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Healers and the Healing Process: A Report on 10 Years of Research by 14 World Famous Investigators
Healers and the Healing A Report on 10 Years of Research by 14 World Famous Investigators (Quest Books) [paperback] Meek, George [Jun 01, 1979]
304 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1979
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February 8, 2021
This is a very interesting book. The chapters and essays are written by various authors who did their own research and in many cases backed it up with other research by medical doctors and institutions. There is a variety of types of non-Western medicine healing, some of it less interesting to me than others. Various healers are named and there is a bibliography at the back of the book listing books written by [or about] the various healers.
In their lifetimes, many of the names in the book were famous for their healing capabilities. That isn't happening so much now and some books that are published are quite gimmicky, become trends and then fall away.. However, Norman Cousins "Anatomy of an Illness" is an example of alternative healing that is respected and there are others.
Weaknesses of the book are that it has no index and there are many names repeated in the book and it would have been very nice to look up the first occurrence and place that name. Also, the author makes reference to "witch doctors" which is a term that a "witch doctor" would never use and that term is generally condescending. They might use "magic" doctor.
Furthermore, the word "witch" was completely made up by the Catholic Church during the inquisition - believed to have been derived from the pagan word "wicca," but no one knows. These women [witches] were the healers who knew that the plant digitalis aided with heart trouble and that holding a loaf of moldy bread [penicillin] against a wound help to clear it up. And, they threw toads into the crock - not knowing that our current antibiotics come from the slime of toads [true]. So, in some ways, Western medicine really is "alternative."
There was no mention of these women healers in this book. Almost all the healers mentioned are men.
In their lifetimes, many of the names in the book were famous for their healing capabilities. That isn't happening so much now and some books that are published are quite gimmicky, become trends and then fall away.. However, Norman Cousins "Anatomy of an Illness" is an example of alternative healing that is respected and there are others.
Weaknesses of the book are that it has no index and there are many names repeated in the book and it would have been very nice to look up the first occurrence and place that name. Also, the author makes reference to "witch doctors" which is a term that a "witch doctor" would never use and that term is generally condescending. They might use "magic" doctor.
Furthermore, the word "witch" was completely made up by the Catholic Church during the inquisition - believed to have been derived from the pagan word "wicca," but no one knows. These women [witches] were the healers who knew that the plant digitalis aided with heart trouble and that holding a loaf of moldy bread [penicillin] against a wound help to clear it up. And, they threw toads into the crock - not knowing that our current antibiotics come from the slime of toads [true]. So, in some ways, Western medicine really is "alternative."
There was no mention of these women healers in this book. Almost all the healers mentioned are men.
Displaying 1 of 1 review