My Bookshelf

The eclectic nature of my family’s interests and our secret desire to have a personal Library (think floor to ceiling shelves with ladder and good lighting) dictates that we have a several sections of relevant fiction and non-fiction. Side note: no matter how many times we’ve tried the Marie Kondo method neither of us has actually been able to reduce our collection down to 30 books! gasp. While this page is obviously not a catalog of the entire collection, I’ve pulled some of my favorite titles from the pertinent non-fiction areas.

These first two are my go to reference texts when I have a sick kid. My copies are worn and always missing because I’m always taking them off the shelf and forgetting to put them back.

Homeopathic Medicine for Children and Infants by Dana Ullman, M.P.H.

I dabble in homeopathic remedies mostly due to the influence of this book. I may one day choose to expand my herbal knowledge to include the use of homeopathics, but in the meantime this book is a great primer for the anxious mother looking to gently nudge the health of their child in the right direction without fears of toxicity in small metabolisms (provided you’ve chosen a reputable manufacturer, I mostly use Boiron).

 Naturally Healthy Babies and Children by Dr. Aviva Romm, M.D.

When I had my second child, my home birth midwife provided me with a list of recommended pediatricians and them promptly told me that I would likely not be happy with any of them. She knew I was in school and that I had strong opinions about how to care for my children’s bodies and so she recommended this book as a way for me to empower myself in caring for my babies at home. A week later I bought my own copy and have never regretted it. It has kept my western herbal skills active as I attempt some mastery at Chinese herbalism and while I still feel more confident in my eastern herbal skills, theres no denying that western herbs are easier to acquire and this is a great book written by a true master of western herbalism and pediatrics.

For awhile after my eldest daughter was born I considered becoming a midwife, I was quickly dissuaded from doing so by my lactation consultant who is also a doula and who explained that babies tend to come on their own schedule, usually at night and usually when your own small babies need you most. As my two lovelies grow more independent, its a vocation I may revisit but in the meantime I highly recommend these books about pregnancy and childbirth.

Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin

I read this when I was pregnant with my first child. It was my second pregnancy and fairly late in the game I realized that I didn’t like where the Kaiser train was leading me. I found a wonderful birth educator and this was on the recommended reading list. Its a beautiful collection of unique birth stories interwoven into (I didn’t get around to reading Spiritual Midwifery before acupuncture school, so I couldn’t add it here, but I hear its even better)

Magical Beginnings Enchanted Lives: A Holistic Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth by Depak Chopra, M.D.

 I loved this book as the antithesis to the “What to Fear When You’re Expecting” manual that is ubiquitous in new motherhood. Aside from the journalling part (not super into journaling *cue eye-roll from the peanut gallery over the irony*) this was a lovely guidebook to navigating pregnancy and childbirth that honors the innate wisdom of women’s bodies and offers ways that new mothers can begin to incorporate the self-care that is so essential to surviving the early days to parenting.

And speaking of parenting…you may have guessed that we have some unusual parenting practices in our home. Our egalitarian, homeschooling, pantheistic family has evolved pretty organically. We were not this weird 15 years ago. I mean, we were weird, just not quite this weird. Anyone that knows me also knows that I am super low maintenance and I have no patience for things that are overly complicated: Inefficiency is my pet peeve. While I have yet to read a parenting manifesto that resonates fully with what I believe (totally doesn’t exist…yet) I highly recommend these two books as good places to start.

The Seven Spiritual Laws of for Parents by Depak Chopra, M.D.

Okay, I swear I’m not a Depak Chopra fan girl, I just really like these two books. This is my favorite baby shower gift. Its a tiny little paperback and with all the free advice that flows into the lives to new parents, this is simple, actionable and broadly applicable (3 of my favorite things).

Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn

This book changed the way I looked at parenting completely. I could go so far as to say that it actually changed my life because the ideas in this book are so far outside the accepted social norm that it turned my outside into the rebel that I think I always was on the inside. Either way, after reading this book, I couldn’t go back to the status quo. I continue to struggle against the social boxes I was raised with (see my other post on TraumaBoxes) but I know my children will be better people because of this book. One of my fellow mothers and favorite people recommended it to me years ago (also the same person who turned me on to homeschooling). I am different today, but I like it that way.

