In the House of the Moon or Enchanted World of Sleep

In the House of the Moon: Reclaiming the Feminine Spirit of Healing, Vol. 0

Author: Jason Elias

In the House of the Moon interweaves traditional values with insights from ancient and contemporary thinkers. Acupuncturist and traditional Chinese medicine practitioner Jason Elias joins with Katherine Ketcham to help women access the feminine (yin) energy that has been overlooked by conventional medical science. Examining the major phases of a woman's life from puberty through menopause and into "the wisdom gathering years," Ellas and Ketcham offer gentle, natural remedies that can be used to complement conventional treatments to promote health, emotional well-being, and spiritual enrichment. In this life-affirming book, you will discover the traditional Chinese interpretations of PMS, fibroids, and menstrual irregularities; time-honored acupuncture and herbal treatments for menopausal symptoms, pregnancy problems, and postpartum care; life-enhancing exercises for older women; and many other therapies. Combining practical information with a wealth of myths, parables, and metaphors from many wisdom traditions, In the House of the Moon will help you reconnect with your own potential for healing and wholeness.

Publishers Weekly

While practicing psychotherapy in New York City, Elias became interested in the effectiveness of the mind and the body working in tandem to heal. Having already studied Gestalt therapy at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, Calif., he took off on a tour of the world to study Eastern medical traditions. His practice as reconfigured by these experiences focuses on traditional Chinese medicine, and particularly on the ``Five Transforming Powers'' of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. Each is described at length, with associated physical and mental types and the problems attendant to an excess or deficiency of the various humors. Elias illustrates how acupuncture, herbs, diet and, importantly, understanding underlying emotional issues can correct imbalances, release vital energy and remedy problems with menopause, osteoporosis, and PMS. This is not really for a DIY-er unless you're comfortable with self-administered acupuncture. The aim is more inspirational. Annoyingly, though, inspirational zeal sometimes obscures fact, as when a story about the Sumerian goddess Inanna's trip to the netherworld aimed at ``reclaiming the feminine spirit of healing'' neatly sidesteps a crucial player-Inanna's older sister Ereshkigal, Destroyer of Life. (Aug.)

Library Journal

Philosophy and spirituality are here blended with alternative and New Age medicine. The mix is a bit confusing and not very well organized; nevertheless, this book is at times a stimulating survey of the mind in treating and avoiding women's illness. Elias is an acupuncturist and student of non-Western healing methods developed by practitioners ranging from Chinese herbalists to Native American medicine men. With the collaboration of Ketcham, "a female guide who could take me into the soul of the female experience," he not only reports on unconventional treatments but also recounts what he regards as beneficial myths, parables, and legends relating to illness. Informative data are provided on such matters as the different affinities of Chinese medicine, and there are sensible discussions of practical approaches to a number of common female problems, including fibroids. The appendix lists material on herbs, acupuncture, and available organizational resources. Recommended for large women's health collections.-Natalie Kupferberg, Ferris State Univ., Big Rapids, Mich.

New interesting textbook: Comportamento Organizacional em Educação:Liderança Adaptável e Reforma de Escola

Enchanted World of Sleep

Author: Peretz Lavi

For those who have puzzled over the mysteries of sleep, this panoramic view of modern sleep research by a pioneer in the field offers enlightening answers. Interweaving facts with fascinating case histories and anecdotes, Peretz Lavie discusses all that is known about sleep, dreaming, and sleep disorders, including landmark discoveries from his own sleep laboratory.

