Book Description

Written in a lively and engaging style, by a medical author and teacher of great renown, this book provides a fascinating and interesting introduction to the subject for anyone with an interest in it. It illustrates some of the key advances in surgery from primitive techniques such as trepanning, through some of the gruesome but occasionally successful methods employed by the ancient civilisations, the increasingly sophisticated techniques of the Greeks and Romans, the advances of the Dark Ages and the Renaissance and on to the early pioneers of anaesthesia and antisepsis such as Morton, Lister and Pasteur. The impact of modern warfare on the development of surgical procedures is also discussed and Professor Ellis ends with a fascinating glimpse into the future of surgery in the next millenium. ... Read more

Book Description

Highly readable, American Plagues relays the most important epidemics in U.S. history. The author's engaging writing style helps readers understand the major concepts in the spread of disease and the roles of medicine and public health in combating epidemics. Current and classic medical studies are used as examples throughout the text. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Nutrition in Clinical Practice
A very thorough and thoughtful discussion of nutrition that is ideally suited to the needs of the primary care provider. The CLINICAL HIGHLIGHTS feature at the end of each chapter is especially useful, but the final section, PRINCIPLES OF DIETARY COUNSELING, is worth getting the book for all by itself. Knowing about healthful nutrition is the easy part - getting our patients to adopt healthful eating habits is what's difficult. This approach to the problem of behavioral change is the best I have seen.

Review by a nutritionally-oriented physician
Dr. Katz has done both the medical community and patients a great service by writing Nutrition in Clinical Practice. This book offers the layperson a surprisingly readable, painstakingly detailed overview of the role nutrition plays in health and disease. Anyone interested in knowing why good diet is so important should read this book.

For the physician or nutritionist, this book is an essential tool for incorporating the latest research into your nutritional interventions. For students, Dr. Katz's work will be a highlight of their curriculum.

Review by Author
Based on 15 years of clinical practice in Internal and Preventive Medicine, this text is specifically designed for the practicing clinician, yet is accessible to the educated lay reader. It is comprehensive, with topics ranging from obesity and cardiovascular disease, to aging, cognition, early development, and the menstrual cycle. Comprehensive, extensively referenced and carefully evidence-based, the book is concise and practical. This book should be of interest to any clinician wishing to address diet and health effectively in the course of clinical practice, as well as to any patient wanting authoritative information on nutritional health. ... Read more

Book Description

Are soy isoflavones neuroprotective? Just how different is one species of Echinacea from another? Which phytochemicals will be effective as therapeutic agents in vivo? Supported by solid scientific research, Phytochemicals in Nutrition and Health helps provide answers to these and other probing questions concerning the mechanisms of action associated with beneficial phytochemical groups. It examines new areas such as the efficacy and safety of medicinal herbs, the use of biotechnology to manipulate and enhance the phytochemical profiles of various plants, and the pharmacokinetics of phytochemicals in humans.The editors also expand discussion presented in their previous books on phytochemicals. They explore new research on phytochemicals in the Vaccinium family (cranberries, blueberries and bilberries), wine, and oilseeds, and the biological activity of Echinacea in humans. Additional chapters present new information about isothiocyanates, lycopene, carotenoids other than beta-carotene, tocotrienols, and phytoestrogens. Highlighting phytochemicals that have significant potential for promoting health or preventing disease, Phytochemicals in Nutrition and Health expands discussions of appropriate research methodologies and new technologies in this exciting field. ... Read more

Book Description

This book is a major and wide-ranging study of the great epidemic scourges of humanity-plague, leprosy, smallpox, syphilis, cholera, and yellow fever/malaria-over the last six centuries. This book will become the standard account of the way diseases-arising through chance, through reckless environmental change engineered by man, or through a combination of each-were interpreted in Western Europe and in the colonized world. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Anti-imperialist screed
Sheldon Watts took us on a journey of exploration of a gigantic subject, followed his political views and lost his way. This book wants to put such a strong spin on disease as as an element of conquest, that it neglects and distorts too many facts. You can usually find the distortions by noting which paragraphs contain statements that treat some previously unknown fact as common knowledge and then not finding an end note providing some references. I also noted that most of the sources for the book were less than ten years old, and were often teritiary. Sheldon Watts also gets his biological facts wrong on many occasions, usually when trying to underline some action he feels is imperialist. His most unpardonable sin has to be attributing current knowledge to figures who had no such understanding, and then judging their actions using that assumption. For example, he assumes that since people understood that smallpox was communicable, that they had to understand that all diseases were communicable. This was long before Koch or even Snow. And Sheldon Watts does this even though he acknowledges that medical knowledge was effectively non-existant until the mid-1800s. Unless of course it is folk wisdom that he is talking about, which gets a pass, no matter how silly. If you are a Powerful White Man, on the other hand, you are assumed to be omniscient.

If you want a more limited treatment about the subject of diseases and public thought, I suggest that you try "The Cholera Years" by Charles E. Rosenberg. If you want a good treatment of multiple diseases and their biological progression around the world, try "Plagues" by Christopher Wills. Those two books together will cost less than this one, and you'll learn more. And they are far, far more readable.

An excellent treatise, marred by lapses into indignation
This work is impressive in its breadth of scholarship, but the author's personal rancor at Europeans' ill treatment of the rest of the world detracts from the narrative. The descriptions of the decimation of the Taino, the Aztecs, Inca and others within a century by the Spanish is truly horrific. Repeatedly referring to the Spanish as "terrorists" weakens, rather than reinforces the point. They were not terrorists: they were behaving as Europeans historically have. The author's succinct explanation of the reasons for the Spanish attitudes toward New World peoples makes his subsequent indignation with their actions curious, to say the least. Similarly, his explanation of malaria and yellow fever is extensive, but his indignation at Europeans in response to the diseases detracts from his scholarship. That Europeans are arrogant, naive, biased, pig-headed, murderous and short-sighted should come as no revelation to anyone reading this book. Other peoples in the world are too, but they didn't all have the opportunity to impose their will on others. To complement this work, Diamond's Guns Germs and Steel,and MacNeill's The Rise of the West, and Plagues and Peoples cover much of the same ground and posit theories how Europeans came to be in a position to impose their will on much of the rest of the world. Overall, a very interesting book, which would be better without these occasional, distracting polemics.

solid and interesting
I found this book an excellent companion to earlier books on the subject (McNeill, Crosby), as it puts diseases in human society in a historic social/cultural and political context. I started out sceptical but then got caught by the book and its analyis was for me an eye-opener on how (Western) medicine was a tool often used for ends that had nothing to do with physical well-being, sickness prevention and care. The end conclusions on economics and health economics i do not share at all, i think the author gets carried away a bit and goes way too fast to condemn economists here, (guess what my profession is). Definitely worth while.

