Book Club

The doctors and staff at SLO Wellness center love to read! It's not uncommon to find a few huddled together to discuss the latest book as it relates to health and wellness. In fact, from this grass roots "huddling", a book club, Literary Adjustments has formed. This is a monthly book club committed to finding, reading and discussing books that raise insightful questions and prompt discussions related to health and wellness. Everyone is welcome. Call today to find out the next months Literary Adjustments choice or check out doctor's choice for their favorite past reads.

SLO Wellness Favorites

Cooked, By Michael Pollan

Overview of Book:

“To know” and “to know” can imply to totally separate concepts. In today’s technology driven era with information literally at our fingertips, it is easy to become an expert in information, “to know” through reading and researching. However, technology can also rob us of the actually experience of “knowing” and learning through doing. not just learning by reading. Michael Pollan in his book, Cooked, reminds us of the importance of “knowing” through experience. The major premise of Cooked is that there is a defining feature that makes us inherently human- our ability to take raw food (the stuff of nature) and cook it, so that it may be digested and enjoyed. In fact, “ it is one of the most interesting and worthwhile things we do” , says Pollan. Pollan looks at the four classical elements, Earth, Fire, Water and Air, uses himself as a “guinea pig”, apprentices with the culinary elite, to learn first hand and then share with his readers, how man, over history, has learned to tame his environment and enhance the quality and quantity of food stuff- in effect, transitioning himself out of nature and into culture and imprinting on his DNA the importance of cooking through experience.

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge (Paperback)

Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs by Melody Petersen (Paperback)

The Great Cholesterol Myth: Why Lowering Your Cholesterol Won't Prevent Heart Disease-and the Statin-Free Plan That Will by Jonny Bowden (Paperback)

The End of Illness by David Agus (Paperback)Radical Acceptance

The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest by Dan Buettner

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver (Paperback)

Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Christopher Vaughan

The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David Kessler

The Caffeine Advantage: How to Sharpen Your Mind, Improve Your Physical Performance, and Achieve Your Goals--the Healthy Way by Bennett Alan Weinberg

Explain Pain by David Butler

Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife by Peggy Vincent