<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Not just my gut feeling!
Review: A compelling informative guide to the concept of "Big brain and little brain". This book is super And its not just my gut feeling. Readers may also look up "Natural Stomach Care", and "Your Gut Feelings".
Rating:
Summary: Second brain holds clues for first brain problems
Review: I am a neurological development consultant who has read this book thoroughly and concur with the findings from a developmental point of view. I found this book a must read for anyone who has a developmentally challenged child or adult. In working with brain disorders and brain injuries, I always look to the bowel in the course of the examination because, 'if the bowel ain't happy, the brain ain't either!' There is so much more that is not in this book about the bowel that affects the brain that it would take several volumes of books to elaborate on what is already known today. If you or a loved one suffer from psychological ailments, brain disorders, IBS, or even just common irregularities of the bowel,reading this book is an appropriate start to gain an understanding of basic biological processes of the bowel. Also recommended: Biological Treatments for Autism, Tissue Cleansing Through Bowel Management,
Rating: 
Summary: Bowel megalomaniac doesn't help the little people
Review: I bought this book with the hope that it would convey real information about the physiology of the digestive system, so that I could understand my own digestive problems - I didn't want to read just another wacky diet plan. This book is indeed advertised as being somehow helpful to those who suffer bowel problems, but all he ends up saying about those problems is that, if his great discoveries are taken seriously by pharmaceutical companies, us little people will someday be able to buy new drugs for our problems. The author seems far more concerned that he recieve credit for his research, and indeed that he be considered significant in the history of this type of research, than he is about those who suffer from bowel problems. There is nothing in here that even the most astute reader can actually use to "help themselves," as the physiology is all on the neural level. And the overall theme is that the gut and the mind are NOT so connected - which is, again, NOT a theme which encourages the suffering reader to help him or herself. The actual research may or may not be interesting, solid, and good - probably only other specialists can comment on that - but his self-aggrandizing tone didn't make me more curious about his field of work. Finally, the author's frequent attempts at humor and at cultural allusions are utterly unentertaining and weirdly arbitrary - although, when he mentions the unhygienic habits of restaurant employees and of third-world produce-pickers, I did get a laugh. I don't know where he's eating when he eats out, but at the restaurant where I work, my fellow employees, many of them from third world countries, are perhaps some of the most civilized people I've met. And by civilized, I don't mean just hygienic, though they are that as well. I mean genuine, warm, and insightful - three qualities totally missing from Dr. Gershon's book.
Rating: 
Summary: Readable Science, not New Age twaddle!
Review: This is a serious enteric neurology text (the first!) and an entertaining memoir rolled into one. Dr. Gershon is passionate about the brain in the bowel and he (and his editor) have done a superlative job of explaining some very complicated neurochemistry. I haven't even read through to the practical advice section and I think it's superb already! Highly recommended not only for those with unhappy guts, but for anyone who's ever been curious about the digestive system, how it works and how it evolved to have such a big and independent control system.
<< 1 >>
| 