This is one of the most important books ever published
Shelson Watts' Epidemics and History is an absolutely indispensible book. It is no exaggeraton to call it one of the most important books ever published. Watts is fearless in pulling the curtains back on the West's delusions and self-told lies. The book shows the connections among racism, imperialism, corporatism, capitalism, poverty, and disease. The conclusions are shocking, but it his penetrating analysis which renders what is shocking also understandable. Read this book.

Reality but defective in some aspects
The book has a very attractive and rather unkown subject. The analysis of different diseases and interactions between social powers, religion and the emergence of diseases is very interesting. But the information given about the Eastern and Islamic world is confined to Egypt. The author makes comments only relying on the Egyptian data and this is rather weak. But as a whole the book gives very useful information and shows that all these medical advances now and in history are not so innocent as in most cases economic concerns suppress humanity. ... Read more

Book Description

Neuroprosthetics is an area of intense scientific and clinical interest and rapid progress. Since the introduction of the cardiac pacemaker in 1932, we have seen developments that include cochlear prostheses, techniques for bladder and bowel control, deep brain stimulation, and restoration of mobility and respiration to paralyzed individuals.

The chapters in this book have been contributed by authors who are recognized internationally in their fields. The result is a comprehensive and up-to-date review that will be invaluable to graduate students, clinicians and researchers in neuroprosthetics. It is broadly divided into three sections: Section 1 provides a core of knowledge that forms a foundation for the rest of the book, and covers basics of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, biomaterials and biocompatibility, stimulation and recording techniques; Section 2 describes current clinical applications of neuroprosthetics; Section 3 looks at future developments in the field. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

An Essential Book for Diabetics
Lance Porter has put together one of the most useful "self help"

books to come down the pike in a long time. With this book

whether you are a diabetic or someone who knows a diabetic you

will find answers to a lot of questions about the disease and

plenty of ways to help gain control of it! One of the things

Lance does in this book is to remind the reader that maintaining

a postive outlook on things will go a long way to help you

get your life together after the diagnosis of diabetes has

knocked it apart. This book can also be of much help to those

who might be at risk of developing the disease too. Who knows

if you read this book and follow its precepts you might ever be

able to keep yourself from getting diabetes. This book is also

a great way for the people in your life who are trying to

understand what you are living with and going through each day

with diabetes to learn how to help you with it. This book is

a must for all diabetics and those who care about them. I know

because I am on of the many Type 2 Diabetics out there, and this

book has been a " Godsend" to me and mine. Bravo Lance Porter!!!!

Outstanding!
A must have for anyone with diabetes! Lance Porter gives you the tools to be successful at maintaining a healthy blood glucose level.

This program really works
I have Diabetes type II and was lucky enough to get this book, I followed the instructions to the letter, step by step and from the very first week I could tell that it was working.
I felt better physically and mentally, more alert. Slept better, my glucose level was getting better.
When I started the prgram I was taking Glucophage and Avandia, by the 18th day I no longer needed Avandia, my daily blood glucose average was 121 the highest with the 94 the lowest ( when watching my carb intake).

I got to the point that I cut the half the daily dose of Glucophage.
Commitment is the key, reading the book is not enough, you have to decide to DO as the book says.!! Getting into this program is one of the bets things that ever happened to me.

Control is Key !
28 Days to Diabetes Control is a great way to learn more about diabetes and get a handle on your own diabetes as well. Lance has illustrated the importance of diabetes and how one should go about dealing with every-day situations. Wheather you are recently diagnosed or someone that has been living with this disease, it is an excellent guide book to gaining better control of your diabetes (Type 1 or 2). I am impressed with the broad range of topics covered throughout the book to help with the success of better diabetes management. If you have not read this book, go out and get a copy. You won't be dissapointed !! ... Read more

Book Description

This amazing visual overview walks readers through the history of medical discoveries year-by-year from crude early techniques to cutting-edge modern treatments. The illustrated timetable offers parallel chronologies of the developments in public health, disease, diagnosis, treatment, surgery, healers and teachers, medical science and inventions as they happened. Key concurrent world events are also noted for historical context. Each decade is indicated at the top of the full-color timetable. Underneath, pictures and short descriptions show the advances and breakthroughs that occurred all over the world at that time, allowing readers the unique opportunity to trace medical developments chronologically.For example, in the 1920s column, readers will see that in the U.S. scientists developed a vaccine against TB, in France the iron lung was invented and in Germany the first successful pregnancy test was administered. The wealth of engaging information is broken-up into small vignettes providing an overview of the advances of medical science and relating specific stories about discoveries and personalities of particular interest. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Nice book to have around
A visually attractive book that will provide quick information on medical developments through history, helpful in relating what happened in the medical world at similar times but in different settings or places. Brief time-relationship is also given to non-medical events. Bibliography is extense, Internet and museum references are welcome for their usefulness to those interested in expanding their information. Latinamerican contributions to Medicine is greatly ignored by the authors. ... Read more

Book Description

Written by two experts in the field, this layperson's guide tothe nutritional options and substances that improve health helpsreaders make informed decisions about maintaining and strengtheningtheir bodies.

Organized in an A-to-Z format, more than 500extensively cross-referenced entries profile:

What vitamins,minerals, and supplements are and how they work in the body Myths andquackery surrounding some of the substances Nutritional analyses ofdiet, body-building, and special supplements Vitamins as a treatmentfor physical and mental disease and disorders Pioneers in the field andtheir theories of nutrition, and much more.

