Book Description

The dean of business historians continues his masterful chronicle of the transforming revolutions of the twentieth century begun in Inventing the Electronic Century.

Alfred Chandler argues that only with consistent attention to research and development and an emphasis on long-term corporate strategies could firms remain successful over time. He details these processes for nearly every major chemical and pharmaceutical firm, demonstrating why some companies forged ahead while others failed.

By the end of World War II, the chemical and pharmaceutical industries were transformed by the commercializing of new learning, the petrochemical and the antibiotic revolutions. But by the 1970s, chemical science was no longer providing the new learning necessary to commercialize more products, although new directions flourished in the pharmaceutical industries. In the 1980s, major drug companies, including Eli Lilly, Merck, and Schering Plough, commercialized the first biotechnology products, and as the twenty-first century began, the infrastructure of this biotechnology revolution was comparable to that of the second industrial revolution just before World War I and the information revolution of the 1960s. Shaping the Industrial Century is a major contribution to our understanding of the most dynamic industries of the modern era.

Book Description

Medicine has always had its historians; but until recently it was a history written by and for practitioners.Charles Rosenberg has been one of the key figures in recent decades in opening up the history of medicine beyond parochial concerns and instead viewing medicine in the rich currents of intellectual and social change of the past two centuries.This book brings together for the first time in one place many of Professor Rosenberg's most important essays.The first two sections of essays, focusing on ideas and institutions, are meant at the same time to underline interactions between these realms.The essays treat such topics as therapeutics and its relationship to social change in the nineteenth century; the practice of medicine in New York a century ago; and the rise and fall of the dispensary.The third section of the book focuses on the attempt to use history as a resource for discussion of a medical world that often seems out of control and in a semi-permanent crisis, economic, organizational, and humane.The essays discuss themes that have become visible to the public--deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill and the status of psychiatry; the hospital as a social and economic problem; and the social negotiations surrounding AIDS.Charles Rosenberg is the Janice and Julian Bers Professor of the History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author, most recently, of the widely acclaimed book, The Care of Strangers: The Rise of America's Hospital System (1987).He has served as president of the Society for the Social History of Medicine and is currently the president of the American Association for the History of Medicine. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Attempted Balance in the History of American Homeopathy
We are greatly interested in our health, and are eager to spend huge sums of money on pills to improve it (though we are less eager, it seems, to change our habits of diet and exercise).If there was ever a need to fill, as in "Find a need and fill it," medical treatment holds enormous potential for enriching practitioners.This has always been true, and has been true before medicine was on a strong scientific basis, and is true for "alternative" treatments that have no scientific basis.These days, there is standard medical practice, the usual thing that graduates of medical schools are engaged in, and there are many alternatives: acupuncture, chiropractic, herbal remedies, naturopathy, aromatherapy, and many more.Alternative medicine, to the disgust of many doctors and skeptics, has gotten some official level of approval; there's the Office of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the National Institutes of Health, and financial approval shown by coverage from many insurance companies.Among the most famous of such therapies is homeopathy, so it is timely to read _Copeland's Cure: Homeopathy and the War between Conventional and Alternative Medicine_ (Knopf) by Natalie Robins.It is mostly a biography of Royal Samuel Copeland, a homeopath, conventional doctor, eye surgeon, Health Commissioner of New York City, and U.S. Senator, but Copeland's constant efforts for his beloved homeopathy encompassed the practice's heyday.The controversies he battled are the same ones that alternative medicines are experiencing today, making Robins's detailed look at Copeland's life useful background for current clashes.

Robins starts with a history of homeopathy, which was invented in 1796 by the German doctor Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann, who was horrified by the high doses of medicine that doctors used at the time.He developed a system of curing by giving highly dilute solutions of medicines, so that only the tiniest amount, or even no amount, of the original drug remained in solution.Copeland, born in 1868, took up homeopathy, was president of the American Institute for Homeopathy, and translated his leadership into the civic arena, always promoting homeopathic treatments without shouting that he was doing so.He was busy promoting homeopathy during the time when medicine really did become scientific and really made cures such as those with penicillin, while homeopathic schools folded.He had frequent battles with the American Medical Association.Copeland died in 1938; he probably simply worked himself to death.

