Book Description

"One of the funniest and most unusual books of the year....Gross, educational, and unexpectedly sidesplitting."—Entertainment Weekly

Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange livesof our bodies postmortem. For two thousand years, cadavers—some willingly, some unwittingly—have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They've tested France's first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender reassignment surgery, cadavers have been there alongside surgeons, making history in their quiet way.

In this fascinating, ennobling account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries—from the anatomy labs and human-sourced pharmacies of medieval and nineteenth-century Europe to a human decay research facility in Tennessee, to a plastic surgery practice lab, to a Scandinavian funeral directors' conference on human composting. In her droll, inimitable voice, Roach tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them. ... Read more

Reviews (127)

wonderful book
This is a very entertaining and interesting book about human cadavers--what happens when you die, the history of dissection, the University of Tennessee "body farm," what dead bodies can tell you about airline crashes, how bodies are used for impact testing, flaws in Dr. Pierre Barbet's studies of crucifixion found by Frederick Zugibe, the process of "organ recovery" from "beating-heart cadavers" for transplants, the survival of severed heads (guillotine and transplantation), mummies and cannibalism, etc. Roach writes in a somewhat flippant style that somehow seems appropriate for the topic, it's never quite irreverent.
My only complaint: p. 126: Roach seems to think that the FAA should force the implementation of safety measures that come out negative on a cost-benefit analysis (given the value of human life at $2.7 million, if shoulder harnesses save 15 lives over 20 years, that's not enough if it costs $669 million to implement). What she fails to recognize is the opportunity cost of such spending--$669 million spent to save 15 lives over 20 years could save thousands of lives if spent elsewhere instead. There is no infinite fund of money available to save lives at any cost.

Speaking with the Dead
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers is a very original if somewhat disturbing read. If you ever wondered what happens to a body when it dies, if you ever wondered what kind of research is being done on corpses, if you ever wondered what happens if you "donate" your body to science, then this is the book for you. If any of these topics sent a shiver down your spine (or did much worst), then I advise you to stay far away from this one.

The real charm of the book is that, while being very informative and straight to the point, Roach's writing is often humorous in a morbid way that often brought a smile to my lips. She remarks some things that I would never had even thought of and makes some jokes that, done by any other author, could have seem tasteless (in fact, her humour is what makes this book such a fascinating read).

There wasn't a single chapter in this little tome that I didn't find fascinating, but some stood out more than others. In How To Know If You're Dead, Roach examines the different theories about the human soul to try and locate its presence (is it in the heart? the brain? the liver?). In Beyond the Black Box, she explains what happens to someone who is victim of a plane crash and how experts determine the cause of the crash. In Lifer After Death, Roach explains the different stages of decomposition. And in Just A Head, Roach examines the very strange subject of decapitation.

If this all sounds morbid, well, it is. But Roach's book is so well researched and informative that it all goes down easy for the reader. Roach never shies away from the truth, no matter how gruesome it may get.

Is this one for everyone? Not nearly. The topic will put off some, while the vivid imagery with turn off many others. But if you have the heart (and stomach) to take this one in, the ride will make you discover things you never knew about death, and will confirm or finally put to rest other assumptions you could have.

Great fun and VERY different
When you look up the term "Off the beaten path" in the dictionary, you will, without a doubt, see a copy of this book. Who would have thought a book on this subject would have been successful? Stiff is, without a doubt, a bizarre yet remarkably engaging read: not surprising since Roach is such a terrific writer. The author possesses the ingenious ability of being able to make digestible the most repulsive of subjects. Curious, yet not callus, Roach manages to ask-and yes, answer-questions often best left unspoken (keeping in mind public decorum). Furthermore, Roach is hilarious. If you like weird, funny, and not-for-the squeamish books, try "The Bark of the Dogwood--a tour of southern homes and gardens. Equally parts funny, morose, insightful, and well-done.

On my way to a colonoscopy...
...I was chatting with the nurses and told them that I've been reading a fascinating book that they might be interested in. When I told them the title, a couple squirmed and the one who was going to assist at my procedure wanted some details, immediately. I thought my timing was probably a little off, but being a risk-taker, I offered a few stories. As the medication began to lull me into the twilight zone, I heard her say that she wanted to read the book and that she would take care of me (!) I lived to write this review and will be sending her a copy of the book as a thank you.

An Amazing Read
This book is so informative, funny, thorough, reverent, and all around amazing... so much so that I am recommending it to all of my friends. Like a previous post stated, Roach's prose really makes you feel as if she is your best friend (she is hysterical!), and her in-depth look at the 'curious lives' of cadavers leaves little to the imagination. Be sure to read all of the footnotes... some of the witiest comments that I have ever read are waiting within. Overall, this book is so, so good in everyway! Get it now... you won't regret it. ... Read more

Book Description

A classic text trusted by both students and advisors meeting the challenges of producing—and, ultimately, publishing—theses and dissertations (T/D), this Fifth Edition views the valuable addition of references to university research libraries and advanced information on websites, online searches, electronic literature, and other modern computer methods as crucial for the successful completion of any T/D. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Great strenths, some weaknesses
This book is designed for both students and faculty, so it spends a lot of time giving advice to both sides. That is the primary reason for the length.

