Book picks similar to
Aequanimitas by William Osler
medicine
medical
nonfiction
medicina
Singular Intimacies: Becoming a Doctor at Bellevue
Danielle Ofri - 2003
In a facility where poverty and social strife are as much a part of the pathology as any microbe, it is the medical students and interns who are thrust into the searing intimacy that is the doctor-patient relationship. With each chapter, Ofri introduces us to a new medical crisis and a human being with an intricate and compelling history.
Better Than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream
Carl Elliott - 2003
Americans have always been the world's most anxiously enthusiastic consumers of "enhancement technologies." Prozac, Viagra, and Botox injections are only the latest manifestations of a familiar pattern: enthusiastic adoption, public hand-wringing, an occasional congressional hearing, and calls for self-reliance.In a brilliant diagnosis of our reactions to self-improvement technologies, Carl Elliott asks questions that illuminate deep currents in the American character: Why do we feel uneasy about these drugs, procedures, and therapies even while we embrace them? Where do we draw the line between self and society? Why do we seek self-realization in ways so heavily influenced by cultural conformity?
Catching Babies
J.D. Kleinke - 2011
Two ends of the same spectrum. And sometimes the only person standing between is a tired, overworked resident with personal problems of her own.Welcome to the world of Catching Babies. In the halls of a busy metropolitan teaching hospital, a group of OB/GYN doctors complete their residencies and embark on ambitious careers, all while trying to hold their lives together at the seams. Jay is running from a life he’s tried to leave behind, while Katie sacrifices everything she has to serve an endless parade of needy patients. Anna is out trying to save the world, while Tracy is trying to save twins dying in utero. Based on true stories from delivery rooms and labor decks, Catching Babies spins the doctors’ stories into a gripping mosaic of the obsessions, the anxieties, and the heroism of doctors who have chosen to preside over life’s greatest medical drama—high-risk childbirth.
The Puzzle People: Memoirs Of A Transplant Surgeon
Thomas Starzl - 1992
and a PhD. While he was a student, and later during his surgical internship at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, he began the series of animal experiments that led eventually to the world’s first transplantation of the human liver in 1963.Throughout his career, first at the University of Colorado and then at the University of Pittsburgh, he has aroused both worldwide admiration and controversy. His technical innovations and medical genius have revolutionized the field, but Starzl has not hesitated to address the moral and ethical issues raised by transplantation. In this book he clearly states his position on many hotly debated issues including brain death, randomized trials for experimental drugs, the costs of transplant operations, and the system for selecting organ recipients from among scores of desperately ill patients.There are many heroes in the story of transplantation, and many “puzzle people,” the patients who, as one journalist suggested, might one day be made entirely of various transplanted parts. They are old and young, obscure and world famous. Some have been taken into the hearts of America, like Stormie Jones, the brave and beautiful child from Texas. Every patient who receives someone else’s organ - and Starzl remembers each one - is a puzzle. “It was not just the acquisition of a new part,” he writes. “The rest of the body had to change in many ways before the gift could be accepted. It was necessary for the mind to see the world in a different way.” The surgeons and physicians who pioneered transplantation were also changed: they too became puzzle people. “Some were corroded or destroyed by the experience, some were sublimated, and none remained the same.”
The Woman with a Worm in Her Head: And Other True Stories of Infectious Disease
Pamela Nagami - 2001
In The Woman with a Worm in Her Head, Dr. Pamela Nagami reveals-through real-life cases-the sobering facts about some of the world's most horrific diseases: the warning signs, the consequences, treatments, and most compellingly, what it feels like to make medical and ethical decisions that can mean the difference between life and death.Unfailingly precise, calmly instructive, and absolutely engrossing, The Woman with the Worm in Her Head offers both useful information and enjoyable reading.