Robins says that she has tried to give both sides of the argument about homeopathy, but admits that "scientific proof is only a distant possibility."Homeopathic claims include that water not only has a memory for teensy amounts of solutes, but that such a memory can be captured, digitized, and sent over the internet to be instilled into another water sample.The claims cannot make logical, scientific sense; if such tiny (even to the point of nonexistence) amounts of chemicals change the water somehow, then think how much even distilled water must change as soon as it touches glass or is exposed to air.Nonetheless, Robins profiles two modern homeopaths at the end of her book, each of whom are convinced not only that homeopathy works but that science will show it to do so.Even so, they have to speak warily of scientific investigations; one admits, for instance, that there was a study for homeopathy for premenstrual symptoms, showing homeopathy improved them, "...but the number of patients was small and the methodological quality was poor."Another says that a cure that is "more spiritual" will work better.Homeopathy does have at least one thing to teach conventional doctors: patients report that they are happy with the amount of time the homeopathic provider spends with them.This is surely no small matter in producing the sort of satisfaction in patients that homeopaths prize.If the homeopaths are going to make extraordinary claims, like memory in water, they can only expect that conventional doctors would like to see some extraordinary evidence that this is so, or at least robust and replicable studies showing real cures.Homeopathy either makes a difference or it doesn't, and clinical tests will show one way or the other, unless excuses are made that they cannot test such things as the "spirituality" of the treatment.Even one of the modern homeopaths profiled here agrees with the editors of the _New England Journal of Medicine_ "...who wrote that there is not alternative and conventional medicine, there is just good and bad medicine."The bustling, energetic, platitudinous, and self-serving Royal Copeland revealed in these entertaining pages would certainly agree; but evidence that homeopathy goes into the "good medicine" category is lacking.
... Read more

Book Description

Norman Gevitz focuses on the philosophy, teaching, and practice of osteopathy, as well as its impact on the medical community. He describes the theories underlying the use of spinal manipulation developed by osteopathy's founder, Andrew Taylor Still; traces the movement's early success despite heated opposition from the orthodox medical community; details the internal struggles to broaden osteopathy's scope to include the full range of pharmaceuticals and surgery; recounts the efforts of osteopathic colleges to achieve parity with institutions granting M.D. degrees; and looks at the continuing effort by its practitioners to achieve greater recognition and visibility. Gevitz also examines such significant events as the formation of the American Osteopathic Association and teh amalgamation of California D.O.'s with the orthodox medical establishment in the early 1960s. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

History you will need
I bought the book in order to be prepared for my med school interview but never got it quite read. I found out upon my arrival at school in the fall that the book was a required read for my History of Osteopathic Medicine course. The book is a great resource to make a person more familiar with an ever growing branch of medicine; that there isn't just a world of MD's. And who knows, maybe it will get you a bit ahead of the game for your first class in your Osteopathic medical school :o)

Thorough
As chairperson of the social medicine department at Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Norman Gevitz knows firsthand the details of ostepathy. This book is a thorough, well-written review of osteopathic medicine's climb into the medical arena; originating from the depths of the mind of its founder, Andrew Taylor Still in the late 1800's, into the growing profession of the 1980's. Unfortunately, however, it does not cover the growth and expansion of osteopathy in the last twenty years of the 20th century. It does explain, though, the legal and social struggles that osteopathy survived in its first 90 years. Gevitz also does a wonderful job explaining what ostopathy is and how it evolved from a holistic, drug-free approach to medical care into an alternative, legally licensed medical practice. I highly recommend this book for osteopathic medical school applicants. It is also an excellent book for those interested in the history and sociology of medicine in the United States.

the best
This book offers an extensive review of the history of osteopathy. It also illustrates this medicines important role in the world, as well as its future direction and how this philosophy views the patient.

Historical
Good history of Osteopathy from 1828 to late 1970s, but the modern osteopathic techniques are not mentioned (book was published in 1982..so a lot is missing in this recent time period). Otherwise a good thorough history.

Great for DO applicants!!
I read this book cover to cover before applying to osteopathic medical school and believe that it made a big difference in getting admitted. I was able to comprehensively discuss osteopathic principles and practice and critically evaluate decisions that the osteopathic profession has made along the way. The book is well researched (I think that it is based on Dr. Gevitz's dissertation) and historically accurate. ... Read more

Book Description

InBioethics in America, Tina Stevens challenges the view that the origins of the bioethics movement can be found in the 1960s, a decade mounting challenges to all variety of authority. Instead, Stevens sees bioethics as one more product of a "centuries-long cultural legacy of American ambivalence toward progress," and she finds its modern roots in the responsible science movement that emerged following detonation of the atomic bomb.

Rather than challenging authority, she says, the bioethics movement was an aid to authority, in that it allowed medical doctors and researchers to proceed on course while bioethicists managed public fears about medicine's new technologies. That is, the public was reassured by bioethical oversight of biomedicine; in reality, however, bioethicists belonged to the same mainstream that produced the doctors and researchers whom the bioethicists were guiding.