Coverage is very thorough for the political and social aspects of dissertation writing, probably more so than in any other book. Choosing a topic is also well covered. The main weakness is in specifics of producing the document, e.g. how to write the literature review or present the methodology.

This book should definitely be on the shelf of any faculty, but a student may do better to look it over in the library. A good, concise treatment of the disseration process is Davis & Parker.

A practical guideline for success!
As someone who works privately with students, helping them with theses and dissertations, I highly recommend this book. When students call me in regard to assistance with their thesis or dissertation, I recommend that they buy this book and use it as a reference. As the title states, this book offers practical guidelines for success, enabling students to get through the thesis or dissertation process as smoothly as possible. It is one of the most practical guideline for writing a thesis or dissertation that I have come across.

Expensive!! But well worth the investment!
James E. Mauch and Jack W. Burch have put together a guide that breaks down the process step by step. The questions they list, the time tables they suggest, and tips provide the reader with insight as to what can be expected and how to avoid some of the most common pitfalls. This book is a must for students who must complete either a Thesis or Dissertation. It will become a valuable part of your personal reference library. Expensive, but worth the investment!!! ... Read more

Book Description

Meredith Minkler and Nina Wallerstein have brought together, in one important volume, a stellar panel of contributors who offer a comprehensive resource on the theory and application of community based participatory research. Community Based Participatory Research for Health contains information on a wide variety of topics including planning and conducting research, working with communities, promoting social change, and core research methods. The book also contains a helpful appendix of tools, guides, checklists, sample protocols, and much more.

... Read more

Book Description

While mapped data provide a common ground for discussions between the public, the media, regulatory agencies, and public health researchers, the analysis of spatially referenced data has experienced a phenomenal growth over the last two decades, thanks in part to the development of geographical information systems (GISs). This is the first thorough overview to integrate spatial statistics with data management and the display capabilities of GIS. It describes methods for assessing the likelihood of observed patterns and quantifying the link between exposures and outcomes in spatially correlated data.
This introductory text is designed to serve as both an introduction for the novice and a reference for practitioners in the field
Requires only minimal background in public health and only some knowledge of statistics through multiple regression
Touches upon some advanced topics, such as random effects, hierarchical models and spatial point processes, but does not require prior exposure
Includes lavish use of figures/illustrations throughout the volume as well as analyses of several data sets (in the form of "data breaks")
Exercises based on data analyses reinforce concepts ... Read more

Reviews (8)

just get to the point!
I found this book extremely annoying to read. I thought it
would be a good idea to get an easy statistics book that does
not presume too much prior knowledge I quickly found the so
called "humor" to seriously interfere with readability. The
constant attempt to be funny simply becomes the book's major
goal in almost every sentence you read! and I just found this irritating to a degree that the book is rendered useless.

A fun stats book, can you believe it?
These guys are great! An easy-to-read, enjoyable stats book. Never seen one like it. Although it's titled 'biostatistics', it's for anyone who wants to actually understand what statistics is.

tempered enthusiasm
I am not as enamored with this book as the other reviewers. Even though the authors tried to simplify statistics, I still found the concepts confusing. The much-praised "humor" I felt was corny and occasionally annoying. I read this book along with a standard statistics textbook, and I didn't feel that it helped to clarify things too much. Perhaps there are no shortcuts to learning statistics.

Howls
Norman explains what could be a very boring set of principles in a very effective way...he uses examples that will make you laugh your bag off. He's a good prof too, takes time to explain the concepts {if you ever have the chance to be in his class}.

Sense of Mombo Jumbo
I have to agree with all the posted reviews. This is the book I turn to for real explanations. Currently suffering through a Masters course in Biostatistics using Altman as the main text. I read it first, then come here to see what I missed. This text will help me pass my final!! ... Read more

Book Description

A volume in the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine series, this second edition has over 40% new material, including the addition of six new topics and many others that are completely rewritten. The book comprehensively covers the biological and disease aspects of laboratory animal medicine while examining other aspects such as the biohazards associated with the use of animal experimentation and factors complicating the bioethics of animal research. ... Read more

Book Description

Approaching computational statistics through its theoretical aspects can be daunting. Often intimidated or distracted by the theory, researchers and students can lose sight of the actual goals and applications of the subject. What they need are its key concepts, an understanding of its methods, experience with its implementation, and practice with computational software.Focusing on the computational aspects of statistics rather than the theoretical, Computational Statistics Handbook with MATLAB uses a down-to-earth approach that makes statistics accessible to a wide range of users. The authors integrate the use of MATLAB throughout the book, allowing readers to see the actual implementation of algorithms, but also include step-by-step procedures to allow implementation with any suitable software. The book concentrates on the simulation/Monte Carlo point of view, and contains algorithms for exploratory data analysis, modeling, Monte Carlo simulation, pattern recognition, bootstrap, classification, cross-validation methods, probability density estimation, random number generation, and other computational statistics methods.Emphasis on the practical aspects of statistics, details of the latest techniques, and real implementation experience make the Computational Statistics Handbook with MATLAB more than just the first book to use MATLAB to solve computational problems in statistics. It also forms an outstanding, introduction to statistics for anyone in the many disciplines that involve data analysis. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Good Book for me...
There were a lot of negative comments for this book on Amazon so I sort of held off the purchase of this book. However, last week I ordered the book and quickly realised it is very useful. The book may lack detailed theory but excellent references are scattered throughout if you really want to follow it up. And the book is easy reading and well written with most statistical concepts defined before they are used.