The Dark Side: Real Life Accounts of an NHS Paramedic
Andy Thompson - 2013
You’ll smile at some of Andy’s real patient encounters, while others will cause you to wipe a tear. Using official NHS documentation recorded at the time to give precise details of each incident, Andy has held firm to the real-life accounts, even in keeping the dialogue as close as his memory allows to what was really said at the time. It’s as if you’re there next to him, struggling with the effects of adrenaline and fighting to save life. This is a rare work of medical non-fiction delivered in a way that is factual, informative, but at the same time naturally entertaining and moving, written with candour and humour. And if you have ever thought what it takes to become a paramedic – or any other of the specialist vocations - and that you could never achieve it yourself, Andy’s inspiring story of how he went from postman to frontline healthcare professional, fulfilling his dream, will make you think again that anything is possible if you have the desire. Andy says there are no heroics in the book and that he simply did his job, but we are sure The Dark Side will leave you convinced there are true heroes on our streets right here, right now. Saving lives every day, every night and often against all the odds. It might even change your whole perspective on life.
Angels on Call: Inspiring True Stories from the ER
Robert D. Lesslie - 2010
Readers have agreed—the book has sold over 125,000 copies! Now, in Angels on Call, Dr. Lesslie chronicles more incidents and people from his 25 years in the ER.This fast-paced, inspiring, and thought-provoking volume reveals many nurses, doctors, patients, and friends to be “angels” in their own way. Readers will be captivated as they meet…patients who choose life despite difficult circumstancespeople whose condition of body—or soul—demands split-second actionfathers, mothers, and children as they triumph over difficultyindividuals who embrace hope—for themselves and othersWoven throughout is a question: Are we “on call”—are we available—to help others? Readers will be inspired to consider this question as they share intimate joys and struggles of people just like them.
Vitamin K2: Understanding How a Little Known Vitamin Impacts Your Health
Kristie Leong - 2014
A number of studies show a link between vitamin K2, bone health and heart health. Is vitamin K2 a nutrient you need more of in your diet? As physicians, we feel everyone needs to be aware of the role this vitamin plays in health and wellness. This concise ebook explores the link between vitamin K2 and how it may protect against some of the most common diseases you’re at risk for as you age. Here are some of the questions this book will answer: The Role of Vitamin K in Your Body How Vitamin K2 Differs from Vitamin K1 and Why Most People Don’t Get Enough of It The Various Isoforms of Vitamin K2 and Which Ones Are Most Important for Health The Role Vitamin K2 Plays in Bone Health and Osteoporosis Prevention Vitamin K2 and Heart Disease: Can It Lower Your Risk or Even Reverse Atherosclerosis? Do You Need a Vitamin K2 Supplement? Vitamin K2 and Cancer: Is There a Link? The Role Vitamin K2 Plays in Dental Health Are You at Risk for Vitamin K Deficiency? Can You Get Enough Vitamin K2 Through Diet Alone? The Best Dietary Source of Vitamin K2 Why You Must Have Vitamin K2 if You Take a Vitamin D Supplement Are There Risks to Taking a Vitamin K2 Supplement? One Type of Vitamin K2 Supplement Source You Should Avoid You should have a better understanding of the health benefits of vitamin K2 once you finish.
On Pandemics: Deadly Diseases from Bubonic Plague to Coronavirus
David Waltner-Toews - 2007
Epidemiologist David Waltner-Toews gathers the latest research and draws from his work in disease prevention around the world to profile dozens of illnesses, encouraging us to re-examine our role in pandemics -- for our own health and the health of our planet.
Clinical Hematology Atlas
Bernadette F. Rodak - 1998
It offers complete coverage of the basics of hematologic morphology, including examination of the peripheral blood smear, basic maturation of the blood cell lines, and discussions of a variety of clinical disorders. Over 400 photomicrographs, schematic diagrams, and electron micrographs visually clarify hematology from normal cell maturation to the development of various pathologies.Normal Newborn Peripheral Blood Morphology chapter covers the unique normal cells found in neonatal blood.A variety of high-quality schematic diagrams, photomicrographs, and electron micrographs visually reinforce your understanding of hematologic cellular morphology.Spiral binding and compact size make this book easy to use in a laboratory setting.Coverage of common cytochemical stains, along with a summary chart for interpretation, aids in classifying malignant and benign leukoproliferative disorders.Morphologic abnormalities are presented in chapters on erythrocytes and leukocytes, along with a schematic description of each cell, to provide correlations to various disease states.Body Fluids chapter covers the other fluids found in the body besides blood, using images from cytocentrifuged specimens.Updated information on the subtypes of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) helps you recognize variant forms of CLL you may encounter in the lab.
