedies.

i liked the book very much. i am a naturopath, and my studies have been based on the previous edition of the textbook. i use it still, years after i finished my studies. it's the only textbook for naturopathy, and it's getting better with every edition. and now it comes with the e-edition and updates....!!
i also love the integrative tendency of the text, and it's helpful to me in my work in a hospital.
still, of course, there are subjects that i'm missing in it, like the power of special foods, for example, or complete metabolism pathways. these things have to be completed from other books - which is also ok.
so, overall, i'm very pleased with the book, and continue to use it for my students now.

kira levy - naturopath

An outstanding set of books!!! This set of books is by far, the best set of natural healing books I've found. It was recommended to me by two traditional medical professionals and it has an amazing amount of current information. The first book provides detailed summaries of many natural herbs and supplements, healing therapies, tests you might not hear about from traditional medical doctors and many other ways to improve your health. The second book addresses specific health disorders and how to treat them. This has to be one of the best reference texts on this topic!!!

If you are sick, with a major condition, this is the top [printed] resource available on rebuilding health & vitality. If you are interested in going into medicine, you'll probably choose Naturopathic Medicine after reviewing this book. All medical schools, healthfood stores, pharmacies, health clinics & hospitals will be using this book as a reference in the near future. Welcome to the future of medicine...... safe, natural, nontoxic, inexpensive, and very effective...Naturopathic Medicine.

Much like the naturopathy school founded by one of the authors, this book LOOKS slick, professional and science based. But, a closer look reveals a lack of any real substance. Far too much emphasis is put on questionable diagnoses.Though the treament sections looks to be well referenced, many of the studies cited don't support the author's assertions and others are outright irrelevant! Many of the disease monographs recommend a shoppingbag full of supplements--Polypharmacy at its worst.

Also it should be kept in mind that the second author is a rep for a nutritional supplement company, a potential conflict of interest not noted in the text.

Poor works such as this one only serve to damage the reputation of natural/integrative medicine.


Choose David Rakel's "Integrative Medicine" for more reliable information at a fraction of the price.

A book of words and dubious references by "experts". I cannot find any important educational references in this book. As an expert in the field of Natural Medicine this is one book I would NEVER use.