The Healing Arts: Exploring the Medical Ways of the World

I stumbled upon this book at the local public library. I checked it out on a whim, not sure I'd ever get into it. To my surprise, I was hooked on the first page (the Preface). If the Preface can hook a reader, the book must be pretty sharp. And it, cutting edge. Even 20 long years after it was written. "The Healing Arts" relates the many forms of medicine throughout the world, past and present. Each chapter is devoted to a particular aspect of healing and compares the various medical approaches to the subject (eg. chapters titled "Hands On" which explores the effect of touch, and the use of it in Chinese Medicine versus Western compared to Indian and how it has been used in the past; other chapter titles include "Nature's Green Pharmacy" and "The Return of Ritual"). Ted Kaptchuk has a brilliant mind and it is ever apparent throughout the book. Sentence after sentence his insightful and original observations about medicine in all it's form (somes you may not consider "medical" until after putting the book down) are eye-opening. This book has changed my life and I highly recommended to everyone. It's one of those books that everyone needs to read. More important than the topics it covers (placebo effect, acupuncture, herbalism, chriopracty, osteopathy and many more) it is a essentially a new way of thinking about and approach to healing, a proven one at that. The book is incredibly well researched and it's surprising that it is not more well-known (clear by the fact that I'm the first to write a review). Kaptchuk is a seemingly endless source of incredibly interesting medical tidbits. The book is thorough, in-depth and like no other I have ever read concerning medicine, healing and well-being. It is the book I have longed for. I only wish I knew authors personally or that they came out with more books on the subject(s). It is clear that they harbor a wealth of information and that there is a lot more where it came from. Well done! A timeless journey.