WoW Books
As a group we are big consummer of books of all sorts so here are just afew of our most recommended reads.
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins.
Publisher: Bantam Press
Language English
ISBN-10: 059306173X
ISBN-13: 978-0593061732
Richard Dawkins is one of the most well known proponents of Evolution today and the most articulate. He is either held in high regard or subject to considerable loathing, depending on your view of evolution. Creationist really hate him, but then creationist by definition are not rational thinkers. This book presents the evidence for evolution in a simple manner, but is not compromised by fashion, so that it can be held up against the claims made by those who would deny its importance. It is a wonderful and it will be one of the few books that we will require our children to read as they get a little older. I have already ready the book twice and I will undoubtedly be reading it again soon.
If you believe in reason, in rational thought then I urge you to read this book and tell others about it. If you are a creationist then you are probably too far into denial or ignorance to be able to read it.
Birth Reborn: What Childbirth Should Be
Author: Michel Odent
Publisher: Souvenir Press Ltd; New Ed edition (14 April 1994)
ISBN-10: 0285631942
ISBN-13: 978-0285631946
My mother was/is a Doula for nearly forty years, she has met Michel Odent and spent time a his clinic in Pithiviers. She applies all she has learnt from him to the births she attends and when women come to her with their third or fourth birth you must conclude that the application of Michel Odents practices is needed. .My wife (we are a lesbian couple) is a midwife here in Holland and also applies as much of his philosophy as she possible can and with 55% of her practices birth now at home and natural producing happy and clam babies and mothers with nearly zero incidence of post natal depression I suggest that you draw your own common sense conclusion. I am a physiologist and his views on birth hormones are so right. He is a wonderful doctor who realised that all the medical interventions, technology and gadgets in birth caused as many problems as they solved, in fact look at the mother and baby mortality figures if you doubt his. Maeria, a country with the highest levels of medical `help’ are 21st in the mortality tables, countries like Holland with a more natural approach are 3rd. He did this from good old fashioned observation and NOT by looking at what machines told him. He is in touch with the heart of women and that is a refreshing change in a basically misogynistic profession. He gave women back the right to do what they do naturally: give birth to their babies privately without a stream of strangers with medical credentials leering at your vagina, naturally, fully alert, filled with their mother’s NATURAL hormones to bond them, following what nature and instinct tell them to do.
Women know how to give birth, it is NOT a medical event, it is part of a woman’s natural state of being. The myth of medicine is that it saves lives when in fact for low and medium risk births medical intervention will increase the risk to your life and you and your baby’s well being. This book will open your eyes not just to the gross presumption of doctors during labour and birth but to many other things.
Please read this book, demand and exert your rights, but most all learn for yourself and enjoy giving birth, it is amazing.
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Author: Carl Sagan
Publisher: Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (1 Mar 1997)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0345409469
ISBN-13: 978-0345409461
Human ignorance can lead to some bizarre, and dangerous belief systems. Belief in alien abductions, or the belief in witches are fuel for ignorance. What is actually frightening is that people hold on to some of these beliefs despite the overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary. The book contains some sobering examples of human ignorance. The book also contains a sample of some of the alarming and remarkable letters Sagan has received in the past few years. These letters are part of his now famous “baloney detection kit”.
The book is a highly accessible and passionate defence of the process and methodology of scientific thinking. Science does not necessarily rid the world of its beauty, it can but it definitely contributes to beauty by stripping away ignorance. A scientific perspective can reveal some truly amazing things that we can not perceive with our senses, such as the structure of the atom. Judith has read this book four time, the rest of have all read it at least once each. This is a book every teenager should be given to read.
God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Paperback
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Language English
ISBN-10: 1843545748
ISBN-13: 978-1843545743
This book is an ideal read for those who doubt there is a God but would like to hear the case against explained in a forthright and occasionally humorous way. This book should also be read by anyone contemplating joining any organised religion. The sub title “How Religion Poisons Everything” may seem a little harsh until you hear Hitchens’ argument. It’s not a demanding book to read, its skips along at a fair pace and Hitchens’ style keeps what could be a dry subject entertaining. Thoroughly recommended.
Scientification of Love
Author: Michel Odent
Publisher: Free Association Books (1 Nov 1999)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1853434760
ISBN-13: 978-1853434761
For a long time, Michel Odent has been interested in culture from the perspective of birth and the handling of infants around the time of birth. One of the main hypotheses in this book is that interference with the birth process can be linked historically with a long phase of human evolution in which aggressiveness was adaptive; yet ‘homo ecologicus’ has everything to gain from a full dose of love hormones at the start of life. From years of watching my mother help in the births of children and now from my own experience I feel that he is right in every regard. Medicalisation of birth has helped to reduce deaths, but not as many as you might think and the price is high, just how high we are only now beginning to see in our societies.
Michel Odent’s book relies on reason and knowledge to expose how the physiological reduction of neocortical control curing labour -only possible if mothers feel secure-, does not only facilitate the release and action of oxytocin during birth but also provides a starting point for harnessing the energies of love. Our daughter Mariaske is the calmest most loving child I have every known and I feel that she is going to grow into a special child and we will have Michel Odent to thank.
