A Healer In Every Home: Family Care Guide

I love this book! It is short, but it is crammed full of all kinds of useful and interesting information and is a great read. A real gem. In just a few months, it has proven itself invaluable. A friend used the tips to recover from surgery and needed no prescription or over-the-counter pain pills whatsoever. My husband had a fungus under his fingernail for years. He followed the tip on soaking it in the homeopathic remedy, thuja, and it started clearing up right away and has stayed clear for many month since. A friend was still very distressed months after shocking bad news. The "emotional first aid" section led her to ignatia, and when she took it she saw an immediate improvement, even though it was months later. My niece was in a car accident. While technically unhurt, she was traumatized and having difficulty functioning during the week that followed. Two hours after one dose of arnica she was "much much much much better!" She was amazed. You will be, too, when you start treating yourself and your dear ones with these remedies that can be found for about $8 in any health food store (or ordered online right here at Amazon!). I bought extra copies of this book for friends and my MD. Everybody who uses it has found something that will benefit them. Whether you have used homeopathy before, as I have, or are new to the idea, you are bound to find solid practical advice that can be put to use right away. Excellent Resource Section, too.

From the back cover:

"What happens when you take a top Harvard grad, give her a passion for natural healing, and put her in a natural food store for fifteen years where she finds out what works for thousands of customers? Answer: This gem of a book.

* Use the best-kept secrets of natural remedies you can find in any natural food store to help save you hundreds,

even thousands of dollars in doctors' visits and drug co-pays for yourself and your family.

* Break the cycle of infections stop getting sick all the time.

* Save time lost from work for family health issues.

* Use remedies that you can feel working right away that

o -are approved by the FDA even for small children

o -have a long track record of safety

o -are "hidden in plain sight" in your natural food store

* Save the cost of this book the first time you use it to treat yourself instead of going to the doctor.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard University, Begabati Lennihan practices at the Lydian Center for Innovative Medicine in Cambridge, Massachusetts."

The chapter headings are:

Introduction: Let's Get Started; "Help, Mom!"; First Aid Remedies, Bumps; Bruises and Sports Injuries; Cuts, Scrapes and Surgery; "Mommy I'm Bleeding"; "Ouch! My Nerve Endings;" Emotional First Aid; Drippy with a Cold; Droopy with a Flu; Sick to Your Stomach?; Stings and Hives; Sprains, Stains, and Creaky Joints; Teething; Resource Section.

The Resource Section includes: Cell Salts (Tissue Salts); Safety Guidelines; Partner with Your Doctor; Find a Doctor to Partner With; Find a Professional Homeopath; How the Remedies Work; What to Say to a Skeptic; Dive-Deeper Reference Materials; Books to Enjoy Reading; Books on Specific Topics; Websites to Explore; Support Your Body's Healing Energy.

This is a quick and accessible guide for many everyday health issues. Utilizing her extensive experience as a wholefoods store retailer and as a homeopath, the author simplifies the selection process for a variety of natural remedies easily found at your local health food store. No matter whether you are dealing with a teething baby, a kid with a scraped knee, a wicked case of the flu, or a loss or some unexpected bad news Lennihan explains how to deal with it naturally and effectively. There are so many everyday ailments you can safely and easily treat yourself without the expense of a doctor visit.

The author's writing style is delightful you feel as if she is in the room chatting to you with great sincerity, warmth and enthusiasm.

These books are jam-packed with healing wisdom that you can immediately put to use in your own life.

Buy A Healer In Every Home: Family Care Guide Now

Every home should have one. Written with such ease and simplicity for everyone to understand and use. Very useful for those who are new to Homeopathy and those that know it well. Just gave my copy away and am buying more as gifts.

Read Best Reviews of A Healer In Every Home: Family Care Guide Here

Read More >>

The Soapmaker's Companion: A Comprehensive Guide with Recipes, Techniques & Know-How (Natural Body S

If you are a beginning soapmaker, there is no other book you should buy. Other books have helpful information; this book, however, compiles all the information you need into one helpful guide. It has frequently asked questions, lists properties of oils, discusses colorants and scents, and explains the chemical process that occurs. If you have never made soap before, it is an incredibly useful guide.

