Ginseng the Divine Root or The Pennington Plan

Ginseng, the Divine Root: The Curious History of the Plant That Captivated theWorld

Author: David Taylor

The story behind ginseng is as remarkable as the root itself. Prized for its legendary curative powers, ginseng launched the rise to power of China's last great dynasty; inspired battles between France and England; and sparked a boom in Minnesota comparable to the California Gold Rush. It has made and broken the fortunes of many and has inspired a subculture in rural America unrivaled by any herb in the plant kingdom.
Today ginseng is at the very center of alternative medicine, believed to improve stamina, relieve stress, stimulate the immune system, enhance mental clarity, and restore well-being. It is now being studied by medical researchers for the treatment of cancer, diabetes, and Parkinson's disease.
In Ginseng, the Divine Root, David Taylor tracks the path of this fascinating plant—from the forests east of the Mississippi to the bustling streets of Hong Kong and the remote corners of China. He becomes immersed in a world full of wheelers, dealers, diggers, and stealers, all with a common goal: to hunt down the elusive "Root of Life." Weaving together his intriguing adventures with ginseng's rich history, Taylor uncovers a story of international crime, ancient tradition, botany, herbal medicine, and the vagaries of human nature.

Publishers Weekly

Take an ordinary root. Endow it with restorative capacities and a pungent flavor a bit like sarsaparilla or anise. Make it elusive to capture, and you've got a commodity worthy of myth-and, in the case of ginseng, one which will inexplicably boom and bust with the dictates of fashion (unless you live in China, in which case it will be omnipresent). The U.S. is experiencing a ginseng boom at the moment-in the more "rational" mid-century period it fell out of favor-evidenced not only by its frequent appearance on package labels but also by this intelligent, wide-ranging account by documentarian Taylor. Skeptical (though ultimately persuasive) about ginseng's subtle but genuine curative powers, Taylor uses the intriguing substance, prevalent in both China and the eastern U.S., as an occasion to ponder the different approaches to medicine in East and West and to present some amusing characters, including traders, experts and the "ginsengers" who hunt the "sang." There's little doubt that ginseng is as beguiling as Taylor's subtitle suggests-even its biggest American booster is wont to claim, paradoxically, that ginseng is good for "everything, and not really anything." Readers may also want to see Ginseng Dreams: The Secret World of America's Most Valuable Plant by Kristin Johannsen (Reviews, Jan. 2). (June) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Taylor is no stranger to discovering the secrets of natural history, having done documentary work for the National Geographic and Discovery channels and written for Smithsonian magazine, the Washington Post, and the Village Voice. Here, he takes us on a fascinating tour through ginseng's history, writing in a style that shows he obviously enjoyed his research and the people he met; in his descriptions of natural settings, he reads like a master storyteller. This is not a how-to guide for growing or using ginseng; instead, Taylor describes the cultural, political, and economic roots of ginseng, from China's Qing dynasty to the Colonial Americas to present-day dealers and hunters in Appalachia (where the plant grows). Amazingly, Taylor's prose jumps back and forth in time and place without seeming disjointed or losing flow. Who knew that this unassuming root had such a colorful history and promising future? Highly recommended for East Coast libraries and recommended for all libraries that collect in areas of popular natural history.-Marianne Stowell Bracke, Univ. of Arizona Libs., Tucson Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Look this: Book of Cheese or Chinese Cooking for Beginners

The Pennington Plan: 5 Simple Steps for Achieving Vibrant Health, Emotional Well Being and Spiritual Growth

Author: Andrea Pennington

The former medical director and spokesperson for the Discovery Health Channel and Discovery Health Online and founder and president of the Pennington Institute for Health and Wellness offers her five-step plan for achieving wellness.

This empowering guide to balancing the mind, body, and spirit and achieving total wellness-not just freedom from disease-provides a program as practiced by Dr. Andrea Pennington at her wellness institute. In her book, she lays out a practical plan to help readers feel better, overcome chronic health problems, and tap the healing power within. Dr. Pennington's plan encourages readers to:

- deЮne goals that go well beyond the issues of physical health;
- Юnd the motivation to make positive change;
- design a personalized plan for achieving goals;
- chart progress and stay on track; and
- learn the value of celebrating success along the way.

Practical and inspiring, The Pennington Plan will give readers the power to reclaim their health and guide them on their way to total wellness.

Author Biography: Andrea Pennington, M.D., C.Ac., is the founder and president of the Pennington Institute for Health and Wellness in Silver Spring, Maryland, where she joined forces with her mother, Abigail Pennington, M.D., to bring more than thirty-five years of combined experience to the institute's holistic health solutions. The Pennington treatment style blends traditional medicine with fitness and nutritional consultation, inspirational counseling, and motivational support. Dr. Pennington is also the former medical director and spokesperson for the Discovery Health Channel and Discovery Health Online.