Various charts, tables,and appendixes highlight:

The latest and most complete informationon FDA operations and regulations The composition of the new food labelIllnesses and injuries associated with the use of selected dietarysupplements The interaction between certain drugs and nutrients. ... Read more

Book Description

A galvanizing narrative of the wartime role played by U.S. Army nurses—from the invasion of North Africa to the bloody Italian campaign to the decisive battles in France and the Rhineland.

More than 59,000 nurses volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps alone: 217 lost their lives (16 by enemy action), and more than 1,600 were decorated for meritorious service and bravery under fire. But their stories have rarely been heard. Now, drawing on never-before-published eyewitness accounts—many heroic, some mundane and comic—Monahan and Neidel-Greenlee take us to the front lines, to the withering fire on the beaches of Anzio and Normandy, and to the field and evacuation hospitals, as well as bombed and burned hospital ships. We witness the nurses—and the doctors with whom they served—coping with the physical and psychological damage done to the soldiers in combat. We see them working—often with only meager supplies and overwhelmed by the sheer number of casualties—to save the lives and limbs of thousands of wounded troops. With them we experience the almost constant packing up and moving on to keep up with advancing troops, foxholes dug under camp beds, endless mud, and treacherous minefields. The vividness and immediacy of their recollections provide us with a powerfully visceral, deeply affecting sense of their experiences—terrifying and triumphant, exhausting and exhilarating.

A revelatory work that at last gives voice to the nurses who played such an essential role in World War II. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

An Incredible Book About Incredible Women.
I have wanted to write this review since I finished "And If I Perish", but, quite frankly, I did not know how to start. As a lifelong reader, a woman of a "certain age" and an English teacher, I must have read thousands of books over the years. This one is, quite simply, the best book I have ever read. One of the jacket cover comments uses the word, masterpiece, that barely describes it.
The authors have done a magnificent job of weaving a seamless saga from the early days of WW II in North Africa, up through Italy and France and into Berlin. While I have read many books that chronicle the experiences of several people it was always difficult to keep them straight without a great deal of re-reading. Not so with these nurses, they are all recalled with no effort at all. While this is in no doubt due to Monahan & Neidel-Greenlee's formidable talents as authors, it is also because of these incredible nurses themselves. They were all of the things their daughters demonstrated about. They were brave, dedicated, self-reliant, tough, funny, compassionate, smart and inspiring. I am in awe of every one of them. They stand among the greats of the Greatest generation.
Monahan and Niedel-Greenlee have done us all a great service by telling this story. Thank you both.

It's about time!!!!
For way too long has this story been untold. What a great book!!! What a great Christmas/Hanukkah present to give to family and friends. If I had my way, every American would read AND IF I PERISH, as soon as possible. It makes clear in a very readible way that Americans owe their freedom not just to the men who fought in WWII, but to the thousands of women, who served on the frontlines in order to help bring our fathers, brothers, sons, nephews, and friends home safely. One scene that was particularly touching to me was when a young US Army nurse in Anzio, Italy is ordered to prepare the body of a sister Army nurse for burial following her death after German artillery shells fell on the hospital tents on the beach head. As she washes and dresses the body, the young Lieutenant talks to her friend and tells her how sorry she is, that they have to meet again like this. This scene is even more poignant in that it takes place in a large tent used as the hospital morgue and the young Lieutenant is literally surrounded by death. Army nurses are not usually the heros of books, but after reading AND IF I PERISH, I think they should be.

A Long Overdue Tribute to WWII Nurses
This is an extremely well written and interesting book, covering a part of America's World War II history which has been sadly neglected. Almost half of the 59,000 female nurses who volunteered for the US Armed Forces during WWII served overseas. During the course of the conflict approximately 1600 of these nurses were decorated for their actions, receiving Distinguished Service Medals, Silver and Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts, among other awards. More than 70 of these nurses were captured and 217 died of injuries and illness, 16 as the result of enemy action. The authors spent over a decade tracking down surviving nurses and their friends and families in order to compile this well documented, personal and most entertaining book. Several of the key figures are followed from their recruitment before and during the early stages of the war throughout the entire North African and European campaigns. The rich detail and often tragic first-person accounts of landing with the Allies, particularly in North Africa, and the hard learned lessons of American unpreparedness for war are told with stark straight forwardness by those who participated. The authors have professionally woven in the larger strategic backdrop, along with significant tactical explanations, in a manner that tells the reader how the nurses and their various hospitals fit into the bigger scheme of the war. The nurses come alive through their narration, putting a very human face on horrific living and working conditions as their units keep close to the combatants. The portion of the book dealing with the nurses' struggles on the Anzio beachhead brings into sharp focus their absolute dedication to their profession under the most extreme of circumstances. This book is exceptionally well researched, with numbers and types of casualties treated in the various theaters of war routinely given, clearly putting emphasis to the great magnitude of what was being accomplished. A number of excellent photographs throughout the text show quite graphically the dangers of front line nursing and hospitals, the faces of the primary narrators and the environments in which they labored. This book will be a wonderful companion to the other great histories of WWII and is highly recommended.

Heroism Under Fire
I found this book to be a gripping account of an era of unselfish dedication to ones duty to both country and professional calling. Credibility is gained from strong first party stories that resulted from meticulous research by the authors. For me, perhaps the greatest inspiration was in the picture painted by the authors of the evolution of the role of U.S. Military women in the 20th century despite the many obstacles they endured and overcame both inside and outside the military and political institutions of the time.

I Learned So Much More About WW II and the Nursing Professio
This book looks at the European theater of World War II from the prospective
of Army nurses and the hospitals that followed not far behind and sometimes
along with the fighting soldiers. I do not know exactly why but I learned so
much about World War II that I did not know before. Perhaps it is because I
identified with the hospital and medical environment. I spent my whole
career working in hospital maintenance and operations. I came to admire nurses
in the Veterans Administration Medical Centers for their knowledge and resorcefulness
and common sense. After reading this book, my admiration for the nursing profession
has increased even more. The book follows the lives of several nurses and also gives
a very enlightning overview of the whole war. The book is based on
completely footnoted research. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in history
or the medical and nursing profession. This book provides recognition for the vital
and very dangerous part nurses contributed to our winning World War II. ... Read more

Book Description

Nutritional Influences on Illness is a comprehensive summary of the world’s knowledge concerning the relationship between dietary and nutritional factors and illness. In eighty-seven chapters, each covering a specific disorder, it organizes and summarizes thousands of scientific studies from around the world.