The focus of this book primarily is to explain how to work on statistics using Matlab and it provides a taste of various areas with adequate explanations and code to get started. One advantage of this book is they do not define their own notation but use the notation which is currently in vogue in academia.

If you are starting out in Matlab, are not a statistician and do not have previous experience with other packages (like Splus or R) you should definetly think about getting a copy. If you are a Stats Guru you can just read the toolbox documentation. However note that these authors provide their additional stats toolbox FREE (which is also well written) on the website which contains most of Matlab statistical functions so you could save yourself some money on the Stats toolbox.

Disappointing
I think there would be a real interest in a book on "computational statistics" and related topics that showed details of analyses and algorithms using Matlab. This book is expensive and extremely disappointing.The explanations are sparse and very weak and the m.files are usually small add-ons to functions from the Stats Toolbox.

I think in any book on this topic there have to be detailed explanations of how methods work and what their limitations are.Otherwise the reader can find themselves in a lot of trouble very quickly. There is insufficient detail either for a student coming to the topics for the first time or for someone actually wanting to analyse data.

Other books that people might want to have a look at:
1)Statistical Pattern Recognition 2nd edition . Andrew Webb.This is not oriented to any particular language.Good introduction.
2)Netlab. Ian Nabney (this has excellent Matlab functions for neural networks)
3)Modern applied statistics with S 4th edition, Venables and Ripley. This uses a different language (but which will be relatively easy for Matlab users to learn), but learning S or R (free!) makes a huge number of tools available.
4)The recent data mining book by Hand et al. This offers clear and cogent explanations.It is good for someone who does not want overly mathematical descriptions.

I haven't looked properly at the recent Hastie,Friedman and Tibishirani book yet, but you can find reviews on the Amazon page for the book.

Not very useful
My major complain was that the authors, in general, did not present algorithms clearly. Limit selections of algorithms did not help either. As a result, you cannot use this book as a reference because it just does not contain enough material. You cannot learn much about computational statistics with this book becuase the statistic methods and algorithms are not adequately presented. you cannot even write codes for your own statistic analysis with the MATLAB examples shown in the book unless you have the Statistics Toolbox.
The only persons that might be benefit from this book are those who don't want to read the Statistics Toolbox manual on line. Given that the Mathworks no longer ship printed manuals, this book may be used a companion of the Statistics Toolbox.

sloppy writing
I ordered this book assuming to get something useful, but i got the impression while reading the book that it is like a collection of notes from other books, wrapped with some matlab code. More worrying to me was that the mathematics makes a sloppy impression. For me that means I cannot grab the book to lookup something and use the code without having to be concerned on the validity. The bottomline being I will not use it for applications and the book is a waste of money.

Instantaneous Classic!
As an independent student of probability and statistics this was a great find. You get a great overview of the useful algorithms of computational statistics. The chapter on Exploratory Data Analysis with its use of multidimensional graphing was very enlightening. It's wonderful that each topic is accompanied by source code (free on-line) that lets you see exactly how it's done. It's easy to tweak the code and explore your own data as you go along. You get just enough theory to understand the algorithm and lots of good common sense and rules-of-thumb on how to best apply it. Finally, the extensive bibliography and chapter-by-chapter annotations will point you straight to the best source for more in-depth study. ... Read more

Book Description

This book integrates health services research applications in the presentation of research methods and analysis. A practical guide for those interested in health services or health related research, this book provides comprehensive coverage of the major components involved in conducting health services or health related research. This research includes conceptualization, groundwork, research design, sampling, measurement, data collection and processing as well as statistical analysis, research reporting and application. In addition, a comprehensive glossary provides definitions for all key terms appearing in the book. ... Read more

Book Description

Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2005 provides the busy physician with a fast, efficient way to identify important clinical information about the most commonly encountered medical disorders. Divided into five distinct sections dealing with over 1000 topics, this book offers: * Basic information on over 600 disorders organized into easy-to-use lists * ICD-9CM codes * Clinical Pearls * Illustrations, tables, and boxes highlighting important considerations * Almost 500 Signs and Symptoms * 200 clinical algorithms assist in diagnosis and expediting patient workup and therapy * Two additional sections offer over 200 laboratory tests with interpretation of results, as well as extensive information on clinical preventive services and patient care guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force * Appendices on herbal products and alternative medicine are also included. The Power of Five Books in One! ... Read more

Book Description

A comprehensive user-friendly introduction to biostatistics and epidemiology applied to medicine, clinical practice, and research. Features “Presenting Problems” (case studies) drawn from studies published in the medical literature, end-of-chapter, and a CD-ROM with data sets and statistical software programs. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Pretty Good
I actually thought this book was pretty good.I haven't used the cd.The definitions are pretty clear.I use this in conjunction with Gordis' Epidemiology for quick review.I find Rothman and Greenland is not good for that.When I am thinking about research design and elements of statistical analysis this book is easy to turn to to just go over why one test may be better than another--I am a medical student with an MPH in epi who has worked on several research projects, and I think this book is pretty helpful as a simple aid in the transition from research assistant to co-investigator.

not buythis good-for-nothingbook(MUCH LESS THAN1 STAR)
If Ihadanenemy,Iwouldn'twish evenfor ananemyto buythisawfuland unusefulbook.Dosave your money. There is no any benefit in thisbook,just simple wasteoftime and money. Theauthorshave provided CD with NCSS and PASS, but forgot to describe how the reader can use this programand fulfil allcalculation. Theygive only the instruction to set up andalot of taskswithout any explanationof any actionsin these program.So, I curse any minutes of myreading, and cannot sayany good word about the book, its authors. NEVER BUY THISBOOK!!!!

