cover image Whole Health: 
A Holistic Approach to Healing 
for the 21st Century

Whole Health: A Holistic Approach to Healing for the 21st Century

Mark Mincolla. Penguin/Tarcher, $27.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-399-16501-6

Integrating elements of Chinese medicine, personalized nutrition, and “extrasensory energy medicine,” natural health practitioner Mincolla’s “Whole Health Healing System” offers a multifaceted program to help readers address health problems without resorting to traditional Western methods. Diving into the deep end of the pool, Mincolla’s claims of distance healing may not be the best way to begin his argument, but he patiently makes his case for an individualized approach to, and taking ownership of, one’s healthcare. Common-sense tactics, such as avoiding processed foods and exercising, are intermingled with an Eastern approach to managing the body’s natural tendencies in an effort to give readers a greater sense of control. In most cases, this is sound and harmless, although his assertion that readers with an allergy to certain foods like peanuts and shellfish can test their sensitivities by simply thinking about said food is alarming. That said, health devotees interested in cultivating positivity and a measured approach to overall health, as opposed to relying on prescriptions and Western medicine, will likely find the book thought-provoking and worthy of further investigation. Agent: Devra Jacobs, Dancing Word Group. (Jan.)