Books (April 2008)

Becker, Marty, with Danelle Morton.  The Healing Power of Pets: Harnessing the Amazing Ability of Pets to Make and Keep People Happy and Healthy.  New York: Hyperion 2002,  270 pp.  US$23, CAD $33

Marty Becker is a veterinarian and writer who coauthored Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul and Chicken Soup for the Cat & Dog Lover’s Soul.  He is veterinary contributor to ABC TV’s Good Morning America and is the chief veterinary correspondent for Amazon.com. He has a weekly newspaper column, The Bond, and is a contributing editor for Dog Fancy and Cat Fancy, popular pet magazines.  He lives on a farm and has horses, dogs and cats.   

The Healing Power of Pets is a feel-good book about the author’s family and others who have been saved from possible death or have been healed by their pets.  A prolapsed disc in Becker’s neck changed his own lifestyle. His three dogs, Lucky, Sirloin and Scooter, became his healing companions during his recovery.  While he had appreciated the animals prior to this time, he became aware of a deeper bond forming with his dogs as they brought him back to health.  The author began to appreciate each moment and each day when he observed their playful behavior.  He says,

That was what they could bring more of to me: the moment of joy, the point of connection, a call to take a long look at the beauty of life around me...every step I took toward improving their lives, I slowly began to realize, was a step toward better health and happiness for me. (p.8)
  (See more in IJHC, January 2008)

Shirley Humphreys Battie, Channeling: Use Your Psychic Powers to Contact your Spirit Guides. New York: Sterling Publishing Company, 2006. 144 pp.

Shirley Humphreys Battie has written a short, thorough book on channeling. Her premise is that anyone has the ability to learn the skill and channel. The aim of this book is to show readers how to go into a trance, expand consciousness and heighten inner senses, so they can be fine tuned to receive messages from the world of spirit. Channeling is written so that any reader can peruse and comprehend it. It is not an academic book. It is concisely written, with a fairly long introduction to set the tenor of the book, and seven chapters to explain the author’s premise. Many pertinent illustrations are interspersed throughout the book, along with boxed comments, exercises and other important messages that are strategically placed.

Unfortunately, no references are listed for readers who want to research this subject further, and there is no bibliography, leaving the impression that information contained within the book is purely the author’s original observations. The only information about the author is a short personal account included in the introduction, which adds an enticing bit of mystique about her. As a mother and grandmother, the survivor of two miserable marriages, she had the gumption to start discussion groups while living and working in Italy, on topics such as life after death and psychic spiritual connections. In 1990, returning to England, Beattie started meditating and immediately connected with spirit guides. Battie lists the following reasons for meditation and channeling:

· To contact your guides and spirit teachers
· To make contact with your Higher Self, your soul
· To take the first step towards clairvoyance and mediumship
· To assist in healing yourself and others
· To enable travel to the past or future
· As the first step towards channeling
· To raise your vibrations. (p. 18).
  (See more in IJHC, January 2008)