Avoid it if you can
Its obvious from reading the first few chapters that the authors lack a basic understanding of the subject. For example they talk of Odds Ratio as if it was same as Relative Risk. The good thing is that they cover everything - you only have to be careful while reading it. The errata in the book is pretty obvious but the authors seem to have no time or inclination to update the website of this book.

Book Review for the 2nd edition:,
A hard plus if your looking for pregrad. introductory clinical biostatistics. However I agree with other reviews that the layout or format could be arranged more powerfully, and the mechanics explained with more and better examples with a little more detail. Some of the examples in the book are excellent. I, especially, liked the Methods for Analyzing Survival. I disliked the explanations on statististical power as well as calculating sample populations necessary (n=?)to obtain clinical significance. This book is a good bone to start knawing on, however, the meat is found in other supplemental texts; therefore, reference footnotes are needed which- nowadays- should include, reference books, journals and webpages.

Book Review for the 3rd edition: Just the Facts
1. Huge breadth: covers topics of interest to clinicians and plenty of material (see below) for aspiring researchers. Algorithms and lay-out keeps the big picture easily in view. 2. Solved problems: methodical answers, clear, instructive.3. Appropriate depth: is mathematically correct -- not oversimiplified at the cost of accuracy -- while introducing the key formulas and concepts. Much explanatory text makes the ideas clear rather than esoteric derivations. 4. Includes statistics software: menu-driven so "user friendly," has basic and advanced functions. 5. Practical approach: sample problems and exercises are modelled around cases rather than just theory. These cases have data-base directly on the accompanying software so readers may 'learn' and then 'do' immediately. 6. I learned a lot from this book :-) ... Read more

Book Description

This book represents a classic compilation of current knowledge about mouse development and its correlates to research in cell biology, molecular biology, genetics, and neuroscience. Emphasis is placed on the research strategy, experimental design, and critical analysis of the data, disguishing this from other books that only focus on protocols for mouse developmental research. Selected chapters are indexed to electronic databases such as GeneBank, GenBank, Electronic Mouse Atlas, and Transgenic/Knockout, further increasing the utility of this book as a reference.

*Broad-based overview of mouse development from fundamental to specialist levels
*Extensive coverage of a wide range of developmental mutations of the mouse
*Excellent benchmark illustrations of brain, craniofacial, gut and heart development
*In-depth experiment-based assessment of concepts in mammalian development
*Focus on models of specific relevance to human development
*Comprehensive reference to key literature and electronic databases related to mouse development
*High-quality full-color production ... Read more

Book Description

You'll start with the basics, including analysis of variance and the t test, then advance to a multiple comparison testing, contingency tables, regression, and more.Examples from the current literature illustrate key concepts throughout.
New:
* More on multiple comparison testing, including the Holm test
* Discussion of relative risks and odds ratios
* Updated examples from the literature ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Lots of mistakes in this book
The concept of this book is good-cut to the chase and give lots of relevent examples. However, the book has innumerable typos which can make it very dificult to follow the text. Some sections are just incomprehensible such as the section on power calculations for the chi square test. Most of the exercises at the end of the chapter are heavy on arithmetic and light on conceptual issues. Often the answers to the exercises are wrong. All these typos are really unacceptable for a fifth edition. I am at Amazon looking for another text to keep as a reference. By way of disclaimer, I am taking the author's course on introductory biostatistics and am doing average.

Not a good biostats textbook
I adopted this book last year for my first year grad level course in biostatistics (for MS Biology students) and my students and I were very unhappy with it. It presents ANOVA in a very unusual (and confusing) way, and it's not easy to find the needed formulas buried in the text. The authors present some tests well (ex. Tukey) and make a very good point about the misuse of the standard error of the mean. The examples and end of the chapter problems are very good for medical applications; however, several of the problems refer to non-existent tables or problems (or ones that are numbered differently) and several provide answers that are just plain wrong! We compiled a list of errors we found and emailed both the first author and the publisher and never received a reply. It was definitely not worth the aggravation! This year we are using Biostatistics: The Bare Essentials. It, too, is flawed, but the students report that finding the appropriate formulas and examples is relatively easy. It doesn't provide enough problems for each chapter to test you knowledge, and the humor is a bit bizarre, but it is a better teaching text.

Cuts through the goop - how to DO statistics!!!
After buying and reading a number of crummy statistics books I stumbled across this one which is a lifesaver I will keep FOREVER. Clearly written and very hands-on. THIS is the book if you need to DO statistical analysis RIGHT NOW - and know what it MEANS.

I should add that I'm an engineer, not a biologist or physician, but the techniques and information are suitably general for ANYONE who needs statistics to do their work.

