>MAXIMIZE IMMUNITY by Bruno Cromby, 1994 Marcus Books. A translation from >the French titled book "Nature contre sida" by a fellow who is an integral >part of the French instincto movement. Bruno lived and worked for several >years at the Chateau de Montrame (the Insincto-therapy center outside of >Paris). This writing uses a discussion of AIDS as a springboard for an >exploration of the theories of instincto. Lots of no-nonsense logical >arguments displaying how cooked foods compromise one's immune system. >Understandable to anyone but obviously written with a scientific audience >in mind. Includes summaries of the usefulness of viruses and bacteria in >detoxing and enabling the highest levels of human health. Should be a >bombshell in the scientific community but has, to my knowledge, received >no recognition at all. The translator did a great job! Can be ordered >from Marcus Books, PO Box 327, Queensville, Ontario, Canada, L0G 1RO. >phone:(905) 478-2201, fax: (905) 478-8338. They will fax you a catalog I >think but didn't take credit cards as of 10/96. You mail a check and wait >several weeks for it in the mail. Must reading.< I posted the above a couple months ago as part of an "instincto resources" post. Having spent some more time with the writing I thought I'd share some more detail of the contents, and my impressions thereof. Especially since I have not seen this book available in any bookstore (online or otherwise), I doubt people would go out of their way to contact the publisher to order it without more information to go on. It is definative "must reading" in my opinion. The full title is: "How You Can MAXIMIZE IMMUNITY and Unleash Your Body's Best Defense Against Illness" The book is 260+ pages and is divided into two main parts (as well as important front and back matter which I will get to in a bit). Perhaps the easiest way to share a feeling for the contents is to breifly annotate the chapter titles, which, unlike many books in the fringe heath arena, actually describe well the ideas spoken of in each chapter. ;) The first part is 130+ pages and is subtitled "Food and Immunity: We Are What We Eat". Chapter 1: Starting Again from Scratch (5 pages of well-reasoned plea to readers, and researchers, to keep an open mind regarding the hypothesis that raw foods have a very symbiotic relation to immunity and health.) Chapter 2: Animal Models (A 28-page review of animal studies which support the proposition that a denatured diet is an important co-factor, and probably the major factor, in immune disease, especially AIDS, but also rabies and other diseases. Cromby contrasts the diets of wild and captive animals with the average modern human diet. A chart listing many viral diseases, along with the animal populations/diets in which they are found to show symptoms, and more importantly animal populations/diets where the animal is a symptomless carrier of said virus. The Chapter ends with suggestions for futher reseach on the relatedness of a denatured diet to viral symptoms.) Chapter 3: The Dietary Taboo (5 more pages dealing with the problems of a paradigm shift needed in order to view the relationship of denatured foods and immunity from a new perspective.) Chapter 4: The Immune System (14-page primer on the basics of the immune system in relation to viruses and introducing the idea that denatured foods contain antigens which exasperate the organism's attempt at keeping the house clean, so to speak.) Chapter 5: AIDS--An Immune Deficiency (20+-page primer on AIDS--it's history, detection, nature, etc.) Chapter 6: Current Treatments for AIDS (13-page review of the inefficacy and probab,t toxicity of current approaches.) Chapter 7: What Our Present Understanding Does Not Explain (8 pages containing 21 questions of near sugical incisiveness which are unanswerable within the current viral research paradigm.) Chapter 8: New Light on Viral Illnesses (2 page introduction to his new paradigm of immunity) Chapter 9: The "Dietary Theory of Immunity" and "Useful Viral Theory" (15 pages of the "meat" of Cromby's new approach. He states the title theories in less than two pages and then goes on to 42 "correllaries" which flow from the basic "Dietary Theory of Immunity") Chapter 10: Strengthening Your Immune System (3 pages of introduction of the importance of the major immunity breakdown co-factors as he sees them: tobacco and denatured foods.) Chapter 11: Taking Steps Toward Healing (3 pages listing/discussing Cromby's four point plan (very paraphrased here): 1] eat raw foods choosen by sensory instinct, 2] facilitate elimination/detox, 3] decrease lifestyle stresses, 4] desire to be healed/think positively) Chapter 12: The Medicine of Tomorrow (2 pages podering the future of medicine which, according to Cromby, will harken back to Hippocrates' essentials) The secong part is subtitled: "A 100% Natural Diet to Maximize Immunity". It seems clear that the 3 short chapters which finish part one (10-13) are simply paving the way for part two. Chapter 13: What is Instinct Therapy? (an almost 40-page exposition of the central theoretical threads, and supports, of instincto-therapy in recoveing human health. This section ends with a 6 level