Book Description

Biomechanics applies the principles and rigor of engineering to the mechanical properties of living systems. This book integrates the classic fields of mechanics--statics, dynamics, and strength of materials--using examples from biology and medicine. Fundamentals of Biomechanics is excellent forteaching either undergraduates in biomedical engineering programs or health care professionals studying biomechanics at the graduate level. Extensively revised from a successful first edition, the book features a wealth of clear illustrations, numerous worked examples, and many problem sets. The book provides the quantitative perspective missing from more descriptive texts, without requiring an advanced background in mathematics. It will be welcomed for use in courses such as biomechanics and orthopedics, rehabilitation and industrial engineering, and occupational or sports medicine. ... Read more

Book Description

Psychiatry and psychology, including psychoanalysis, have exercised enormous cultural and scientific influence in our century, and an important part of the growth of these fields has been their attempt to construct accounts of their own disciplinary pasts. Yet these accounts, which form the collective memory of the psychiatric profession, have varied greatly. In fact, the history of psychiatry has emerged as one of the most rapidly-growing and controversy-ridden areas of commentary in recent years. This book brings together twenty studies by a cast of eminent authors--physicians, social scientists, and humanists from Europe and North America--who explore the many complex interpretive and ideological dimensions of history writing about the psychological sciences. It includes chapters on the history of the asylum, Freud biography, anti-psychiatry in the United States and abroad, feminist interpretations of psychiatry's past, and historical accounts of Nazism and psychotherapy, as well as discussions of many individual historical figures and movements. This book represents the first attempt to study comprehensively the multiple mythologies that have grown up around the history of madness and the origin, functions, and validity of these myths in our psychological century. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Not a general nutrition book.
This highly technical medical text provides an outstanding explanation of the nutritional needs of patients with renal disease. The chapter on calcium and phosphorus homeostasis is particularly well written. Because the writers assume the reader has a fundamental understanding of physiology and pathology of the kidney, this book is has limited usefulness for the casual reader. It is most valuable for medical professionals treating patients with renal disease or the medical student who hopes to get maximum benefit from a nephrology rotation. ... Read more

Book Description

Batzing's MICROBIOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTION offers a new approach in introductory microbiology, with an emphasis on teaching effectively the important concepts of the course without a strict focus on memorization. Pedagogical material, such as concept maps and flow diagrams, is carefully integrated throughout to enhance understanding and gives students a visual representation of difficult topics. The final portion of the text follows a portal of entry, or route of transmission organization, with material presented around the method by which microbes enter the host's body. ... Read more

Book Description

"A tour de force--the finest work on the history of psychiatry since Ellenberger's The Discovery of the Unconscious."--Edward Shorter, University of TorontoDavid Healy follows his widely praised study, The Antidepressant Era, with an even more ambitious and dramatic story: the discovery and development of antipsychotic medication. Healy argues that the discovery of chlorpromazine (more generally known as Thorazine) is as significant in the history of medicine as the discovery of penicillin, reminding readers of the worldwide prevalence of insanity within living memory.But Healy tells not of the triumph of science but of a stream of fruitful accidents, of technological discovery leading neuroscientific research, of fierce professional competition and the backlash of the antipsychiatry movement of the 1960s. A chemical treatment was developed for one purpose, and as long as some theoretical rationale could be found, doctors administered it to the insane patients in their care to see if it would help. Sometimes it did, dramatically. Why these treatments worked, Healy argues provocatively, was, and often still is, a mystery. Nonetheless, such discoveries made and unmade academic reputations and inspired intense politicking for the Nobel Prize.Once pharmaceutical companies recognized the commercial potential of antipsychotic medications, financial as well as clinical pressures drove the development of ever more aggressively marketed medications. With verve and immense learning, Healy tells a story with surprising implications in a book that will become the leading scholarly work on its compelling subject. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Disappointing
In this history of psychopharmacology, Healy attempts to trace the development of psychopharmacological agents; to describe their use in the context of changing views of mental illness; and ultimately to conceptualize our society as one that has been restructured by it's interaction with modern psychopharmacology. From the discovery of dyes through chlorpromazine to the SSRI's, from Rousseau and the Enlightenment through Pinel and Freud to Mismanaged Care - it's all here.

The current state of affairs in American psychiatry is indeed deplorable. The drug companies reign supreme. Intensive marketing by these companies, the rise of managed care and the domination of the DSM are all factors in the creation of our drug nation. As medications have become the only acceptable solution for the ever expanding population of people with diagnoses, any chance of a real human encounter between doctor and patient has been crushed, to be replaced with a two part ritual : the Handing Out of the Prescription and the Filling of the Paperwork. Biobabble has transplanted thought, both in professional circles and in the public sphere - thought about the psychological and sociological underpinnings of suffering; thought about the ethical aspects of treatment; and perhaps most significantly, biobabble has obscured thought about medications themselves - what we really know about their effects, what they were created for and in which circumstances would it be of benefit to use them. We are sorely in need of people who are able to bring thinking back into psychiatry. One way to do this would be to shed light on the way the bio-dictatorship has come into being - to detail the shifts in perception of illness and well-being that have occurred over time and to place these in the context of larger social transformations; to detail what role medications played in this - both as cause and as effect; to show the intrapsychic and interpersonal dynamics of the persons involved; to explain how economic agendas influenced the course of events. Details, clear and accurate chains of events - these are what would be needed. There is nothing quite as illuminating as a detailed and accurate description of historical events from which a new understanding of the present arises on it's own, on the strength of the evidence.