Outstanding text
Truly one of the best bio-statistics books available. Should be required reading for all physicians!

Y2K Compliance
Not so much a review, but a question: Is the software for the 3rd and/or 4th edition Y2K compliant? ... Read more

Book Description

Provides health care professionals with a proven approach to reading and understanding research articles in medical journals. Filled with examples of current and classic medical studies, the Fourth Edition features new chapters on conflicting studies, literature and public policy, and interpreting drug trials. ... Read more

Book Description

Advances in computers and biotechnology have had an immense impact on the biomedical fields, with broad consequences for humanity. Correspondingly, new areas of probability and statistics are being developed specifically to meet the needs of this area. There is now a necessity for a text that introduces probability and statistics in the bioinformatics context. This book also describes some of the main statistical applications in the field, including BLAST, gene finding, and evolutionary inference, much of which has not yet been summarized in an introductory textbook format. This book grew out of a need to teach bioinformatics to graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania. At the same time however, it is organized to appeal to a wider audience. In particular it should appeal to any biologist or computer scientist who wants to know more about the statistical methods of the field, as well as to a trained statistician who wishes to become involved in bioinformatics. The earlier chapters introduce the concepts of probability and statistics at an elementary level, and will be accessible to students who have only had introductory calculus and linear algebra. Later chapters are immediately accessible to the trained statistician. Only a basic understanding of biological concepts is assumed, and all concepts are explained when used or can be understood from the context. Several chapters contain material independent of that in other chapters, so that the reader interested in certain areas can proceed directly to those areas.

Warren Ewens is Professor of Biology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of two books, Population Genetics and Mathematical Population Genetics, and has served on the editorial boards of Theoretical Population Biology, GENETICS, Proceeding of the Royal Society B and SIAM Journal in Mathematical Biology. He was recently awarded the Gold Medal of the Australian Statistical Society and elected as Fellow of the Royal Society. His research interests are in evolutionary population genetics, linkage analysis for human diseases, and bioinformatics.

Gregory Grant is a bioinformatics researcher at the University of Pennsylvania in the Computational Biology and Informatics Laboratory (CBIL), where he has been since 1998. In 1995 he received a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Maryland and in 1999 a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania. His research interests are in bioinformatics in general and in particular in the statistical analysis of gene expression data and significance testing methods for IBD-mapping. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Disappointing overview
This book is a tremendous disappointment, given other Amazon reviews and the impressive Table of Contents. I picked several topics about which I know something: Likelihoods, P-values, bootstraps. I would have had NO idea about either of these subjects based on the poor delivery in this book. Topics are not well introduced, there are virtually no examples, and the introduction/discussion of most topics is wordy and not informative.

A topic such as the two-sample t-statistic is scattered throughout the book, with the main part not even cited in the index!

Unfortunately there are not a lot of books in the field of Statistics in Bioinformatics. However, I would recommend "The Elements of Statistical Learning" (Hastie et al.) for classifiers etc (Duda and Hart's classic is also good). I would recommend "Biostatistical Analysis" by Zar for a general coverage, and Terry Speed's "stat Labs: Mathematical Statistics ..." which is not comprehensive but has good lab examples with associated statistical analysis.

Pretty good overview
This book is a timely introduction to the mathematical statistics used in computational biology and bioinformatics. The authors have done a superb job in the overview of a subject that students of biology and bioinformatics can rely on for study and for reference. The mathematics is done at an advanced undergraduate level, but the authors are pragmatic in their approach, and interlace the discussion with biological applications immediately after the appropriate mathematical background has been developed. It thus seems appropriate to discuss the quality of the presentation with these applications in mind.

Chapter one begins, appropriately, with an introduction to probability theory, with a consideration of discrete probability distributions of one variable beginning the chapter. The Bernoulli, binomial, uniform, geometric, generalized geometric, and Poisson distributions are discussed. The authors point out the use of geometric-like distributions in the BLAST application. The also caution the reader as to the difference between the mean and the average of a random variable. They then move on to consider continuous distributions, discussing briefly the uniform, Normal, exponential, gamma, and beta distributions. Moment-generating functions are also introduced, and they prove a "convexity" theorem for these functions that is important in the BLAST application. The authors also introduce the relative entropy and generalized support statistics, the later also being used in BLAST.

The next chapter is an overview of probability theory in many random variables. The results in chapter one are discussed in this context, and the authors give an interesting application to the sequencing of EST libraries. The authors also point out that the variance of the maximum of a collection random variables is finite as the number of variables increases, a fact that is used quite often in bioinformatics. Transformations of random variables are also discussed, with the goal of showing how these can be used to find the density function of a single random variable, this also being important in BLAST.

The most important subject of the book begins in chapter 3, wherein the authors introduce statistical inference. They begin with a very brief discussion of the differences between the frequentist and Bayesian approaches to statistical inference and then move on to classical hypothesis testing and nonparametric tests. This chapter is of great value to those readers, for example biologists/would-be bioinformaticists who are approaching statistics for the first time.

Chapter 4 introduces concepts that are of upmost importance in probabilistic computational biology, namely Markov chains. The discussion in this chapter sets up the strategies used in the next chapter on analyzing a single DNA sequence and a latter chapter on hidden Markov models. Shotgun sequencing is discussed as a tool to determine the an actual DNA sequence, and the authors discuss the probabilistic issues that arise in the reconstruction of long DNA sequences from shorter sequences. Missing in this chapter is a mathematical analysis of the advantages/disadvantages between shotgun and whole genome sequencing strategies.

