Oddball Ointments, Powerful Potions & Fabulous Folk Remedies That'll Cure Almost Anything That Ails You (Jerry Baker's Good Health series)

"The book was well written and had a lot of interesting cures and remedies. However, a lot of the obscure remedies contained stuff I had never heard of and the author does not even give a hint as to where to get the items for his recipes --- other than being interesting reading, the book is of little use."
~ Written on 2008-08-20

"Five Stars!! HEALTH ADVICE GALORE!! Jerry Baker has done it again. On the heels of his great gardening books, this 450 page book is a winner of personal advice, potions, ointments, and practical aids for your body, your mind, and your general health. No GARDENING advice here!! This is Jerry Baker's 'Magnum Opus' of tips, tricks, and tonics, old fashioned (and new fashioned) advice for YOUR HEALTH. We all know about Jerry's practical advice and 'tonics' for our garden from his nationally syndicated weekend radio "call-in"show "On The Garden Line", and his PBS gardening specials. We also know that the tonics use practical items found around the house to treat and feed plants and trees, while defeating bugs and plant disease: A garden sprayer loaded with ingredients from "A can of beer, a can of cola, a teaspoon of liquid dish soap, etc, etc..." is almost 'The Weekend Gardening National Anthem' to many of us weekend gardeners. Millions of us also know the "tonics" by heart, read the detailed newsletters, and use his garden equipment because they REALLY WORK. Now he tackles our health. So can we trust a gardener with our health?

Jerry's told us a million stories about his "Grandma Putt" and her gardening and personal tips. Using that as a jumping off point, this book is loaded with mountains of information about many health and environmental problems besetting us in life. From allergies to zits to body odor, from angina to rashes to sunburn, from mid-life crises to motion sickness to arthritis, from bug bites to "crows feet" to sprains and "pink eye", Jerry covers a mindboggling amount of topics. Much of this advice is very up to date, like how he addresses the computer-caused problem of "mouse shoulder", with both practical advice and two tonics for us computer finatics. I like how he uses "natural" items, but does not fall into the ardent paranoia that the 'health food gurus' have, that frankly can be scary. For example, for 'mouse shoulder' he readily recommends over-the-counter (OTC) 'Capsaisin', but also gives a powerful alternative using cayenne pepper tincture and olive oil (not to mention the 'tumeric toddy'). Imagine my surprise when I decided to check out the cayenne pepper ingredient on the web and discovered cayenne pepper CONTAINS capsaisin. (score one for Jerry!) And I personally know his advice of OTC Benzyl Peroxide for acne is true because it instantly knocked out a bad case of acne decades ago for me (and the dermatoligist charged a pretty penny to prescribe it. It was actually BP cream and soap). (Score another one for Jerry!)

Jerry readily advises you see a real medical doctor for persistent problems. Some of these techniques will have you running for your food pantry to get ingredients to try them out right away, the same way he has us whipping up a 'tonic' to feed plants, kill ants or weeds in the garden. Some oddball ointments may cause some understandable wariness, because obviously some things don't work for everyone and some things may trigger allergic reactions unknown to us beforehand. But that's true of anything in life: always exercise caution in everything you put 'on' or 'in' your body (or mind, for that matter). 'Egg whites as an alternative acne treatment?': sounds strange until you see a dermatogist agreeing. I haven't come anywhere near trying them all, but many techniques sound very intriguing: like the bay leaves treatment for eliminating warts. Trust me, it's loaded with advice, like his treatise on the importance of Calcium and many alternative calcium sources for those who are lactose intolerant.

I recommend reading this book from cover to cover, but his detailed 20 odd page Index will allow 'poaching' on very specific topics. Some of the ingredients may cause you to extend yourself to find them, but I have found the hardest on the web. This is my third Jerry Baker book (I love the "Backyard Problem Solver") and all are winners of levelheadedness, practicality, and usefullness. Thanks, Jerry! Five "Healthful" Stars!!"
~ Written on 2005-11-21

"I received the item in new condition as described.The book arrived in a timely manner. I would purchase from this seller again."
~ Written on 2005-09-12