Ask Dr. Weil Omnibus #1: (Includes the first 6 Ask Dr. Weil Titles)

Ask Dr. Weil is a combination of six previously published collections of questions that he received on his Web site: Women's Health, Healthy Living, Natural Remedies, Common Illnesses, Vitamins and Minerals, and Your Top Health Concerns. Those who've read Weil's books--particularly Spontaneous Healing, 8 Weeks to Optimum Health, and Natural Health, Natural Medicine--will find familiar advice here. In that sense, Ask Dr. Weil serves as a solid and thorough introduction to his ideas and methods, while the other books present those ideas in more depth.

What Ask Dr. Weil may lack in depth, though, it more than makes up for in breadth. For example, in a question about enemas--which he's against--he notes that constipation was once considered an affliction exclusive to the most noble and intelligent men, and that Louis XIV of France sometimes took four enemas a day. A surprising opinion comes in response to a question about the once-popular abdominal-training devices sold on infomercials. "A super-flat abdomen with tight, rippling muscles will restrict the motion of the intestines during digestion," he writes. His suggestion: do some crunches, but don't try to look like the men and women in Bally's gym commercials.

In fact, just when you think you can predict which way Dr. Weil will go on an issue, he surprises you by being skeptical about a popular nutritional supplement or treatment. Even in a simple question-and-answer format such as this, the good doctor manages to be entertaining and iconoclastic. --Lou Schuler