Confronting Critical Health Issues of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans

Book Description

The Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum is a national advocacy organization dedicated to promoting policy, program, and research efforts for improving the health status of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. This book was stimulated by the ideas and efforts of the Forum's National Research Advisory Council (NRAC). First convened in April 1989, the NRAC was formed in response to the poor quality of data, the paucity of health statistics, and the limited epidemiological and health services research on Asian and Pacific Islander Americans. With partial support from the Federal Office of Minority Health, the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum selected three editors noted for their contributions and past compilations of scholarly work. The Forum also commissioned contributors with demonstrated experience and commitment to advancing the understanding of Asian and Pacific Islander American health in the service, research, and policy sectors. This book is a milestone effort reflecting the Forum's commitment to (a) community-based research; (b) building linkages and collaborations between academic researchers, service providers, and policy-makers; (c) advocating for institutional sanctions on improving data sources and research on Asian and Pacific Islander Americans; and (d) the dissemination of relevant information to diverse communities nationwide.

Asian Secrets of Health, Beauty, and Relaxation

Average customer rating:

A breath of fresh air!
Same content as Tropical Spa
A touch of Bali in your home

Asian Secrets of Health, Beauty, and Relaxation
Sophie Benge
Manufacturer: Periplus Editions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 9625938540

Book Description

For centuries, Asian women have relaxed and beautified themselves with exotic therapies derived from the materials of nature-plants, herbs, minerals, clays, and flowers. Until now, Western women could only experience these pleasures by taking expensive trips to professional spas. In Asian Secrets of Health, Beauty, and Relaxation, Sophie Benge, an Asian beauty expert, supplies all the tools for experiencing luxurious Asian beauty treatments at home, including inexpensive, easy-to-follow recipes for soothing facials, relaxing aromatherapy baths, invigorating body scrubs, healthy food and drink recipes, remedies for specific ailments, and more. Now readers can spend a lavish day at the spa without leaving their house.

Customer Reviews:

A breath of fresh air!.......2001-12-21

I really love this book and all it has to offer! The world class photography combined with never seen before Spa techniques make this a 5 star publication. I never in a million years would've thought of mixing together the ingredients listed in this book. It is a cookbook for lasting youth and beauty. It's now obvious how so many Asian women attain a lifelong glow!

Same content as Tropical Spa.......2001-07-27

I was disappointed that this book was the exact same replica of the Tropical Spa book by Sophie Benge, minus the Tropical Spas coverage. I say if you are going to buy it, might as well get the whole thing and get the beautiful and inspiring pictures of the tropical asian spas. It is the same EXACT content from the second half of the Tropical Spa, but their tips are great. Just don't buy if you have Tropical Spa and you think this is any different, because it is not. (As I sadly discovered)

A touch of Bali in your home.......2001-02-25

I enjoyed this book more than Benge's other title, The Asian Spa, because it contains beauty and health remedies that can be enjoyed in one's home as opposed to in a Balinese spa. This book is considerate in that it does not assume one has unlimited funds available to spend on treatments. Instead it focuses on delightful and affordable beauty and health remedies. I tried the honey and cucumber facial and must agree that my skin looked radiant afterward. I also love that it explains the Asian philosophy of true beauty only being possible when one is serene. Because Benge is British, some of her words sound a bit odd to an American but it doesn't pose a great problem. The only problem I had with this book is that she doesn't list any sources where readers can buy some of the treatment ingredients. Many of the ingredients are extremely exotic (mud from Thailand, for example) and are impossible to find in the United States. It would have been helpful to list stores or websites where you can order some of the more rare ingredients. Overall, an enjoyable and inspirational book.

Beautiful Skin of Color: A Comprehensive Guide to Asian, Olive, and Dark Skin

Average customer rating:

garbage
Beautiful Skin Color
Excellent Reference For Ethnic Skin
Skin Deep

Beautiful Skin of Color: A Comprehensive Guide to Asian, Olive, and Dark Skin
Jeanine Downie , Fran Cook-bolden , and Barbara Nevins Taylor
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer

ASIN: 0060521554
Release Date: 2005-06-14

Book Description

It's a fact of DNA: If you can trace your roots back to Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, India, Latin America, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, the South Pacific, or any group of Native Americans, your genes react similarly to genes in the darkest skin. And chances are, you may have received confusing advice -- or no advice at all -- about how to care for your skin. Although nearly half the population of the United States shares the hallmarks of skin of color, many dermatologists and beauty consultants routinely prescribe remedies created for Caucasian skin without understanding how sensitive and easily damaged skin of color is. It's no wonder, then, that many women and men of color continually battle skin problems, and it takes a terrible toll on their self-esteem.

