The Alternative Advisor: The Complete Guide to Natural Therapies & Alternative Treatments

Herbal remedies, aromatherapy massage, t'ai chi positions--here's a treasury of proven alternative therapies providing quick relief from scores of ailments ranging from commonplace to serious. The Alternative Advisor is packed with self-help techniques that are authoritative, unbiased and clear--offering easy access to a new world of healthcare options. National TV and radio tour.

Like the publisher's The Medical Advisor (LJ 10/1/96), this unique work is an encyclopedic collection of information on most types of popular alternative therapies. Compiled with the help of a panel of highly qualified alternative medicine consultants, the book covers topics ranging from the well known, like chiropractic, to the more exotic, like apitherapy (the therapeutic use of bee stings). The first section describes these therapies, along with how they are used, who is qualified to perform them, and where to get more information on them. To balance the largely positive message, the editors include a "what the critics say" paragraph in each section and issue cautions for potentially dangerous treatments like apitherapy, which can trigger allergic reactions. The next two sections consist of an herbal guide and an alphabetical list of diseases/disorders and their alternative treatments. An interesting and unusual feature is a chapter on alternative first aid. A bibliography, glossary, and comprehensive index complete the volume. While ambitious in its scope and very well organized and researched, this work does have drawbacks. Some complex alternative therapies are reduced to a one- or two-page description, risking oversimplification. "Galleries," or illustrations, of techniques like acupressure and yoga do not have a clear tie-in to the text. And Canadian libraries need to be aware that some of the herbal therapies described here may not be permitted in Canada under proposed federal legislation. Still, this book is a good ready-reference tool that clarifies a complex and sometimes confusing field. Recommended for all public libraries.?Elizabeth Braaksma, Brodie Resource Lib., Thunder Bay, Ontario
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Here is proof positive that the cultural and commercial buzzwords natural and alternative have gone mainstream: a compendium of "natural," "alternative" therapies and treatments from Time-Life Books. By its own account, the book contains a "wide variety of healing approaches--some dating to the dawn of civilization--that are used to treat ailments ranging in severity from the common cold to skin cancer." Time-Life's trademark terse-yet-quirky prose and the pictures-charts-and-graphs layout conspire to make the volume's pages comfortable and familiar, rather like an old friend's conversational style; in other words, just like any other Time-Life product. Content is expressed clearly, illustrations are profuse and precise, and the tone dances the precarious path between arcane and accessible: technical enough to sound mildly authoritative, accessible enough to engage TV-decimated attention spans. A worthy acquisition and, with those excruciatingly hot words natural and--twice--alternative focal in the title, something to jazz up the "new arrivals" shelf. Mike Tribby