Book of Cures Quotes

“During the Chinese incursion of 1751, the rear section of the Red Palace, which included the Hall of Scriptures, had burned to the ground.  It had never been rebuilt and was now separate from, and outside, the palace grounds in an area that was overgrown and forgotten, completely out of view of the main palace. What remained now was a musty, damp, rat-infested crawlspace-like area that McAlister and Bertram called the pit. It was here that they hoped to find a clue as to what happened on that terrible day in 1751.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“The Potala Palace was built of wood, earth, and stone in 614 A.D., and additions had been made countless times.  Its thousands of maze-like rooms, ten thousand shrines and two hundred thousand statues were divided into two connecting palaces, the Red Palace in the center and the White Palace surrounding it.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“singular presence gave Lhasa and all of Tibet validation.  It was also the home of most of Tibet’s precious jewels. The treasure was such a point of pride that by age four, every citizen knew the exact number of gold leaf taels wrapped around the long dead 5th Dalai Lama (one hundred and ten thousand) and how many pearls and gems were inlaid into his quilt (eighteen thousand, six hundred and seventy-seven).”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“neuroplasticity--a vision replacement therapy done by rewiring or rezoning neurons to help out when other are destroyed.  They claimed the brain is not centrally wired, but rather exists in zones.  These zones could be repurposed, rerouted.”               “We still know relatively little about how the brain works.  I guess anything’s possible.  We should know a lot more in a few hours.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“imagine they would have records at the temple.  However, I would think the best place to look would be the Archive of Tibetan History at the Central Library in Lhasa.   They have an excellent archive related to the history of medicine in Tibet.  You’ll be surprised.  Some of the data has even been digitized using grants from wealthy supporters.  It’s very good.  I’ve used it myself.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“use plants indigenous to Tibet, Tibet, and Bhutan.  A few of them are very rare, and frankly, I’m not even sure if they can be found in the wild any longer.  There is one particularly hard-to-find species that only reproduces every twelve years.  I have a large garden where I continually grow the plants needed.  They must be harvested, dried, and stored.”               “Would it be okay if I took a look at your page?  That way I’ll recognize the book  if I ever find it.”               “I memorized the formula and no longer need to refer to the page, though I do look at it from time to time to admire its beauty. ”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“It is widely held that the Beryl was destroyed years ago, during one of the Chinese offensives.  It was kept in Lhasa, at the Potala Palace, in a room called the Hall of Scriptures. “It was said to be there in 1751, when the Chinese invaded and sacked the palace.  The wing that held the Blue Beryl--the Red Palace--was burned.  No one has seen the original Blue Beryl since.”               McAlister already knew all of this.  “How did you get the page from which you work?”               “Members of my family have always been healers.  Long ago, a medical book was purchased in the market in Lhasa.  When my father died, I inherited all of his material possessions.  The page I have was stuffed inside one of the medical textbooks, just a single page.  It has a color drawing of the anatomy of the human eyes on one side, and the prescription for curing blindness on the other.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“Today in America, free clinics are used for tax write-offs, money laundering, or political tools.  It’s all about money there.  Both you men are old enough to know that.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“All an American knows is forward movement.   You do not understand the concept of moving laterally.” Dr. Li’s level gaze held Bertram.  “Dr. Bertram, nothing is free, and you should know better.  In America and other large cities, even the most basic human elements--air and water--are being sold back to the inhabitants.  Be sensible. What do you think would happen if I advertised what I had?”               “I don’t know,”  Bertram”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“Doctor, if the page from the Beryl works so well, why do you not share it with the rest of the world?  Why do you not tell other doctors and healers?  Isn’t it your duty to spread the wealth?  I mean, it’s free, right?”               Dr. Li smiled and took another sip of his tea.  “Yours is a typical American question that is based on your culture’s desire to solve problems--to conquer and spread your ideology, no matter what the cost. ”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“It works.  It works very well.  The woman you saw just a minute ago with glaucoma was completely blind.  The tobacco smoke will begin helping her immediately, the wrap will help her over the next two to three days, and the pap that she ingested will take over from there.  She will likely have her sight back at some point in the future.” “But how do you know?  How do you know she will have her sight back?” The doctor smiled and said, “Because it happens every time.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“Each of us carries around about half a dozen defective genes.  The vast majority of us will never know it because we carry two copies of each gene; one from our mother, and one from our father.  If a damaged gene is recessive, or non-dominant, its counterpart will carry out the necessary tasks.  If the same two recessive genes are damaged, you’re in for trouble.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“Homologous recombination.”               “Homo-what?”               “It’s precision genetic engineering.  Basically, two enzymes fix sections of broken DNA.  They scissor out the broken section and replace it with a new chunk of DNA.  No one knows how it works, but it happens occasionally in Petri dishes.” “Could that cure someone?” “Absolutely.  Defective genes and gene mutations play a primary role in some of the worst diseases that exist today: heart disease, diabetes, immune system disorders, and birth defects.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“The thymus produces three types of cells: B-cells, T-cells, and my favorite, NKs.  NK stands for ‘natural-killer,’ also called macrophages.  They will attack anything.  They’ll devour a virus, burst cancer cells, whatever it takes.” McAlister said, “So if a healer in Tibet stumbled onto a combination of herbs that boosts the thymus’ ability to produce NK cells, it could create a sort of super-immune system.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“All white blood cells are parented by stem cells which exist in the bone marrow.  