Finally, Beautiful Skin of Color unlocks the particular secrets of your skin and provides the answers you've been searching for. Dr. Fran Cook-Bolden and Dr. Jeanine Downie, internationally recognized dermatologists and women of color, and Barbara Nevins Taylor, an award-winning reporter on skin and hair issues, offer clear, specific advice to help you achieve and maintain a healthy, gorgeous complexion.

In a quick-reference, A-to-Z format, using examples drawn from personal and professional experience, Dr. Cook-Bolden and Dr. Downie explain why problems occur, and then prescribe reliable remedies and groundbreaking new procedures specifically created for skin of color.

Throughout this comprehensive guide, the doctors show you how to work with your skin and hair -- and your dermatologist -- to create your own unique skin-management program. A long-overdue and much-needed resource, Beautiful Skin of Color is certain to help you look and feel your best.

Customer Reviews:

garbage.......2007-08-12

Total garbage. Doesn't tell you anything you can't find on the net. Don't even waste your money.

Beautiful Skin Color.......2007-01-17

I enjoy reading books to help improve my skills as an up and coming makeup artist. This book came highly recommended at a recent event and I had the opportunity to meet the author. Great book for those interested in improving their daily regimen of cleaning their skin and covering skin flaws.

Excellent Reference For Ethnic Skin.......2006-03-16

This is an excellent resource for learning about skin of color. It provides detailed information for almost any skin condition i.e. causes of skin disorders, remedies, length of expected results, product names for over-the-counter and prescription medicine, average cost of cosmetic procedures and side effects. As an African-American, I was amazed to learn facts about the specifics of my skin, like, laser skin resurfacing treatment is not recommended for keloid-proned skin and microdermabrasion is a gentler and safer treatment because layers of the skin are not rubbed off and no anesthetic is needed. Because the skin is gently "blasted" with particles during microdermabrasion, it can help fade dark marks with the use of hydroquinone products because this agent can seep deeper into the skin after dead skin has been removed. Included in this book is basic information that we all should know, especially about drinking plenty of water to hydrate the skin and using a humidifier to add moisture to the air. However, after reading this book, I was better informed about various skin conditions and how to treat my skin. The book contains information regarding acne, dry skin, botox, chemical peels, wrinkle fillers, cysts, dark circles, facial hair, sun protection (which is highly suggested throughout the book), stretch marks, hair loss, moles, laser treatments and tons of other skin conditions. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone searching for facts regarding delicate skin of color.

Skin Deep.......2004-10-09

BEAUTIFUL SKIN OF COLOR is a very informative, well written book, essentially geared toward individuals with darker hued complexions, ranging from olive to very dark skin. Written in clear understandable language, this book is crammed with obviously well researched information, targeting a wide range of skin and hair related issues such as acne, eczema, hair loss, facial hairs, and vitiligo.

The book gives the warning signs of the different skin problems, the authors' theoretical reasoning behind the problem, and gives detailed descriptions of various traditional home and over the counter remedies. It also describes aggressive medical interventions available, as warranted by the severity of the problem.

BEAUTIFUL SKIN OF COLOR is a comprehensive guide to daily skin care, which pretty much explores every conceivable product, procedure and new technology available in the dermatological industry for beautifying skin of color.
It is the perfect resource for everyone concerned with having healthy, beautiful looking skin and is a perfect addition to any reader's library.

Reviewed by Autumn
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Thai Spa Book: Natural Asian Way to Health and Beauty

Average customer rating:

Beautiful Book!!!
A great gift for anyone interested in spas and well-being

Thai Spa Book: Natural Asian Way to Health and Beauty
Chami Jotisalikorn , and Luca Invernizzi
Manufacturer: Tuttle Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0794600964

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful Book!!!.......2007-06-23

This book has breathtaking photos of Asian spas and great "recipes" for your hair, skin, and more. The best thing about this book is that the "recipes" are not extremely complicated, like some make-it-yourself-beauty-books can be!