Chapter 6 then generalizes the analysis of chapter 5 to multiple DNA and protein sequences. It is here that one begins to talk about alignments between sequences, which bring about some very subtle mathematical problems in computational biology. The computational complexity of the (global) alignment problem entails the use of softer techniques, such as dynamic programming, which is discussed in this chapter. The (local) alignment problem is also discussed in some detail, using the linear gap model. The alignment problem and the issues with scoring for protein sequences are also discussed in detail. The reader first encounters the famous PAM and BLOSUM matrices in this chapter. The authors do not discuss any connections with the protein folding problem, unfortunately.

The next chapter introduces the basic probability theory behind the BLAST algorithm, namely random walks. They do so with emphasis on moment generating functions, which might be a little abstract for the biologist reader.

The authors return to tatistical estimation and hypothesis testing in chapter 8, with maximum liklihood and fixed sample size tests discussed in some detail. Again connecting with the BLAST algorithm, the sequential probability ratio test is treated.

The authors finally get down to the BLAST algorithm in chapter 9, using an older version of the software (1.4). The connection of the algorithm with random walks and how to assign scores is immediately apparent, as is the ability of BLAST to do database queries against a chosen sequence. The algorithm is compared with the sequential analysis discussed in the last chapter.

The authors return to Markov chains in chapter 10, and give some numerical examples. In addition, they treat the important topic of Markov chain Monte Carlo via the Hastings-Metropolis algorithm, Gibbs sampling, and simulated annealing. An application of simulated annealing to the double digest problem is described. The authors also spend a litte time discussing continuous-time Markov chains.

Hidden Markov models are finally discussed in chapter 11. These have been the most effective tools in sequence analysis and the authors give a nice overview of their construction and properties in this chapter. The Pfam package is discussed as a software implementation of HMMs for determining protein domains. Unfortunately, they do not discuss the excellent package HMMER for implementing HMMs in sequence analysis.

Chapter 12 discusses computationally intensive methods in classical inference. One of these methods, the bootstrap procedure, which is used for large sample sizes, is described. Used to estimate confidence intervals in situations where there is not enough information to employ classical methods, the authors detail a method using quantiles to estimate the confidence interval for the standard deviation of the expression intensity of a gene. This is followed by a return to the multiple testing problem of chapter 3 in the context of the data analysis of expression arrays.

I did not read the last two chapters on evolutionary models and phylogenetic tree estimation so I will omit their review.

guide into the right direction
This is one of the books I have been waiting for. For a population geneticist who wants to learn bioinformatics, most texts are unacceptable: They present heuristic methods in a cookbook fashion, with little reference to what is going on biologically as well as mathematically.

This book is the first exception I know of. It builds, and rests on, solid foundations of genetic stochastic processes and still goes all the way to real-life problems. Let me illustrate this by means of an example, rather than enumerating all the topics in the book.

Chap. 14, entitled `phylogenetic tree estimation' (as opposed to the more common term `phylogenetic tree reconstruction' - not without reason, I presume) builds on, and is firmly interlaced with, Chap. 13 about `evolutionary models', which systematizes the zoo (if not jungle) of substitution models in both discrete and continuous time. On this basis, the overview of tree-building methods makes a lot of sense. Even better, it does not stop here, but presents an application (to real sequence data), followed by a careful analysis of where the various methods agree, and where - and maybe why - they disagree. This way, it clears away some common misconceptions; in particular, it presents a careful analysis of what bootstrap does and what it does not in this context. The chapter closes with a discussion of unresolved problems (like inhomogeneity of substitution rates), and methods and possible pitfalls related to testing of nested and non-nested hypotheses in tree estimation.

The book is written in an informal style without being imprecise, which makes it pleasant reading. It is particularly suitable for teaching at a high level. This is enhanced by realistic (and even real-life) examples that furnish the text, as well as carefully chosen exercises at the end of each chapter.

Certainly, this first edition of `Statistical Methods in Bioinformatics' cannot be the last word in this fast-moving field. But it is an excellent guide into the `right' direction.

poor delivery but potentially useful
The book is written for practicing statisticians who gave a good command of mathematical aspects of statistics. It presents classical topics in statistics (such as statistical inference, random variables and estimation theory) in a flavor of the author's impressions about bioinformatics. It is an excellent idea to present statistics that way. However I also feel that the authors failed to clearly distinguish statistical theory from its specific implementations. Departure from the typical definition-theorem-proof style of mathematical texts is hard on mathematically literate readers for whom this book was written in the first place. It is painful to try to find needed definitions and provable statements in the text even if formulas are numbered. In addition melanges of rigorous theorems with implementations of their consequences make parts of the book devoted to DNA sequence analysis difficult to read.

The authors appear not to have much personal experience with sequence analysis and their exposition seems to be dominated by suggestions from not very honest or objective colleagues. At least that much can be inferred from the list of references given at the end of the book and the content of sequence-analysis-oriented chapters 5, 6 and section 11.3 of chapter 11. On the other hand, chapters 9 (about BLAST statistics), 13 (about evolutionary models), and 14 (about phylogenetic trees) are excellent. Every practicing bioinformatician should read them as a required reading before doing anything with BLAST or with construction of evolutionary trees.

