The Cell: Discovering the Microscopic World That Determines Our Health, Our Consciousness, and Our Future


Joshua Z. Rappoport - 2017
    Your life, your thoughts, your diseases, and your health are all the function of cells.But what do you really know about what goes on inside you?The last time most people thought about cells in any detail was probably in high school or a college general biology class. But the field of cell biology has advanced incredibly rapidly in recent decades, and a great deal of what we may have learned in high school and college is no longer accurate or particularly relevant.The Cell: Inside the Microscopic World that Determines Our Health, Our Consciousness, and Our Future is a fascinating story of the incredible complexity and dynamism inside the cell and of the fantastic advancements in our understanding of this microscopic world.Dr. Joshua Z. Rappoport is at the forefront of this field, and he will take you on a journey to discover:A deeper understanding of how cells work and the basic nature of life on earth.Fascinating histories of some of the key discoveries from the seventeenth century to the last decade and provocative thoughts on the current state of academic research.The knowledge required to better understand the new developments that are announced almost weekly in science and health care, such as cancer, cellular therapies, and the potential promise of stem cells.The ability to make better decisions about health and to debunk the misinformation that comes in daily via media.Using the latest scientific research, The Cell illustrates the diversity of cell biology and what it all means for your everyday life.

Miracle Cure: The Creation of Antibiotics and the Birth of Modern Medicine


William Rosen - 2017
    That all changed in less than a generation with the discovery and development of a new category of medicine known as antibiotics. By 1955, the age-old evolutionary relationship between humans and microbes had been transformed, trivializing once-deadly infections. William Rosen captures this revolution with all its false starts, lucky surprises, and eccentric characters. He explains why, given the complex nature of bacteria—and their ability to rapidly evolve into new forms—the only way to locate and test potential antibiotic strains is by large-scale, systematic, trial-and-error experimentation. Organizing that research needs large, well-funded organizations and businesses, and so our entire scientific-industrial complex, built around the pharmaceutical company, was born. Timely, engrossing, and eye-opening, Miracle Cure is a must-read science narrative—a drama of enormous range, combining science, technology, politics, and economics to illuminate the reasons behind one of the most dramatic changes in humanity’s relationship with nature since the invention of agriculture ten thousand years ago.

Surgical Recall


Lorne H. Blackbourne - 2002
    A perfect fit for a lab coat pocket, this book is commonly used as a quick review prior to surgical rounds as well as for board review.Purchasers of this edition will get both the print book and access to MP3 audio files of the entire text. All Q&A material will also be posted online in the form of electronic flashcards for self-quizzing.

When Things Go Wrong: Diseases from The Body


Bill Bryson - 2020
    In this selection from The Body, Bill Bryson introduces us to the mysterious, and often devastating, world of disease.

Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery


Henry Marsh - 2014
    Operations on the brain carry grave risks. Every day, leading neurosurgeon Henry Marsh must make agonizing decisions, often in the face of great urgency and uncertainty.If you believe that brain surgery is a precise and exquisite craft, practiced by calm and detached doctors, this gripping, brutally honest account will make you think again. With astonishing compassion and candor, Marsh reveals the fierce joy of operating, the profoundly moving triumphs, the harrowing disasters, the haunting regrets, and the moments of black humor that characterize a brain surgeon's life.Do No Harm provides unforgettable insight into the countless human dramas that take place in a busy modern hospital. Above all, it is a lesson in the need for hope when faced with life's most difficult decisions.

The Biology of Cancer


Robert A. Weinberg - 2006
    Book by Weinberg, Robert A.

Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients


Ben Goldacre - 2012
    We like to imagine that it’s based on evidence and the results of fair tests. In reality, those tests are often profoundly flawed. We like to imagine that doctors are familiar with the research literature surrounding a drug, when in reality much of the research is hidden from them by drug companies. We like to imagine that doctors are impartially educated, when in reality much of their education is funded by industry. We like to imagine that regulators let only effective drugs onto the market, when in reality they approve hopeless drugs, with data on side effects casually withheld from doctors and patients.All these problems have been protected from public scrutiny because they’re too complex to capture in a sound bite. But Dr. Ben Goldacre shows that the true scale of this murderous disaster fully reveals itself only when the details are untangled. He believes we should all be able to understand precisely how data manipulation works and how research misconduct on a global scale affects us. In his own words, “the tricks and distortions documented in these pages are beautiful, intricate, and fascinating in their details.” With Goldacre’s characteristic flair and a forensic attention to detail, Bad Pharma reveals a shockingly broken system and calls for something to be done. This is the pharmaceutical industry as it has never been seen before.