I have read some of the criticisms in the other reviews, and I must disagree with some of them. I did not find most of her recipes to be unduly expensive to make; those that are can easily be avoided by the soapmaker on a budget. Furthermore, I rarely use the recipe section of the book; I use her formulas and the other information she provides to construct my own recipes instead. Also, I disagree that a 10% fat discount (which she typically recommends) is way too much. Some people choose to use a lesser fat discount, and that is fine; for the beginning soapmaker, I think it might be better to provide more of a margin of safety. Once you are more experienced, you can experiment with lowering the fat discount if that's what you prefer.

Really, a beginning soapmaker cannot do better than this book. It compiles all the information you need. Once you are more experienced, you will do well to explore other sources of information (there are some good resources on the Internet, and some other decent soapmaking books as well), but if you are a beginner, Cavitch is definitely the place to start.

I bought this book years ago, when I first started making soap. It has a wealth of good reference information on different oils, colorants, additives, etc., information that I still refer to occasionally. Unfortunately it's usefulness as a guide is somewhat limited by several things:

1) She is biased against the use of any ingredients of animal origin, especially animal fats. No coverage of the use of animal fats in soap is given at all, and her only excuse is lame, not backed up by any actual science, and demonstrably untrue.

2) Her recipes are too large, are overly complicated, and way too superfatted. Plus she recommends the use of GSE, an ingredient whose use as a preservative has been thoroughly discredited.

3) Some of her warnings/cautions are odd, to say the least. Her paranoia of clay, for one, is downright bizarre. Her admonition against pouring raw soap down the drain, in the event of a ruined batch, is utterly nonsensical.

4) The chapter on the chemistry of soap making is too much. She tries to go so in-depth that she's obviously in over her head, to the point that I was embarassed for her when I read it. The information here that would be useful/interesting to soap makers could have been condensed to a couple of pages.

5) She only covers cold process, and then, only cold process where the ingredients are combined at higher temperatures. There's no excuse for only covering the cold process in a "comprehensive" guide, but the fact that she only gives one basic cold process method may be an artifact of the next problem...

6) This book is dated. I started making soap around 2000, and even then people were using stick (aka immersion) blenders to mix their soap. There's no mention of stick blenders at all in this book, and that's a HUGE ommission. There's also no mention of alternative cold process techniques that are very mainstream today; e.g. discount water cold process, and room temperature cold process.

The bottom line is that there are a number of other books on the market that contain much more up-to-date soap making information than this one, not to mention all of the resources available on the internet. This book is still worth checking out, but don't expect it to be what it claims to be.

Buy The Soapmaker's Companion: A Comprehensive Guide with Recipes, Techniques & Know-How (Natural Body S Now

This is a great book for beginners, with a lot of neat tips and tricks and some fabulous recipes.

The lack of photos are a definite drawback, but the book does have illustrations, for what it's worth. The author also has some definite bias against certain methods (she doesn't like rebatching, and she doesn't encourage readers to use a freezer to unmold soaps), and it's good to keep an open mind when you read this. But then, Ms. (Mrs.?) Cavitch herself would probably encourage you to try things for yourself rather than just taking her word for it; you get that sense of personality from her writing.

I have found that the batches in this book are VERY big, and I have cut them down myself and found them to take a LOOOOONG time to trace (upwards to an hour or more). I'm not sure if this is just my lack of experience or her recipes; since I use an electric mixer it's not that much of a problem to me, but it would be to someone mixing their soap by hand.

This is an excellent book for beginners who want to learn how to make vegetable-based soaps. I will say, however, that you should be mindful that her recipes are probably more expensive than other books prescribe; after buying the specialized oils (coconut, palm, olive) and essential oils, plus the electric mixer, you will definitely have spent a lot of money. But if making non-animal-fat based soaps is worth it to you, by all means -buy this book.

