Why Don't We Learn

This book calls itself the "bible," and is listed under alternative health, but succeeds only in listing "cures" and remedies that have plagued Americans since they first started believing that everything has a cure. Read "Forget The Cures, Find The Cause," instead, and begin there before going to the "bible" on herbs and vitamins.

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Dated but Authoratative and Relevant

This is an excellent reference, written by a competent and unbiased MD. Though the source material is going on 6 years old in a field of daily change, this is an excellent (and inexpensive) starting point. For what it's worth, all of the material (now updated) with extra entries is now online via a link on the principal author's website [...].

Personally I enjoy holding and folding real books more than gazing into CRTs for the kind of study this material requires. For what it's worth all of the References for the older book and updated material are included in the online version. (Some earlier reviewers were quite affected by the omission of References in the print edition.)

What I liked about this text was its level of granularity. By this I mean, it wasn't too fine as you might find in a medical text, nor was it too coarse as you find in so many second hand texts these days. By second hand texts I mean books that are restatements of other books (rarely including the rigorous primary source material searches/reviews as the author did in this case). Thumbs way up!!!

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Without the references, this book is useless

This book, theoretically, presents a compilation of the results of research studies carried out on a variety of natural substances. The simple idea of offering an assemblage of objective material resulting from investigative research is solid enough; the individual can then draw his or her own conclusions.

The problem is the lack of research credentials. The authors states that the references are not included in the edition because of their magnitude, but can be accesed online, or by a mail request. I found neither route viable. At the Website, I found that only a very few references were available for perusal. I sent an e-mail asking for clarification, and received no response. I sent another to the e-mail address given for the mailing request, and received the same silence.

These research studies are the driving force of this text, the whole backbone of the project. If the source material is not accessible, this work loses its professed value. Moreover, when did reference citations become discretionary? If background material is quoted, an available listing of that information bank is obligatory; if their inclusion creates a heftiness problem, perhaps a strength-training program should be an advised prerequsite for potential buyers.

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