Page 14 RAIN December 1978 HEALTH I(ygieia: A Woman's Herbal, Jeannine Parvati, 1978,249 pp., $9 from: Bookpeople 2940 7th Street Berkeley, CA 94710 This book could only have been written in California. It combines the characteristic California freethinking spirituality of the flowerchild era with the holistic cultural exploration that is teaching us $0 much about our herctofore unrealized potentials for healing ourselves. It's ;w important book-the first comprchensive attempt that I know of to explore natural, herbal and psychic approaches to women's health needsbirth control, infertility, birthing, scxuality, menstruation and menopause. The information related is from both ancient folklore and personal expericnce. The author puts a lot of herself into the pages, yet correctly leaves a lot up to exploration and experimentation. In other words, there are no answers here but some good guides and directions. It is a flawed book-inevitably. Sometimes it seems just too far out. Sometimes it is disorganized and confusing. Yet it's an exciting and brave attempt to bring together a great deal of information and informed speculation. [ highly rccommend a thorough reading, for there's much to be gleaned form thiS work. Wc've so much co lcarnlrelearn about ourselves. -LdeM Mental Birth Control, Mildred Jackson and Terri Teague, 1978,62 pp., $3.00 from: Lawton-Teague Publications P.O. Box 656 Oakland, CA 94604 "Oh no I" I can hear you scoff. "This time she's going too far." Maybe- but ['ve long had the suspicion that we can contwl the process of rcproduction much more than we've ever imagined. This link hook won't convince a skeptic, nor docs it offer any surefire ways co prl'ven t conception wi th a wish on a star, but it's good to see the idea in print. Again, as with other aspects of herbal/spiritual health care, the mind/ hody relationship is one that warrants more exploration. The authors, both naturopathic doctors, are the samc ones who put tOgether one of my most valued herbals, Handbook of A lternatives to Chemical Medicines, 1975 , $4.95 from the above address. (See !?ainbouk, p. 182) - LdeM from Hygieia Taking Care of Your Child, Robert Pantell, James Fries, Donald Vickery, 1977,410 pp., $10.95 from: Addison-Wesley Jacob Way Reading, MA 01867 The same MDs who brought you Taking Care of Yourself(Rainbook, p. 181) now have a book out that directly relates to kids. It follows the same approach of an action "tree" which lists symptOms and tells you if you should see a physician immediately, later tOday, consult one by phone or apply home treatment. The adult version has come in handy a couple of times around the Rainhouse, and I'm sure this version will be helpful to most worried parents. - LdeM VlSualiz. rho womb pnforming aIlth. ""rmol fimclio", but impen<lrabk by rho 'perm. from Mental Birth Control , , , -. : \ .. :~ = E >. o ~----------~------------~~ Resource Directory for Services from Pre-Conception to Early Parenting, 1978, $3 from: Centre for Wholistic Birth 4975 Fox Hollow Road Eugene, OR 97405 This directory is for the Eugene, Oregon, area, but every community should have one. Where can you go for Lamaze or prenatal elasses? Who's the local La Leche League leader? What services are there in town for homebirth support, parents wanting a holistic pediatrician or cooperative day care? There seems to be a baby boom on and we all have a lot of skills to learn and share. - LdeM The Holistic Health Handbook, com piled by the Berkeley Holistic Health Center, 1978,480 pp., $9.95 from: And/Or Press c/o Bookpeople 2970 7th St. Berkeley, CA 94710 This fat book is a thorough introduction to the wide variety of approaches to holistic health care-acupuncture and yoga to naturopathy, iridology and rolfing-with pieces written by practitioners in the various fields. I don't think it would be that useful if you've been following holistic health care for a while, but if you're new to this esoteric world and would like to know the sometimes subtle differences between the approaches, reading this book would be simpler than poring over back issues of New Age and Well-Being or any of the larger works in each field. Seems like a particularly useful book for libraries to have on their sheives.-LdeM
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