Every day modern medicine announces the arrival of yet another “wonder drug” or “miracle procedure” to a world increasingly wary of expensive high-tech cures. Drugs, transplants, and surgery don’t work for 90 percent of our aches and pains and, while we are grateful for life-saving developments, we know that most come with risks that we ignore at our peril.

Long hailed as one of the founding fathers of mind-body medicine, Larry Dossey directs our attention to simple sources of healing that have been available for centuries—treasures often hidden in plain sight—from the power of optimism and of tears to speed recovery to the surprising usefulness of dirt and bugs in curing disease and infection to the benefits of doing nothing.

Exploring the medical research that validates these simple remedies, Dossey encourages us to align ourselves with the wisdom of nature and allow true healing to take place. The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things can transform our view of what health is all about, whether our concern is cancer or the common cold.


From the Hardcover edition.

“In this elegant, thoughtful, and profoundly useful book, Larry Dossey reminds us of the healing power of the life around us and offers us the gift of new eyes. The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things vindicates anyone who has looked beyond drugs and surgery in search of their own ability to heal.” —Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., author of Kitchen Table Wisdom

“Larry Dossey’s insights into the ordinary illuminate a path to happiness and help us see ‘the universe in a grain of sand.’” —Mehmet C. Oz, M.D., coauthor of YOU: The Owner’s Manual

“Delightful, human, funny, poignant, and surpassingly wise, Larry Dossey’s essays are a national treasure.” —Joan Borysenko, author of A Woman’s Journey to God

“One of our most original thinkers on the nature of consciousness and its role in healing.” —Michael Lerner, president of Commonweal

“Larry Dossey’s words of wisdom have inspired and challenged me for years.” —Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of Mother-Daughter Wisdom

“In his quirky, brilliant, and passionate book, Larry Dossey offers us the quintessence of a lifetime’s search and conveys his message with the lucid grace of a born writer and the authority of a sage. In a hundred years, he will be remembered as someone who, in a grand way, assisted a shift in how we perceive the magic and mystery of our world and our place within it.” —Andrew Harvey, author of The Direct Path


From the Hardcover edition.