Publishers Weekly

Unlike last year's Night by A. Alvarez, this analysis of the mechanics of sleep includes little literature or art and whatever history it contains is strictly about the people and events germane to the science of sleep. Readers will have to find their enchantment where Lavie does-in the research and facts themselves. In enthusiastic prose (even when discussing the decline of sleep research, he talks about "the golden era of earth-shaking discoveries" when "every night held the chance of a new and thrilling revelation, with researchers anxiously awaiting the morning so that they could report on the night's findings"), Lavie describes each phase of sleep, its rhythm and its disturbances; REM and dreams; sleep deprivation; jet lag; and sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea and narcolepsy. Lavie is the dean of the faculty of medicine and head of the sleep laboratory at the Technion in Haifa, and his most interesting discussions are often peculiar to circumstances in Israel: the observation that Holocaust survivors who adjusted well to life in Israel were less likely to remember dreams (any dreams) than those who had not; the situational insomnia that resulted from the threat of missile attack during the Gulf war; the mystery of the Jewish narcoleptics (after extensive research, Lavie recorded only a dozen or so, 100 times fewer than expected). There are some how-to tips that seem a little out of place, and only a scientist is going to find a molded mask and an air compressor worn to correct sleep apnea "so simple as to be pure genius." But for those who want to know what happens when the ability to "know" is suspended, this is a clear and earnest introduction. (May)

Library Journal

Lavie, who received most of his professional training in the United States, is currently dean of the medical faculty and head of the Sleep Laboratory at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. In this wonderfully detailed and engrossing account, Lavie describes our historical fascination with sleep and reviews notable research in the field. Among the topics he covers are the physiological changes that occur during a normal period of sleep, sleep disorders, the purpose of dreams, and the "evolution" of the sleep cycle from birth to old age. His discussion of what a patient undergoes during a typical night in the sleep lab is especially compelling. This excellent overview of the sleep process is both authoritative and elegantly written. Highly recommended for students and for general readers in public and academic libraries.-Laurie Bartolini, Legislative Research Unit, Springfield, Ill.

Kirkus Reviews

An entertaining albeit at times rather academic discussion of what research has uncovered about the nature of sleep and sleep disorders.

Lavie, a sleep researcher and dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, is clearly enthralled with his subject, and his enthusiasm shines through the sometimes stilted presentation. The author gives a brief history of the young field of sleep research—the first sleep recordings of brain-wave activity were conducted at Harvard in 1935, and the discovery of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, the sleep of dreaming, was not made until 1953—describes what goes on in a sleep laboratory and outlines what science has learned about biological clocks, dreams, the sleep of animals, and sleep deprivation. Memorable facts emerge: The dolphin, it seems, sleeps with half its brain awake, and humans can go without food longer than without sleep. In the second half of the book Lavie concentrates on sleep disorders and their treatment. His discussion of insomnia includes a fascinating account of research conducted in Haifa during the Gulf War, which concluded that while people were afraid to go to sleep for fear of missing the warning alarm of a Scud missile attack, once they fell asleep, they slept normally. Lavie describes the use of phototherapy, or light therapy, in the treatment of jet lag and sleep timing disorders; mechanical solutions to the problems of sleep apnea, in which the sleeper stops breathing; and the strange malady of narcolepsy, which is marked by sudden, uncontrollable attacks of daytime sleep. For parents, there are explanations of children's sleep patterns and advice on dealing with their sleep problems, and for the elderly, there are cruel truths about the fragility of sleep in old age.

An eye-opening trip through the land of sleep by a thoroughly professional guide.

Table of Contents:

	Foreword
	Introduction
1	Sleep and Death	1
2	Brain Waves	8
3	Nathaniel Kleitman	18
4	The Rhythm of Sleep	26
5	The Twenty-five Hour Day	35
6	From Sun Clocks to Biological Clocks	54
7	Dreams: Creatures of the Brain	65
8	Alfred Maury and the Dream of the Guillotine	76
9	Dreaming as a Separate Reality	89
10	Do Fish Dream?	98
11	The Need for Sleep	111
12	The Eccentricity of REM Sleep	129
13	Sleep Centers	151
14	Sleep Medicine: The First Steps	161
15	Treating Insomnia	174
16	The Physical and Medical Causes of Insomnia	184
17	Disorders in Sleep Timing	189
18	Children Who Refuse to Sleep	205
19	Excessive Sleepiness, or "In the Arms of Morpheus"	216
20	Narcolepsy: Reversal of the Natural Order	234
	Epilogue	243
	References	247
	Index	263