A User's Manual for the Human Body

This is the best book I know for clearly explaining the philosophy of traditional Chinese medicine and its contrast with the Western approach. The author came to these realisations through his own chronic ill-health brought about by stress and modern lifestyle and the threat of spending the rest of his life on medication. The key insight is that symptoms such as inflammation may well be an important part of the body's self-healing process and should not necessarily be suppressed by Western countermeasures (the phrase antibiotic is significant in this respect). The Chinese approach respects the body's system of maintenance and healing, while Western medicine looks at the same process as a mistake requiring correction. Various chapters deal with levels of body energy and how to maintain this, the importance of nutrients and sleep, and the logic of self-healing. The author discusses various specific conditions, and in my own case of skin inflammation, I found that combining acupuncture with iodine ointment (see review above) had a dramatic effect and gave me a personal insight into the operation of these principles. In addition, my bodily type requires maintenance of warmth, so I have had to suspend temporarily my morning dips in the river and make sure of eating plenty of warm porridge and soup! Both these books are highly recommended.