Customer Reviews

The Will to Live and Other Mysteries

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Dr Rachel Naomi Remen has years of experience as an accomplished physician, but I feel her greatest success is as a thoughtful observer of human nature. Struggling with Chrohn's disease and surviving long past predictions, she sees life from both sides of a medical question...patient and healer...and merges them for a brilliant perspective of how medicine should be practiced but seldom is.
It makes me wonder...if she had never gotten Chrohn's and married and had children...a very different path..we all may have missed her wisdom gained from a single dedicated life. Since I first read her 1996 Kitchen Table Wisdom, I have sent her telepathic blessings for her humor, insight, and the life she has led. All of her works are warm and touching memories from childhood through till today, as woman, teacher, and physician, and should be required reading for anyone in the health professions. I can't recommend her works highly enough. I bought this cd because I wanted to hear her voice...I wasn't disappointed.

This book has profound meaning . In a time when shallow lives and superficiality are epidemic , this book leads us to the depth of heart that seem so missing,in our culture .

I am a physician who sees the same mystery this woman speaks of. You will encounter it if you look for it. What a gift she has given to us to speak so eloquently about this topic.

Rachel Naomi Remen is a transcendent, open hearted, simple and direct writer. She tells stories of the many people she has listened to as a doctor/consultant/therapist, though she is not a standard therapist. She includes her own stories of ill health and pain as well as memories of her Jewish grandfather who was visionary and loving. Each story is brief, some a few pages, rarely more. Her patients vary, dealing with a blend of emotional and physical, and some are dying and know it. The honesty and openness are a relief. There is a closeness and warmth and vulnerability that are rare. Her writings are a treasure to be read and shared. There's no phoniness here. It's all real.

Rachel Naomi Remen has a way of touching the heart and soul of our being.
Anyone who is facing a chronic illness as well as their family members should listen to this CD

Dr Remen is always inspiring and that's no exception here. She evens laughs a little whilst reading the anecdotes. She was rather 'dour' in the audio of 'Kitchen Table Wisdom'. Nonetheless, both books are truly worth having in ones library. I go back to them again and again.