Chapter 12 about computationally intensive methods is also very well written. However, the authors fail to notify the reader that many of the methods (such as bootstrap) have a really bad reputation among researchers involved in sequence analysis. Perhaps at least one sentence of warning (with references) could be in order.

In summary: The book is a mixed blessing but I would recommend it to statisticians who desire to do some work in bioinformatics. I also believe that chapters 9, 13 and 14 should be read by all practicing bioinformaticians.

great book on hot new topic
This topic should be of prime interest to statisticians. The authors are mathematical biologists and they bring out the theory and methodology in probability and statistics that is applicable to DNA and protein sequencing and matching. They provide a treatment of probability, stochastic processes and statistics that starts with the very basics and builds up.

Topics include basic probability and statistical inference, Poisson processes and Markov chains, DNA sequencing, hidden Markov models, computer intensive methods, evolutionary models and phylogenetic tree estimation.

Of particular interest to me is the material on permutation methods and the bootstrap. The bootstrap has been applied in phylogenetics and there has been some controversy about its application there. The authors cover this in Chapter 14 where they appear to have a resolution for the controversy.

Permutation tests are first discussed in Chapter 3 "A Introduction to Statistical Inferrence" and are compared with other computer intensive methods in Chapter 12. In Section 12.3 they discuss the Behrens-Fisher problem pointing out why permutation tests are not possible due to the unequal variances. They give the bootstrap t solution. Section 12.2.2 gives a brief, but nicely described, account of bootstrap estimation and confidence intervals and provides a number of references including the following books: Efron and Tibshirani (1993), Davison and Hinkley (1997), Efron (1982), Hall (1992), Manly (1997), Sprent (1998) and Chernick (1999). Bootstrap and permutation approaches to multiple testing are covered in Section 12.4. ... Read more

Book Description

Academic Scientists at Work guides the scientist on the journey from the end of a postdoctoral career to the point of promotion to Associate Professor.

The book includes valuable advice on:

Choosing and getting your ideal academic job;
Setting up and effectively managing the lab;
Obtaining funds;
Teaching and mentoring;
The promotion and tenure process.

Also offered are template worksheets and point-by-point instructions on how to complete them, with downloadable blank worksheet versions contained in the accompanying CD-ROM. Included are six database program files that can be used to help the reader organize his/her laboratory specific reagents. Academic Scientists at Work is a valuable resource for the Career Scientist who demands and expects the best. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

a 'must' for the tenure-track-bound
This book is a 'must-have' for anyone interested in obtaining a tenure-track academic faculty position. It not only thoroughly describes the process from start to finish in a very accessible manner but also provides invaluable work sheets in the accompanying CDs. I found the list of questions to consider during the interview to be not only extremely useful but also a life-saver during the lulls in conversation that occasionally occurred. After receiving two very good offers, I found that the worksheets designed for comparing them were critical for making my decision. I have now successfully obtained a tenure-track faculty position at a top ten university. I look forward to using this book throughout my career.

the more you know about a task the better
Assuming that the more you know about a task the better you are likely to perform it then this book should be studied in depth by every aspiring academic scientist. However, they would also benefit just from browsing through this book. It is packed with useful tips on how to solve problems that few rookie academic scientists will have imagined but most will encounter. Its humorous style makes the book easy to read but its lessons can prevent serious problems.

On a first causal reading the rookie scientist will find this book amusing and informative. However, the book will become even more valuable as they reread it again in subsequent years when they encounter the inevitable hurdles that arise to block their path to success.

- Charles P. Moran, Ph.D.
Emory University School of Medicine

Useful General Help
This book will be helpful to people in various categories. Firstly, those wondering whether a career as sceintific researcher would suit them and what it would entail, secondly those charged with providing suitable career advice and, thirdly, existing researchers needing assistance or reassurance in connection with their work and prospects. As a result, I can see this book in many libraries, including high school and university libraries.

On the other hand, given the rapid nature of change in funding (and this book considers only the USA) and research practices, it would be wrong to imagine that it would be able to provide up to date and accurate information on every issue with which a researcher is likely to be concerned. It should be seen as a general guide rather than a specific one. It will be useful for my students here in Thailand since the career of researcher is not so well documented or even developed here and many aspire to study and work in western countries without much idea of what it would entail.

John Walsh, Mahidol University International College

Excerpt of a review
"[T]he book takes the guesswork out of an academic life and environment. ... I highly recommend this book to every graduate student so that they are prepared for the academic calling and can make the most of it. I would further recommend this book to all established academicians so that they could have a better perspective on a graduate student, fellow, and a starting assistant professor and encourage them to become good members of the academic society. The book is priced such that a graduate student can afford to buy one, or perhaps their mentor may be generous enough to gift one."

Kailash Gupta, NIAID, NIH

Little help here
Well, what can I say. It took a lot of deliberation before I decided to buy this book. I did get a recommendation from a colleague, but after reading some of the reviews, I was not so sure. Much of what the authors say is not just common sense, but almost trivial. I think the topic is also too general, trying to cover everything from a postdoc looking for a job, to an associate professor trying to get promoted to a full professor level.

