Review: Go Away Just For The Health Of It

Author: Mel Borins M.D.

ISBN: 0969056516

The following review was contributed by:  NORM GOLDMAN: Editor of Bookpleasures &CLICK TO VIEW Norm Goldman's Reviews

Toronto physician, world traveller, photographer and travel writer, Mel Borins, has been actively involved in incorporating into his family practice various complimentary systems of healing including the need for vacations.

As he points out in the Introduction to Go Away Just For The Health of It, when examining his patients and after taking a full medical history, conducting a complete physical, ordering the necessary tests, he would, depending on the patient’s symptoms, prescribe an appropriate vacation. He jokes and states he should open a travel agency.

Borins argues persuasively in the first part of his book for the need to take a break and supplant some of our current attitudes of taking time off, with one that perceives travel as a catalyst for personal and educational growth. What is paramount is that taking a holiday is very good for what ails you, and not something that we should feel guilty about.

The topic of the advantages of vacations or getting away from our daily routines raises some very interesting questions pertaining to their therapeutic and healing benefits. Why, for example, do vacations recharge our batteries and spark an inward exploration as to who we are, where are we going, and are relationships with our loved ones. Why do we feel refreshed when we return from a vacation, just raring to go? How about the disappearing headaches and skin rashes, which seem to disappear, while we are on vacation?

From my own personal experience, my wife and I often make the comment, as Borins rightfully points out, travel keeps us out of mental hospitals, taking drugs and seeing a psychiatrist. However, if we are to reap the benefits of travel, it is essential that we profit from it when we are able to travel and not wait until we are old or decrepit. It may then be too late, and what a shame, if we worked all of our life telling ourselves that we haven’t the time to take off. 

The second part of the book contains several essays of the author’s worldly trips with his wife and children, wherein readers learn about traditional medicinal plants, various perceptions of death, different funeral processions, traditional healers, and other fascinating subjects.

Borin’s essays are enlightening and in some cases empowering, even if in some instances there is a touch of gross, particularly his toilet experiences, where there was an absence of bathroom tissue, soap or running water. The reader could only wonder as to the difficulties a westerner would encounter, and the reason why serving food with your left hand in some Asian and Middle Eastern societies is considered an insult.

In the final analysis, Go Away Just For The Health of It, is an effective balance between fact finding and original thought.