Robbins and Cotran Review of Pathology


Edward C. Klatt - 2000
    More than 1,000 questions cover everything from the fundamentals of gross and microscopic pathology to the latest findings in molecular biology and genetics. Based on two of the best-selling, most authoritative pathology textbooks-Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease, 7th Edition and Basic Pathology, 7th Edition-Robbins and Cotran Review of Pathology, 2nd Edition is an ideal aid for coursework, self-assessment, and examinations in pathology.Offers more than 1,000 questions that follow the clinical vignette style, emphasizing problem solving over rote memorization. Presented in both single-best-answer and extended-matching formats, they reflect levels of difficulty that prepare students for both examinations and the practice of medicine.Provides an answer and a detailed explanation for every question at the end of each chapter.Includes page references and a parallel organization to both Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease and Basic Pathology, making additional information easy to locate.Presents correlative laboratory, radiologic, and physical diagnostic data to enhance readers' understanding of pathophysiology and to integrate pathology with other medical disciplines.Uses numerous full-color illustrations to test readers' diagnostic skills.Delivers a 73-question chapter covering all subjects that mimics a comprehensive final examination.

The Germ Code


Jason Tetro - 2013
    Whether the ailment is a cold, the flu, diabetes, obesity or certain cancers, the likely cause is germs. Our ancient enemies have four families - bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa - and many names: Ebola, E. coli, salmonella, norovirus, gonorrhea. . . Human beings are engaged in a "war on germs," in which we develop ever-more sophisticated weapons and defensive strategies. But it is a war we can never win. Our best plan for staying as healthy is to choose our battles carefully, and try to co-exist with germs as best we can. The Germ Code is a wise, witty and wonderfully readable guide to our relationship with these infinitesimal but infinitely powerful creatures. Microbiologist Jason Tetro takes us outside the lab and shows the enormous influence of germs upon humanity's past, present and future. He unlocks the mysteries of "the germ code" to reveal how these organisms have exploited our every activity and colonized every corner of the earth. From his own research and personal experience, Tetro relates how the most recent flu pandemic happened, how others may have been averted and how more may come about if we aren't careful. He also explains that not every germ is our foe, and offers advice on harnessing the power of good germs to stay healthy and make our planet a better place. The Germ Code is a fascinating journey through an unseen world, an essential manual to living in harmony with germs and a life-enhancing (as well as life-saving!) good read.

How to Grow a Human: Adventures in Who We Are and How We Are Made


Philip Ball - 2019
    This was life—but whose?  In his most mind-bending book yet, Ball makes that disconcerting question the focus of a tour through what scientists can now do in cell biology and tissue culture. He shows how these technologies could lead to tailor-made replacement organs for when ours fail, to new medical advances for repairing damage and assisting conception, and to new ways of “growing a human.” For example, it might prove possible to turn skin cells not into neurons but into eggs and sperm, or even to turn oneself into the constituent cells of embryos. Such methods would also create new options for gene editing, with all the attendant moral dilemmas. Ball argues that such advances can therefore never be about “just the science,” because they come already surrounded by a host of social narratives, preconceptions, and prejudices. But beyond even that, these developments raise questions about identity and self, birth and death, and force us to ask how mutable the human body really is—and what forms it might take in years to come.