What was particularly disappointing was the extremely abbreviated section on the process of getting a job. Granted that every university varies, but negotiating a position with good (access to) resources and support, good students and enough time to do research is probably the most critical stage of the whole process. Everything else is a direct result of this process. Yet disproportionately little time is spent on this subject. It is as if the authors assume everyone gets a job in one of the top ten universities, but at the same time they are still too confused about how to publish a paper, write/get a grant or interact with colleagues (junior and senior).

Focusing on NIH R01 as the only source of funding (granted this is intended for biomedical researchers), is also misguided. There are alternatives that researchers can explore, but many of them do not give as generous indirect costs as NIH or simply are smaller than your average NIH grant. So from your institution's point of view these grants do not really help you to get tenure, so maybe that is why the authors left them out.

Over all, this book really is not that helpful unless you are a complete beginner in this game. And then it is probably too early for you to worry about getting your R01 in Research Utopia U. I can think of better things to spend $40 on. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great reference manual and text!
This was one of my very first books in graduate school and it was the key to understanding all of the literature I'll ever need to read. This text fully explains how to break down highly technical research into easily understandable and useful material. Now I feel confident in picking up any piece of research and knowing whether it is a valid and reliable source of information. I can also apply the same methods to testing materials as well. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed by research. ... Read more

Book Description

Health communication is a new, rapidly developing, and highly visible subfield in the discipline of communication. This reference carefully evaluates the existing research in health communication and suggests new avenues for research. Among the ten areas discussed are provider/patient communication, communication ethics, communication in health organizations, health campaigns, cultural factors, and teaching communication in medical education. ... Read more

Book Description

The third edition of this classic text maintains its focus on applications of demographic models, while extending its scope to matrix models for stage-classified populations. The authors first introduce the life table to describe age-specific mortality, and then use it to develop theory for stable populations and the rate of population increase. This theory is then revisited in the context of matrix models, for stage-classified as well as age-classified populations. Reproductive value and the stable equivalent population are introduced in both contexts, and Markov chain methods are presented to describe the movement of individuals through the life cycle. Applications of mathematical demography to population projection and forecasting, kinship, microdemography, heterogeneity, and multi-state models are considered. The new edition maintains and extends the book's focus on the consequences of changes in the vital rates. Methods are presented for calculating the sensitivity and elasticity of population growth rate, life expectancy, stable stage distribution, and reproductive value, and for applying those results in comparative studies.Stage-classified models are important in both human demography and population ecology, and this edition features examples from both human and non-human populations. In short, this third edition enlarges considerably the scope and power of demography. It will be an essential resource for students and researchers in demography and in animal and plant population ecology.Nathan Keyfitz is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Harvard University. After holding positions at Canada's Dominion Bureau of Statistics, the University of Chicago, and the University of California at Berkeley, he became Andelot Professor of Sociology and Demography at Harvard in 1972. After retiring from Harvard, he became Director of the Population Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Vienna from 1983 to 1993. Keyfitz is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received the Mindel Sheps Award of the Population Association of America and the Lazarsfeld Award of the American Sociological Association, and was the 1997 Laureate of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population. He has written 12 books, including Introduction to the Mathematics of Population (1968) and, with Fr. Wilhelm Flieger, SVD, World Population Growth and Aging: Demographic Trends in the Late Twentieth Century (1990).Hal Caswell is a Senior Scientist in the Biology Department of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where he holds the Robert W. Morse Chair for Excellence in Oceanography. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has held a Maclaurin Fellowship from the New Zealand Institute of Mathematics and its Applications and a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship. His research focuses on mathematical population ecology with applications in conservation biology. He is the author of Matrix Population Models: Construction, Analysis, and Interpretation (2001). ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Extremely Board Specific
I first encountered this book when it was called "Biostatistics for the Boards" when I took the course from Dr. Glaser when he was teaching at the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in 1990. Dr. Glaser was an exceptionally good and popular teacher and the book reflects his "no-nonsense" style. At first I thought it was a "dumbed down" statistics book as I had taken a full year of stats in college and my previous books had been huge and heavy textbooks. However, I soon found that the reason Dr. Glaser's book was so brief was that he concentrates only on the type of concepts and questions you will find on the USMLE step 1. The chapters are short and it is easy to review each one many times to firmly plant the info into long term memory. I had no problems at all with the stats on the USMLE. This book presents exactly what you need to answer all the questions on the USMLE without having you waste a lot of time studying things you will never use.

The best source for USMLE
Are you one of those people that are scared of Biostatistics? Fear no more!! This book is for you. It explains everything in a very smart and simple way. Plenty of examples and tests help you to master the subject. If you study this book well, you will "understand" biostatistics and you don't have to memorize nonsense informations. two thumbs up!

SIMPLY GREAT
ACTUALLY GIVES A HIGHER YIELD IN MARKS-AMUST HAVE

Statistics in a Nutshell
This dandy little book shares the keys of understanding college biostatistics with you. It's what you need to know to pass exams, boards and the like. It provides clear instruction on the essentials of descriptive and inferential statistics, hypothesis testing, correlational techniques, research methods, and statistics in epidemiology. For those who struggle with beginning and intermediate statistics classes, it's a jewel. ... Read more