Something for the Weekend
Just to get me going on the blogging here I thought I would do a simple list of a few interesting books I've read recently, and ask for any recommendations from you. :) These books have kept me company on the train into work.
Osteopathy: Models for Diagnosis, Treatment and Practice
by Jon Parsons and Nicholas Marcer
- I really enjoyed this book because of its broad scope, which was very useful for me as an unschooled student of osteopathy. My eyes kept widening in wonder with each successive chapter, and it largely hangs together as a book to be read as a continous narrative. I amused myself by trying to pick out which opinions were specifically ESO.
Osteopathic Medicine: Philosophy, Principles and Practice
by Walter Llewellyn McKone
- This was an eye-opener for a different reason. At this point I'd already read enough about osteopathy to have a broad overview, so it was more the philosophy side that was new for me here. However, the book is written somewhat pompously, which was overbearing in places, and only the last few chapters held together as a narrative. The author really struggled, I felt, to hold it together in the first few chapters, and in some places I felt his interpretation of things (e.g. archaeology, as I studied archaeology) was somewhat broad-brush, if not just wrong. This gave me less confidence in his opinions on some very deep philosophical matters, and others that sounded more like conspiracy theories, and at times the incessant quoting (rather than good writing by the author) really got me down. One of the chapters is a quote (reproduction) from A.T. Still in its entirety and I felt rather short-changed! But I perservered and by the end I was really enthused by the idea that osteopathy has a different outlook on disease to allopathic medicine. I am now the nightmare patient when going to a GP. ;)
Touch and Emotion in Manual Therapy
by Bevis Nathan
- I had to get this one second-hand, and it's a very thought provoking book about what happens when a manual therapist touches the patient. The answer is, a lot. The psychological effects of touching are as profound as the physiological/neurological (or "physical") effects, and have a lot to do with the issues that psychotherapists encounter in their work, such as the experiences of early life, transference and counter-transference.
Body Psychotherapy: An Introduction
by Nick Totton
- This is a brilliant, wonderful and thoroughly excellent OU book. It was a thick journey of discovery from the very first page, and I very much enjoyed my own subtle bodily reactions to the different perspectives and threads through the book. Although it covers some very tricky concepts it is very clearly written. It really did leave me wondering, though, how manual therapy and body psychotherapy can be reconciled. Who is right about the way to promote profound systemic/holistic change in the individual?
Next on my list - just arrived through the post!
Bodymind
by Ken Dychtwald
Emotional Anatomy
by Stanley Keleman
Recommendations welcome. :)
Osteopathy: Models for Diagnosis, Treatment and Practice
by Jon Parsons and Nicholas Marcer
- I really enjoyed this book because of its broad scope, which was very useful for me as an unschooled student of osteopathy. My eyes kept widening in wonder with each successive chapter, and it largely hangs together as a book to be read as a continous narrative. I amused myself by trying to pick out which opinions were specifically ESO.
Osteopathic Medicine: Philosophy, Principles and Practice
by Walter Llewellyn McKone
- This was an eye-opener for a different reason. At this point I'd already read enough about osteopathy to have a broad overview, so it was more the philosophy side that was new for me here. However, the book is written somewhat pompously, which was overbearing in places, and only the last few chapters held together as a narrative. The author really struggled, I felt, to hold it together in the first few chapters, and in some places I felt his interpretation of things (e.g. archaeology, as I studied archaeology) was somewhat broad-brush, if not just wrong. This gave me less confidence in his opinions on some very deep philosophical matters, and others that sounded more like conspiracy theories, and at times the incessant quoting (rather than good writing by the author) really got me down. One of the chapters is a quote (reproduction) from A.T. Still in its entirety and I felt rather short-changed! But I perservered and by the end I was really enthused by the idea that osteopathy has a different outlook on disease to allopathic medicine. I am now the nightmare patient when going to a GP. ;)
Touch and Emotion in Manual Therapy
by Bevis Nathan
- I had to get this one second-hand, and it's a very thought provoking book about what happens when a manual therapist touches the patient. The answer is, a lot. The psychological effects of touching are as profound as the physiological/neurological (or "physical") effects, and have a lot to do with the issues that psychotherapists encounter in their work, such as the experiences of early life, transference and counter-transference.
Body Psychotherapy: An Introduction
by Nick Totton
- This is a brilliant, wonderful and thoroughly excellent OU book. It was a thick journey of discovery from the very first page, and I very much enjoyed my own subtle bodily reactions to the different perspectives and threads through the book. Although it covers some very tricky concepts it is very clearly written. It really did leave me wondering, though, how manual therapy and body psychotherapy can be reconciled. Who is right about the way to promote profound systemic/holistic change in the individual?
Next on my list - just arrived through the post!
Bodymind
by Ken Dychtwald
Emotional Anatomy
by Stanley Keleman
Recommendations welcome. :)
8 Comments
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Comment by Ronan O'Brien on July 1, 2008 at 11:08am -
I'm sure Jon Parsons would be delighted on your feedback of his book - he is a member too.
