Greenwood Press
Bleeding to ease the pain; cutting, self-injury, and the adolescent search for self.
There is a growing epidemic of young people resorting to cutting themselves in order to cope with the pain and turmoil of life changes, says Plante (psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Stanford U.). She explores the reasons behind such painful and damaging acts in adolescents, and offers both a philosophy and a methodology for effective intervention. Her topics include teenagers most at risk, developmental challenges, professional treatment, neurochemistry, how parents can help, responsibilities of the adolescent in treatment, and de-pathologizing the problem. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Closer to truth; science, meaning, and the future.
This work is essentially a series of roundtable discussions in which Kuhn (who has a doctorate in brain research but now works as an international investment banker and corporate strategists) brings together various expert figures to discuss multiple questions about the role of science in contemporary society and to consider a variety of unresolved scientific questions. For example, the opening chapter on the science of science fiction brings together prominent science fiction authors David Brin, the late Octavia Butler, and Michael Crichton and the final chapter on the relationship between science and religion brings together the editor of the Kalam newsletter on Islam and Science, a professor of Christian philosophy, and the president of the Skeptics Society. In between these, 13 other chapters examine issues such as the nature of consciousness, autism, the legitimization of alternative medicine, pharmaceutical testing controversies, the origins of order in the universe, the possibility extra-terrestrial life, the frontiers of quantum computing, and the role of basic science in national security. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Cosmology 101.
In introducing readers to cosmology and the real world of sometimes unscholarly scientists, Larsen (astronomy and physics, Central Connecticut State U.) examines myths about cosmic bodies, current speculation about the universe, and insights from technology-aided discoveries regarding its nature, mapping, and evolution. The text includes a glossary and annotated bibliography, but no dazzling out-of-this world views of the cosmos. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Daughters of madness; growing up and older with a mentally ill mother.
Practitioner Nathiel lets her interviewees largely speak for themselves as they recount their horrific stories and the challenges they face. She notes that even though stigma has been reduced, the daughters experienced their trauma at a time when to have schizophrenia or bipolar disease in the family was socially unacceptable. She follows the effects of maternal mental illness from early childhood ("Am I bad?") to middle childhood ("Who am I?"), and from the adolescent years to young adulthood and the fear of perpetuating illness in the daughters' own families. Nathiel includes the effects on fathers and other siblings as well as areas for further research. This is strong stuff, and frequently riveting. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
From snake oil to medicine; pioneering public health.
After he retired in 1996, Lee (emeritus history, U. of South Dakota) moved to Kansas and began researching the history of that state. Here he tells how Samuel J. Crombine (1862-1954), as secretary of the Kansas Board of Health, popularized modern medicine based on the newly accepted germ theory, fighting tuberculosis, improving children's health, and dealing with the domestic effects of World War I. A final chapter looks at his subsequent career in New York City. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
A guide to getting the best health care for your child.
Benaroch (pediatrics, Emory University) offers insider advice on choosing a pediatrician, being prepared for office visits, minimizing wait time, calling after office hours, understanding medicines and tests, working with insurance companies, and avoiding medical errors. A chapter on alternative medicine evaluates which herbal products are safe for children and explains the nature of chiropractic therapy. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Healing body and mind; a critical issue for health care reform.
Mental health and substance-use disorder care are afterthoughts in the current U.S. health care system, according to the chair of an Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee. In line with IOM recommendations, Dr. Kathol (adjunct, internal medicine and psychiatry, U. of Minnesota; an integrated health care consultant) and Gatteau (a freelance writer) offer a prescription for reforming the "mind-less," dis-integrated" system. For consumers as well as health care administrators, they include case vignettes of complex patients in their analysis toward integrating care for physical and behavioral illness. Alternative medicine gets only passing mention. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The jet race and the second war.
Pavelec (history, Hawaii Pacific U.) describes the efforts to develop turbojet airplanes as an effective weapon of war from the beginnings of World War II through its aftermath. His focus is on the technological achievements of the various national government programs and he pays particular attention to the German programs, which produced the most successful aircraft for most of the period until they were eclipsed by the Americans towards the end of the war and into the post-war era. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Pesticides; a toxic time bomb in our midst.
Levine (retired professor of industrial relations, U. of Maryland) reviews the scope and nature of the pesticide dangers. Individual chapters explore pesticides in agriculture; pesticides in food; pesticides in homes, lawns, and gardens; pesticides in the air, water, and soil; and international trade in pesticides. In addition to describing pesticide use and their dangers to human and environmental health, he considers alternatives to pesticide use and strategies for mitigating pesticide harms. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The Praeger handbook on stress and coping; 2v.
In 31 narrative and research essays contributors ranging from academics to athletes and counselors to physicians address research on the mental and physical effects of stress as well as techniques to use to control or at least cope with stress. They describe the concept of stress and how it developed from the 1950s onward, linkages between stress and emotion, work stress, and neuropeptides' effects on the mind-body connection. Essays on stress and illness cover allostatic load, heart disease and racial differences in attitudes about it, depression, the role of metabolism and coping with HIV, while those on post-traumatic stress cover epidemiological studies, terrorism, neuropsychological processes and violent environments. The focus then shifts to coping, including cultivating optimism, developing a holistic coping system, caring for health and managing stress through group work, diet and exercise. Co-editors include the late expert Richard S. Lazarus. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Preemie parents; recovering from baby's premature birth.
Currently about 12 percent of newborns in the US are premature, and that figure is likely to continue to rise. As parents wait and watch they must learn to become a part of their babies' lives in unexpected ways, not only in traditional roles but as medical caregivers and supporters of each other in a team. Psychotherapist McDermott-Perez describes steps parents can take at every stage of the preemie experience, including preparing for the possibility a birth will be pre-term, coping strategies for immediately after the birth, understanding the needs of the "unfinished baby," dealing with the unexpected such as jealousy and going home alone, bonding, advocacy, taking the needs of others into consideration, self-empowerment, anxiety and the focus on the future, inspiration and hope, the role of the father, and what to do when all concerned are at the breaking point. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The robot; the life story of a technology.
Following the format of a "life story," Nocks (communication and media studies, Fordham U.) provides a volume for students and general readers on the development of robot technology. The volume moves from the robot's forerunners, to its invention, prominence, and final decline. How the technology affected society and culture is interwoven with the description of its history. She begins as far back as myths in ancient times, discusses clock and toymakers of the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, and considers twentieth century advances in control engineering, the incorporation of robots in industry, and artificial intelligence and recent developments that incorporate perception, independence, and artificial muscles. Labor relations involving use in industry and the institutional history of robotics and AI labs are not covered. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Science and Islam.
Scientist, Islamic scholar, novelist, and poet Iqbal (Center for Islam and Science, Canada) first explains why the two-entity model of science and religion developed to analyze Western Christianity does not apply to Islam. Then he explores such questions as what was Islamic in Islamic science, whether there were tensions within the Islamic tradition that may have inhibited the full blossoming of scientific activity, how Islamic scientific knowledge was passed to Europe, and what new facets of the relationship between science and Islam have appeared in the post-Scientific Revolution era. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Stain-resistant, nonstick, waterproof, and lethal; the hidden dangers of C8.
Ohio-based newspaper reporter and radio news director Lyons tells the story of the manufactured chemical known commercially as Teflon, and its detection in the water supplies 12 states so far. The chemistry and toxicology, the government investigation, the reaction by the DuPont company that makes the stuff, popular movements, law suits, and similar cases are all part of the story. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
