Good info, but the author should practice what he preaches.
594036
Lots of good information. But the author repeatedly emphasizes well-written content as a major player in raising page rankings, while peppering his own text with numerous spelling errors and poorly written sentences. For example, "... - if it is use them as links embedded in content are better." I had to read it a few times to get it.

Williams, Dr. Andy (2012-10-02). SEO 2012 & Beyond :: Search engine optimization will never be the same again (Kindle Locations 1390-1391). [...]. Kindle Edition. "

That being said, I still recommended it.
2284321
Book is a good read and appears to be written by someone who knows what he's talking about.
2465956
I feel like the author is pandering to people's preferences, as most doctors do, and is not telling readers what is actually best for healing.  A whole foods plant based diet, extremely low in oils.  Period.  But this author, despite so much evidence to the contrary tells us we can deviate from that.  People like to hear good news about their bad diet choices (I think it was Dr. McDougall that said that), so this author is willing to tell them what they want to hear in order to sell his books.  I gave it 3 stars only because it may help some readers make better choices than they're currently making.  But I think that anyone picking up this book probably already has cancer and wants to GET RID OF IT!  To loosely paraphrase Dr. Esselstein, "People want to hear that moderation is good, but moderatation will only give you a milder heart attack." or in this case, moderate progression of the cancer verses "anti-cancer" as he professes here.  If you want "anti-cancer", follow Kris Karr, Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Neil Barnard and PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine), Dr. Michael Greager.  Watch documentaries like What the Health and Forks Over Knives, both on Netflix.  Learn the truth from people that have nothing to gain by sharing what they've known to be true for years and have caught nothing but flack from their colleagues,( who take kickbacks from the pharmaceutical industries) and from the meat industry (including fish) and dairy industries.
2738344
This book is a good crash course with a lot of helpful tips and rules to remember, BUT when it comes to examples or practice test, author makes a lot of mistakes. What's more, author does not explain well why this answers better over others. And most of the time, when she tries to explain, she basically says "it's right - just because it is right!" Does it make sense? No? Well, get used to this kind of explanations because this is author's tactic.
480427
The author is lucid and rational in describing his own brand of enlightement, but the problem is that anyone who is seeking this enlightened state who is too strict in his/her own definition of it is acting no better than a fundamentalist. He claims he has no teaching, but his teaching is very specific: search out what is true, and continue until you distill out pure awareness as the only truth. The only problem with that is that it doesn't work for everyone because not everyone is intellectually inclined- different minds have different methods, and this approach will only work for, well, the author. Someone who is emotionally or mystically inclined will not get it the way he sees it. But rather than accepting the idea that different individuals have different paths to enlightened states, Mckenna disreguards every other path and believes those who think this will never gel into his particular form of "enlightenment".

There are many enlightened individuals who have arrived at realization without going through the processes that McKenna describes. But instead, he believes his world is THE world. His partcular beliefs ARE reality ( they are, but only to HIM).

Be careful if this is the path for you: understand that his teachings may apply to you, but not to everybody else. Individuals who are labeled "enlightened" ooze with certainty. But just because someone is certain does not mean that they have truth, only that they are certain of THEIR own truth.

Enlightenment is what you make of it. Just start respecting the living spirit working in your life each moment, whether it's walking in the rain, exercising, reading a book, or brushing your teeth. And as you grow on your own path realize it can change as you change. If your perception of enlightenment changes then abandon your search if it no longer holds the same attraction for you. Only you can ever be an expert in hindsight on how you yourself reached what you consider enlightenment. We need to put away the myths of what enlightenment is and understand that it can be many different things depending on your personality, beliefs, and culture, etc. There are no rules, and NOBODY is an expert for EVERYBODY.
1427955
It is a good book, yet i find that i disagree with the author in many places.
4432611
There was a lot of good information (as far as the break down of other diets...) and supplements. But, I thought of Rubin's diet as more of a makeover of the Gottschall's Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

Rubin, who suffered with Crohn's disease, tells his personal story of overcoming his illness through diet. The author, at one point, was communicating with Elaine Gottschall (who wrote "Breaking the Vicious Cycle" - - the SCD bible). Rubin achieved some success on the diet, but says that it ultimately didn't work for him. He then bashes Gottschall's diet.

Hypocritically, Rubin and his co-author later endorse the SCD on page 151 in the chapter "A Plethora of Problematic Programs".

"We endorse the SCD," he says. "It has helped thousands. Elaine Gottschall was one of the first to popularize the concept that the modern diet with its preponderance of nonfermented grains, dairy products, and sugar has shifted the balance of the native human microflora. the shift of bacterial population in susceptible individuals may be the root cause of minor and serious intestinal disorders."

He continues, "The coauthors of this book have achieved personal and clinical success with the SCD. Nevertheless the diet has weak points that can be improved upon." Rubin says that the diet has too many carbohydrates, is high in fat intake and not enough organic foods and/or supplements. He substitutes the original SCD Chicken soup recipe listed in BTVC with his own recipe. Instead of two to seven days(for the initial diet)..he calls for two weeks, fortified with supplements, some which contain disaccharides and polysaccharides (complex sugars) which are SCD-illegal (which calls for monosaccharides like honey if your intestines are damaged).

