The Spark in the Machine: How the Science of Acupuncture Explains the Mysteries of Western Medicine Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Daniel Keown (Author), Gavin Osborn (Narrator), John Murray (Publisher)

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Ground-breaking book showing how the theories of western and Chinese medicine support each other. Full of good stories and surprising details.

Why can salamanders grow new legs, and young children grow new fingertips, but adult humans can't regenerate? What is the electricity that flows through the human body? Is it the same thing that the Chinese call Qi? If so, what does Chinese medicine know that Western medicine ignores?

Dan Keown's highly accessible, witty, and original book shows how Western medicine validates the theories of Chinese medicine and how Chinese medicine explains the mysteries of the body that Western medicine largely ignores. He explains the generative force of embryology, how the hearts of two people in love (or in scientific terms 'quantum entanglement') truly beat as one, how a cheating heart is also an ill heart (which is why men are twice as likely to die of a sudden heart attack with their mistresses than with their wives), how neural crest cells determine our lifespan, and why Proust's madeleines evoked the memories they did.

The book shows how the theories of Western and Chinese medicine support each other and how the integrated theory enlarges our understanding of how bodies work on every level. Full of good stories and surprising details, Dan Keown's book is essential listening for anyone who has ever wanted to know how the body really works.

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Listening Length

8 hours and 41 minutes
Author

Daniel Keown
Narrator

Gavin Osborn
Audible release date

4 July 2019
Language

English
Publisher

John Murray
ASIN

B07T3QC2W2
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	8 hours and 41 minutes
Author	Daniel Keown
Narrator	Gavin Osborn
Audible.com.au Release Date	04 July 2019
Publisher	John Murray
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07T3QC2W2
Best Sellers Rank	26,572 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 19 in Acupuncture & Acupressure (Books) 377 in Alternative & Complementary Medicine 17,914 in Teen & Young Adult (Books)

Customer reviews

5 star		83%
4 star		9%
3 star		5%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from Australia

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OneHand

An excellent read, in every regard

Reviewed in Australia on 14 June 2019

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An excellent text that is a must read for all Acupuncturists, traditional and modern alike. Certainly opens up a he,thy discussion to be had by our profession.

Helpful

Acupunture & Embryology the Unity of East and West

Reviewed in Australia on 8 April 2017

Verified Purchase

A well written and thought through book and unifying eastern and western thought processes on acupuncture. It also helped me as an anaesthetist to understand some of the things which I had a gut feeling on. Thank you for producing this book. A must read for those wanting to understand acupunture/energy medicine.

Helpful

BarryR

A prescientific model of blood vessels and nerves?

Reviewed in Australia on 26 January 2018

I've had acupuncture from a few practitioners. Despite wanting to believe in it, it's never improved any of my ills/injuries. It is known to release opioids and so may have relaxation properties and, of course, placebo benefits. I started this book with interest as I know nothing about fascia. I became a bit dubious at the mention of biophotons. He completely lost me on the chapter about human fractals. To start with, the author talks about lines of communication but his example is about simple combinations,nCr. Later on, he says a basic fractal equation is a simple feedback mechanism. It's nothing of the sort. It's an iterative equation using complex numbers, i.e it requires the square root of minus 1, √-1. Further statements might have some metaphorical validity but only if you don't know anything about fractal maths.

As regards fascia and acupuncture, This article compares acupuncture to early Greek beliefs. I found itmuch more convincing:
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/acupuncture-and-fascial-planes-junk-science-and-wasteful-research/

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in Australia on 7 January 2017

Amazing work with a huge value for the future of health! A must read for every health professional

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Nadia

Good book

Reviewed in Australia on 4 October 2019

Good book

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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer

A great challenge to my understanding

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 September 2018

Verified Purchase

I had the pleasure of working with Dr Keown (or Dan as he was known) while passing through an Emergency Department as part of my years as a junior doctor. He didn't seem to quite fit the mold in the same way that Acupuncture doesn't sit easily with many of those trained in Medicine in the UK. There was something fascinating about Dan's approach though and I am glad he has managed to articulate so much of his learning and understanding in a book.

As a GP i am constantly learning more about people and the human body and Ill admit to having seen patients get real benefit from acupuncture without every understanding it. Trying to do so was uncomfortable as it threatened by model for understanding the human body in a western medical sense. This book has been great in helping me understand Qi and acupuncture in the context of the medicine that I have learned about. With Billions practicing both Eastern and Western medicine there is unlikely to be one right way and one wrong way. I really love how this book has helped me join the dots and begin to understand how it may all fit together.

While it has answered lots of questions it has definitely left me with even more questions!

Thanks Dan

19 people found this helpful

T. Dervish

Great read for students of Acupuncture

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 October 2016

Verified Purchase

If you need a bit of science to back up and explain what happens in Acupuncture then this is your book. It's basic premise is linking Acupuncture meridians to fascial lines in the body which transmit elecQIcity as he puts it.
He meticulously goes through all the features of Traditional Chinese Medicine including organ theory and relates it all to what is known in science so far.

12 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Disappointing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 December 2019

Verified Purchase

The author seeks to reduce Chinese medicine to western medicine, also very few diagrams showing the traditional major acupuncture points making it difficult at least for me to truly comprehend this attempted synthesis/reduction. I was disappointed and sorry I purchased the book which I will now donate to the nearest charity shop.

3 people found this helpful

mark

A fascinating read demonstrating a depth of understanding of both worlds

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 August 2018

Verified Purchase

If you're interested in the confluence of Eastern and Western medicine, this book is an absolute must. In his particular, rather playful way, Daniel Keown explores the origins of the acupuncture channels and how Traditional Chinese Medicine helps to explain aspects of Western medicine that are not fully understood. A fascinating read from start to finish, in very accessible language demonstrating a depth of understanding of both worlds. I keep on referring back to it and finding more wisdom in its pages.

4 people found this helpful

Ash

Expert opinion from a world leader

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 February 2019

Verified Purchase

Not content to reject an alternative narrative that does not equate to my limited world-view, and having come across acupuncture and the mysterious notion of qi undertaking my first degree in molecular biology, for the ensuing decades I had been in a state of cognitive dissonance;- being unable to reconcile these seemingly different accounts of the life sciences.

Whether from a western perpsective or new age, most of what I have read in the ensuing periods read was vague (conjecture or wishy-washy respectively).

Finally here is someone that actually knows what they are talking about! These books are written by a rigorous scientific mind, and are very information dense. This is the first synthesis of Western and Eastern medical traditions that seems to have come from genuine insight and understanding.

The author also is up-to-date with and has an understanding of the cutting edge of quantum & systems biology/information theory, from which his theory draws and is consistent (as Chinese medicine appears to be most closely related to these disiplines).

The Spark in the Machine is best for a theoretical overview, Whilst The Uncharted Body is more of a textbook focusing on the practical details. Both excellent.

2 people found this helpful

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The Spark in the Machine: How the Science of Acupuncture Explains the Mysteries of Western Medicine Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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