A great gift for anyone interested in spas and well-being.......2004-02-06

I got this book as a present and really loved it. I love getting massages and am interested in herbal remedies and this book is very informative and useful, especially the section with do-it-at-home beauty treatments. I also find the book to be very pretty and and pleasant to look at. I highly recommend this book as a great gift for anyone who are interested in spas and well-being.

Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History (American Encounters/Global Interactions)

Average customer rating:

Exodus Explained

Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History (American Encounters/Global Interactions)
Catherine Ceniza Choy , and Catherine Ceniza Choy
Manufacturer: Duke University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 082233089X

Book Description

In western countries, including the United States, foreign-trained nurses constitute a crucial labor supply. Far and away the largest number of these nurses come from the Philippines. Why is it that a developing nation with a comparatively greater need for trained medical professionals sends so many of its nurses to work in wealthier countries? Catherine Ceniza Choy engages this question through an examination of the unique relationship between the professionalization of nursing and the twentieth-century migration of Filipinos to the United States. The first book-length study of the history of Filipino nurses in the United States, Empire of Care brings to the fore the complicated connections among nursing, American colonialism, and the racialization of Filipinos.

Choy conducted extensive interviews with Filipino nurses in New York City and spoke with leading Filipino nurses across the United States. She combines their perspectives with various others—including those of Philippine and American government and health officials—to demonstrate how the desire of Filipino nurses to migrate abroad cannot be reduced to economic logic, but must instead be understood as a fundamentally transnational process. She argues that the origins of Filipino nurse migrations do not lie in the Philippines' independence in 1946 or the relaxation of U.S. immigration rules in 1965, but rather in the creation of an Americanized hospital training system during the period of early-twentieth-century colonial rule. Choy challenges celebratory narratives regarding professional migrants’ mobility by analyzing the scapegoating of Filipino nurses during difficult political times, the absence of professional solidarity between Filipino and American nurses, and the exploitation of foreign-trained nurses through temporary work visas. She shows how the culture of American imperialism persists today, continuing to shape the reception of Filipino nurses in the United States.

Customer Reviews:

Exodus Explained.......2004-03-29

Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History by Catherine Ceniza Choy is a socio-historical explanation for the migration of Filipino nurses into the US during the 20th century. Principally, she articulates why since the changes in the immigration laws via the 1965 Immigration Act, travel in the US by skilled workers was made much easier and becoming permanent residents of the US made easier still. Choy's examination leads one to conclude that the permanent structural demand in US hospitals, who relied on the labor of foreign-trained nurses, may have been one but certainly not the only reason for the massive exodus out from the Philippines and into the US. Beyond articulating why so many Filipino nurses came to the United States, Choy undertakes and investigation of the experience of these very nurses. She argues that the US colonial experience developed a highly racialized hierarchy with white Americans at the summit and Filipinos at the base. As per to Choy, U.S. colonials at the turn of the century effectively formed the foundation for subsequent migrations through the creation of an American-style infrastructure and training program, initiating an American-style nursing work culture, by effectively gendering the nursing industry and relegating nursing to "women's work," Moreover, this move, perhaps as an unintended consequence developed fluency among the nurses in the use of English, and by starting programs such as the Exchange Visitor Program (EVP) that eventually brought Filipino nursing students to the US for advanced training.

Under the auspices of the EVP, Filipino nurses were able to obtain further professional training, while in the US, some nurses decided to reside here permanently. As most immigration experiences go, the monster of racialization rears its ugly head in the cases that Choy highlights as problematic: (1) The Richard Speck murder case and (2) the AV murder case in Ann Arbor Michigan involving 2 Filipino nurses. Richard Speck was accused of and convicted of murdering a group of nurses in a Chicago suburb in 1966, which included two Filipino nurses in the EVP program. Choy examines the disturbing fascination with Speck as opposed to the deaths of 22-year-old Merlita Gargullo and 23-year-old Valentina Pasion. The survival of Corazon Amurao and the subsequent trial and the examination of Speck by Marvin Ziporyn "[...] illustrates the American public's growing fascination with the life and mind of murderer Speck and its fading interest in the lives of the young women slain. In such depictions, these women had become only figments of a larger, seemingly more important story about a criminal mind" (Choy 133-4). The 1977 murder case involving two Filipino nurses accused of poisoning their patients in Ann Arbor, Michigan is arguably more insidious. In a move that reminded this reader of the case of Italian anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti who were arrested outside Boston in 1920 and charged with the robbing and killing of a shoe factory paymaster and his guard. In the same manner the racialization of the nurses as "Filipino" and the resurgence of the negative imagery of Asians is examined in this book. In the chapter "The enigma of the Little Filipino" (Choy 145-52), Choy undertakes to examine the racialized nature of the case and the subsequent FBI actions relating thereto. The sections that examine for the Speck and VA case read like a highly research detective story - the irony is that it is non-fiction should not escape our reading.