This book does not try to promote any particular school of thought. Both studies whose results agree, and studies whose results disagree, with numerous 'organizing statements' are presented. Instead of the author telling readers his opinion as to what the research says, he makes it easy for them to see the data for themselves and then form their own opinions.

The second edition is a fully revised, greatly expanded and totally updated version of the original 1987 Keats edition. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Nutritional Influences on Illness: A Sourcebook of Clinical
I have had the good fortune to be in possession of the first and second editions of this valuable infiormation on the necessry part nutrition plays in good health and good fortune. As an RN of days gone by I was happy to share this information with every health care professional I contacted. Werbach opened the door which brought REAL attention to the importance of GOOD NUTRITION. Thank you for asking....

Sincerely, Roberta M Thorpe

Delightfully informative and resourceful
With so many people today taking a variety of supplements, this book is an indespensable reference. Has cut my research time considerably. Part 1, Illnesses and the effects of nutrients, is a brief summary of the scientific evidence of a particular supplement. It has chapters on Common Nutritional Deficiencies, Dangers of Nutritional Supplementation, Laboratory Methods for Nutritional Evaluation, Syndromes Due to Abnormal Tissue Nutrient Levels, Nutrient Bioavailability and Interactions. This is a must buy book for anyone that is involved in prevention of diseases. ... Read more

Book Description

This book provides a general view of bioelectromagnetism and describes it as an independent discipline. It begins with an historical account of the many innovations and innovators on whose work the field rests. This is accompanied by a discussion of both the theories and experiments which were contributed to the development of the field. The physiological origin of bioelectric and biomagnetic signal is discussed in detail. The sensitivity in a given measurement situation, the energy distribution in stimulation with the same electrodes, and the measurement of impedance are related and described by the electrode lead field. It is shown that, based on the reciprocity theorem, these are identical and further, that these procedures apply equally well for biomagnetic considerations. The difference between corresponding bioelectric and biomagnetic methods is discussed. The book shows, that all subfields of bioelectromagnetism obey the same basic laws and they are closely tied together through the principle of reciprocity. Thus the book helps the reader to understand the properties of existing bioelectric and biomagnetic measurements and stimulation methods and to design new systems. The book includes about 300 carefully drawn illustrations and 500 references. It can be used as a textbook for third or fourth year university students and as a source of reference. ... Read more

Book Description

The human brain may be the single most complex object in the universe, and one of the most difficult to access. But in the nineteenth century, ever-curious men of science set out to penetrate the dark mysteries of the mind, searching for answers to the question: What makes one man a genius and another a criminal? In short time, their search became a magnificent obsession.

In Postcards from the Brain Museum, author Brian Burrell traces the history of this fascination as he tells the incredible true story of science’s attempt to locate the anatomical signs of brilliance, madness, and cruelty. In elegant prose, Burrell focuses on the posthumous sagas of brains belonging to notorious criminals and to such luminary leaders and thinkers as Albert Einstein, Walt Whitman, and Vladimir Lenin, revealing the peculiar mania of the scientists who dissected the specimens and the sometimes cruel fates of the brains themselves.

As Burrell follows this quixotic trail of geniuses and madmen, traveling around the globe to visit the collections of brains now gathering dust in their jars, he struggles to locate the point at which science begins and obsession leaves off. In the process, he unearths a forgotten byway in the history of science—a mesmerizing tale of colorful eccentrics bent on laying bare the secrets of the human mind. The final result is an enlightening account that is sometimes ghoulish, often bizarre, and thoroughly compelling.

Book Description

At the onset of "Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity," Leon Kass gives us a status report on where we stand today: "Human nature itself lies on the operating table, ready for alteration, for eugenic and psychic 'enhancement,' for wholesale redesign. In leading laboratories, academic and industrial, new creators are confidently amassing their powersand quietly honing their skills, while on the street their evangelists are zealously prophesying a posthuman future. For anyone who cares about preserving our humanity, the time has come for paying attention."

Trained as a medical doctor and biochemist, Dr. Kass has become one of our most provocative thinkers on bioethical issues. Now, in this brave and searching book, he also establishes himself as a prophetic voice summoning us to think deeply about the new biomedical technologies threatening to take us back to the future envisioned by Aldous Huxley in "Brave New World." As in Huxley's dystopia, where life has been smoothed out by genetic manipulation, psychoactive drugs and high tech amusement, our own accelerating efforts to master reproduction and genetic endowment, to retard aging, and to conquer illness, imperfection, and death itself are animated by our most humane and progressive aspirations. But we are walking too quickly down the road to physical and psychological utopia, Kass believes, without pausing to assess the potential damage to our humanity from this brave new biology.

In a series of meditations on cloning, embryo research, the human genome project, the sale of organs, and the assault on mortality itself, Kass evaluates the ongoing effort to break down the natural boundaries given us and to remake the human body into an instrument of our will. What does it mean to treat nascent human life as raw material to be exploited? What does it mean to blur the line between procreation and manufacture? What are the proper limits to this project for the remaking of human nature? These are the questions we should be asking to prevent runaway scientism with its utopian longings from reshaping humankind in the image of our own choosing.

Kass believes that technology has done and will continue to do wonders for our health and longevity and that we have much to be thankful for. But there is more at stake in the biological revolution that saving life and avoiding death. We must also strive to protect the ideas and practices that give us dignity and keep us human.

"Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity" challenges us to confront the posthuman future that may await us by thinking deeply about the life and death issues we face today. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

More of the same from Kass
I'm really surprised that this book has received such positive reviews. Although it has some good points, 'Life, Liberty, and the Defense of Dignity' suffers from some very serious flaws.

The main focus of this book (which is actually a collection of previously published articles, so don't bother buying it if you've been keeping up with Kass's other works) is human dignity. Kass believes that all human life has an inherent dignity that transcends our scientific understanding, and that we should be wary of new technologies that would violate our dignity. This is certainly an appealing concept, but Kass fails utterly in his attempt to transform it into a coherent bioethics policy.

