The Merck Manual's 30-page section on drugs is itself an excellent resource. Here you'll find descriptions of the biological impact of high-powered pharmaceuticals, plus a table of drugs that put the elderly at risk. Its five appendixes on such topics as legal issues and commonly used medical terms segue handily into a guide of institutions that offer information and counseling for a multitude of medical conditions. This exhaustive volume clarifies both the workings of the human body and the geography of its demise, not to mention Western medicine's solutions to its failures. If knowledge is power, buy this book to arm yourself with a world of information.