Another "reality" that Choy brings to mind is that nurses form a significant number of Filipinos working overseas. The Filipino Overseas Worker (FOW), as far as the Philippine government is concerned is a resource. The FOW earns hard currency (usually US dollars) and sends back that money to their families in the form of a remittance. Enduring economic crisis in the balance of payments is seen as the leading cause for export of manpower since, as mentioned previously, the remittances keep the country solvent. The sad part to this testament is the double bind that the Philippine government finds itself experiencing. On the one hand there is the very real need for the remittances, the Philippine government did, to their credit, initially try to hang on to nurses to meet health care deficit at home. However, by the 1970s it had no choice but to promote expatriation as a way to earn much needed foreign currency through those very remittances. Ironically, despite having a real health care professional shortage at home, the Philippines was the leading supplier to the worldwide structural demand for nurses and health care professionals. Historians and the author of this book rightfully return to Colonial times to articulate the flow of immigrant to the US. The American-style of hospital administration foisted in Manila and the provinces according to Choy set the stage for later immigration into the US. By interrelating Philippine migration history to US imperial history Choy makes a seminal contribution to the fields of Migration, Asian, and Filipino studies. Scholars who are interested in these three areas and perhaps more should not overlook this book.

Book Description

Is there only one bioethics? Is a global bioethics possible? Or, instead, does one encounter a plurality of bioethical approaches shaped by local cultural and national traditions? Some thirty years ago a field of applied ethics emerged under the rubric `bioethics'. Little thought was given at the time to the possibility that this field bore the imprint of a particular American set of moral commitments. This volume explores the plurality of moral perspectives shaping bioethics. It is inspired by Kazumasa Hoshino's critical reflections on the differences in moral perspectives separating Japanese and American bioethics. The essays include contributions from Hong Kong, China, Japan, Texas, the United States, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. The volume offers a rich perspective of the range of approaches to bioethics. It brings into question whether there is unambiguously one ethics for bioethics to apply.

The Tropical Spa: Asian Secrets of Health, Beauty and Relaxation

Average customer rating:

Teaser
Love it, love it, love it!!!
Tour guide -- not an instruction book
Been there, done that, bought the book!
Absolutely Delightful!

The Tropical Spa: Asian Secrets of Health, Beauty and Relaxation
Sophie Benge
Manufacturer: Periplus Editions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0794602622

Amazon.com

True to our understanding of the word spa, this is a lush, extravagant book that nourishes the spirit as well as the senses. Unlike the curative focus of European spas with technicians in white lab coats slathering chemical creams on aging faces, Asian spas offer sanctuaries of spiritual harmony, natural treatments, and an emphasis on creating beauty from the inside out. Author Sophie Benge (Private Hong Kong) does an excellent job of explaining how the ancient Asian spa rituals, such aromatherapy, herbal treatments, energy-based massage work, meditation, yoga, and qi gong lead to inner health and balance, which ultimately translates into outer beauty. Her smooth, elegant writing style works well alongside the generous full-color photography by Luca Invernizzi Tettoni (Tropical Asian Style). Tettoni has outdone himself with the splendor, vividness, and composure of his photographs--true works of art that are as restful and restorative as a floral foot soak in Bali.

Although this could easily be a display book, stacked among the coffee-table elite, this is a far more ambitious and utilitarian project. Benge offers a thorough profile of the best Asian spas, all of which are brought to life through Tettoni's stellar photography. The final third of this book is devoted to home treatments, such as instructions for giving a traditional Indonesian massage, recipes for specific hair and body ailments, suggestions for meditation exercises, herbal tonics, and even some spa food recipes such as Thai Seafood Salad and Lentil Wonton Soup. --Gail Hudson

Book Description

The Tropical Spa catalogs Asia's most luxurious spas with full-color photography and a wide range of stress-busting therapies. The emphasis is on spiritual well-being and natural curatives rather than on modern chemicals and synthetic preparations. Traditional beauty treatments for revitalizing facials; relaxing baths and scrubs; refreshing, healthy tonics and meals; massage oils; blends and techniques; and much more are offered here in an easy-to-follow manner.