How do we know if something violates human dignity? If it gives Kass a creepy feeling. That's the main problem with this book; although Kass talks a great deal about the importance of human dignity, he isn't interested in rational, coherent analysis of ethical issues. Kass seems to be writing primarily to fellow religious conservatives who already share his technophobic views. If you don't already agree that cloning, stem-cell research, organ sales, in vitro fertilization, euthanasia, and genetic engineering are morally repugnant, there really isn't anything in this book that would cause you to change your opinion. Although Kass toys with various philosophical justifications for his views throughout the book, in the end he always seems to base his opinions on his own visceral emotional reactions. This isn't just my opinion; Kass plainly admits it himself. On page 61 Kass criticizes conventional ethicists for their reliance on logic and failure to take human emotions into account:

"Philosophical ethics today is rationalist, I would say hyper-rationalist, and I allege, unreasonably so. The dominant mode of American philosophizing today remains analytic. It concerns itself with the analysis of concepts, the evaluation of arguments and the criticism of justifications, always in search of clarity, consistency, coherence. It spends little time on what genuinely moves people to act - their motivations and passions, that is, loves and hates, hopes and fears, prides and predjuces, matters that are sometimes dismissed as nonethical or irrational because they are not simply reducable to logos. Revulsions and their correlative taboos are often overlooked; since they cannot give incontrovertible logical defenses of themselves, they tend to fall benieth the floor of ethical discourse. As a result, that discourse focuses almost exclusively on matters conceptual and logical."

Yes, you read that correctly: Kass is taking a heroic stand against rationality, clarity, and coherence. Apparently Kass has forgotten that in a liberal democracy we don't generally base policy decisions on what we find creepy or unappealing. The sort of rational, analytical examination of contemporary issues in medical ethics that one would expect in a serious policy discussion is sorely lacking. Kass spends an entire chapter (which he titles 'The Wisdom of Repugnance') trying to explain why rational discourse should be put aside in favor of emotional reactions, but it isn't very convincing.

Many of Kass's views are extreme, even for a conservative. Kass not only opposes controversial practices like euthanasia and human genetic engineering, but also relatively mundane things like in-vitro fertilization and organ transplants. Although the subject isn't brought up in this book, it's worth mentioning that in the past Kass has even come out against medical students dissecting human cadavers.

Although 'Life, Liberty, and the Defense of Dignity' gives a fascinating look into the mind of President Bush's head bioethics advisor, I can't recommend it to anyone looking for a serious discussion of contemporary issues in medicine or biotechnology.

Formidable Book to Disagree With!
In his book Life, LIberty and the Defense of Dignity, Leon Kass cites a few times that 2/3rds of the population are opposed to cloning. Well, I am not one of them. There is much to disagree with here and I've done much of it. But unlike those shoddy books like Fukuyama's Our Posthuman Future, or Bill McKibben's laughable diatribe, Enough, I can disagree with Kass while still respecting him as a thinker. I even nod my head at some of his points.

About half of this book deals with abstract, and half, concrete, issues. His abstract sections I was almost in total agreement with. Ethical philosophy, he writes, long ago lost track of how to deal with issues rather than theories, and real peoople rather than 'rational man' constructs. Minutia is argued on a quest to develop a consistent theory of the human right and good. BUT NO SUCH THEORY NEED TO BE CREATED! We are dealing with people who make most decisions on a hearty combination of feeling (not amenable to intellectualization) and rational thought. This is where Kass comes from.

Add to this that biology has gone on so well with the reductionist program that even it has started to lose track of how to deal with the whole person. Like wantling to understand a person-in-full by studying the small minutia of their lives seperately, event-by-event; you won't get the feel of the whole person that way; she must be studied as a whole person. Biology, by breaking us down to the smallest constituent parts, don't explain us, so much as break us down to the type of bite-sized chunks they find helpful in THEIR studies.

So Kass starts from the philosophy of the whole person. It is here that I feel he uses this more as an excuse to be inarticulate than a tool to REALLY examine the issue. Whether it is cloning, euthenasia, the selling of organs; he keeps taling about how our human dignity is threatened but never even attempts to explain what in the world he means.

He argues that our instinctual revulsion to such processes may reflect a deeper wisdom that intellect can't articulate. But didn't we also feel revulsion to the idea of heart transplants too? Many of us feel revulsed by the very idea of surgery (going under the knife and all). Does that mean that we are expressing a 'deeper wisdom' and should not have surgury at all? I think our revulsion to biotech comes more from the thought of the unknown and our desire to hold on to the "natural order of things".

Life, he tells us, is precious. Thus, we must be very careful with how we treat it. I agree. But why does it follow that we have to, then, leave birth up to the chance process that causes miscarriages, deformities, premature deaths, and...let's be honest...unwanted babies that may well grow up to abuse? And why does it follow that an old woman who is nearing a painful end to her life (with only a glimpse of hope for recovery) be made to live out her last days when she wants to end it?

To be sure, there are quite a few philosophers who are just as sensitive to human dignity as Kass is who take the opposite conclusions. John Lachs ("Community of Individuals", "Relevance of Philosophy to Life") and Sidney Hook ("Convictions") are two notable examples.

To close, though I agree with Kass's theoretical goals, I disagree on virually everything else. This book, though, is professionally writte, gives some (some, that is) strong points and never comes off as zeolous, abrasive, or mean-spirited toward critics. Read this - even if you don't agree with Kass.

Wonderful Introduction
It is just as easy to dismiss Kass, now head of the President's Council for Bioethics, as a "technophobe" searching for justification. The opposite is true: while the groundwork for modern bio-deontological thought is firmly in place in the writings of the founding bioethical and environmental scholars, such writings are largely unapproachable to the layperson, analytic rather than continental in approach.