I am very sorry to say that this book does nothing of the kind. The writing is characterized by leaps from point A to point Z. How Healy got there remains unexplained. Diagnoses are used in a manner that is confusing and will be unfamiliar to most readers. When details are present, they are too dry. So-and-so worked with so-and-so from March to April and then left for hospital X in May. Not much is given by way of interesting personal dynamics. It made for quite boring reading. The biggest failing of the book is that, in the end, it is all so muddled it is almost incoherent.

I suspect that Healy was attempting a Grand Unified Theory of the World as a Psychopharmacological Creation. I think he tried to encompass too much, was lax in explaining and connecting the dots, and ended up with a collection of bland rhetorical statements that explain nothing.

This saddens me because when it comes to the history of psychopharmacology, Healy is probably the single most knowledgeable person around. Though he does not, to my knowledge, engage in basic research, he has interviewed all the major psychopharmacologists who were involved in discovery and research, something no one else has done. In addition, he is a practicing psychiatrist and is well aquainted with current diagnoses and treatment. He has also had very real life struggles with the drug industry that exemplify the force unleashed by these powers against people who attempt to challenge their dogma.

I would very much look forward to another book by Healy. Perhaps a smaller portion of this could be rewritten and edited with more care, so that the progression from statement to statement would be outlined in a logical manner that readers could follow. Perhaps more attention to details could lead to the grand conclusions that would then leap up from the pages on their own accord.

most objective, nuanced history of psychopharmaceuticals
David Healy is probably the top historian of psychopharmacology in the last three years. He tells the story of the use of neuroleptics in treating schizophrenia that shows how the interests of certain parties (ie pharmaceutical companies and psychiatrists desperate to do something about horrendous and overcrowded conditions in state mental hospitcals) came to define the nature of psychopharmaceuticals and even the nature of schizophrenia - a pretty vaguely-defined illness - itself. Somehow, chlorpromazine went from being looked at as pretty similar as lobotomy, insulin therapy, or many of the other treatments previously used for schizophrenia, in the early 1950s, to being a magic bullet, saving schizophrenics from a lifetime of insanity without side effects, which is simply not the case.

As the previous reviewer notes, Healy seems to give short shrift to some evidence. However, Healy's coming from the perspective of a historian of science - a discipline that tends to begin with a critical analysis and without starting from the viewpoint that science is king, but the viewpoint of a skeptic. To use the example of the previous reviewer, Healy's point when e talks about the withdrawal symptoms of SSRI's is partially to note that, when we talk about mental illness and that fuzzy boundary between the mental and the physical, there's a lot of flexibility in where that boundary is placed in the mind of the public. The concept of withdrawal itself *is* a very fluid, unscientific one: why some classes of drugs are considered to exhibit withdrawal effects while others dont is a highly politicized question - one whose answer lies more on the side of special interests and the state of american politics than real scientific evidence.

one more note: the other major history of psychopharmacology to date is judith swazey's 1974 "chlorpromazine in psychiatry: a revolution in innovation." if you read swazey's book you can see why a critical history of psychopharmacology was desperately needed. this book balances the picture and serves as an excellent introduction to the history of psychopharmacology without being overly optimistic about medicine and progress.

