Better Than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream

Rating:
Summary: Packed with philosophical whupass
Review: A fascinating look enhancement technologies, from Ritalin to sex changes to voluntary amputations. Journalistic in style, but packs some serious philosophical ...

Rating:
Summary: Disturbing
Review: A very interesting look at the various "enhancement" procedures and medications that have become so widely used in our society. One of the more disturbing trends is that of voluntary amputation. This apparently is sought by people with healthy limbs who feel uncomfortable with their bodies.For example,a man who felt that his legs were never really a true part of him,may choose to become a double amputee. Not for the faint of heart.

Rating:
Summary: This book will get you thinking...
Review: Elliott's book is a good read for those who have ever worried about America's growing obsession with medicine and technology. Even if you haven't ever wondered or thought about this part of American life, read the book anyway, because you should probably start. Elliott brings in a little of everything: the past, present and future, and scientific data as well as personal opinion, in order to ask the question, 'So where are we going with all this?' I think that this book can start a lot of us out on the right foot in trying to answer that question...

Rating:
Summary: This book will get you thinking...
Review: Elliott's book is a good read for those who have ever worried about America's growing obsession with medicine and technology. Even if you haven't ever wondered or thought about this part of American life, read the book anyway, because you should probably start. Elliott brings in a little of everything: the past, present and future, and scientific data as well as personal opinion, in order to ask the question, 'So where are we going with all this?' I think that this book can start a lot of us out on the right foot in trying to answer that question...

Rating:
Summary: Disturbing
Review: This book, beautifully written, is a meditation on the looking glass world American Medicine has become. Forty-one million Americans uninsured, yet billions are being spent on medicallizing common aspects of human life. We all age--are facelifts really a "medical " procedure? Is shyness a disease? When does naming something produce it? (see Barfield's Poetic Diction).
I loved this book for clarifying the various ways we have of looking at health, wellness, self-improvement and fear.