Reviews for Life, Sex, and Prostate Cancer Surgery: How One Man Healed and Was Made Whole

The average rating for Life, Sex, and Prostate Cancer Surgery: How One Man Healed and Was Made Whole based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-12-20 00:00:00 Eric Curtis I'm an existentialist, a pragmatist and look askance at those who believe in any form of magic, spells or influence on the here and now by muttering mumbo jumbo, whether from an obeah man, a shaman, priest or rabbi. Which isn't to say I don't enjoy the ritual and hopefully, accompanying feast. But still, I was touched by this man and the extremes he would go to try and heal his severely autistic son. It relied on having a lot of money and a mostly-compliant wife and very much being a hands-on father to his untoilet-trained son. He went to the ends of the earth, to the high summer plains in Mongolia paying for guides and their families, vehicles, horses, shamans and ceremonies all for his son. And his son made gains, if not towards normality, at least towards socialisation. Using the toilet, making friends with other children and learning a skill like riding were great achievements. The author, who is the little boy's father, has no idea if it was the shamanistic ceremonies that brought about these happy changes or if it was a fortuitious by-product of such an amazing experience as the summer in Mongolia. He comes down more on the side of the healing was the little boy's connection with animals, specifically horses. Well he would say that, he's been involved in horses all his life. Proof of that is that on his return to Texas he didn't open a centre for Mongolian Shamanism to help autistic children, but Horseboy Foundation, which uses movement and horses as therapy. His little boy Rowan has been homeschooled on the back of a horse, maths, English, everything taught whilst up in the saddle. It would take a hard person not to like this lovely man and the great love he has not just for his own child, but for all children similarly afflicted and how he wants to help them all. I really enjoyed the book. Rupert Isaacson can write. I've just ordered The Healing Land: The Bushmen and the Kalahari Desert. I'm looking forward to reading it, I already know a little about this area from The Old Way: A Story of the First People. It's really great isn't it how a good writer can lead you into their other books even the subject matter isn't related, you just like how they write what they want to say.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-10-04 00:00:00 Renate Schenkeli Unbelievable. Disgusting. Annoying. Breathtaking. Gripping. Soul searching. Intense. Amazing. Curious. Disappointing. All words I could use to describe this book. I have a real love-hate relationship with this book. In the beginning, it didn't hold my interest very well and I couldn't wait to get it over with. As I continued to read about the adventure in Mongolia I was so riveted I could barely put it down for wanting to know the outcome. Only to be disappointed at the end when the final Shaman didn't shed any light on what he saw or what his vision was in regard to what the roots of Rowan's afflictions were and how what he saw would help, just that it would. The descriptions of the ceremonies and rituals were so graphic I could barely stand to read about them. In the end, I am so happy for the family that Rowan and his family were healed from the experience. Not to take anything away from them and their experience, but many families have children who suffer from Autism and have no funds or guidance or contacts to help them get the help they need; in these cases I find it so sad that these lost souls have no recourse but to be saddled with their afflictions and not to be able to fly free with their wonderful personalities and talents and share with us their special gifts. Can I recommend this book? I don't know. I don't feel that everyone would benefit from reading about this, it is a very unconventional (and for most unthinkable) treatment path to seek. However, some of the proceeds from this book go to the school/camp the author has established for treatment and therapy with horses for Autistic children, which I support whole-heartedly.