Where's The Beef?
Hopefully without offending vegetarians, my question about this book is...where's the beef? The Creation of Psychopharmacology is filled with claims which the author, David Healy, appears to believe the reader will be sufficiently knowledgeable to take at face value. But it is the claims themselves - and evidence for and against their accuracy - which presumably should be at the heart of this book. For example, at p. 170, the author states that when "SSRI withdrawal was shown to exist in the late 1990s, the medical establishment denied that SSRIs could be addictive." Nevertheless, the author reports, by the time millions were taking SSRIs, "users faced the prospect of inadvertantly being hooked." What does any of this mean? "SSRI withdrawal" presumably means withdrawing from using SSRIs just as a politician might consider withdrawing from an election campaign. If the author means SSRI withdrawal SYMPTOMS or CONSEQUENCES were shown to exist, then the part about the late 1990s is weird. Consequences exist when the use of ANY drug, perhaps any medication, is terminated. One did not have to wait for the 1990s. If you withdraw from using a nasal spray, you may have a rebound effect. If you stop drinking coffee cold turkey, you may experience withdrawal symptoms. So too with SSRIs, the use of which should not be abruptly terminated, as it says on the little plastic bottle. This is news? If the author means that in the late 1990s, it was discovered that SSRIs cause "dependence," then we might reasonably expect to be told what that means. Millions "depend" on SSRIs to cope with depression. Uh...okay. That sounds good, not bad. Something you can finally depend on! But if the author means "dependence" as in "addiction," then where's the proof? Xanax is "fiercely addictive," as Peter Kramer says, in Listening to Prozac. But the author of The Creation of Psychopharmacology offers NO evidence at all that SSRIs are "addictive" in the sense that Valium or Heroin are addictive. When is the last time you were mugged by someone desperate for money to buy Zoloft? So here you have a book by a psychiatrist who testifies on SSRIs and suicide in federal court, a book published by Harvard Univ. Press with one blurb on the back, by the noted historian Edward Shorter, which makes the extraordinary claim that millions risk "inadvertantly" (they take the medication by accident? they are being lied to by the 'medical establishment'?) becoming "hooked" (shooting Celexa with a needle?)or addicted to SSRIs without providing any proof for this claim other than the suggestion that when you stop using an SSRI, presumably gradually as advised by your physician, you may feel different than when you were taking the medication? You feel different when you stop taking aspirin for headaches (more pain in the head region) or stop eating so much ice cream and other dairy products (e.g., less congestion). Surely there must be more to addiction, being inadvertantly hooked, than this. Perhaps Harvard Univ. Press or even David Healy could straighten us out as to why this book skims along the surface, taking ever so much for granted, while supplying oh so little research. Bald statements may be enough for the historian, Professor Shorter, or even a lay person jury in a civil trial, but serious readers have a right to expext more...don't we? ... Read more

Amazon.com

Hot on the heels of an optimistic film about Nobelist John Nash's schizophrenic journey comes medical journalist Robert Whitaker's disturbing exposé of the cruel and corrupt business of treating mental illness in America. Mad in America begins by surveying three centuries of mental health treatments to discover why positive outcomes for schizophrenics in the U.S. for the last 25 years have decreased--making them lower than those in developing countries. Whitaker asks, "Why should living in a country with such rich resources and advanced medical treatments for disorders of every kind, be so toxic to those who are severely mentally ill?"

One of Whitaker's answers draws upon the historic and current assumptions of a physical cause for schizophrenia. This resulted in cruel and unusual physical treatments--from ice-water immersion and bloodletting to the more contemporary electroshock, lobotomy, and drug therapies with dangerous side effects. This physical cause model leads to Whitaker's more provocative explanation: that mental illness has become a profit center. He offers disturbing details about how good business for drug companies makes for bad medicine in treating schizophrenia. From drug companies skewing their studies and patient/subjects kept in the dark about experiments to the cozy relationship between the American Psychiatric Association and drug companies, Whitaker underlines the mistreatment of the mentally ill. This courageous and compelling book succeeds as both a history of our attitudes toward mental illness and a manifesto for changing them. --Barbara Mackoff ... Read more

Reviews (44)

shocking expose of psychiatry
Robert Whitaker has written a readable, well-documented, and disturbing book about the arrogant and sometimes monstrous behavior of American psychiatrists towards those they label as schizophrenic. He reveals that psychiatrists, desperate to show the biological basis of mental illness and thus establish their profession as a truly medical one, have since 1750 to the present distorted and covered up research, ignored risks, and abused helpless patients.

Whitaker spends the first half of the book relating the earlier history of dehumanizing psychiatric treatments in gruesome detail. He starts with the 18th and 19th centuries, when patients were nearly drowned, spun in chairs to the point of collapse, or had their teeth or intestines removed. He continues through the first half of the 20th century, when the American eugenics movement motivated the sterilization of tens of thousands and inspired Hitler, neurologist Walter Freeman drove around the country with ice picks giving lobotomies through eye sockets, and shock therapies caused convulsions so severe that teeth, jaws, and even spines were often fractured.

While the history of psychiatry, at least until 1950, is known to some, telling it lays the groundwork for Whitaker's thesis: that nothing has changed except the technology. The science it still bad, the treatment still abusive, the lying to the public and patients still egregious. Based in part on his own research, Whitaker documents the dark facts behind the past 50 years of treating patients with what are supposed to be antipsychotic medications- known in the profession as neuroleptics-from Thorazine to Clozaril and beyond.

