There is no shortage of health and wellness titles at bookstores–nor at my work station. Most weeks, 20 to 40 health-related books show up in the mail. Here are some of the keepers from 1999 that can help the favorite people in your life be healthier and happier:
– In the general reference category, the “American College of Physicians Complete Home Medical Guide” (DK Publishing, $40) is an impressive blend of understandable text and informative graphics. The publisher, DK, is renown for its visual design, and this 1,100-page volume doesn’t disappoint. As added bonus, the book comes with a CD-ROM title, “The Ultimate Human Body 2.0” (for Windows software).
– New parents on your shopping list can benefit from many competent guidebooks for those late-night worries about high fever or some odd rash. Don’t be afraid to purchase a new parent the same title you might have thumbed (or even the Dr. Spock your mother used). A formidable addition to this category is “The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Book of Pregnancy and Child Care” (John Wiley & Sons, $19.95). It covers through age 5 and draws on the expertise of nine physicians who work at one of the country’s top pediatric centers.
– For reliable information on alternative medical therapies, there are several star entries published in 1999. Reader’s Digest has produced an easy-to-follow yet detailed guide on nutritional supplements, “The Healing Power of Vitamins, Minerals and Herbs” (Reader’s Digest, $30) with cross-references to symptoms. The decisive “Better Homes and Gardens Smart Choices in Alternative Medicine” (Better Homes and Gardens Books, $24.95) is brimming with resources and organized by individual therapies and disciplines. Other titles to check out: “The American Pharmaceutical Association Practical Guide to Natural Medicines” (Stonesong, $35) by Andrea Pierce and “The Complete Self-Care Guide to Holistic Medicine (Tarcher/Putnam, $27.50) by Robert S. Ivker.
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– If information overload seems more your loved one’s problem, consider replacing the reference book with a copy of Stephanie Winston’s “Getting Out From Under: Redefining Your Priorities in an Overwhelming World (Perseus, $22). It stands out among this year’s change-your-life/get organized books.
– Food and spirituality get a double serving this holiday season. “The Mindful Cook: Finding Awareness, Simplicity and Freedom in the Kitchen” (Random House, $19.95) by Isaac Cronin is part history, part philosophy and part recipes with a dash of the eccentric. There are also four “practical moments” in each chapter to help most satisfactorily answer Cronin’s early questions: “How do you picture yourself when you cook? How do you imagine others perceive you when you are cooking? What do you see as the major obstacles to being more comfortable and effective in the kitchen?”
Donald Altman’s “Art of the Inner Meal” (HarperSanFrancisco, $20) starts with his Chicago boyhood memories of his grandmother’s gefilte fish, latkes, matzo ball soup and apple pie, then journeys through the impact of food upon all five of the world’s major religious traditions. Altman, a former Buddhist monk, also covers fasting, mealtime prayers and blessings, Japanese tea ceremonies and “sacred listening” among topics.
– Discovering a sense of inner peace by gardening is another popular method for people hoping to make a body-mind-soul connection. While the examples in “Spiritual Gardening: Creating Sacred Spaces Outdoors” (Time-Life, $29.95) by Peg Streep and photographer John Glover seem out of reach for most of us, the volume nonetheless inspires the idea of nature as a way to plant some tranquility in our own back yards and window boxes. The photos alone are soothing. An opening section on “Gardening for the Soul” explains the basics, while a end-of-the-book resources list provides the information one needs to, ahem, dig deeper into our selves. That is, after all, why we celebrate the holidays, right?