Customer Reviews:

Teaser.......2002-09-15

I really like this book and some of the recipes are really simple and very easy to do.

However, for things like masks, some of the ingredients are so hard to find and there is no list of where to find it or even what the ingredients look like. So it is frustrating and somewhat a teaser to be able to see the product and want to make it but can't !

Love it, love it, love it!!!.......2001-10-18

Ok, I don't know how good it is as an "asian spa recipe" book - I didn't buy it for that. But for a coffee table book, its the best I have come across on Asian spa, surroundings, architecture etc... the closest that comes to it is Bali Modern, also by the same photographer - Luca Invernizzi.

The pictures are just so well taken, you feel like you want to go there. There are tons of coffee table books out there that have pictures of exotic spots, like Tropical Asian Style etc, but they just don't capture it the way this book does.. oh! so mesmerizing!

Tour guide -- not an instruction book.......2001-07-20

This book was not what I expected. I thought it would be full of recipies and practices of Asian spas, and it is instead mostly devoted to describing various popular Asian spas. There are some recipies, but not very many. However, it is a beautifully photographed book -- and if you are studying spas themselves (or are planning a trip to Asia and are wondering which spa would suit you best), this would definitely be a book to have.

Been there, done that, bought the book!.......2000-06-11

I actully bought this book in Bogor (Java, Indonesia) at the Novotel gift shop while on vacation recently. I stayed at the Chedi during this trip, and the Mandara spa facilities and food are as portrayed in the book, fabulous! We went to the San Gria Spa and Resort in Lembang for our spa experience, as well as the Dharmawangsa in Jakarta. Having had spa treatments in both the U.S. and Indonesia, I have to say that Asia can do it the best! The treatment recipes offered in the book that I have actually tried in the spas (the Balinese Boreh, the Bali Kopi Scrub, and the Creme Bath Hair Treatment) were all heavenly, leaving me feel soft all over, rejuvinated, and at peace. This book goes up on my shelf next to Bali Style by Rod Helmi and Barbara Walker. I love this life!

Absolutely Delightful!.......2000-04-28

Being Asian and proud of my heritage, I grew up watching my late grandmother prepared her own home-made facial products with natural herbs found in the forest. This book provide a good introduction to some of the best Asian Spas and an insight into the traditional indonesian and malay concoction of spa treatment, some I believe passed from generation to generation. The resorts featured offers travellers an incomparable and convenient setting for discovering the Asian secret to the ultimate relaxation and indulgence for the senses. A must have for all Spa lovers!

The Healing Hand: Man and Wound in the Ancient World (Commonwealth Fund Publications)

Average customer rating:

Historical Medicine, Wound Healing
A brilliant survey of early surgery
very accessible to the lay reader
Ancient Medicine Explained
medicine and its development in several cultures

The Healing Hand: Man and Wound in the Ancient World (Commonwealth Fund Publications)
Guido Majno
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0674383311

Book Description

This journey to the beginnings of the physician's art brings to life the civilizations of the ancient world--Egypt of the Pharaohs, Greece at the time of Hippocrates, Rome under the Caesars, the India of Ashoka, and China as Mencius knew it. Probing the documents and artifacts of the ancient world with a scientist's mind and a detective's eye, Guido Majno pieces together the difficulties people faced in the effort to survive their injuries, as well as the odd, chilling, or inspiring ways in which they rose to the challenge. In asking whether the early healers might have benefited their patients, or only hastened their trip to the grave, Dr. Majno uncovered surprising answers by testing ancient prescriptions in a modern laboratory.

Illustrated with hundreds of photographs, many in full color, and climaxing ten years of work, The Healing Hand is a spectacular recreation of man's attempts to conquer pain and disease.

Customer Reviews:

Historical Medicine, Wound Healing.......2007-09-24

Excellent historical work regarding wound healing. If one can obtain the original edition of 1975 in good condition, I find it preferable to the reprint of 1992 in that it is paperback rather than hard cover, slightly smaller than the original and the quality of the photos and such were not reproduced all that well in the re-print.