Read Best Reviews of The Soapmaker's Companion: A Comprehensive Guide with Recipes, Techniques & Know-How (Natural Body S Here

Many of the recipes Cavitch gives call for a lot of hard to find and expensive oils, which can discourage new soapmakers.

She also superfats too much, and I also think that can misinform newbies.

Her descriptions of oils and their properties are really helpful, but she doesn't describe using a stick blender at all (only a regular blender).

Good for reference, but definitely should not be used as a soap making bible. I found Kathy Miller's site much more helpful, more informative, and much more realistic for today's soapmaker.

Want The Soapmaker's Companion: A Comprehensive Guide with Recipes, Techniques & Know-How (Natural Body S Discount?

This book is the staple of so many soapmakers. It covers many aspects of soapmaking. I particularly like the trouble shooting guide, in case I come up with something that looks unfamiliar. I just look it up and find out what I should do with the soap.

I like her recipes too. Her Hempsters Delight is a favorite of my customers.

One point though. As a seasoned soapmaker, you must do your own lye calculations. There are several good lye calculators on the web. There's always a chance for a misprint in a book or anothers recipe. Just type "lye calulator" into a search engine.

This book is the standard Bible to most soapmakers. I refer to my copy often.

Save 29% Off

Read More >>

The Complete Book of Pilates for Men: The Lifetime Plan for Strength, Power & Peak Performance

This book incorporates some traditional exercises, (such as pushups) into a cohesive whole, where the trainee doesn't just do the exercise out of the clear blue, but rather, gets into position from their original, (standing, in this case), position, in a carefully thought-out manner. It's surprising to me how much difference it makes to account for the points between one's 'non-exercising' position, and getting into the exercise, both in quality of the movement, and the greater liklihood that one will continue to do the exercises over time.

I'm a pilates instructor of mat classes. I've been certified through 2 different organizations. This is a great book! I like the part on the reformer on the mat. It's well written and i also like reading on the differences between men and women with refrence to the exercises. Good purchase!

Buy The Complete Book of Pilates for Men: The Lifetime Plan for Strength, Power & Peak Performance Now

Truly a remarkable Pilates resource specifically for men! I have been practicing Pilates for over a year now. The first time I bought a Pilates book, I felt a little intimidated because of the thinking of most people that Pilates was only for women. Most of the public did not know that Pilates is Joseph a man! When I saw Daniel's book, I was captivated by the other advanced mat work exercises I had not seen before not to mention the reformer on the mat exercises! (quite challenging, I tell you!) I stood at the bookstore and read the book for almost 2 hours. The next day, I finally bought the book just this month. I have seen many Pilates books but they offer the same exercises, mostly modified and lack representation of the complete and original mat work of Joseph Pilates. I am a licensed physical therapist and I just decided to include Pilates even more in my fitness regimen for life, like air! Pilates is results-driven! Let's now hit the mat and burn that powerhouse!

Read Best Reviews of The Complete Book of Pilates for Men: The Lifetime Plan for Strength, Power & Peak Performance Here

I am a certified Pilates instructor and I consider this book to be THE authoratative text on Pilates mat work. It is not only an incredible resource for teachers seeking to "tighten up" their already advanced form, but also a fantastic, user-friendly entry point for a beginner looking to build a Pilates practice from the ground up. Exercise descriptions are both clear and concise, and the unique illustrations of the exercises "in motion" go far beyond run-of-the-mill photographs. Lyon's instruction on classical mat work is worth the price of admission alone, but his "Reformer on the mat" section puts this book over the top. "The Complete Book of Pilates for Men" is just that: complete. Man or woman. Beginner or advanced. When I was learning the nuts and bolts of Pilates, I wore out my copy of Lyon's book. It is truly exceptional, and anyone serious about Pilates needs to own it.

Want The Complete Book of Pilates for Men: The Lifetime Plan for Strength, Power & Peak Performance Discount?