Abigail Pennington, M.D., has worked as an internist in private practice for 25 years. She is the cofounder and medical director of the Pennington Institute for Health and Wellness.

Publishers Weekly

Unflaggingly positive, this book promises a roadmap to wellness. For Pennington, who, with her mother, Abigail, cofounded a preventative medicine and holistic health services institute in Maryland, wellness goes far beyond physical health. In this hazily spiritual guide, she addresses states of mind, body and spirit-all of which, she says, must be in balance for optimal well-being. Pennington's advice, while sometimes New Agey, is broad enough for most readers and applicable to almost any goal, whether it's eating more healthfully, overcoming an addiction or finding a more meaningful career. For example, Pennington ends each chapter with a list of "affirmations," which range from "I will access my spirit regularly for guidance and peace" to "I will use the vision of myself enjoying my motivating factors to keep me on course." (Pennington also suggests quieting the mind by "practicing yoga or chanting at least two or three times each week.") Detailed stories from the author's patients help enforce the value of her advice, and her concrete, five-step plan, with its in-depth information on defining goals, devising a strategy and getting started, charting progress and celebrating success, ensures that readers will come away from this book closer to a state of holistic wellness. (Jan.) Forecast: Pennington has appeared on Oprah and The Jane Pauley Show. Her extensive Web site will soon be selling products, and if that move is matched by an aggressive marketing campaign, book sales should soar. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

What People Are Saying

Christiane Northrup
Dr. Andrea Pennington is practicing the medicine of the future now. The Pennington Plan is beaming with wisdom.
—M.D., author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom

Wayne Dyer
This Pennington Plan is filled with life-changing energy. Read it carefully.
—author of THE POWER OF INTENTION

Table of Contents:

	Introduction : the Pennington plan and how to use it	1
1	Wellness is your birthright - and you have the power to reclaim it	7
2	Spirit : the source of wellness	25
3	Mind : the great governor of life	43
4	Body : battered warhorse or royal chariot?	75
5	Requirements : desire, belief, and dedication	105
6	Step 1 : define your goals	115
7	Step 2 : define your motivations	135
8	Step 3 : devise a plan and get started!	143
9	Step 4 : chart your progress	159
10	Step 5 : celebrate your success	171
	Conclusion : applying the Pennington plan in your life	181

Fat Proof Your Family or Herbs and Nutrients for the Mind

Fat-Proof Your Family: God's Way to Forming Healthy Habits for Life

Author: J RonMD Eaker

Improve Your Family's Future Today

Are you tired of losing weight that inevitably comes back? Are you concerned about your kids' health and want to be a fit family? If so, this book is for you.

The key to long-term success is to get the entire family involved in a healthy lifestyle. Not only does motivation jump when you realize the influence you have on your spouse and kids, but healthy habits are so much easier--and satisfying--when people you love enjoy them too. In Fat-Proof Your Family, Dr. Ron Eaker presents simple, practical, and livable ways to lose fat and achieve lasting health and wellness. Together you can:

• Stop the cycle of family-related weight problems

• Get fit with uncomplicated, age-specific goals and plans

• Pursue physical and emotional and spiritual health

• Enjoy variety rather than endure restrictions

• Learn what really works, based on science not fad

This isn't a pie-in-the-sky approach. And it's not about quick fixes, secret formulas, or even diets (they don't work!). The "Fat-Proof" lifestyle is for normal, busy families like yours. It represents hope for a better life now and in the future. As a parent, it's one of the best gifts you can give yourself and your children.

Regan Windsor - curledup.com

Fat-Proof Your Family provides a holistic approach to health that fills the void found in most health or diet books.... a guidebook for developing healthy habits for all aspects of health. While the book is written from the Christian perspective, the idea of holistic health works no matter what your spiritual orientation. To be healthy is truly a lifelong journey encompassing physical, mental, and spiritual health.

Jennifer Donovan - 5MinutesforMom.com

Dr. Eaker maintains that nothing happens in a vacuum, and so healthy living is more attainable when the whole family is involved. This really hit home with me. When I try to eat better for myself, I can often fail, but when I resolve to help my family eat healthier, that extra bit of motivation often helps me along.

