(This review is for the book "Bioelectromagnetic Medicine" by Paul J. Rosch and Marko S. Markov, 2004.)
Recently I've got interested in the topics of Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy (PEMFT), Cranial Electrical Stimulation (CES), Repetitive (or Rapid) Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS), and Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS). For the last several years now, there are a few machines available for home use (some of them at a premium price), but apparently, they can be very effective in treating various conditions.
I was hoping to find additional information on protocol parameters on the various modalities. Especially more details on how treatments are applied, what they do, how the different magnetic field strengths, wave frequencies, pulse frequencies, wave forms, etc., affect the desired results. However, your are not going to find much on those parameters in this book (almost nothing much useful and practical really).
Some of the chapters come across very pretentious and the egos of the writers do show through. They love throwing fancy formulas (and language) at you without even attempting to explain them to the reader. It is too bad, because this is a fascinating area of medicine and it could have been a great book, because of the fantastic topics covered. I've been told PEMFT is very popular in Germany these days. Some doctors and scientists even believe PEMFT (next to Stem Cell applications) is the future of medicine.
There are a few interesting and more legible chapters though, for example:
Chapter 2 "Signal Shapes in Electromagnetic Therapies: A Primer";
Chapter 44 "Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation for Anxiety, Depression, Insomnia, Cognitive Dysfunction, and Pain" and
The closing chapter, Chapter 50 "Concluding Comments: Some Late Breaking Developments"
are all excellent readings. Very encouraging.
There is also a lot of history given on the development of magnetic therapy over the years.
Don't buy the book at this price ($200+) because you'll be disappointed and maybe even angry at yourself. Borrow it from a university library, if you must, and if by chance you happened to really like the book, you can always buy the on-line eBook version for about half the price from Mobipocket. Better yet, search the Internet for Curatron 2000 or MRS 2000 (two of the more popular PEMFT machines currently available), and for CES therapies, and you will find much more relevant, useful and practical information there.