"As a Pilates instructor who has a library of exercise books, this one is awesome! I am always looking for ways to help my clients and this book is unbelievable. I purchased it for my library and it is a total treasure. The detail in the book is phenomenal. The traditional mat work with variations is extensive, the illustrations are mind blowing and the reformer on the mat is awesome. This is the only book that I have found with a completely illustrated reformer on the mat. There are variations in this book that I did not learn when I was certified. It is the biggest Pilates book that I own and it is double the size of all my others. The title says it all. It truly is "The Complete Book of Pilates for Men." I find it is great for men and women. My clients who have bought it for their husbands tell me their husbands love it. I know this because they are coming in for mat classes."

Jennifer, California

Save 31% Off

Read More >>

The Herbal Home Remedy Book: Simple Recipes for Tinctures, Teas, Salves, Tonics, and Syrups (Herbal

I purchased this book hoping that it would guide me in the creation of herbal remedies -I'd always had a culinary herb garden and wanted to expland my horizons. I wasn't disappointed -there were many simple recipes for decoctions, poultices, and other non-culinary herb uses. However, some -okay, many! -of the descriptions and instructions were beyond what the simple practicioner or budding herbalist could understand. In the end, I just use the recipes I've marked and ignore the rest of the book.

Simpling refers to a method of learning herbalism. Choose an herb and explore every facet of it leaves, petals roots, uses, dangers inside and out. When you finally "know" that, then and only then, choose a second herb to get to know. This book is an amazing primer for beginners to herbalism. I chafed its simplicity at first, "More herbs! Its too basic!", until I really began to learn my first herb, catnip. Then I realized how silly I'd been and how very much there was to learn. This book is a bible for beginners!

Buy The Herbal Home Remedy Book: Simple Recipes for Tinctures, Teas, Salves, Tonics, and Syrups (Herbal Now

I have to say that I was rather shocked to read another review's comment that many of the recipes in this book were beyond the beginner's grasp.... This has not been my experience at all. I use this book for most all of my students and have had great success with it. It's simple, totally down to earth and gives a very firm grasp of old fashioned downhome herbalism (the best kind in my not so humble opinion). I love her focus on 25 very common (and often overlooked herbs) that almost any of us can access no matter where we are. I also love her rather unfashionable uses of homemade herbal wines and vinegars, that are a fabulous and gentle choice for the home herbalist (not to mention cheap and practical). She also focuses on using food as medicine and lifestyle as medicine, which are of course, really the only medicine that work in the long run. Joyce does a really lovely job of making the best of herbal medicine accessable and joyous. Of the probably hundreds of herb books I've read, this remains a classic for me, easily in my top ten best herb books.

I would also recommend books by Susun Weed, Juliette Levy, Gail Faith Edwards, Judith Berger, Stephen Buhner, Michael Moore and Matthew Wood for more great writing in a similair earth loving vein.

Read Best Reviews of The Herbal Home Remedy Book: Simple Recipes for Tinctures, Teas, Salves, Tonics, and Syrups (Herbal Here

Does not cover alot of different herbs but the ones that she does cover are usually easy to find and prove very multi-faceted. The book has a nice section on preparing herbs ,tinctures etc..that is easy even for beginning herbal enthusiasts as well as a handy "symptom guide" to find what will work in different situations quickly. The cover art is not all glossy or artsy like some but instead much like the content within... natural,workable & easy to get into. I use this book often and will continue to until we are both old and worn.(-_-)

Want The Herbal Home Remedy Book: Simple Recipes for Tinctures, Teas, Salves, Tonics, and Syrups (Herbal Discount?

This book is not the only book you will own but it is the first one I bought to learn some of the basics. If you want an overview of some of the most useful and available herbs this is what you want.

I like it for it's down-to-earth advice and easy to understand (and do) instructions.

I also purchased Readers Digest "Herbs" which is great for the photography of herbs so I can identify them in the wild.

Save 29% Off

Read More >>