The God Delusion
Author: Richard Dawkins
Publisher: Black Swan; New Ed with additions edition (21 May 2007)
Language English
ISBN-10: 055277331X
ISBN-13: 978-0552773317
We love this excellent book, very well-written and thoughtfully argued. It is very stimulating and challenging are propels one to delve deeper into the reasons for belief - or indeed lack of them.
Dawkins’ central thesis seems to be that the evolutionary process of natural selection, as propounded by Darwin and bolstered by the amalgamation of much subsequent indicatory evidence, provides a viable and real alternative to the “God Hypothesis” - indeed it blows it out of the water. But, why then - if blatantly false - is religion so ubiquitous? Well this is where reading Carl Sagans book above helps out. Dawkins explains the popularity of religion in purely secular terms. He’s great at exposing the absurdity of many religious beliefs and at how easily they crumble when exposed to reason and this alone is a delight to read.
Truth, Torture, and the American Way: The History and Consequences of U.S. Involvement in Torture
Author: Jennifer Harbury
Publisher: Beacon Press (14 Mar 2006)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0807003077
ISBN-13: 978-0807003077
Under the Bush regieme America descended to new lows of morality and this book chillingly places the Bush Administration’s torture policies in the proper historical perspective. The so-called war on terror is not the first time the U.S. has employed abduction, torture, and murder to further its political agenda because all throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s, the United States (directly and by proxy) abducted, tortured, murdered, and “disappeared” thousands of people in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, all in the name of fighting communism. It is a history that many American people ignore or claim never really happened but it did happen the torn and broken people now hiding in countries throughout Europe attest to that. Now we are witnessing history repeated itself in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the various nations to which America continues, even under Obama, to ship detainees to be tortured. Anyone who cares about human rights should read this book but I hope those who do not care about human rights should will also read this book, on the off chance that it may resuscitate his/her soul or conscience and re-establish some morality.
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause (TM): The Breakthrough Book on Natural Hormone Balance
Author: Dr John R Lee
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0446614955
ISBN-13: 978-0446614955
EVERY WOMAN REGARDLESS OF AGE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK
The biggest single abuse of women in recent history was the whole HRT con. The late Dr. Lee was a free thinker who refused to swallow the bullshit preferred by the drug companies and choose to THINK for himself. Everything is explained simply, concisely, thoroughly and in easily understandable terms for anyone to grasp.
Topics include: biochemistry of the body and synthetic drugs and hormones, mechanisms of the body, glands and functions, the estrogen myth and results of HRT study, female cancers and causes, autoimmune disorders, pros of natural progesterone and details of all relevant hormones, the pharmaceutical community and conventional medicine practices, illness and natural prevention, nutrition and exercise, osteoporosis and bone re-building, vitamins, herbs and minerals, heart disease and strokes, insulin and glucose, thyroid problems, liver health and many, many more that tie everything together so sensibly.
The Whole Lesbian Sex Book: A Passionate Guide for All of Us
Author: Felice Newman
Publisher: Cleis Press; 2nd Revised edition edition (1 Nov 2004)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1573441996
ISBN-13: 978-1573441995
This book really covers most of lesbian sexuality but from listening to our heterosexual female friends I think many men would benefit from reading this book. The author is open-minded and non-judgemental and in this regard could almost be Dutch in her approach to sex! There are tons of resources and references throughout the book and reference things like porn that is not misogynistic, gender theory resources, or books and media on overcoming sexual trauma. The book covers works its way from Desire/Fantasies, to Anatomy, Orgasm, Emotional Health issues, Masturbation, Communication, Partners, Different types of sex including fisting, Gender theory, S&M, Sex Parties, sex Toys, and Sexual Health. The book never takes a heavy handed approach and it is light and friendly. “Life-affirming” would be a good description. This is a reference book that gives a great overview over the multi-faceted thing that is human female sexuality, specifically lesbian but has lots of information for heterosexual people as well.
Putting It All Together: The New Orthomolecular Nutrition
Author: Abram Hoffer
Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (October 11, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0879836334
ISBN-13: 978-0879836337
This book is based on the science and art of healing with nutrition therapy. Few people realise that the CODEX organisation that most government in the world have been forced or pressured into joining ensures that most vitamins available to the public are kept to ineffective doses. This has been done to ensure that we do not wake up to the fact for that many chronic illnesses we do not need expensive drugs because vitamins at CORRECT doses can be far more effective. Yes, while it can be argued that if you eat properly you don’t need supplements; very few people have a perfect diet but the simple fact is that what we put in our mouth is what creates our health or lack of, including mental health.
How to Live Longer And Feel Better
Author: Linus Pauling
Publisher: Oregon State University Press (May 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0870710966
ISBN-13: 978-0870710964
In the two families that make up Willothewisp.org there are four adults, six, soon to be seven children range in ages from 2 years to 14. In the six years that we have practiced Orthomolecular Medicine there has been not on cold or incidence of flu. No one has any allergies, no headaches other than in Judith who has had serious head injuries. No injury has gone on to develop any infection. We do not use antibiotics.
I tell you this in order to provide some context. Linus Pauling is an exacting scientist who won a Nobel prize for his work yet because his work attacks at the very roots of the money making machine that is modern medicine he has been cast out by his colleagues. Natural preventive medicine, properly applied, is the secret to a long and fruitful life, at least physically, it simply works but because it makes no one any big money it is despised.