Why Us?: How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves


James Le Fanu - 2009
    The first is the astonishing achievement of the Human Genome Project, which, it was anticipated, would identify the genetic basis of those characteristics that distinguish humans from their primate cousins. The second is the phenomenal advance in brain imaging that now permits neuroscientists to observe the brain 'in action' and thus account for the remarkable properties of the human mind.But that is not how it has turned out. It is simply not possible to get from the monotonous sequence of genes along the Double Helix to the near infinite diversity of the living world, nor to translate the electrical firing of the brain into the creativity of the human mind. This is not a matter of not knowing all the facts. Rather, science has inadvertently discovered that its theories are insufficient to conjure the wonder of the human experience from the bare bones of our genes and brains.We stand on the brink of a tectonic shift in our understanding of ourselves that will witness the rediscovery of the central premise of Western philosophy that there is 'more than we can know'. Lucid, compelling and utterly engaging, ‘Why Us?’ offers a convincing and provocative vision of the new science of being human.

Bitten: True Medical Stories of Bites and Stings


Pamela Nagami - 2004
    And we all have stories.The bite attacks that Pamela Nagami, M.D., has chosen to write about in Bitten take place in big cities, small towns, and remote villages around the world and throughout history, locales as familiar as New York or Hollywood, or exotic as Africa, the Middle East, or Indonesia. They include a six-year-old girl who descended into weeks of extreme lassitude from a tick bite; a diabetic in the West Indies who awoke to find a rat eating two of his toes; a California man who developed "flesh-eating strep" following a penile bite; and more.With reports from medical journals, case histories, colleagues, and her own twenty-five-year career as a practicing physician and infectious diseases specialist, Pamela Nagami offers readers intrigued by infection, disease, and mesmerized by creatures in the wild a compulsively readable narrative that is entertaining, sometimes disturbing, and always engrossing.

On Becoming a Doctor: Everything You Need to Know about Medical School, Residency, Specialization, and Practice


Tania Heller - 2009
    It is a career that demands long hours on little to no sleep, constant continuing education, and a tough decision about which of the many types of medicine you want to practice. But with the right guide, you can make the right choices each step of the way.On Becoming a Doctor calmly and thoroughly walks you through each academic, physical, and emotional step you'll take on your way to a successful career in medicine, and it includes interviews with many different specialists to help you choose a medical path.This Essential Insider Advice Will Show You:Financing all of the costs of medical school The ups and downs of working with insurance companies Perspectives on a variety of medical fields The educational, physical, and emotional realities of the journey Interviews with doctors in many different specialties Working with other doctors and the administration On Becoming a Doctor covers everything you need to know about medical school, residency, specialization, and practice.

The Schwarzbein Principle II, "Transition": A Regeneration Program to Prevent and Reverse Accelerated Aging


Diana Schwarzbein - 2002
    Many studies have supported this, proving that life expectancy is 75 to 90 percent due to habits and only 10 to 25 percent due to genetics. This means that someone who is genetically destined to die at age 100 may not live past age 60 because of poor habits and lifestyle choices that cause accelerated aging and premature death. Conversely, a person can live to 100 and be functionally healthy. In this highly anticipated follow-up, Diana Schwarzbein, M.D., goes beyond the diet she introduced in her first book—which literally helped thousands of people lose weight—and offers a personalized anti-aging program for readers to heal their metabolisms and stop advanced aging in its tracks. Weaving in groundbreaking research and provocative case studies—including her own regeneration and that of her clients—she leads readers through a series of eye-opening questionnaires, which identify where they are on their path to either accelerated or healthy aging. Based on readers’ answers, she leads them to the “how-to” sections, which explain, in easy-to-follow and personalized detail, the steps they need to take to restore healthy functioning. For each unique situation, she covers five areas: Nutrition , Hormone Replacement Therapy (if needed), Tapering Off Toxic Chemicals or Avoiding Them Completely , Cross-Training Exercises and Stress Management. The Schwarzbein Principle II is sure to follow the success of the first book and will help people live a more healthful lifestyle by embracing a regeneration process to prevent and reverse accelerated aging.

Prescott, Harley, Klein's Microbiology


Joanne Willey - 2007
    Because of this balance, the Seventh Edition of Microbiology is appropriate for microbiology majors and mixed majors courses. The new authors have focused on readability, artwork, and the integration of several key themes (including evolution, ecology and diversity) throughout the text, making an already superior text even better.