He makes the case that these drugs are often no more than chemical lobotomies. He debunks the myth that neuroleptics normalize brain chemistry, because no chemical imbalance is known to cause schizophrenia; instead they damage brain chemistry. While he acknowledges that some patients find them relieving, they cause many to feel like zombies or worse-these drugs were used by the Soviet Union to torture dissidents. They can exacerbate symptoms, make relapses more likely and more severe, and can trigger violence. They can cause a chronic psychiatric condition when recovery is otherwise possible, disabling and sometimes permanent neurological side effects, and death. In order to test pet theories, psychiatrists have experimented on unsuspecting and deliberately misled patients by making their psychoses much worse. Drug companies have conspired with doctors to cover up risks and incompetent research. The World Health Organization has shown that you stand a far better chance of recovering from schizophrenia in a developing country like Nigeria or India, where neuroleptics are rarely given, than in America or Europe.

This book is a painful reminder that psychiatrists don't have a special handle on psychological problems, and their hubris can come at great cost to others.

Mad in America: A Daring Critique of Psychiatry
Journalist Robert Whitaker does his profession proud in this well-researched, insightful, courageous, and critical book. He dares to ask the question that few in the profession of psychiatry dare to ask: why are the cure rates for schizophrenia so low in America, the most well-developed country in the world?

In the first part of the book, Whitaker provides the reader with a sound history of the brutal and horrifiying practices of American psychiatry (with the exception of the brief "moral treatment" movement in the 19th century). Thus he is able to show that today's psychiatry has not progressed all that much towards healing the suffering of the mentally ill. In fact, psychiatry may be exacerbating suffering in the name of "good science." As Whitaker points out, we don't have to look far in the past for historical precedents for such misguided treatment--the Eugenics movement of the early part of the 20th century, which he documents in detail, is a prime example.

As Whitaker shows, mental patients today may not be seen "lower animals" as they were in the 18th century, but they are now treated as "diseases," not as suffering human beings who may have insight into the causes of their suffering.

In the second half of the book, Whitaker does an especially powerful job of pointing out the damaging effects of neuroleptics--euphemized as "antipsychotics"--which often cause "symptoms" of "worsening mental illness." He shows that once an individual is diagnosed with a mental illness such as schizophrenia, he is likely to remain a drugged, disempowered mental patient for the rest of his life.

I cannot recommend this book enough to both laypeople and mental health professionals who are concerned with the drugging of America, and want to understand how such a sorry state of affairs has come about.

Psychiatry needs to rebut this point for point
I am surprised how many negative reviews claim that this book is sloppy, unscientific, romantic, biased. To these reviewers I say: let biopsychiatry rebut the allegations of this book point for point, and we'll see who is sloppy, romantic, unscientific, biased. Biopsychiatry has tons of money - the drug companies spend over 20 billion dollars a year on promotion. If they truly want to correct the "misinformation" in this book (and others, like David Healy's new book, Let them Eat Prozac), they have the money to try.

If the books of Whitaker and others are as dangerous and misleading as biopsychiatry claims, one would think they'd be eager to rebut them fact for fact. But they do not. Professionals and the public need to demand an end to the evasion.

The expose psychiatry has needed for years
As a psychiatrist since 1947, I cannot praise sufficiently Robert Whitaker's superb expose of how my specialty's intoxication with drugs has destroyed its ability to help its patients. He describes the fraudulence .of the entire psychopharmaceutical revolution, and exposes hidden facts, such as the worsenng treatment results in schizophrenia, the most serious mental disorder, and how those who have recovered from thse disorders did so for the most part without drugs. It is unfortunate .that drug-company-influenced professionals have prevented this important book from getting the major publication reviews which it certainly desrves....

A disturbing book from a second-class "reporter"
The author clearly demonstrates his own biases and betrays the supposedly objectivity against which a good reporter's work should be judged. Thus, Mr. Whitaker demonstrates himself to be a second-class reporter. The book is based on nothing more than poorly-researched and outdated materials. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

A Very Valuable Book About Obesity and Its Treatment
This book is a necessary resource for anyone who wishes the latest and most reliable information about obesity and weight loss approaches.Both editors are internationally acclaimed researchers and clinicians who combine scientific expertise and clinical experience.They have assembled a stellar cast of contributors who are very prominent and knowledgeable in their particular fields.The scope of coverage is exhaustive; in this one volume the reader can access up-to-date information on all aspects of obesity and its treatment, at levels ranging from the gene to the globe.At the same time the book is anything but exhausting, with skillfully edited chapters that are tight and very readable.

After more than 20 years of clinical work and research in weight loss and obesity, I am increasingly humbled by how much we don't know.I am also increasingly overwhelmed by the explosion of new information.This book is a comprehensive collection of summaries of what we now know in all of the many different fields of research and practice that address weight and weight loss.Anyone with an interest in obesity and weight loss, whether professional, student, or curious and serious layperson, will find this volume to be a real gem.