A brilliant survey of early surgery.......2001-08-14

Majno's book is not only magnificently informative but great fun. His prose is a positive pleasure, his research and knowledge are immense, and he has the gift of combining several perspectives to explain why procedures that now seem appalling made sense to the physicians of the period. He has experimentally tested a number of ancient remedies, and he is refreshingly willing to assume intelligence and craft among early physicians, even when they seem to be doing precisely the wrong things. His discussions of how we learn what medical techniques might have been is fascinating in its own right. Of his major sections (Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek, Chinese, Indian, and Roman), the Egyptian is probably best and the Chinese weakest.

very accessible to the lay reader.......2000-10-23

Most books on the history of medicine read rather like either horror novels or dusty tomes, with few authors finding that rare balance between entertainment at the price of detail or dullness for the sake of completeness. Guido Majno's work THE HEALING HAND manages to entertain the lay reader without bogging down in too much medical terminology. THE HEALING HAND intrigues without succumbing to that all-to-tempting penchant many medical history writers have of detailing the most absolutely vile and disgusting medical practices in the world while sacrificing attention to the ones that modern readers will recognize and possibly even relate to.

The driving force of Majno's work, one that comes through plainly in his writing, is that he really wants you understand what it is he's talking about. By examining available historical texts, piecing together data from archaelological digs, and even experimenting his theories on himself, Majno take you on a "journey" through medical wound healing history, starting with ancient Egypt and the Pharoahs and moving on through Hippocrates's ancient Greece, Ceaser's ancient Rome, ancient India, and ancient China. Few authors could manage the detailed tapestry of cultures and medical information Majno deftly weaves. He treats the subject of ancient would healing as few other writers do and, in the process, exposes you to how his mind works by writing how he thinks the minds of healers worked concerning wounds during the aforementioned time periods.

It's that spark of looking into his mind that makes his writing intriguing to me. It's rather like getting an easily understandable peek into the mind of a genius hard at work on an earth-shattering discovery. Combine the easily accessible text with the understandable pictures and graphics, complete and unobtrusive footnotes, and the wonderfully extensive bibliography and you have an invaluable addition to your library.

As a lay researcher in a medieval re-enactment society, I found this work a true gem, well worth the price of adding to my collection. Even though it would only be considered a "secondary source," the details were too rich and the clarity of the information too valuable to think twice about its purchase. Majno gave me the "why" behind so many medical practices I'm rather saddened that I didn't find this book sooner. Despite being written originally in 1975, I've read and reread it many times using it as a springboard for further research and experementation.

Ancient Medicine Explained.......2000-04-20

This book is a wonderful resource for gaining knowledge and insight into ancient medicine. Guido Majno not only explains what these ancient cultures did, but in many instances he explains why. He discusses their practices against the foundatioins of their whole culture, including their cultural knowledge base, their religions, their laws, and their technology. He give a great deal of background. For example, when he discusses the medicine of the egyptions, he goes through a basic primer on heroglyphics and then shows the symbols used by the ancient egyptions. This book gives you a real understanding of what these ancient healers struggled with and why they chose certain practices over others. Because of Majno's modern investigation and testing of these practices you also gain an understanding of what they did that worked and what didn't work. I recommend it to anyone who has an interest in medical history.

medicine and its development in several cultures.......2000-01-23

I ran across this in a high school library. A high school library, for crying out loud--and I don't believe anyone else had ever checked it out.

It made wonderful Christmas reading. I suppose most people don't read about medical history over Christmas. I did. I couldn't put it down.

Ancient Greece, China, India...I can't remember the rest. (That copy is still *in* the high school library...though temptation beckoned.) Majno covered medical practice (or malpractice from a modern perspective...) in loving detail. I wish my medical background were better, but I believe this book is honestly written and as accurate as it could be. Some of the research was eye-opening even to my poor ignorant eyes.

Book Description

Healing by Heart is a book of stories--stories of people's search for culturally responsive health care from U.S. providers. It offers resources to providers and institutions committed to delivering culturally responsive health care, paying special attention to building successful relationships with traditional Hmong patients and families. It makes available extensive information about the health-related beliefs, practices, and values of the Hmong people, including photographs of traditional healing methods.

Ranging in age from young infants to older adults, the patients in the stories present a wide range of health problems. The clinicians are from family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine, surgery, obstetrics-gynecology, psychiatry/psychology, and hospice.

Each of the fourteen case stories is accompanied by discussion questions as well as two or three commentaries. The commentaries--written by patients, family members, shaman, Western clinicians (including Hmong physicians, nurses, and social workers), medical anthropologists, health care ethicists, social workers, psychologists, and clergy--are rich in personal reflections on cross-cultural health care experiences. Readers are rewarded with a combination of perspectives, including those of Hmong authors who have not previously published in English and scholars with years of professional experience working with the Hmong in Laos, Thailand, and the United States.