transition diet which starts with a partial restriction of dairy and ends with an all-raw unmixed regime selected by sensory pleasure.) Chapter 14: Potential of the Dietary Approach (3 pages of results which might be expected when following a pure instincto dietary.) Chpater 15: How to Begin (more theory on why 100% is best, and a welcome suggestion of not prostelytising and/or engaging in initial battles with the medical establishment) Chapter 16: Return to Health: Detoxification (18 page discussion of detoxing and a support of fasting when no food appeals--ends with three models/graphs depicting how detoxing might happen for various individuals) Chpater 17: Healing by Pleasure (less than one page detailing the uniqueness of the pleasure principle in instincto-therapy) Chapter 18: Gentle Medicine for a Tough Disease (less than one page attempting to bridge the opposing pardigm of allopathy and wholistic medicine--only two paragraphs, but two paragrahs which have not yet been written elsewhere, at least I haven't ever seen them put so well) Chapter 19: The First Results, and 20: Patient Testimonials (31 pages of AIDS case histories and testimonials includes an interview) Chapter 21: The Future Dawn (6 page of summary, conclusion and hope for the future) There is also (as I mentioned earlier) extensive introductory notes, two prefaces (from French MDs), and the usual disclaimers. The book was translated from French by Thomas T. Rieder from Toronto, Canada. Again, he did a superlative job, or so I assume, being as I am unable to read Cromby's original in French. Back matter includes a epilogue by a (one assumes) eminant French professor, a glossary of abbreviations, as well as 289 references. Bruno comes from a physics/mathematics background and his respect for the scientific method is apparent. He has other witings published (mostly in European languages, unfortunately) including books on the details of instincto-therapy, stress reduction, how to stop smoking, and "power sleep". He is simply not one to avoid controversy it seems: he has a book out proposing nuclear energy as a large part of the solution to the planets environmental woes! I have not read any of them, but after reading MAXIMIZE IMMUNITY I sure would like to. Indeed, while reading an exposition supporting nuclear energy I suspect I would feel like most medical doctors reading MAXIMIZE IMMUNITY--incredulous. But I'm off topic... MAXIMIZE IMMUNITY is easily the clearest, most scientific rendering of the ideas that have been bandied around since Shelton (and earlier) regarding the role of nutrition and disease. Instead of the ideological rantings of TC Fry, Bruno presents a level-heading consilitory prose which encompasses a paradigm which will likely be judged very well by history. If you want to see the next lodical step NH theory you would read Bruno's book. (He also has a web page... http://www.lookup.com/homepages/70485/comby.html I have quibbles with some of the content: ie, the 10,000 ya dating of the widespread use of fire is the youngest I have _ever_ seen and I have looked into the matter pretty carefully, and I find there to be exceptions to the usefulness of alimentary instinct which are not much discussed. But in the case of the former I will be digging into his references to the degree I can (many are in French) before entering any debate on the dating of fire--a snaggly-tooth arena if ever there was one. As for the latter, I can't really expect him to engage in a full-fledged discussion of the problems with instincto in a volume clearly designed to appeal to researchers and a popular audience at the same time. Such quibbles aside, rawists finally have a book which they can hand to their neighborhood MD, parents, or university-trained dietitions which reasonably expouses raw foods as central to human health without being combative. If I had an extra twenty thousand dollars, I would be tempted to mail copies off to researchers across the USA to get his message out into the university/scientific arena where a serious debate would likely ensue. Indeed, MAXIMIZE IMMUNITY is the _only_ raw book I have ever seen which is well-researched, carefully written, and accessable to both a lay audience and researchers. It is so far-reaching in its theoretical formulations, so "scientific" and logical, that it appears as the first book which can be seen as proof of the "maturing" of the raw foods paradigm. Whether its clarity will ever be heard from above the noise pollution one finds in Nature's First Law or its kin, I don't know... Nevertheless, I can see a real convergence happening these days. Evolutionary biology, Darwinian medicine, paleo-diet research, and instincto are all in their infancy as sciences and are all quite controversial. Even Sally Fallon and Aagonus Vonderplantintz are adding arrows to the "cause". They all seem to be on a trejectory to a point where they will not only be rubbing elbows, but where they will collide into a more modern wholism of nutrition and its role in human health. When that happens, the shit is going to hit the fan. I only hope it is within my lifetime so I can watch from the sidelines and give an occasional hoot of delight. Cheers, Kirt