Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital


Eric Manheimer - 2012
    Dr. Manheimer describes the plights of twelve very different patients--from dignitaries at the nearby UN, to supermax prisoners at Riker's Island, to illegal immigrants, and Wall Street tycoons.Manheimer was not only the medical director of the country's oldest public hospital for over 13 years, but he was also a patient. As the book unfolds, the narrator is diagnosed with cancer, and he is forced to wrestle with the end of his own life even as he struggles to save the lives of others.

21st Century Dodos: A Collection of Endangered Objects: and Other Stuff


Steve Stack - 2011
    Until now, that is.Steve Stack has catalogued well over one hundred objects, traditions, cultural icons and, well, other stuff that is at risk of extinction. Some of them have vanished already.Cassette tapes, rotary dial phones, half-day closing, milk bottle deliveries, Concorde, handwritten letters, typewriters, countries that no longer exist, white dog poo… all these and many more are big a fond farewell in this nostalgic, and sometimes irreverent, trip down memory lane.

Bigger Secrets: More Than 125 Things They Prayed You'd Never Find Out


William Poundstone - 1986
    A look at the truth behind some of the world's biggest secrets.

Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary


Gail Jarrow - 2015
    They were brought together by typhoid fever, a dreaded scourge that killed tens of thousands of Americans each year. Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary is the first middle-grade trade book that tells the true story of the woman who unwittingly spread deadly bacteria, the epidemiologist who discovered her trail of infection, and the health department that decided her fate. This gripping story follows this tragic disease as it shatters lives from the early twentieth century to today. It will keep readers on the edges of the seats wondering what happened to Mary and the innocent typhoid victims. With glossary, timeline, list of well-known typhoid sufferers and victims, further resource section, author’s note, and source notes.

Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind Body Medicine


Deepak Chopra - 1989
    Deepak Chopra, a respected New England endocrinologist, began his search for answers when he saw patients in his own practice who completely recovered after being given only a few months to live. In the mid-1980's he returned to his native India to explore Ayurveda, humanity's most ancient healing tradition. Now he has brought together the current research of Western medicine, neuroscience, and physics with the insights of Ayurvedic theory to show that the human body is controlled by a "network of intelligence" grounded in quantum reality. Not a superficial psychological state, this intelligence lies deep enough to change the basic patterns that design our physiology -- with the potential to defeat cancer, heart disease, and even aging itself. In this inspiring and pioneering work, Dr. Chopra offers us both a fascinating intellectual journey and a deeply moving chronicle of hope and healing.

The American Medical Association Family Medical Guide


American Medical Association - 1982
    The completely updated and expanded third edition of this landmark guide brings this bestselling medical home reference into the nineties. It is simply the most useful, comprehensive home health reference ever published, brought to you by the nation's most respected medical authority.This lavishly illustrated volume, prepared by a a team of over forty distinguished medical authorities under the direction of the American Medical Association, incorporates the most significant trend in health care: wellness and preventive medicine. It covers the sweeping revolution in technology and puts more emphasis on the reader as a health-care consumer. It also updates the information on the most prominent health issues of the nineties, including Alzheimer's disease, AIDS, chronic fatigue syndrome, stress, death and dying, drug abuse, and more.The book is divided into four sections for easy reference. Part I, "Your Healthy body, " contains specific tips you can use for preventive self-care and encourages you to adopt a more healthy lifestyle, with advice on diet, exercise, losing weight, reducing stress, and stopping smoking. A full-color atlas of the human body shows you the location and name of almost every organ, nerve, bone, and muscle.Part II, "Symptoms and Self-Diagnosis, " provides the clearest, most reliable aid for recognizing medical problems ever published for the layperson. Over 165 pages of unique diagnostic symptom charts with clear questions and yes/no answers will help you track down what a particular symptom may signify and advise you whether it is something you may safely treat yourself, a condition requiring a doctor's visit, or an emergency requiring immediate medical attention.Consistently voted the book's most popular feature by readers' polls, these charts alone can save you time and money by sparing you needless visits to the doctor. Full-color photographs, used in conjunction with the charts, will help you identify various conditions and decide when to seek medical advice. An all-new diagnostic imaging section introduces full-color images of ultrasound, Doppler, MRI, CT scans, and other technologies that are becoming commonplace in doctors' offices and hospitals.Part III, "Diseases, Disorders, and Other Problems, " provides detailed, accessible, expertly illustrated articles on more than 650 medical problems. Separate sections address the special problems of men, women, couples, infants and children, adolescents, and older people, including a comprehensive section on pregnancy and childbirth.Part IV of the guide, "Caring for the Sick, " covers all the basics of professional medical care, home nursing, and caregiving. You'll learn how to choose a personal physician, how to get the most out of your hospital's services, what your rights as a patient are, and how to cope with a sick child or older person or someone with a terminal illness. You'll also find a glossary of over 300 medical terms and a color-coded section on first aid that includes the most up-to-date CPR positions and other lifesaving information.The American Medical Association is committed to the principle that, as patients and health consumers, we need to do all we can to work more effectively with our physicians andhealth care teams. This third edition of the "Family Medical Guide" -- easy to understand, superbly designed, beautifully illustrated, and brimming with up-to-date information -- will help you and your family stay healthy and help you create an effective partnership with your doctor when you need it. It belongs on every family's reference shelf.