Once born, certain types of cells move to the thymus gland, which is located next to the heart. It’s really one of the most fascinating glands in the body. “Once in the thymus, the cells are trained to defend the body. The cells are even tested to make sure they can tell the difference between ‘self’ cells and ‘non-self’ cells.  If a cell fails the test, it is not allowed to leave.  Only one percent make it out of the thymus.  The others are destroyed.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“The immune system is exceedingly complex.  Our bodies are continuously under attack from an enormous variety of toxins, germs, and pollutants.  The key culprits are fungi, bacteria, and viruses.  There are also cancer cells, which are simply human cells that become abnormal and begin to multiply.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“Cornelius Rhoades in San Juan (funded by the Rockefeller Institute), the children’s experiments at Brooklyn Doctors Hospital, the 1963 study at University of California’s Department of Pediatrics, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center study performed in conjunction with Genetic Systems Corporation, and countless others. It was clear that the healthcare industry was profit-oriented, and the entire structure was built around treating, not preventing.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“During one study, conducted in 1963 and funded by the U.S. Public Health Service and the American Cancer Society, researchers at the Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital in New York injected live cancer cells into unsuspecting patients to see if cancer could be induced by injection.  These patients had not given consent and many of them  developed cancer.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“both the government and healthcare institutions had created mutant strains of disease.  Thousands of well-documented cases existed of people being injected with cancer cells and then studied, all in the hope of finding a better medication that could be sold in the rapidly growing cancer treatment market.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“In addition to medicines, other topics rumored to be covered are herbal-, gemstone-, mineral-, and animal-based medications, pulse divination, and mind-body connections.  It goes into great depth regarding human anatomy and physiology.  By all accounts it is the most thorough healing manual ever written.  A Bible of cures.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“The actual Beryl was written by Sangye Gyamtso, regent to the fifth Dalai Lama.  It was based on the Tantras, but Gyamtso did something that had never been done before, something that would change medicine forever: he commissioned drawings, based on the cures in the Beryl, depicting all aspects of human anatomy, all the flora and fauna used in the cures, and directions on their application. “This makes the Blue Beryl the first illustrated medical ‘how to’ manual ever written.  It’s a beautifully illustrated encyclopedia with diagnoses and treatments.  It actually showed the reader, using pictures and text, which herbs to combine and in what quantities.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“from the Justinian Plague forward, all the way through the Spanish Flu of 1918, Tibet remained relatively unaffected, despite some major East-West trading routes going right through the country.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“After HIV we changed one thing.  Now, we’re only going to make people sick if we already have a cure.  That way, we maximize both market saturation and revenue per consumer.  If they’re not sick they buy the vaccine; if they don’t buy the vaccine and they get sick, we offer the cure.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“There are eighteen million AIDS orphans in Africa right now,”  Joel said.               “Joel, with HIV came millions, billions of dollars worth of research grants, clinical trials, drugs, jobs, and money.  It turned out to be bigger and better than any of us ever dreamed it could.  A true pandemic.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“Going from a petri dish in a laboratory is a far cry from twenty-eight million dying of an infection.”               “It was released to homosexual men starting in 1977 disguised as a hepatitis B vaccine.  By the mid-eighties, over fifty-percent of all homosexual men in New York and San Francisco were infected.”               “Heathens,” Mortimar hissed.               “Then we started the myth that HIV was sourced from Africa.  HIV wasn’t even discovered in Africa until 1982, years after thousands of gay men in America already had it.”               “How did it get over there if it was an American invention?”               “Some of the monkeys used to develop both the HIV virus and the hepatitis delivery trials were set free in Africa in the late ‘70s.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“wasn’t really even that hard to make.  Put an immunodeficiency together with a T-cell attacker, and voila.” “Damn, we’d never seen T-cells killed so fast.  I’ll never forget looking through the microscope that day.  Unbelievable.  That’s when I knew we really had something.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“HIV originated in southern Cameroon, Africa.” Casey shook his head.  “Joel, HIV was created in a laboratory at the United States Army’s Biological Warfare Research Unit, Fort Detrick, Maryland.  HIV is a combination of a virus called HTLV-1 and Visna, a sheep virus.  Both are T-cell killers; combined, they’re lethal.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“Average human life expectancy in North America was at an all-time high: seventy-five years.  Up significantly in the past forty years.               “But many people, particularly the baby boomers, are healthier than previous generations.  Incidences of new cancer have slowed, and less people are getting diabetes and heart disease. Or they’re getting them under control through diet, exercise, and existing medicine. “That’s all bad news for us.  The revenue from the drugs we use to treat those illnesses is steady or declining.  Worse still, many of our cash cow drugs are losing patent protection soon.  Not good for us.”               “We need new kinds of sick people.  We need new revenue streams,”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“We call the people specimens because we analyze them as such.  Listen Joel, what you need to know is one overriding principle.  When we come across anything that threatens our industry, we analyze it, and then we either capitalize on it or obstruct its existence.  It’s very simple. ”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures

“second category we track is unconventional healing.  This covers everything else, including acupuncture, homeopathy, crystals, magnets, energy healers, and all varieties of unregulated herbs and supplements.  Extraterrestrial incidents, witchcraft, religious or faith-based claims, multicultural findings like Sam’s shaman example, and any related historical stories, fall into this group.               “Most are hoaxes, but you just never know.  Some of the religious incidents and also some of the crude healing methods used in other cultures have merit.  Some work. ”
― Hunt Kingsbury, Book of Cures