The editors offer a model for delivering culturally responsive health care with special attention to matters of cross-cultural health care ethics. The model identifies questions health care providers can focus on as they seek to understand the health-related moral commitments and practices prevalent in the cultural groups they serve, ethical questions that arise frequently and with great poignancy in cross-cultural health care relationships, and points to consider when a patient's treatment wish challenges the provider's professional integrity.

Book Description

As a traditional healing art that has established a contemporary global presence, Chinese medicine defies categories and raises many interesting questions. If Chinese medicine is "traditional," why has it not disappeared with the rest of traditional Chinese society? If, as some claim, it is a science, what does that imply about what we call science? What is the secret of Chinese medicine's remarkable adaptability that has allowed it to prosper for more than 2,000 years? In Chinese Medicine in Contemporary China Volker Scheid presents an ethnography of Chinese medicine that seeks to answer these questions, but his ethnography is informed by some atypical approaches.
Scheid, a medical anthropologist and practitioner of Chinese medicine in practice since 1983, has produced an ethnography that accepts plurality as an intrinsic and nonreducible aspect of medical practice. It has been widely noted that a patient visiting ten different practitioners of Chinese medicine may receive ten different prescriptions for the same complaint, yet many of these various treatments may be effective. In attempting to illuminate the plurality in Chinese medical practice, Scheid redefines-and in some cases abandons-traditional anthropological concepts such as tradition, culture, and practice in favor of approaches from disciplines such as science and technology studies, social psychology, and Chinese philosophy. As a result, his book sheds light not only on Chinese medicine but also on the Western academic traditions used to examine it and presents us with new perspectives from which to deliberate the future of Chinese medicine in a global context.
Chinese Medicine in Contemporary China is the product of two decades of research including numerous interviews and case studies. It will appeal to a western academic audience as well as practitioners of Chinese medicine and other interested medical professionals, including those from western biomedicine.

Customer Reviews:

The Real Chinese Medicine.......2007-01-23

I have had the privilege of studying traditional Chinese medicine in Mainland China. It was interesting that many of the Western practitioners who were with me were scandalized by what they saw as the destruction of traditional medicine by contemporary Chinese doctors. If I can generalize, the Chinese are great pragmatists and for them their medicine - including acupuncture and herbalism - is in a constant state of growth and development. By contrast the Westerners thought that traditional Chinese medicine was an ancient system stuck in amber.

This book highlights all of these points and many others.

The author is a medical anthropologist as well as a practitioner of Chinese medicine who reads Chinese.

What he does is to weave together traditional anthropological concepts with Chinese philosophy, social psychology, science and technology to create a revealing tapestry. Although there is evidence that acupuncture has been in use for millennia, its current form is no more than fifty years old, and owes as much to politics as it does to tradition.

This is the way that Chinese medicine has adapted and synthesized new discoveries and new influences over the centuries. It is now quite normal to find traditional Chinese practitioners who use both traditional diagnosis using the pulse and the tongue, together with X-rays and blood work. A treatment may include not only acupuncture and herbs, but also some conventional Western medicine. This book highlights the ways in which Chinese medicine is not so much a thing as a dynamic process.

The author uses case studies from his own fieldwork in China to examine traditional medicine from a variety of perspectives. Not only how it is practiced, but also how it is mandated and then regulated by the government, and how it is shaped by its environment.

If you have any interest in Chinese medicine, the history of ideas, or how the Chinese tend to think about medical, practical and even political issues, this is a terrific book that I recommend highly.

An Eye-opener about Modern Chinese Medicine.......2002-11-21

One of our biggest problems as Chinese Medicine practitioners in the U.S. is that we don't have access to all the Chinese literature, nor do we really know what it's like in China. This book, with a number of great vignettes, bursts a number of bubbles for American TCM practitioners. Scheid is not only an acupuncturist, but also an anthropologist, so to him these vignettes are case studies...

For example: a doctor integrates biomedicine and chinese medicine to treat meniere's disease, how politics can decide that liver qi xu doesn't exist, pattern differentiation's significance historically and politically, and the in's and out's of apprenticeship.

It not only gives you a broader view of chinese medicine past and present, but also provides herbal prescription ideas and case studies unlike what we've read in English before.

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