Miracle at Coney Island: How a Sideshow Doctor Saved Thousands of Babies and Transformed American Medicine (Kindle Single)


Claire Prentice - 2016
    But he didn’t charge the parents of the preemies a penny; instead the public paid to see them. He claimed to have a survival rate of 85 percent. By contrast, most mainstream doctors in the early part of the 20th century regarded premature babies as “weaklings” and did little or nothing to save them.Prentice's meticulous research unravels the mystery of Couney’s origins, and reveals that the “incubator doctor” was not all that he seemed. She brings one of the most extraordinary stories in American medicine to life through interviews with Couney’s former “incubator babies.”Claire Prentice is an award-winning journalist and the author of The Lost Tribe of Coney Island: Headhunters, Luna Park, and the Man Who Pulled Off the Spectacle of the Century. She has contributed to the BBC, the Washington Post, the Times of London, The Guardian, the Smithsonian magazine, the Huffington Post, NPR, Marie Claire, and the Sydney Morning Herald.

The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide


Robert Jay Lifton - 1986
    Lifton (The Broken Connection; The Life of the Self shows that this medically supervised killing was done in the name of "healing," as part of a racist program to cleanse the Aryan body politic. After the German eugenics campaign of the 1920s for forced sterilization of the "unfit," it was but one step to "euthanasia," which in the Nazi context meant systematic murder of Jews. Building on interviews with former Nazi physicians and their prisoners, Lifton presents a disturbing portrait of careerists who killed to overcome feelings of powerlessness. He includes a chapter on Josef Mengele and one on Eduard Wirths, the "kind, decent" doctor (as some inmates described him) who set up the Auschwitz death machinery. Lifton also psychoanalyzes the German people, scarred by the devastation of World War I and mystically seeking regeneration. This profound study ranks with the most insightful books on the Holocaust.

The Thyroid Diet: Manage Your Metabolism for Lasting Weight Loss


Mary J. Shomon - 2004
    For these thyroid patients, treatment alone doesn't seem to resolve weight problems. Further, they may struggle with raising basic metabolism, resolving underlying nutritional deficiencies, treating depression and correcting brain chemistry imbalances, reducing stress, and combating insulin resistance.The Thyroid Diet will identify these factors that inhibit a thyroid patient's ability to lose weight, and offer solutions—both conventional and alternative—to help. It will discuss optimal dietary changes, including how a thyroid sufferer should focus on a low-glycemic, high-fibre, low-calorie diet, eaten as smaller, more frequent meals to balance blood sugar. The Thyroid Diet addresses the use of various herbs, nutritional supplements, and prescription weight loss drugs, outlining the necessity of exercise, and drawing together all information into an integrated diet and exercise plan. It contains several different eating plans, food lists, and a set of delicious and healthy gourmet recipes. With handy worksheets to use in weight loss tracking, and a special resource section featuring websites, books, and support groups, here is vital help for the millions of thyroid patients dealing with weight problems.Mary Shomon has been praised by doctors around the country for her medical knowledge and sensitivity to patients' needs. She will be receiving similar blurbs for this new book. There are no other books on controlling your weight problems if you have a thyroid condition, yet over 40% of overweight people have evidence of a thyroid condition, and the weight loss problems facing them are unique and need a specific approach.