Another fundamental driving force in our home is how we eat. One of the things I like about these dietary recommendations is that fundamentally they embrace all whole foods and emphasize proper preparation and appropriate personal choices based on constitution. I’m not into demonizing whole food groups out of hand, I don’t believe that there is one diet that is healthiest for all humans. I do believe that humans are omnivores and as such that the true healthiest diet can be found somewhere in-between the positions of these two books. No. Neither of them is going to tell you that processed foods are okay. The first rule of the Eat Food Club is to eat real food.

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon Morell

I’ve owned this book for over ten years. When we switched pediatricians from the Kaiser-train to a private practice of holistic MDs they introduced us to the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) and since then we’ve aligned our basic nutritional outline on the recommendations of the WAPF. While the ideas they espouse were radical back in the day (naturally!) they are becoming more mainstream with the introduction of the paleo diet. This book focuses on the incorporation of high quality animal food products into your diet based on the idea that the nutrients in animal products are more bio-available. There is a wealth of knowledge about traditional preparation methods in this book to increase the bioavailability of plant based food sources mostly surrounding the concept of various levels of fermentation. Its based on the work of Dr. Weston A. Price who spent time studying traditional dietary habits from around the world in cultures that had not yet adopted a western way of eating (processed foods, etc.). If eating an ancestral diet were a religion, this would be its bible. The recipes all need adjusting for flavor, but its a good primer on food preparation and for people like me who used to think that ordering a pizza was “making dinner” that’s helpful.

Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford

The quintessential text on diet from a Chinese Medicine perspective. It is heavily weighted toward the use of plant based food sources, but acknowledges the importance of meat in a therapeutic and/or constitutional context. I like that it also gives you the broad brushstrokes of what foods are high in what nutrients and then also delves specifically into what foods you can use to rebalance your specific syndrome of imbalance. While I still opt to encourage the use of good quality animal products, particularly in this day and age of cerebral overload, we as a society do not eat enough vegetables and this really helps us to dig in on the specific vegetables that will make the most personal impact. Its a wonderful resource and again a good primer on eating real food.

Cure Tooth Decay by Ramiel Nagel

An amazing, comprehensive, layman’s text on dental treatments and what builds strong teeth (hint it may not be what you expected). What I love about this book isn’t that it is well balanced, gives you excellent advice for home measures to improve your oral health and helps you to identify the right oral hygiene professionals. As a middle aged human raised on a low fat/high sugar diet through adolescence with plenty of poor oral hygiene habits (apparently you do need to floss, or better yet, water pick!) I am having to make some tough decisions about my dental health. I will say that after following much of the advice in this book, my teeth have never been stronger.

Blackbird Bakery Gluten-free by Karen Morgan

This cookbook taught me almost everything I know about gluten-free baking. The recipes always come out delicious and while she uses a lot of different flours, I have found that her recipes hold up really well to substitutions. I’m not always a cup-for-cup fan as I have at several times throughout my gluten-free lifestyle been forced to exclude several types of commonly used gluten-free flours. This book has allowed me to make things I never thought I’d be able to enjoy again (eclairs anyone?). Its our go-to birthday cake book and is basically falling apart now.

Japanese Baths by Bruce Smith & Yoshiko Yamamoto

Mostly we just drool over the pictures. We’re a dreamy kind of family, we love water and after living in rental apartments and other accommodations where bathtubs weren’t a “priority” the baths in this book are the stuff of dreams. Even our children get in on the design love as we plan out what the perfect Japanese bath will be and promise ourselves that it is a mandatory part of our personal home plan. This one might be out of print, but it mostly its hear to represent how our library is also there for inspiration so keep dreaming your dreams.

The links on this page are to bookshop.org which is a non-profit organization that raises money for local and independent bookstores. I am not an affiliate, but fully support their mission. Check it out!