Rating: 
Summary: Menopause is more than hot flashes, night sweats and HRT
Review: This book was recommended to me by a holistic therapist when I was talking about all the chaos that has decended into my life. She said that "its part of menopause" and refered this book. She was so right. From the moment I started reading it, I started identifying with a lot of the things that she was saying.In reading many of the other reviews, I feel that most the one star people never got beyond the first few chapters. They never saw the indepth discussions on building bones, the discussions on why you start gaining weight even though you haven't changed your diet or excercise, or the discussion of heart health. They were turned off by her discussions of her personal life and experience...everyone of which mentioned the tarot card references which were such a small part and only mentioned in the beginning! I thought it made her more human. Nor did I feel she was telling us to ditch everyone in our lives. What I picked up and what I really do feel is important is that we need to constantly reevaluate our live, keep what IS working and change (not neccessarily discard)what isn't and unfortunately, most of us don't do that till our lives go haywire. Menopause is a major haywire occurances. One of the things that drew me to the book and her attitude is that she approaches everything from an 'understand what is happaning, understand your options, decide what is best for you' point of view. In particular, in this 'here take a pill for that' world we live in, her change your lifestyle first and if that doesn't work, then let's look at the medication and surgical answers was very refreshing. Menopause is so much more than hot flashes and night sweats and to have one book that goes into all the health issues (physical, mental, and emotional) that we face in this stage of our lives was extremely helpful to me. I highly recommend this book...and if you don't want to hear about her personal experiences, skip Chapter 1, and only want to deal with the medical part, start with Chapter 4.
Rating:
Summary: You're Not Alone!
Review: This excellent overview of what happens to women in menopause and perimenopause isn't just a laundry list of symptoms, or the usual hormone-centric look at the issue. Instead, Dr. Northrup cites examples from her own passage, turning the text into a mind-body-spirit analysis of how menopause is literally the "change of life." The most fascinating aspect of the book is the author's description of how women's actual brain wiring changes during menopause -- from the selfless nurturing of the childbearing years to a more autonomous focus during the second half of life. The best aspect is the book's focus on empowerment, and how women who understand the process of menopause can use the changes they're going through to reassess their lives. A must-read for every woman, no matter how old they are.
Rating:
Summary: If You Liked This Book. . . .
Review: When You Think You're Falling Apart, by Dr. Kathleen Wilson was loaded with current information I could use about myself. I think it will be as important as The Wisdom of Menopause in teaching women how their bodies work, how to keep themselves healthy, how to reduce stress, and how to manage in the medical system.
Rating: 
Summary: Medical Information or Rage Against Men
Review: While this book has some very helpful and interesting things in it (i.e., herbs, Chakras, tarot, etc.), I couldn't help feeling a thread of anger directed towards men. It took away from the book. I think we have to be very careful of going from one extreme to another--the one case of being/feeling subservient to men to the other case of being completely separated from men. In my opinion, either extreme is very unhealthy. While it would also be unhealthy for people to stay in relationships that are debilitating to EITHER partner, it would also be unhealthy to cut people out of our lives because of our hormones. (Although if I've understood Dr. Northup correctly, it's not just the hormones, but also the baggage we carry that's part of the problem.) Perhaps when we feel comfortable in our own feminity, we won't feel threatened by men. This being the case, the book should have a different title, as it's misleading, in my opinion. You think you're going to read about how to deal, accept and/or handle menopause, and instead you get a bunch of what I call "ranting."
| 
