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Direct, assertive, bold. Confronting the nature of our dying health care “non-system”, Dr. Andrew Weil approaches problems and solutions like an expert doctor dealing with an emergency resuscitation. In Chapter 1, he starts by demythologizing some dysfunctional beliefs about health care in the US. Myth #1: Because America has the most expensive health care system in the word, it must have the best. Indeed, we rate on a scale of health care outcomes as #37 in the world, on a par with Serbia. Myth #2: Our medical technology is our greatest asset. In fact such technology is very useful but is often misused, over-prescribed, and not only is overly expensive but frequently leads to worse health outcomes. Myth #3: Our medical schools and research facilities excel at creating the finest physicians and most productive medical investigators. However, our extensive infrastructure omits large areas of education and research that focus on healthy lifestyles practices and wellbeing. Researchers are trained to think in a logical and reductionist method with strong emphasis on pharmaceutical drugs. Chapter 2 presents convincing data that deconstructs these myths accounting for why our health system functions so poorly at such high costs. While acknowledging the strengths of US health care, Weil laments the tragedy of so much done at such high cost with such poor health outcomes. He points out the cost of technology and the folly of continuing to train more specialists for management of chronic disease. This is the current biomedical curricular culture which underemphasizes training in areas such basic, primary prevention and health promotion. We also essentially ignore the body’s ability to heal itself, focusing rather on ‘fixing the machine when it is broken.’ The research enterprise meanwhile, though highly productive, is also highly beholden to industry support from pharmaceutical companies and other corporate interests. This creates inherent conflicts of interests that are highly concerning. Dr. Weil does not leave us just with a diagnosis but in despair.

Dr. Steve Pratt has long been one of my favorite experts on health and nutrition. Starting with his first bestselling book, SuperFoods Rx, Pratt has it figured out a formula for changing lives. He and his team are masters at presenting sensible, readable, research-based material on nutrition and health in an easy to understand and to adopt for lifestyle change. His latest book, SuperHealth contains a 6 week plan to making such lifestyle changes by choosing healthier foods, improving our exercise patterns, better handling stress, and much more.

One of the most pressing questions of parents to physicians these days is, “Are there alternatives to drug therapy for my child with ADHD?” Given the highly pervasive nature of this condition (3-10% of American children) and the documented effectiveness of stimulant medications, we immediately enter onto a challenging territory. Children with conditions such as attention deficit disorder, with or without hyperactivity, often respond dramatically to psychostimulants such as methylphenidate. Both school grades and social behaviors improve quickly. Teachers, classmates, and family members are relieved. Yet there remains unease about a large cohort of our children requiring long-term drug therapy that has potential for side effects such as growth, appetite, and sleep disturbance and potential cardiac, endocrine, or sympathetic nervous system effects. What are we to do? Are there effective, reliable, and safe alternatives to these widely prescribed medications? What is the evidence for their long-term use? Indeed, what is the evidence for long-term effectiveness and safety of the pharmacological treatments for ADD and ADHD?

That investigative sleuth of the unconscious body is at it again. After books on spirituality, prayer, non-local healing, and of quantum effects in the realm of mind, The Power of Premonitions: How Knowing the Future Can Shape Our Lives adds a new layer to the life work of Dr. Larry Dossey. In this latest scholarly tour de force, the mind of Larry Dossey has created a new understanding of the phenomenon of premonitions. Where he comes up with his materials, data, cases, stories, and all the other elements of his broad range of essays, speeches, and books like this one has always mystified me. He has called Samuel Johnson an informavore, apparently someone who devours information. I now realize, this is a perfect noun describing Dossey himself. Some people eat food, he eats information and translates it into amazing energetic structures like this latest book.

One of the pressing major problems in contemporary health care is the treatment of depression. Despite a plethora of pharmaceutical remedies acting at multiple points in the neurotransmitter pathways in the central nervous system, some patients remain treatment resistant. This poses a vexing puzzle for clinicians, for the patients and their families, and for society. The toll of human suffering, lost productivity, and darkened, narrowed lives is enormous. Into this breach, some light has come as two books by noted authors, scientists, and clinicians to offer evidence-based self-care strategies for those “stuck” in chronic depression.

This book by Howard Brody, MD, PhD reveals hidden secrets of the health care industry in relation to the pharmaceutical industry and why such costs and access problems have resulted from their actions, legal maneuvering, lobbying, direct and indirect efforts to influence the public, the medical profession, and politicians and policy makers. With the industriousness of an investigative reporter coupled with the tight focus of an ethical scholar, Brody carefully builds an exquisitely well-documented, logical case. He demonstrates serious problems with the fiduciary responsibilities of pharmaceutical companies to the public, their conduct of shoddy science, and their overly intimate role as educators and ultimately salesmen of their products to physicians. With billions spent annually on promotion and marketing (roughly double their research and development budgets), Big Pharma dominates medical journal advertising, direct advertising through detail men to physicians, and now increasingly in direct marketing to the public. This creates a heavily weighted view that the pharmaceutical industry is an unalloyed good to the health of the American public and that of the international community. In fact, it has become increasingly difficult to discern the boundary line between the drug industry and their products and the responsible conduct of modern medicine. As a teacher, researcher, and a practitioner of Integrative Medicine, for example, I have come to recognize the safety, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of many non-pharmacological and preventive approaches such as diet, lifestyle change, mind-body approaches, botanicals, nutritional supplements, hands-on therapies, acupuncture, and the like for a variety of chronic diseases. However, without the billions of dollars of funding for research and marketing, these therapies, with a significant potential to reduce health care costs while increasing public safety, are summarily ejected to the back seat while the Siren call of Big Pharma mesmerizes the medical profession and the public.