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History


John M. Barry - 2004
    It killed more people in twenty-four months than AIDS killed in twenty-four years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and 1918 marked the first collision of science and epidemic disease. Magisterial in its breadth of perspective and depth of research and now revised to reflect the growing danger of the avian flu, The Great Influenza is ultimately a tale of triumph amid tragedy, which provides us with a precise and sobering model as we confront the epidemics looming on our own horizon. John M. Barry has written a new afterword for this edition that brings us up to speed on the terrible threat of the avian flu and suggest ways in which we might head off another flu pandemic.

Genes, Chromosomes, and Disease: From Simple Traits, to Complex Traits, to Personalized Medicine


Nicholas Wright Gillham - 2011
    The book is suitable for use as a text in similar overview courses about genes and social issues or genes and disease. It gives a good overview of the developments and status of this field for a wide range of biomedical researchers, physicians, and students, especially those interested in the prospects for the new, genetics-based personalized medicine.

Foods That Harm, Foods That Heal: An A-Z Guide to Safe and Healthy Eating


Joe Schwarcz - 1996
    Every entry has been checked by specialists from various backgrounds, and case studies are included where appropriate.

This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession


Daniel J. Levitin - 2006
    Why does music evoke such powerful moods? The answers are at last be- coming clear, thanks to revolutionary neuroscience and the emerging field of evolutionary psychology. Both a cutting-edge study and a tribute to the beauty of music itself, This Is Your Brain on Music unravels a host of mysteries that affect everything from pop culture to our understanding of human nature, including: • Are our musical preferences shaped in utero? • Is there a cutoff point for acquiring new tastes in music? • What do PET scans and MRIs reveal about the brain’s response to music? • Is musical pleasure different from other kinds of pleasure?This Is Your Brain on Music explores cultures in which singing is considered an essential human function, patients who have a rare disorder that prevents them from making sense of music, and scientists studying why two people may not have the same definition of pitch. At every turn, this provocative work unlocks deep secrets about how nature and nurture forge a uniquely human obsession.

Growing 101 Herbs That Heal: Gardening Techniques, Recipes, and Remedies


Tammi Hartung - 2000
    Hartung, a certified organic grower and board member of United Plant Savers, shares all the secrets of propagation, soil preparation, natural pest management, harvesting techniques, and even garden design for both beauty and highest yield. Also includes herb-by-herb profiles and a guide to making medicines and delicious healing foods.

Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness


Broda O. Barnes - 1975
    None is more readily and inexpensively corrected. And none is more often untreated, and even unsuspected.Hypothyroidism -- low thyroid function -- is one of the gland disturbances that many people suffer from without even realizing it. It can be the cause of low energy or constant fatigue that is one of the most common complaints brought to doctors. It may be responsible for chronic headaches, repeated infections, unyielding skin problems, or circulatory difficulties. Even more frightening, it can be a major factor in heart disease, lung cancer, and emphysema. And it is responsible for many emotional and mental disturbances. Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness explains low thyroid function in easy, understandable language. It tells how it may be affecting your health and your life.Dr. Broda Barnes and Lawrence Galton tell what the thyroid gland is, how it works, the problems its dysfunction can induce. They detail case histories of patients, often thought hopeless, whose problems were discovered to be related to hypothyroidism and were cured by Dr. Barnes's simple effective techniques. And they discuss whether you too may be hypothyroid, affected by a condition even a physician may not recognize.Included is a simple test you can make at home to discover if hypothyroidism may be the real, previously unsuspected cause of your ill health.If you know you are hypothyroid, Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness will answer your questions about your condition. If you suspect you maybe, if you are unsure what may be causing those chronic headaches, infections, fatigue and low energy, it may help you find the answer.