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Health books are supposed to make it easier, not more difficult,
to use health services. Although there are hundreds of books
on the marketplace, many of them contain information that
is complicated and superfluous at a time when we are already
overwhelmed with data about virtually every aspect of our
lives. It can be hard to digest these tomes when you are ill,
which is when most people decide they want to become more
educated about their health.
We searched for books that distill the complexities of health
care, conventional and alternative, into the simplest possible
terms. Health information doesn’t need to be complex
in order for it to be effective. In fact, just the opposite
is true. If you can get the essentials without the extraneous,
the meat without the fat so to speak, health information is
easier to digest and assimilate, allowing you to more readily
apply it to your everyday life. Also included in our list
are a few titles that present thought-provoking viewpoints
about medical science and our health care system.
To purchase these titles, please click on the covers
Please note that titles not in print or
available online can still be purchased from other sources,
and any monies generated from book sales on this website are
used to defray production and hosting costs.
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Is Your Health Care
Killing You? 12 Ways to Survive Our Fractured Health
Care System by Colleen C. Badell, Ph.D.
Our health care is killing us – literally and figuratively – with
an out-of-control bureaucracy, massive inefficiency, thousands of preventable
medical errors, an unabated profit motive, and our own complacency. It seems
as though it will only get worse before it gets better. We must become better
consumers, not only to enhance the benefits of medicine but also to avoid harm
from those who regulate it and those who administer it. Is Your Health Care Killing
You? presents an easy-to-follow plan that addresses the use of both conventional
and alternative medicine and is designed for the person who wants to assume a
more active role in health care – whether you are a care-giver or a care-receiver.
It is an essential tool for anyone who wants to survive the system rather than
be victimized by it and get the most from any medicine. (Publisher) |
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6 Myths about Alternative
Medicine: Using It Wisely by Colleen C. Badell, Ph.D.
Alternative medicine is either revered or reviled depending upon whom you talk
to, but neither attitude is justified. 6 Myths About Alternative Medicine tells
it like it is about our use and misuse of this medicine – topics still
taboo in most New Age circles – but it does so within a framework that
supports its responsible use. Candid and uncensored, it dares to debunk the most
commonly-held beliefs about alternative medicine and, in doing so, raises questions
about how we view our health and approach any medicine. While raising important
questions, 6 Myths also offers helpful suggestions on maximizing the benefits
of alternative treatments and therapies. Included in this list are the Top Ten
New Age Busters, a unique approach to finding the best alternative practices
and practitioners. 6 Myths presents a revolutionary approach to medicine whose
time has arrived and whose ideas will be discussed for generations to come. (Publisher) |
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A Simple Plan: Alternative
Medicine Made Very Easy by Colleen C. Badell, Ph.D.
The first no-nonsense approach to alternative medicine, A Simple Plan offers
immediate access to this increasingly popular medicine. It is the guide no consumer
can do without – whether you are a beginner and are confused by all of
the options in the marketplace and their often conflicting messages – or
you are experienced in using alternative medicine and merely want to increase
its benefits. Presented in a user-friendly format, A Simple Plan provides a unique
six-step formula for using alternative medicine that covers all facets of health
and wellness. It also takes on issues normally excluded from most discussions
about health care – alternative or conventional – including environmental
balance, psychotherapy, surgery, and preparation for death. It is simply the
only guide you need to use alternative medicine safely, responsibly, and effectively.
(Publisher) |
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The Complete Idiot’s Guide
to Managed Health Care by Sophie M. Krczyk & Hazel
A. Witte
Managed health care is one of the most confusing areas any consumer can deal
with. Rules and regulations are constantly changing, providers are always merging
and changing their offerings, and paperwork abounds. In easy-to-understand language,
this book explains how to understand options, how to get treatment for chronic
and long-term illnesses, how to get the most care for the least cost, and more.