Patrick M. O'Neil, Ph.D.
Director, Weight Management Center
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Medical University of South Carolina ... Read more

Book Description

Protein, and the amino acids of which it is composed, is an important part of athletes' diets, and the subject of a great deal of discussion and controversy. Amino Acids and Protein for the Athlete-The Anabolic Edge is the first single volume devoted to this important topic. In addition to basic information about protein and amino acids, this very timely book describes the anabolic effects of high-protein diets, the values of different food proteins, the differences among various protein foods, the advantages of specific proteins, processes to maximize the value of protein, and the biological and pharmacological effects of certain amino acids.A world-caliber athlete for two decades, Dr. Di Pasquale has won the World Championship and dozens of national and international competitions, including the World Games, Pan American Games, North American Championships, and Canadian Championships, all in the game of powerlifting. Written by this recognized expert on sports nutrition, the book will appeal to both sports professionals who need to maximize strength and endurance and weekend warriors who want to understand the science behind the role of amino acids and protein in athletic performance. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Wow! Just What I Was Looking For.
This is a terrific book. Yes, it's technical, but if you managed to get through moderately advanced High School science courses, or if you hacked college, don't sweat it, you'll get it. Di Pasquale--an M.D.--gives much in-depth, detailed information on the metabolism, physiological effects of, and potential for excercise enhancement of amino acids, proteins, and their effect on body hormones. Di Pasquale knows that the reader wants to apply the information to athletic performance. He talks about both anaerobic and aerobic excercise, but since he is a former powerlifting champion, he zeroes in on anaerobic excercise (e.g., bodybuilding, powerlifting), which is very refreshing. You also get summary detail toward the end of the book that gives sample supplement doses and critical timing of dosing to maximize results. Di Pasquale also weighs in on other non-amino acid supplements that affect anabolism (or purport to) such as Pyruvate, HMB, etc. (There's no info on steroids, so forget about that.) Overall a terrific advance for bodybuilders and worth it if you want to get away from all the hype and zero in on some science. This book is for the thinking bodybuider. Naturals, in particular, have much to gain.

Excellent information
This book, while a bit technical, is not beyond the understanding of anyone with even the slightest knowledge of nutrition. It is comprehensive, well documented, and offers a total explanation about how protein and amino acids interact with exercise to promote muscular development. It is the best book on the subject in current existence.

A mediocre book without a Phd in the sciences
This book had good points and bad points.some of the information contained was applicable for self educated bodybuilders but unfortunately for the most part their was a plethora of technical information that is difficult to comprehend.I have the upmost admiration for mauro di pasquale but i feel this book was written with medical practitioners in mind and not average bodybuilders

A Must Read For All Athletes Wanting That Extra Edge
Not just what to take but how and when to take it. You must learn when and how to take supplements for them to benifit you. ... Read more

Book Description

Looking for an industry with a potent and promising future? Consider the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Turn to this WetFeet Insider Guide for the latest forces driving these industries a run-down of opportunities available profiles oftop-ranked companies profiles of nine people currently working in these industries information on the recruiting process and specific tips for landing a job. ... Read more

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Book Description

Integrating Population Outcomes, Biological Mechanisms and Research Methods in the Study of Human Milk and Lactation is the product of the 10th Conference of the International Society for Research on Human Milk and Lactation, held on September 15--19, 2000, in Tucson, Arizona. The presented sessions at the meeting are as diverse as the volume itself. These sessions include the impact of micronutrient deficiencies during lactation on maternal and infant health, the premature infant, developmental immunology, breastfeeding in the industrialized world, and viral transmission in milk. Whenever possible, the sessions were organized to include human population research, research showing the biological underpinnings of the effects on human health, and important methodological issues. This volume is a contemporary and influential tool for human milk biologists, breastfeeding epidemiologists, biochemists, immunologists, clinical specialists,and all professionals and researchers in the field. ... Read more

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Provides over 7 weeks of simple, inexpensive, healthy meals and smoothies to replace the empty calories routinely ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Super Foods for Super Kids
I loved it! It has good information about fun, healthy meals for kids. I would recommend this book to mothers of young children to help establish good eating habits.

religious cook book with lame recipes
this cookbook cloaks its religosity under the guise of healthy eating, and is full of comments on god's way. additionally, it gives "recipes" such as the one for "quick vegetarian chili," the ingredients for which are: "1 can vegetarian chili" -- PATHETIC! i was insulted by this book, which told me nothing i didn't already know about nutrition, didn't have any good recipes, and was evangelical. an honest and proud author would advertize her wares more transparently, and say that she has found health through god, allowing readers and potential patrons to buy into her beliefs or not. this book is inexpensive, but not even worth its price. if i not been on the road when the book arrived (and thereby missed the deadline to return it), i would have asked for my money back. now i'll just have to throw it out. ... Read more