Kass does just the opposite. In the spirit of CS Lewis and his "The Abolition of Man," which Kass references, Kass paints a clear and understandable picture, suitable as an introduction to the subject. However, such a statement is misleading: the book is by no means just an introduction. Simply, Kass sets out to synthesize a workable and, more importantly, objective ethos that is not simply "ivory-tower," but applicable in day-to-day functioning. That such a book is coherant and pleasurable to read is simply icing on the cake.

the right-wing extremists
They must be giving MD's out like crackerjack prizes in a box if Leon Kass is a Dr. This man does not contribute to finding solutions and/or alleviating human suffering, he is merely a cog in Bush's right-wing extremists. He is Bush's little puppet and self important blowhard with an overinflated ego. Yes, cloning people is wrong and research on ESC's does constitute even-keeled debate, but Dr. Kass has suceeded in stifiling promising medical research to the chagrin of the patients we see day in and day out. This man was opposed to in Vitro conception 25 years ago, afraid of the assembly-line designer babies which would devaluate humanity and what it is to be human. Today, IVF has brought joy and restored hope in couples unable to naturally make babies. Kass is opposed to ESC research and Nuclear Cell transfer ( therapuetic cloning ), and will not budge in his expecting the worse dogma. This guy is a stubborn, old mule, standing, like an ass in the way of treatments for MS, SCI, ALS, Parkinson's, diabetes, etc. His response that, "adult stem cells have more validity as effective treatment", is a bunch of BS! His refusal to meet medical advocates in this field at least halfway, has divided this country and will certainly eventually lead to illegal expiriments with human cloning, like the back alley abortions years ago. I witness human suffering of all ages every day between patients and their familiies. we owe it to the sick and injured to fight for their quality of life, not putting up roadblocks with right-wing extremism politics. Sometimes it seems that some of these zealots are wack-jobs. Senator Brownback laments that he will never shake hands with Senator Orrin Hatch again because of his support for ESC research. What's up with that?!

Excellent analysis
The rapid growth in biotechnology has seen a corresponding growth in bioethics. Unfortunately, however, many bio-ethicists have become handmaidens to Big Biotech. The twin towers of technology and money have led many to abandon genuine independent ethical reflection. There have been too few voices to assess the latest trends in biotechnology in a wise, discerning and prudent manner.

One person who has done so is biologist and philosopher Leon Kass of the University of Chicago. He has spend a lifetime thinking about, and writing on, the new reproductive technologies and the challenges they present. And he has done so always with a view to the implications for human dignity and freedom. This volume, which includes articles which have appeared elsewhere, contains of wealth of information and ethical reflection on the new technologies.

All the major issues are covered here: cloning and stem cell research, IVF and assisted reproductive technologies, the new genetics, euthanasia and end of life decisions, and other recent developments in biotechnology.

Also carefully discussed are the hard questions: What is the moral status of the human embryo? Should there be limits to where we are heading in biology and technology? Are there areas of mystery in life that science should simply leave alone? Should autonomy, and the modern concept of human rights, trump other social and community concerns? What is the nature of medicine and what are its goals? These and other important ethical concerns are all given wise and careful consideration.

Kass examines the relationship between liberal democracies and the new technologies, for example, offering incisive and cautious reflection. He notes how democracies help create a climate which makes possible the growth of science and technology. But he also warns that without a moral vision of how that technology should proceed, there is the danger of commercial interests and utopian schemes derailing the science into undemocratic ends.

Indeed, since the time of the Enlightenment, an overly rationalist and utopian dream of the perfectibility of man has been pursued, often with disastrous consequences. Only by continually affirming the mystery and sacredness of life, and the dignity and wonder of man, can we prevent such coercive utopianism.

However, as Kass so clearly points out, the real threat is not coercive utopianism, but well-intentioned utopianism. That is, the real dangers come from those who speak of compassion, the relief of suffering and the battle for immortality. Says Kass, "the benevolent uses of humanitarian technologies often have serious unintended and undesired consequences." The promises of the relief of all suffering and the extension of life may sound pleasing to the ears, but can in fact bring bitterness to the soul.

Lost in the discussions of overcoming all problems and eradicating all unhealthiness, is the concept of the human person, of human dignity. To what end should we strive for immortality? What benefit will it be if we can live longer but not better lives? It is living well, not just living longer, that should preoccupy our minds and dreams. Yet the modern quest for perfection rarely addresses those more important concerns. Indeed, the modern rationalistic and secular march of science and technology often deliberately eschews any moral or religious considerations.

The whole problem of designer babies is another outcome of the new technologies. We now have the power to determine in advance how a baby can and should live. We not only have the power to change an individual's life through the new genetics, but generations to come. And with the new genetic medicine comes the power to decide who will live and who will die.

As we redefine a human being in terms of his or her genes, we run the risk of "justifying death solely for genetic sins". Genetic reductionism makes it easier, not harder, to allow experts and scientists to make the difficult choices of who is allowed to live. Eugenics, even if done with the best of intentions, is still eugenics. And the new eugenics is not so easily discerned, when it comes hidden behind a white lab coat or in an attractive fertility clinic.

The pressure of science and Big Biotech to simply do whatever can be done, without asking whether it should be done, will only continue. Especially when sold in the guise of relieving suffering, or offering more lifestyle choices. We have, as Kass says, the "biomedical equivalent of a spiraling arms race" where research and technology seem to know no limits. The consequences are frightening.

Kass concludes by acknowledging that he is not a Luddite, that there has been much good to come from the new technologies. But there is much to fear as well, especially if our scientific advances are not coupled with moral and spiritual growth. A perfect body, with a hole in the soul, may not be progress, but an unspeakable regress.

Which way the future unfolds is an open question at this point. The future in many ways is up to us. Do we allow a future with dignity and freedom, or do we passively accept the dehumanisation and depersonalisation that comes with unbridled scientific advance? The important warnings offered here need to be read and heeded, if we are to advance on the right course. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

This book has to be on your desk ...
This book is excellent, specially for serious athletes, coaches and people interested in sports nutrition. It has a lot of tables and figures that explain each topic, has multiple references and updated www addresses. This book is a must have.... ... Read more

Book Description

This highly interesting collection of articles started as a series of "space-fillers", the journalist's device to mitigate the harshness of white space at the end of scientific papers.

