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Rating: 
Summary: Low practical utility
Review: I am a family doctor, and bought the book as a reference for my practice. I have attempted to refer to it several times, and am sad to say it had NO USEFUL clinical information I could use.The book is good for someone who wants a broad overview of all alternative medicine, but is of low utility for any specific or detailed information. Bottom line: do NOT waste your money buying it.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent source of useful information
Review: The only thing lacking in objectivity is Mr. Barnett's review. Anyone from an organization called "North Texas Skeptics", isn't looking at things from an unbiased viewpoint themselves. Ms. Freeman does an amazing job compiling information, often not taught and not available in allopathic medical circles, as to the history, approach and practice of the various complementary practices health practitioners need to know about. Her job in this text is not to fully critique all of the medical literature available on the subject, but there is plenty of reference material available and cited if one wishes to do that. The problems with the "skeptics" approach is that, if one does not choose to trash every system that they believe to be flawed (by western allopathic medical criteria), then THAT person is not objective. I think the above reviewer misses the point of this text entirely.
Rating:
Summary: Low practical utility
Review: This 532-page book is intended to help medical students obtain a comprehensive understanding of complementary and alternative medical therapies in modern medical practice. It discusses each discipline with a commendable amount of detail, covering the history, theories, and research underlying each field. The book's main weakness, however, is that it is not rigorous enough in evaluating some of the disciplines it presents. For example, clinical research trials studying the efficacy of homeopathy are presented, but the authors failed to mention questions concerning the validity of such trials that were raised by the researchers' peers; such challenges could have easily been compiled with a simple MEDLINE search. Even the "Benveniste affair" concerning the alleged "memory of water" is given a strictly one-sided treatment. This same weakness also hampers the unit dealing with Therapeutic Touch. Although the JAMA report is covered, it is the only argument presented in the book that questions the discipline, and the authors fail to adequately discuss the ongoing debates over the therapy's claimed usefulness. MOSBY'S COMPLIMENTARY & ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE is a worthwhile introduction to alternative medical disciplines - but take it with a grain of salt.
Rating: 
Summary: Comprehensive, but lacking in objectivity
Review: This 532-page book is intended to help medical students obtain a comprehensive understanding of complementary and alternative medical therapies in modern medical practice. It discusses each discipline with a commendable amount of detail, covering the history, theories, and research underlying each field. The book's main weakness, however, is that it is not rigorous enough in evaluating some of the disciplines it presents. For example, clinical research trials studying the efficacy of homeopathy are presented, but the authors failed to mention questions concerning the validity of such trials that were raised by the researchers' peers; such challenges could have easily been compiled with a simple MEDLINE search. Even the "Benveniste affair" concerning the alleged "memory of water" is given a strictly one-sided treatment. This same weakness also hampers the unit dealing with Therapeutic Touch. Although the JAMA report is covered, it is the only argument presented in the book that questions the discipline, and the authors fail to adequately discuss the ongoing debates over the therapy's claimed usefulness. MOSBY'S COMPLIMENTARY & ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE is a worthwhile introduction to alternative medical disciplines - but take it with a grain of salt.
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