(Ingram) |
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Making Them Pay: How
to Get the Most from Health Insurance and Managed Care
by Rhonda D. Orin
In this consumer guide to health insurance and managed care programs, lawyer
Orin has assembled a compact reference that explains how to read and understand
a health plan and how to go toe to toe with insurance companies to get the benefits
to which we are entitled. The author outlines the components of typical plans
the services covered and the limits and exclusions insurance companies and managed
care systems may apply to deny coverage...Orin emphasizes record keeping and
shows readers how to deal with customers service representatives to make sure
the problem or complaint is documented...This book simplifies a convoluted subject
and is recommended for most public libraries. (Library Journal) |
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Health Insurance (Made
E-Z) by Silver Lake
Silver Lake Publishing provides online courses for the insurance profession.
This book by the Silver Lake Editors assists consumers in purchasing health insurance
that is right for them at the best price. This how-to guide includes inside tips
about evaluating your health insurance needs and about the complicated selection
process in an era of managed care. |
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The Rights of Patients:
The Authoritative ACLU Guide to the Rights of Patients
by George J. Annas
Now in its third edition, The Rights of Patients has long been considered the
definitive guide to understanding the legal and ethical issues patients face
in our fragmented health care system. Offering fully documented exposition and
explanation of the rights of patients from birth to death, this concise reference
covers topics such as informed consent, emergency treatment, refusing treatment,
human experimentation, privacy and confidentiality, patient safety and medical
practice. George J. Annas’s full revised and updated version also offers
specific advice to individuals on serving as patient advocates for friends and
family members and focuses on helping patients and their advocates protect their
human rights and preserve their independence and dignity when undergoing medical
care. (Publisher)
(Please also note The ABA Complete and Easy Guide to Health Care Law, published
2001.) |
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Wall of Silence: The
Untold Story of the Medical Mistakes That Kill and Injure
Millions of Americans by Rosemary Gibson & Janardan
Prasad Singh
Medical mistakes are occurring with alarming frequency in this country. Nightly
newscasts and daily newspapers tell of botched surgeries, mistaken patient identities,
careless overdoses, and neglected diagnoses. You may have dismissed these stories
as unfortunate mistakes, misunderstandings, or just isolated incidents with the
occasional bad doctor. Wall of Silence reveals that these medical mistakes are
not rare incidents. In fact, the real life stories in this book show that medical
mistakes are increasing in frequency and worse, that the system is designed more
to cover up these errors than prevent them...Hospitals, insurance companies,
HMOs, state medical boards, and medical associations also come under fire for
turning a deaf ear to the claims of innocent victims and their families. Gibson
and Singh shed light on the intimidation and other punishing tactics these bodies
use to maintain the Wall of Silence. (Publisher) |
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The Lost Art of Healing
by Bernard Lown M.D.
Despite huge technological advancements, today’s medicine is in a state
of crisis, claims Lown (professor emeritus in cardiology at Harvard and cofounder
of Physicians Against Nuclear War). Emphasizing that nothing can replace listening
and careful history taking, Lown laments that doctors have now substituted technology
for taking time with the patient, shifting their medical focus from healing the
patient to curing the disease...Lown extracts from his 50 years of medical practice
case histories and examples of the clinical wisdom that enable a doctor to comprehend
essential medical problems...he evinces little optimism that his wisdom will
be heeded in this age of Medicare and managed care. Recommended for all medical
collections. (Library Journal) |
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The End of Science by
John Horgan
Scientific American columnist Horgan here interviews an impressive array of scientists
and philosophers, who seem sharply divided over the prospects and possibilities
of science. Among the pessimists, molecular biologist Gunther Stent suggests
that science is reaching a point of incremental, diminishing returns as it comes
up against the limits of knowledge; philosopher Thomas Kuhn sees science as a
nonrational process that does not converge with truth; Vienna-born thinker Paul
Feyerabend objects to science’s pretensions to certainty and its potential
to stamp out the diversity of human thought and culture. More optimistic are
particle physicist Edward Witten, pioneer of superstring theory; robotics engineer
Hans Moravec, who envisions superintelligent creative robots; and physicist Roger
Penrose, who theorizes that quantum effects percolating through the brain underlie
consciousness...Despite the dominant doomsaying tone, this colloquium leaves
much room for optimism. (Publisher’s Weekly) |
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