In revising these short pieces, the author has expanded many parts and made more reference to sources and biographical reviews. He has also included a few longer, more discursive essays, which reflect his personal interests. The reader should find sufficient to provide interest in both neurological and related general medical topics. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (12)

A Quick Interesting Read
Author Anthony Bourdain provides the reader with a quick 148 page story of Mary Mallon, known to history as Typhoid Mary. Mary worked as a cook in the New York City area at the turn of the 20th century and unwittingly spread typhoid germs to those she served, although she, herself, appeared healthy. Author Bourdain goes into detail as to how Mary was tracked down and fingered as the culprit in the spreading of typhoid. Mary strongly denied her role in the spreading of the germs to those she served. Mary spent the last years of her unhappy life on North Brother island located just north of Riker's Island in New York City. The author also provides us with living conditions in New York City at the turn of the 20th century.I had heard of Typhoid Mary and this quick read will fill you in with some very interesting details in her life. The author concludes the book with a visit he made to Mary's grave in the Bronx in 1973 in which he, himself a cook, left his first chef's knife at the base of Mary's stone behind the tall grass as a gift to her as he said, "from cook to cook." This book will also make you think about the cleanliness of restaurants you eat in today.

An old story from a new viewpoint
In Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical, Anthony Bourdain combines his skills and experiences as a chef with his unique writing talents to bring to life an often feared individual. Mary Mallon a.k.a. "Typhoid Mary" was a cook not unlike Bourdain himself, thus he is especially qualified to speak on her behalf. Most other books regarding the subject matter are either epidemiological in nature, treating her as just another case history, or historical in nature, viewing her as just another in a long line of events and placing a vast gulf between the reader and Mary herself. Bourdain comes at it with a biographical bent. There is no science here. The author wants you to feel Mary's pain, her persecution (perceived or otherwise), her frustration with not being able to do the one thing she knew how to do in order to make a living, and Anthony does a wonderful job of it. It is a very quick read, but well worth it.

Ok...
I read this book for a project for a Criminalistics class for a Summer camp. I was looking forward to learning about Typhoid Mary and all about her problems as she lived her life carrying the deadly typhoid. I was a little disappointed to find out that a lot of the book was about the context of the life she lived in. I'm sure that for some...that would be a nice touch, but I was looking more forward to reading about the case than about society. But other than that, I thought it was a good read. I found myself laughing quite a bit, thanks to the clever way that Anthony Bourdain narrated this novel. Not a Number #1 choice...but not the worse i've read either. I'll let you decide.....

An energetic account of a willful woman
In this diminutive book (amounting to fewer than 150 pages), the robust Bourdain tells the stormy story of 'Typhoid Mary' Mallon. The author and subject, it becomes clear, are much alike. Both are cooks, iconoclasts, and outsiders. The personalities of the two resonate with one another throughout. For the most part, this is a charitable portrait of a misunderstood woman, but Bourdain also admits that Mary had a misanthropic side. In the later part of her life, knowing she was a carrier of salmonella typhi, she worked as a cook at a hospital for women and children! At the same time, she had been wronged by the system -- treated unfairly because of her gender, her immigrant status, and her station in life. Bourdain successfully gets inside Mary's mind, and those of the bureaucrats who hounded her. His speculations on the inner thoughts of the players in this drama feel accurate. The mystery of Typhoid Mary is energetically brought to life in this wonderful account set in early-1900's New York.

Entertaining but not great....
I was a bit disappointed by this book, but yet I still really love Anthony Bourdain's writing style. Bourdain's writing style is the main reason I kept reading Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical. Anyone who's had to write essays for school (especially essays based on research to back up an opinion), will be familiar with the style of this book. Basically, Mary Mallon's story, which, admittedly is very brief and could fill up about 10 pages, is strewn throughout 144 pages of Bourdain's historical research, contemplation, and witticisms. While this is interesting, it's just not really all about Mary Mallon (aka Typhoid Mary). That's okay - if that's what you're expecting. If you like Bourdain's writing style and sense of humor, then you'll like this book. If you want to really learn about the person known as Typhoid Mary, then you can probably do that somewhere else and quicker. This book is definitely good for entertainment value, but being someone who's had to write many of those "let me back up my thoughts" essays for school, I can see one when I spot one, and Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical fits the bill. ... Read more

Book Description

The latest volume in Joseph Needham's magisterial revelation of China's premodern scientific and technological traditions introduces medicine. Five essays are included by Joseph Needham and Lu Gwei-djen, edited and expanded upon by the editor, Nathan Sivin. The essays offer broad and readable accounts of medicine in culture, including hygiene and preventive medicine, forensic medicine and immunology.Professor Sivin's extensive introduction discusses these essays, placing them in their historical and medical context, and surveys recent medical discoveries from China, Japan, Europe and the United States. ... Read more

Book Description

This brilliant work of social history reveals the hidden impact of syphilis on many of history's famous figures--from Wilde to Hitler to Abraham Lincoln--and its influence on the culture they created.

Was Beethoven experiencing syphilitic euphoria when he composed "Ode to Joy"? Did van Gogh paint "Crows Over the Wheatfield" in a fit of diseased madness right before he shot himself?

Was syphilis a stowaway on Columbus's return voyage to Europe? The answers to these provocative questions are likely "yes," claims Deborah Hayden in this riveting investigation of the effects of the "Pox" on the lives and works of world figures from the fifteenth through the twentieth centuries. Writing with remarkable insight and narrative flair, Hayden argues that biographers and historians have vastly underestimated the influence of what Thomas Mann called "this exhilarating yet wasting disease." Shrouded in secrecy, syphilis was accompanied by wild euphoria and suicidal depression, megalomania and paranoia, profoundly affecting sufferers' worldview, their sexual behavior and personality, and, of course, their art. Deeply informed and courageously argued, Pox has already been heralded as a major contribution to our understanding of genius, madness, and creativity. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

genuinely interesting and well-researched, if unfocused
PERSPECTIVE: physician with interest in infectious diseases

Ms. Hayden's thesis here is an interesting one - not only did syphilis afflict many well-known historical figures, but its late-stage effects on the mind (as she terms it, "syphilitic euphoria") contributed to the creative zenith of authors and aritists, as well as shaping the lives and deeds of the powerful and influential. The first section of the book deals with the historical origins (and controversies) surrounding the origins of syphilis outbreaks in the late 1400's, as well as a reasonably adequate lay description of the disease. The main section deals with several figures from the 19th and 20th century, including well-known composers, philosophers, authors, artists, and political figures, none of whom have been confirmed to have syphilis, but suspected of such to greater or lesser degrees. In each case, she makes an argument for their infection and its effect on their lives and work, based on available historical documents, medical records, etc... The final sections include brief paragraphs discussing confirmed famous syphilitics, a list of general clues the author used in analyzing each case, and a reproduction of a 1926 case study on a patient.

