"FASTING" books, compared by Douglas Schwartz
QUESTION:
"Would anyone be able to recommend a good scientifically based book(s) on the subject of fasting? I would like to find one that doesn't focus on philosophy or New Age mysticism, if possible. I did a quick check at Amazon Books on the World Wide Web and came up with over twenty titles--and I have no idea which one(s) may be worth reading."
RESPONSE:
I checked Amazon also, and only a few of these are worth getting. Many are on juice 'fasting' which is of course an oxymoron. Some are rather outdated works, over a century old, I believe.
1) At the top of the list is H.M. Shelton's The Science & Fine Art of Fasting, the definitive work on the subject & written by the man who supervised more long fasts (50000+) than anybody else.
2) Fasting Can Save Your Life also by Shelton is a grossly-condensed version of #1, which is better than nothing, but you should get the full book
3) Fasting for the Health of It by Oswald & Shelton is a fun read of a lot of people's case histories, & gives a good idea what you
can expect from the experience, but don't look for a lot of high-brow science here.
4) Fasting & Eating for Health by J. Fuhrman M.D. I have not read, but am sure that it is fine as he is also a Natural Hygienist
(however much this might confound those who have been under the impression that NH is 'unscientific.')
All except #1 can be obtained from Amazon, but you can get them a lot quicker from the American Natural Hygiene Society in Tampa, FL.
The rest of the books are not worth bothering with for various reasons,IMO. ...Anybody who is curious enough to want to explore the history of the development of the modern knowledge of fasting in the past century or so can get these 2 listed by Amazon
1) Vitality, Fasting & Nutrition - H. Carringto
2) Rational Fasting - A. Ehre
(both have been supersceded by better knowledge.)
Almost all the others listed by Amazon are la-la stuff and/or nonsense or less-than fully up to speed.
Douglas Schwartz