Mind Medicine

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Geller, best known for bending spoons and reading minds, turns his attention to human health in this large, lavishly produced book. He begins with a panoramic overview of healing through the ages, then moves on to chapters that discuss the mind's role in optimum health. Throughout, Geller emphasizes the power of positive attitudes and activities, especially meditation, to create well-being and to battle fear, worry, self-doubt and stress. A series of quizzes and guided meditations help readers identify their self-defeating habits, while appendixes offer brief guides to alternative therapies and major medicine groups. Geller's refusal to use his abilities merely "to help the world's silverware manufacturers through economic slumps" is admirable, as is his modesty: aside from a brief review of scientific testimonies to his feats, the book barely references either Geller's putative special powers or his remarkable life. Nor is its conclusion--that true healing requires attention to mental, emotional, spiritual and physical energy--novel or dramatic. Unfortunately, this basic, commonsense approach is also the book's chief weakness: its information and suggestions are far too general and familiar to add meaningfully to the vast existing literature on the mind-body relationship. The scores of full-color illustrations are attractive, but add little to the volume's usefulness. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Geller has attracted considerable attention--and inspired considerable skepticism--because of his evident abilities to bend metal, read minds, and find things. In his authorized biography of Geller, Margolis, a European contributor to Time and the author of biographies like Cleese Encounters, sets out to discover whether Geller is a magician performing through sleight of hand and misdirection or genuinely a man of mysticism and paranormal powers. He thoroughly traces Geller's life--from his birth in Budapest, through childhood in Israel, to his adulthood (all over the world)--and draws on interviews with prominent magicians, illusionists, and skeptics to assess Geller's feats. In the final chapter, Margolis comes to some conclusions but offers nothing decisive about the source of Geller's powers. Engagingly written, this book will be a popular addition to public library collections. Geller's own Mind Medicine is another matter. According to Andrew Weil (who wrote the book's foreword), this is the work of a man who has moved beyond performing feats of psychic wonder to become a mature and thoughtful healer. In this compendium of history, psychology, exercises, and self-help advice, Geller argues that anyone can use the power of his or her mind to cure illnesses and psychoses. He provides many interesting and effective exercises to discipline the mind and harness its healing powers, but much of what he says about alternative therapies is dubious, if not mistaken. And while his suggested exercises are helpful, he breaks no new ground here. Other books, such as Rudolph Ballentine's Radical Healing (LJ 1/99), provide more challenging information and suggestions for combining alternative therapies with conventional medicine. Recommended with reservations for collections on meditation and alternative healing.--Gail Wood, SUNY Coll. of Technology Lib., Cortland Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.