Speaking of Faith
Krista Tippett - 2007
As a journalist and then as a diplomat in Berlin, Tippett was enthralled by the promise of political solutions to divisive issues. When politics did not provide worthy answers, Tippett attended Yale Divinity School to pursue larger questions about what makes a meaningful life. In her quest for faith’s illumination of life’s complexities, passions, and frailties, she developed a compelling style of discourse—a “life of conversation”—that she now shares with millions of people every week. Tippett’s unique, in-depth conversations with theologians, scientists, ethicists, and seekers who share their experiences, combined with her engaging style, are revolutionizing the way many think and speak of faith in their families and communities and in the larger world. Speaking of Faith is the story of this conversational journey and what it yields. Tippett draws on her life experiences and her studies, as well as on conversations with Elie Wiesel, Karen Armstrong, Thich Nhat Hanh, and other renowned figures, to explore such complex subjects as justice, science, fundamentalism, evil, love, and mystery, all within the context of spirituality. In the tradition of Kathleen Norris and Anne Lamott, Krista Tippett here shares a life of conversation that anyone, secular or religious, will find thought provoking about what faith does— and can—mean to us today. BACKCOVER: Praise for Krista Tippett and her public radio program Speaking of Faith: “The brilliance of Krista Tippett’s idea is to trust people to use the first person singular, to commit themselves with passion and clarity as they enlarge our urgent national conversation.” —Martin Marty, Emeritus Professor of American Religious History, University of Chicago “Speaking of Faith isn’t just a good idea and a welcome concept for a muchneeded forum on religion, belief and spirituality in contemporary life—it already is that forum.” —Patricia Hampl, Poet, memoirist, and MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient
Blood, Sweat and Tea
Tom Reynolds - 2006
He has kept a blog of his daily working life since 2003 and his award-winning writing is, by turn, moving, cynical, funny, heart-rending, and compassionate. From the tragic to the hilarious, the stories Tom tells give a fascinatingand at times alarming picture of life in inner-city Britain, and the people who are paid to mop up after it.
Genius on the Edge: The Bizarre Double Life of Dr. William Stewart Halsted
Gerald Imber - 2010
Brilliant, driven, but haunted by demons, William Stewart Halsted took surgery from a horrific, dangerous practice to what we now know as a lifesaving art. Halsted was born to wealth and privilege in New York City in the mid-1800s. He attended the finest schools, but he was a mediocre student. His academic interests blossomed at medical school and he quickly became a celebrated surgeon. Experimenting with cocaine as a local anesthetic, he became addicted. He was hospitalized and treated with morphine to control his craving for cocaine. For the remaining 40 years of his life he was addicted to both drugs.Halsted resurrected his career at Johns Hopkins, where he became the first chief of surgery. Among his accomplishments, he introduced the residency training system, the use of sterile gloves, the first successful hernia repair, radical mastectomy, fine silk sutures, and anatomically correct surgical technique. Halsted is without doubt the father of modern surgery, and his eccentric behavior, unusual lifestyle, and counterintuitive productivity in the face of lifelong addiction make his story unusually compelling.Gerald Imber, a renowned surgeon himself, evokes Halsted's extraordinary life and achievements and places them squarely in the historical and social context of the late 19th century. The result is an illuminating biography of a complex and troubled man, whose genius we continue to benefit from today.
Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal
Rachel Naomi Remen - 1996
In the form of a deeply moving and down-to-earth collection of true stories, this prominent physician shows us life in all its power and mystery and reminds us that the things we cannot measure may be the things that ultimately sustain and enrich our lives. Kitchen Table Wisdom addresses spiritual issues: suffering, meaning, love, faith, courage and miracles in the language and absolute authority of our own life experience.
On Immunity: An Inoculation
Eula Biss - 2014
She finds that you cannot immunize your child, or yourself, from the world.In this bold, fascinating book, Biss investigates the metaphors and myths surrounding our conception of immunity and its implications for the individual and the social body. As she hears more and more fears about vaccines, Biss researches what they mean for her own child, her immediate community, America, and the world, both historically and in the present moment. She extends a conversation with other mothers to meditations on Voltaire's Candide, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Susan Sontag's AIDS and Its Metaphors, and beyond.On Immunity is a moving account of how we are all interconnected-our bodies and our fates.