(ARA) – You can't turn on the television or pick up a newspaper without being warned of America's latest health care crisis, with just-released evidence to blame our diet, our lifestyles, or even the cities we live in. And just as suddenly as each new disease is found, like rainbows after the storm, a brand new field of "experts" appears with the perfect cure to that just-discovered problem.

That's not logical thinking, according to author Peter Kray. He says that what is wrong with most of those so-called experts is that they promise answers, rather than teaching people how to ask the right questions. Kray, who calls being informed 'Facing your Monsters,' says in a country where obesity in children and adults has become a national health crisis that has mobilized the Center for Disease Control and the National Institute of Health, where the cost of prescription drugs continues to skyrocket and the nation's health is deteriorating, nothing could be better for healthcare than a populations that knows how to ask the right questions.

"We all want answers on how we can improve our lives, but we have to start by asking the right questions," says Kray. And he should know. His breakthrough book, "The Monster," is changing the way everyone from kids to corporations, doctors to dieters and individuals to institutions are taking charge of their health, their relationships, and especially, the world around them.

Set in the fictional town of Perfectville, on the surface the book is a fast-paced magical adventure about three kids and "The Monster" that is chasing them. That simple premise easily leads readers into a more complex world. Through the mouths of these three "babes," as well as a reporter who has come to Perfectville to write a story about "The Monster," the book reveals some very simple truths about how this country talks to itself when it comes to good health, good living and good medicine.

"It is, unfortunately, a concise depiction of how most people view their lives and their relationship with medicine," says Dr. William Trolan, a former California primary care doctor who left his practice to work as an emergency room and urgent care physician. "If the book can help get the message across to people to take more personal responsibility for their own health, I'm all for everyone reading it."

A scene where the young hero, Bobby, declines to cover himself with a magic 'Monster-repelling' dust, leads to one of the many powerful observations in this easy-to-read book: "If it's not helping you, it's not medicine." With that simple statement, Kray opens the door to the possibility of any number of integrated healthcare practices such as acupuncture, massage and the power of prayer that are now garnering regular coverage from mainstream media.

The Monster may prove to be one of the most important tools for righting this nation's healthcare problems in the years to come. Unlike the hundreds of other "quick fix" books released each year, this one isn't selling a fitness or diet plan. Instead, this book gives the power of good health back to the individual through a series of simple truths and well thought out questions.

"It's not about healthcare, it's about self care," says Dr. Zung Vu Tran, a clinical professor at the Department of Preventative Medicine and Biometrics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver.

Illustrating the way the book can encourage anyone to become a participant in their own health plan, Dr. Tran, who estimates that only 50 percent of the patients in the United States who receive prescriptions actually finish taking them, foresees a day when doctors actually give copies of the book to their patients, and corporations hand out "The Monster" with their health plans. He says, "As doctors, we can only supply the tools for people to fight their Monsters. This book shows them how to take the next step, and slay them."

Perhaps the most important thing about the book is that it speaks to so many people, and so many different Monsters, at the same time. Published by the Coghill Foundation, Inc., a Colorado nonprofit formed with the purpose of promoting good health, the original idea behind the book was to create a story that could help anyone in the world live the best life they can.

The Foundation chose Peter Kray, an award-winning journalist and editor, to write the book based on his own experience with his wife Catherine's three-decade-long search for answers to a number of potentially lethal health problems. Using her story as a basis for his research, Kray conducted countless interviews about good health, good medicine and good living with everyone from medical doctors to witch doctors, nutritionists to nurses and scientists to surgeons.

"Interestingly, the book kept getting shorter the more people I interviewed," says Kray. "It finally boiled down to that concept of a Monster hiding in the closet or under the bed that we've all had since we were kids, and that to fight it, you had to turn a light on."

With its wide reach, universal message of self-care, and self-reliance, "The Monster" could very well start a self-care revolution. So straightforward and thrilling, with an easy-to-follow storyline, anyone from 8 to 80 can read the book in one sitting. But the layers of meaning can last a lifetime.

It's a sentiment best expressed by KRSN New Mexico radio announcer Mark Bentley, who said, "Every person from third grade on should be required to read this book. It's so well done, with so much depth, that it took me 30 minutes to read it the first time, and four hours the second time."

If you want a New Year's resolution that really works this year, then introduce yourself to "The Monster." And turn a light on.

"The Monster" can be found at www.amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Media Play and Walden Books.

Courtesy of ARA Content


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Courtesy of ARA Content