There are a lot of books on Lyme Disease and many of them are written by angry, frustrated, and politically motivated individuals on both sides of the issue. It seems to me that if your Lyme symptoms have outlasted the short course of antibiotics that was supposed to cure you, you're already angry, frustrated and politically motivated. You don't need some book to tell you why. The following books gave me some useful information that helped me to understand Lyme Disease better without bogging me down in a controversy I was too sick to engage.
Bull's Eye: Unravelling the Medical Mystery of Lyme by Jonathan A. Edlow, M.D. - This book covers the history of Lyme Disease from its first appearance in Europe more than a century ago to its present day status as one of the most controversial diseases in modern medicine. The blurb on the back of the book describes it as "riveting". Well, I guess if you found the medical guidelines listed on this site riveting then this book hits it out of the park. Otherwise, it's a moderately entertaining book that puts the present day Lyme Disease controversy into context. There is some interesting information in here on how diseases are diagnosed, the limitations of medical testing, and the influence that culture has on the scientific process.
Biography of a Germ by Arno Karlen - An entire book about Borrelia burgdorferi! Can you stand it? Very few bacteria are interesting enough to rate anything other than a mention in a textbook that most of us will never read, but by the time you get to the end of this book, you'll understand why the Lyme bacterium deserves the rock star treatment. You'll also have a pretty clear idea of just how screwed you are. I'm not sure whether knowing how adaptable - even diabolical - your enemy is will help you sleep at night, but since you probably weren't sleeping at night anyway, it'll sure give you a red hot clue why this particular enemy is so hard to defeat. The version I have was published in 2001 and could stand to be updated with the latest research, but it's a good starting point nonetheless.
Healing Lyme: Natural Healing and Prevention of Lyme Borreliosis and Its Coinfections by Stephen Harrod Buhner. Written by a master herbalist, this is the best book I've come across for explaining not just why antibiotics fail in such a large percentage of Lyme Disease patients, but also what is happening in your body to give you all those disabling symptoms. It's one thing to know that your vision is constantly blurry, it's quite another to know why your vision is contantly blurry. It would be nice if you could pry some of this information out of medical doctors and become a truly informed patient, but somehow it never quite works out that way. The one criticism I have of this book is that it gives you enough information that you can go out and try and heal yourself of Lyme Disease. Bad idea. Hire a qualified herbalist, naturopath, or TCM practitioner if you want to try the treatments outlined in here. That independent, knowlegeable third party will keep you from harming yourself playing with medicinal substances you have no experience with.
The Homeopathic Treatment of Lyme Disease by Peter Alex. Homeopathy isn't a treatment method that should be undertaken without the help of a trained practioner, but if you're contemplating going the homeopathic route in fighting your illness, this book is a valuable resource. It includes an overview of the theory and practice of homeopathy both in general and as it relates to Lyme. It also includes case studies of patients who were successfully treated for Lyme infections, so you can see for yourself which remedies were chosen in the face of which symptoms.
