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The Spark in the Machine

How the Science of Acupuncture Explains the Mysteries of Western Medicine

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The Spark in the Machine

By: Daniel Keown
Narrated by: Gavin Osborn
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About this listen

 Ground-breaking book showing how the theories of western and Chinese medicine support each other. Full of good stories and surprising details.

Why can salamanders grow new legs, and young children grow new finger tips, but adult humans can't regenerate? What is the electricity that flows through the human body? Is it the same thing that the Chinese call Qi? If so, what does Chinese medicine know, that western medicine ignores?

Dan Keown's highly accessible, witty, and original book shows how western medicine validates the theories of Chinese medicine, and how Chinese medicine explains the mysteries of the body that western medicine largely ignores. He explains the generative force of embryology, how the hearts of two people in love (or in scientific terms `quantum entanglement') truly beat as one, how a cheating heart is also an ill heart (which is why men are twice as likely to die of a sudden heart attack with their mistress than with their wife), how neural crest cells determine our lifespan, and why Proust's madeleines evoked the memories they did.

The book shows how the theories of western and Chinese medicine support each other, and how the integrated theory enlarges our understanding of how bodies work on every level. Full of good stories and surprising details, Dan Keown's book is essential reading for anyone who has ever wanted to know how the body really works.©2014 Daniel Keown Alternative & Complementary Medicine Career Success Motivation & Self-Improvement Sociology China Alternative Medicine Medicine Witty Heartfelt Acupuncture Chinese Medicine
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This book has been well written, and is very interesting, full of great information and has inspired me to learn more.

Brilliant!

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I have a general curiosity about Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and how it views the body differently to western medicine. This was a guided tour of the body explaining how organs work, but more importantly how they are created and their relationships. Fundamentals of the energy flow around the body was also interesting.
Real life examples of the use of TCM in a western accident and emergency room were interesting. I believe this would be useful to medical students wanting a deeper and different perspective to the human body.

Interesting topic, well written and read

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I am not great at absorbing anything vaguely scientific but this was so incredibly accessible and utterly fascinating, I would recommend to anyone with any interest in TCM.

A brilliant, enlightening book

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A well written work giving credence to subtle fields and pathways which Western "science" all-too-often dismisses to the realms of witchcraft or quackery. Thank you

Fascia of TCM and Western medicine interlace

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book on many levels. This has impacted me professionally and personally

A truly enlightening read

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