New interesting book: Attention Deficit Disorder in Adults or Thai Yoga Massage

Herbs and Nutrients for the Mind: A Guide to Natural Brain Enhancers (Complementary and Alternative Medicine Series)

Author: Chris D Meletis

Two naturopaths introduce the world of brain biochemistry, translating the science into laymen's terms, so that the reader can understand the potential power of herbs and nutrients to enhance health, prevent disorders, and affect existing health disorders. These alternatives, or supplements, to medication are being used across the country to help treat health conditions with a psychological component--from ADHD and anorexia to insomnia, menopause, and Parkinson's Disease. Authors Meletis and Barker explain 18 of these conditions, and review the most current research into how--or whether--the use of herbs and supplements has been proven to prevent, affect or remove these health conditions, or at least some of their symptoms.

Feeding Your Appetites or Half a Brain Is Enough

Feeding Your Appetites

Author: Stephen Arterburn

Helps the reader understand our God-given appetites and how to short-circuit out-of-control cravings and achieve lasting change by satisfying natural hungers.Learn to control the things that control you!

Books about: Metternich and Austria or Profiling Violent Crimes

Half a Brain Is Enough: The Story of Nico

Author: Antonio M Battro

Half a Brain is Enough is the extraordinary story of Nico, a three-year-old boy who was given a right hemispherectomy to control his severe intractable epilepsy. Antonio Battro, a distinguished neuroscientist and educationalist, describes his work with Nico over several years and explains how a boy with only half a brain has developed into a bright child with relatively minor physical and mental impairment.Eight years later, he runs and plays with only a slight limp. So far, there is no significant cognitive or affective disorder and it appears that Nico's so-called right-hemisphere skills--mathematics, visual arts, and music--have migrated to the left hemisphere. At school, he performs as a child of his age in arithmetic and music; only his draftsmanship and handwriting are poor for his age, but he has not lost his cognitive spatial ability. Battro and his colleagues have been studying and teaching Nico with computers and he is mastering written language with a word processor and is able to make good graphic designs with a computer. Nico performs well above average verbally, a left-brain skill. Battro charts what he calls Nico's "neuroeducation" with humor and compassion in a book that is part case history and part a study of consciousness and the brain. Filled with fascinating details about Nico's abilities, Half a Brain is Enough also includes the latest information about brain surgery, neuronal architecture, and the use of technology in education. Throughout the book, it is clear that Battro and his collleagues are delighted with Nico's progress and grateful for the opportunity to help him and learn with him.Antonio Battro received his MD from the School of Medicine at theUniversity of Buenos Aires and his PhD in Psychology from the University of Paris. He has worked with Jean Piaget, Marvin Minsky, and others and is well known around the world for his publications in cognitive development. He lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Journal of American Medical Association - Gregory Kane

Beethoven composed his Ninth Symphony when he was deaf. A motorcycle is steered to the left by turning the front wheel right. Some things we believe because, even though they seem impossible, someone we trust says that they are true. It's like that with the little boy in Dr Antonio Battro's book, Half a Brain is Enough: The Story of Nico. Nico has half a brain–and a complete mind. Battro is so expert and likable and forthright that you come away from his book not only knowing Nico's story is true, but sharing his awe at that amazing fact.

Publishers Weekly

Nico is a remarkable eight-year-old boy who possesses a slight limp, an affinity for his laptop computer and a "well-kept secret inside his skull." At the age of three, doctors treated Nico's intractable epilepsy by excising the entire right hemisphere of his brain, a procedure conducted only on fairly young children (because of the greater plasticity of their brains) who experience severe seizures. In a brief academic analysis of the brain's compensatory capacity, Battro, a cognitive psychologist who has worked with Nico, compares the boy's rapid progression to developmental theories offered by Jean Piaget and other prominent psychologists. Supporting his own hypothesis that a half brain is a new brain, Battro notes that Nico's musical abilities, motor capabilities (when using a mouse and a keyboard) and attention span have all developed normally despite the fact that many researchers have determined that these functions are mediated by the right hemisphere. Nico's intact left hemisphere, Battro postulates, has acquired these skills and is a whole brain in itself. The only major deficit that Nico has yet to overcome concerns his poor drawing and handwriting skills, a handicap that Battro sought to conquer by giving him an "information prosthesis"--a computer. Now Nico can draw and type on the computer better than anyone in his class, and he has recently discovered the virtues of e-mail and computer programming. Although this technical and theoretical examination will not appeal to the lay reader, Battro's computer-based approach to rehabilitation should interest both clinicians and biopsychologists. (Feb. 1) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Table of Contents:

Preface; Glossary;

1. The heart is in the brain;
2. Sculpting a new brain;
3. Compensatory analysis;
4. First schooling;
5. The cortical shift;
6. The double brain;
7. Brain, education and development; Notes; References; Index.