Rubin's initial diet also uses antifungals, supplements and structured water. Goats milk is used instead of cow's milk for the yogurt.

Although Rubin has valid criticisms of Gottschall's diet, but it's probably best for newbies to read Gottschall's BTVC book before diving into Rubin's book, to get the science behind the SCD diet. Highly recommends Gottschall's book first, then read Rubin to get some perspective on both diets.
4072998
It seems like the book is written for a very specific target audience, one that already has a business idea, but a bad one, that needs to be brought down to earth. It's tone is very moralistic and know it all. The author assumes his readers are all exactly like him a couple of years ago. There are some good tips in the book, but I just don't feel like reading it to the end, at all. I think the book might be interesting for people struggling with a start up right now, because it will be recognizable and there will be useful advice in it. But I'd still be bothered by all the assumptions the author makes and by his style.
173645
It's a neat book but watch him on YouTube for pretty much the same experience.  I had seen his videos prior to reading the book and had higher expectations.

The author strikes me as a bit sensationalistic and we should all be careful to be humble and not judge.

I wish him well on his faith journey.

If you haven't seen his videos I'd watch them first.
3698452
The information in the book is good and I have many takeaways which I plan to use in mine and my family's nutritional strategy. Author touches on a lot of other ways that one can be exposed to contaminates that may lead to the overabundance of estrogen in the body but doesn't elaborate enough on how to avoid those. A section on this would have been nice to see; for example the fact that almost all canned food products use a lining that includes Bisphenol A. Also have to agree that the organization could be a little better. One suggestion is a listing of all of the different food types associated with each phase of his diet in one place. I had to scan the book to create a list of these myself. I don't plan to implement his diet exactly right now but am implementing a lot of things to see about results which may lead me to reconsider following his to a "T" so I can get even better results.
2366924
Some of the stuff he says should be put into a religious book of its own. Solid advice for even today's time.
511617
The author had some really good advises, but tried to cover too much in a small book.  I suppose if you already knew the "basics", then you would find this book helpful.
4219144
some good advice, but also a little strange...
3362589
Dr Kessler spends 40 chapters essentially hashing the same point over and over and over again.  He must think that his readers are morons and they need to be hit on the head by a 2x4 to get the point.  Or may be he needed to have a sufficient number of pages to justify the price of the book.  So far as I can see there is enough material of value to be a sizable article in a newspaper not enough substance for a book.  I did get two valuable ideas from the book: the fact that the food industry use the combination of fat, salt and sugar in an unconscionable way causing a very large segment of the population practically addicted to food.  He spent 40 chapters in making this point.  Second valuable information was a framework of changing behavior pattern by structuring your meal before you have them.  Compared to how I do it today - maintain a food diary as an after the fact.

Advise to future readers: After reading the first few chapters you can skip to the 40th chapter where he starts talking about what to do solve the problem of food addiction.

Overall it does provide valuable insight to this huge national problem.  Dr Kessler should be commended for addressing this issue.
1783272
I thought this was generally a good book and CD.  The author's dieting advice seems to be generally sound and attainable.  The idea of the self-hypnosis was interesting, and I found that listening to her made me more aware of some of the emotional eating I do (the contrast between how I see myself, especially when eating, and how she was stating things in the hypnosis CD was revealing).

I found two things to be distracting, though.

One is that the author sometimes sounds prideful in the hypnosis.  She talks about being around food "with your head high, your shoulders thrown back".  This is really cheesy and not something I aspire to and I found it made the entire hypnosis process seem less valuable.  I would think a more authentic approach is the goal.

Two is that she is very focused on the harm in trans fats.  Artificially created trans fats, such as that in shortening and baked goods, are clearly very bad for human beings, and her advice to avoid these entirely is sound.  Naturally occurring trans fats in beef and dairy products are not so clearly bad for human beings, though.  The dairy and beef industry has done studies claiming they are actually good for you (I don't know if these can be trusted).  In any event, there is not enough information about them, and her paranoia about them was distracting given that she didn't have a clear basis for the paranoia, as she did with her strong objection to artificially created trans fats.

I am probably going to keep listening to the hypnosis, though.  I think it is generally sound; I would just suggest looking at those two issues.
4809156
I can just picture the author, Mike, just telling someone (again) how great he was, so the listener tells him he should write a book.
Yes, the guy knows about surgical/medical stuff, but I don't think the reader is looking for a PBS special on surgical technique and paraphernalia.  The author has the large ego that may be needed for great surgery, but in the book he just comes off as arrogant and smug.  In the world described, that ego would most likely get you killed.

There were good elements of the book, but Dr. Mike's ego is never far away.
4109602
I do appreciate the author's good intent of writing on the spiritual meanings or purposes of waiting. However, I am obliged to say that this book could be much improved with the employment of a good editor who could advise on her wording and writing. IMHO, the phrase "loss of control", which the author counted as one of the seven spiritual gifts, can be replaced by more appropriate phrase. In short, okay for common believers, but better for church leaders who can benefit more from the last two chapters on "How to use this book with a group" and the detailed plan for a daily "Retreat: Spirituality of waiting".