Overall, the novel is flows well, and is easy and entertaining to read. Ms. Hayden's research is extensive and well-documented, and while she is not formally medically trained, she has certainly pored over medical texts from previous centuries up to today in order to educate herself and her readers.

Despite this, there are several issues of note. The "syphilitic euphoria" as a genesis for works of genius, medically, seems a bit of a strech in both its existance (as she characterizes it) and influence. It seems as though she loses her focus at some point - while earlier chapters, such as those on Schubert and Nietzsche, seem goal-oriented towards proving the presence of the infection, and its role in their work, other chapters (Lincoln and Hitler, notably) seem more like meandering discussions that, while interesting, ultimately come to no real conclusion as to the role of the disease. Additionally, while she seems convinced herself that each subject indeed had syphilis, and she works to makes a good case for each, some of her leaps of fact and logic seem a bit long. Ms. Hayden does occasionally make factual medical errors when discussing certain symptoms and their associations. Along those lines, she seems much more comfortable discussing such facts in the less precise medical terminology of "days gone by" than in present-day terms - this may be rooted in both her supposition that modern physicians know nothing of true end-stage syphilis (because we've been able to treat the infection early, successfully, with antibiotics for many decades, although how she can read the same old syphilis texts that physicians can, and be better than them at its diagnosis is a bit of a mystery to me) and that less-specific terminology allows her to make her cases better. The last sections also strike me as "fluff," of mild interest only.

FINAL WORD: The above quibbles aside, there is a lot to enjoy here, especially given Ms. Hayden's excellent historical research and entertaining writing style. A worthwhile read, but keep in mind that a lot of the author's conjectures are just that - conjectures. Buy it, check it out from the library, or buy it and donate it to your local library.

Best Book on a Hidden Disease
I am a medical doctor and long-term student of VD in American history. Ms. Hayden has succeeded in a difficult task: writing convincingly about a medical subject when she is not a medical person. She enlisted help from the best of the best, such as my old professor Dr. Eugene Farber, and learned well from their teachings.

Without retrospective blood tests, it is impossible to PROVE that a person before 1900 had syphilis, but the combined wisdom of generations of doctors can give us reasonable certainty, and this Ms. Hayden has given us.

Some reviewer has asserted that Beethoven could not have had syphilis, because he wrote great music. (Perhaps logic and epistemology are no longer taught in our schools.)

I give thumbs up to this book for breaking new ground in an informative and thoroughly researched way.

Best on causes of death
This is a very medical, military, and philosophical book about the pox. Much of the text is concerned with what doctors knew at certain points between 1492, when a large number of men who traveled with Christopher Columbus (who died in 1506) started raging epidemics of various diseases on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and 1948, when Adolf Hitler's doctors died. The cause of death of everyone mentioned in the book is not included, but one of the doctors responsible for the information in the Military Intelligence Service Center Report, "Hitler as Seen by His Doctors," "Brandt was executed on 2 June 1948 at Landsberg prison for his role in Hitler's euthanasia program." (p. 290). The form of poetic justice involved in any consideration of the pox is similar to a poem of the early Greek general Archilochus, selection 184 in 7 GREEKS/ TRANSLATIONS BY GUY DAVENPORT, p. 55:

In the hospitality of war
We left them their dead
As a gift to remember us by.

In 1495, the French army of 18,000 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers for Charles VIII, king of France, took Naples, defended by Spanish troops and some women who came with them from Spain, but the people "expelled Charles within a week. . . . Poor Charles was the first of many monarchs to fall prey to the disease. Charles died of apoplexy three years later, at age twenty-eight, after hitting his head against the frame of a low door." (p. 13). Spanish "soldiers expelled the women, who were cheerfully accepted by the French soldiers--an early example of germ warfare." (p. 14).

Hitler's heartbeat, heard through a stethoscope, had an extra musical note due to aortic weakness. In 1875, a British army surgeon "found that about two-thirds of the records of fifty-three cases of rupturing aortic aneurysm had a previous history of syphilis." (p. 34). Beethoven, (pp. 71-88), Schubert (pp. 89-96), and Schumann (pp. 97-111), then Hugo Wolf (1860-1903) whose "agonized tone" could be traced "to his infection," (p. 314) get credit for setting the vibrations of their nerves to music.

Nietzsche, with a case that is well documented on pages 172-199 of this book, is the key philosopher for understanding the psychic link which bind the subjects of this book. Jaspers and Jung are mentioned a few times, but Hayden can look directly at his work for evidence that "He thought of a future time when his work would be understood and appreciated. In all these things we see a parallel with van Gogh during that same year. Pure creative inspiration, mental illness, or paretic disinhibition: whatever the combination, the result in each case was astonishing." (p. 199).

Many doctors knew what Nietzsche was suffering from, even if his mother and sister didn't know (p. 181) what he admitted when he was taken to "the nerve clinic of Dr. Wille, an expert on general paralysis of the insane," (p. 174) in Basel in January, 1889. Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) was the rare author who told people, "I've got the Pox!" (pp. 142, 144). His story, "Bed Number 29" is summarized on page 145 of this book. The victim in the story "was infected by the invading Prussians, but she got her revenge by passing her disease on to as many soldiers as possible. . . . she boasts that her score of deaths is greater than his." Deborah Hayden has done a tremendous amount of correlation of the information relating to the years from 1492 to 1948, but the psychic roots of much that she found is all too common, even though spirochetes did not provide a basis for the modern understanding of syphilis until they were discovered in 1905.

Recently in Science magazine (17 July 1998) the complete genome sequence of Treponema pallidum, the syphilis spirochete, was revealed to have 1,138,006 coding pairs containing 1,041 predicted coding sequences (Hayden, p. 26) but we still don't know everything. "Existing diagnostic tests are less than optimal. Even after treatment with penic