It sounds like you are well on your way to osteopathy. You have read more osteopathy books than most first years!
Check out Caroline Stone's Science and the Art of Osteopathy. It's a fantastic and insightful book. Also the Touch of Life by Robert Fulford - a short but deceptively simple book.
Have you seen Walters McKone's website?
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Comment by Jonathan Edis on July 4, 2008 at 2:00pm -
Ah, I see you've tried out my mate Walter's book - my secret font of knowledge has been exposed. Very brave of you as, like Tolkein's Silmarillion, many have heard of it, but few have read it all the way through. I only recommend it to post grads because of its hidden, subversive ideas. You are right, it is written a tad pompously & i beg him to let me proof read things before they go out as he does quote without context so often that i shout at him.
But, I think he is right about a lot of things, & he is one of the main reasons that I'm still doing osteopathy - we are in aminority of 2 though.
Archeology eh? I am jealous.
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Comment by Mary on July 7, 2008 at 10:30am - Thanks for all your recommendations. Stone's Science in the Art of Osteopathy is next on my list, as it happens, along with Anatomy Trains by Tom Myers. Has anyone read that one at all? It strikes me that the osteo community is small and close-knit, like a tea cozy (and yet also very diverse, so more of a patchwork tea cozy). :)
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Comment by Jonathan Edis on July 7, 2008 at 12:38pm
- I try not to read anything osteopathic pulished after 1930 - as the scope of practice has relatively narrowed, so our writings have become overly technical to compensate - the Parsons book just put me off, for example. I want to read Henri Bortoft (1996) The Wholeness of Nature next - apparently the definitive text on alternative scinetific methods. i can also recommend Stephen Toulmin's Cosmopolis: the Hidden agenda of Modernity for the context of the development of modern science.
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Comment by Clement Rhein on July 8, 2008 at 12:02pm - Haven't read Anatomy Trains but got told its really good!
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Comment by Leon Chaitow on July 29, 2008 at 7:06am -
Mary....I'd be interested to have your considered critique of Naturopathic Physical Medicine (Elsevier 2008)... since much of that profession's use of manual approaches was built on early association (~1900 to 1915) with nascent osteopathic ideas of that time.
Regarding Myers' Anatomy Trains. This was a breakthrough concept in the 90's when it was first put forward. It emerged from Structural Integration (Rolfing) thinking, and showed how fascial links tie everything together from the plantar fascia to the internal cranial structures (falx cerebri etc), both anatomically and functionally.
Much of this has now been validated by diligent dissection and study by anatomists such as Andry Vleeming - the second edition will be out soon (Elsevier) - and it will move beyond his earlier material.
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Comment by Mary on August 5, 2008 at 1:22pm
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Hi Leon. Many thanks for your comments. Coincidentally, I've just been thinking about naturopathy this last few weeks so I'll definitely put your book on my wishlist (although I'm not a trained osteopath, so my opinion will be purely that of someone with an interest in these subjects).
Should I wait for the second edition of Anatomy Trains, do you think? There doesn't seem to be much news that I can find about when it will actually appear...
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Yahoo! osteopathy group
Osteopathy 1000 is a project by Steve Sanet D.O to preserve the wisdom of our profession
Osteopathic Philosophy
Walter McKone's Philosophy of Osteopathy
Osteopaths Guide
Develop a free practice profile and submit case studies and articles for publication
American Manual Therapy manual
A collection of books and articles documenting the early years of manual therapy
Interlinea
Osteopathic Philosophy and electronic versions of AT Stills books
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I found physiopathology from Nowak interesting as in explains in details the processes of pathology—it was my bed tim book for quite a while ( yes, that's how sad I got! :-))
Netter's atlas amazing. I could (and still) get lost in certain plates, admiring the details and crucial anatomy.
Thinking about the touch and emotion book you've read, i've read the Celestine prophecy, james Redfeild. It's not aimed at therapy but it explores the energetic link between humans, humans, and nature, which you can interpret with regards to therapy.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestine-Prophecy-James-Redfield/dp/0446671002/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214729566&sr=8-4
Following from that was "what the bleep to we know". Tells you about the power of the mind regarding how people affect one another. Found it a bit boring, but perhaps that's because it was late. (I watched the DVD).
http://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Bleep-Know-Discovering-Possibilities/dp/0757305628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214729617&sr=1-1
There's also been The Secret that I found amazing. Again about the power of the mind regarding how you can affect events in occurring in your life...
At lately, The Mutant Message Down Under, Marlo Morgan. I luved this book! About a tribe in Australia, how they live. It made me think about all the things that a wrong in the way WE live. Also lets you now about the potential of the human brain. Muchly recommended.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mutant-Message-Under-Marlo-Morgan/dp/0060926317/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214729927&sr=1-1
These i think ARE related to osteopathy, but I guess that's just MY interpretation of them...
I'm currently getting into Omnivor's Dilemma by Pollan...