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This is the book which elevated the spleen and stomach to pivotal importance in the theory and practice of tcm. However, it also introduced the concept of yin fire, perhaps the most important concept in understanding complicated internal diseases and their systemic ramifications. Li’s formulas are treasure troves for those dealing with autoimmune and immune deficiency diseases. This book will help clinicians solve many thorny problems in practice ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Notes by the master of supplementing-earth
The Pi Wei Lun, or Spleen-Stomach Treatise, is the magnum opus of Li Gao, styled Li Dong-yuan, one of the four great masters of Chinese medicine during the Jin and Yuan dynasties. Li was the founder of the bu tu pai, or supplementing-earth school of medical thought, which continues to exert a profound influence on modern Chinese herbal medicine; many standard herbal prescriptions used in teaching and in practice were first recorded or devised by Li Gao. In the Pi Wei Lun, Li outlines both the classical and practical foundations of this school.

One of the most fascinating portions of the Pi Wei Lun is Li's commentaries on earlier classic works, including the Nei Jing, Nan Jing, and the works of Zhang Ji (Zhang Zhong-jing). Indeed, by revealing his thoughts on these sources, he makes it clear that the importance of spleen-stomach theory had been realized well in advance of the Jin and Yuan. It was, however, the Chinese medical "renaissance" of that period that recapitulated so much of what had earlier been said on the subject and advanced it as an integrated basis for the practice of internal medicine.

Li's writing is not straightforward or systematic. Rather, the Pi Wei Lun is a collection of notes and essays on spleen-stomach theory. Although many example prescriptions are listed, relatively little is offered by way of explanation. As in many historical works on the subject of Chinese medicine, it is assumed that the reader is both astute and very learned. The translators thoughtfully included many footnotes and glosses for the benefit of modern readers, but even these assume a level of proficiency at least commensurate with professional practice. It is a book to be lived with, as opposed to merely read. Nevertheless, for its information on composing prescriptions, the variations of treatment through the seasons, comments on classical references to spleen-stomach issues, food damage, "yin fire," and clinical applications, the Pi Wei Lun is essential reading. ... Read more

Book Description

It was not long ago that scientists proclaimed victory over polio, the dread disease of the 1950s. More recently polio resurfaced, not conquered at all, spreading across the countries of Africa. As we once again face the specter of this disease, along with other killers like AIDS and SARS, this powerful book reminds us of the personal cost, the cultural implications, and the historical significance of one of modern humanity's deadliest biological enemies. In Polio and Its Aftermath Marc Shell, himself a victim of polio, offers an inspired analysis of the disease. Part memoir, part cultural criticism and history, part meditation on the meaning of disease, Shell's work combines the understanding of a medical researcher with the sensitivity of a literary critic. He deftly draws a detailed yet broad picture of the lived experience of a crippling disease as it makes it way into every facet of human existence.

Polio and Its Aftermath conveys the widespread panic that struck as the disease swept the world in the mid-fifties. It captures an atmosphere in which polio vied with the Cold War as the greatest cause of unrest in North America--and in which a strange and often debilitating uncertainty was one of the disease's salient but least treatable symptoms. Polio particularly afflicted the young, and Shell explores what this meant to families and communities. And he reveals why, in spite of the worldwide relief that greeted Jonas Salk's vaccine as a miracle of modern science, we have much more to fear from polio now than we know.

Book Description

At the temple of Kom Ombo near Aswan, an enigmatic frieze depicts the deified pharaoh Imhotep receiving a set of elaborate implements, some of which strikingly resemble modern surgical instruments: side by side with eye-of-Horus amulets one finds what surely must be forceps. Evidence of the medical practice of ancient Egypt has come down to us not only in pictorial art but also in papyrus scrolls, in funerary inscriptions, and in the mummified bodies of ancient Egyptians themselves.

Bruno Halioua and Bernard Ziskind provide a comprehensive account of pharaonic medicine that is illuminated by what modern science has discovered about the lives (and deaths) of people from all walks of life--farmers, fishermen, miners, soldiers, scribes and priests, embalmers, construction workers, bakers, prostitutes. From mummies and medical papyri we are able to recognize the aches of osteoarthritis, imagine the occupational hazards faced by press-ganged stonemasons, and learn of the gynecological complaints of courtesans. In presenting these stories Halioua and Ziskind throw light on some of the most enduring questions about life and death in antiquity: about physicians whose skills predate Hippocrates by twenty-five centuries and were first made famous by Homer; about the remedies and techniques they employed, at once strange and strangely familiar; about the men, women, and children they treated; and about the diseases and injuries they were called upon to heal.