EDITOR'S NOTE: For a comprehensive library resource that brings the best general and academic reference sites together in one place, go to:
www.libraryspot.com
These following recommendations speak to books with strong reference or professional content and each have high value to both collegiate and public libraries alike.
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED. PARKINSON’S DISEASE. Thomas Foltynie, Simon Lewis, Roger A. Barker. Churchill Livingstone. Your Questions Answered is a fledgling series of handbooks published by Churchill Livingstone, offering clear, concise and thorough commentary on the diagnosis, treatment and management of a variety of illnesses. Your Questions Answered is a true breakthrough in health science publishing, for these are books that come with a dual purpose -- meant for both the medical professional and the general reader alike. These books, written in an effortless question and answer format, educate by answering typical patient questions, reducing answers to the basics -- here, the point is to educate and not to lecture (similar in purpose and scope to the Mayo Clinic’s Family Healthbook). Parkinson’s, written by Foltynie, Lewis and Barker (each esteemed clinicians from the UK), explores this debilitating disease that causes the body to shake and stiffen as the individual slowly wastes and crumbles, withering away. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of this phenomenon and investigates various treatment options. Also examines diagnostic methods which would be of great benefit to the general practitioner who might be incurring difficulty with a patient in the initial stages of illness. Parkinson’s Disease is an extremely important installment in the Your Questions Answered series, for this affliction is one the most serious health problems that presently confront our nation. Along with cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s is a terribly expensive malady to treat, with patients often ending up in resthomes as the disease worsens. Is America prepared to deal with the impact this will have on the Medicare system and on long-term care insurance companies? If your family member does not have long-term care insurance and cannot afford a resthome, will you be able to provide suitable care? Before these questions can be considered, one must first understand the perimeters of the problem. And this book gives us that starting point -- informative and insightful, written in a clear, concise and logical style. Includes an extremely useful section on support and information services available to those with Parkinson’s. Subtle differences between UK and American spelling and a few awkward passages (again due to language clash) do not impact the over-all value of this book.
Would be a useful addition to all high school, university and public libraries illuminating a condition that will begin to affect more and more people as baby-boomers reach retirement age. Also highly recommended for pharmacies that sell reference manuals on health and fitness subjects. Others in the series include studies on hypertension, diabetes and allergy (to be examined in future editions of The Electric Review).
Order from Amazon.com; or go to www.yourquestionsanswered.co.uk
INTERNAL MEDICINE CLERKSHIP GUIDE. Doug Paauw; Mary Migeon; and Lisanne Burkholder. Mosby Publishers. Released in December 2002, this pocket manual is aimed at providing direction to advanced medial students rotating through clerkship positions in internal medicine. More than anything, Clerkship is a practical guide meant to help medical students become aware of themselves as they learn to assess how their skill levels compare to the demands of practicing medicine. Clerkship is comprised of three primary sections, with the most valuable passages of text outlining the qualifications, skills and procedural knowledge the young doctor must possess in order to complete a rotation assignment. Sections two and three offer discussion/presentations meant to test student understanding of symptom identification and diagnosis. However, the real value of Clerkship is in the material that sets out typical problems young doctors fall prey to, further taking steps to demonstrate solutions to these problems - a comprehensive attempt at mitigating some of the anxiety that medical students endure. Also included are usual questions that students are asked on rounds, as well as “practice cases” which allow students to directly apply their knowledge, preparing them for future clinical examination.
The Internal Medicine Clerkship Guide is an important contribution to the study of medicine. With this handbook, Paauw (University of Washington), Migeon (University of Washington) and Burkholder (University of California, San Francisco) have created a practical teaching tool meant to help medical students successfully complete their courses of study. Keep in mind that doctors a century ago didn’t have guides like this to refer to; instead, their educational careers were products of trial and error. Fortunately, times have changed dramatically. Accordingly, today’s medical students should take full advantage of all the resources and tools available to them, for manuals such as this can certainly lessen the stress of studying medicine. Recommended for all medical students; also an imperative health reference text for all medical school libraries and for university libraries that support biology/nursing/healthscience departments.
Order from Amazon.com, or go to www.elsevier.com
PocketRadiologist: BREAST. Robyn L. Birdwell, Elizabeth Morris, Shih-chang Wang and Brett T. Parkinson. W.B. Saunders. The Pocketradiologist series is formatted for doctors and advanced medical students. These manuals provide data and direction on the 100 most important diagnoses in a given radiologic discipline. This installment in the series illuminates diseases of the breast and offers insight on how to recognize and identify the diseases that afflict this region of the anatomy. The diagnostic data provided is in-depth, as the physician is presented with example images/illustrations and key facts that allow him to immediately confirm the existence or absence of tissue abnormalities. Breast is further enhanced by thorough analysis on how a doctor can readily address pathologic issues - a huge factor in the early detection and treatment of breast cancer cases. Moreover, Birdwell, Morris, Chang and Parkinson write in a clear and compact style, building summaries that act as thumbnail ‘lectures’ on how doctors should address the question of breast disease. Detailed and well-edited, with expert use of graphics. Other editions in the series include guides on the brain, spine, head/neck and abdomen. Highly recommended for all medical school libraries as a general reference text. Also would be a sound choice for a classroom text in med school radiology departments. Further recommended for the general practitioner and the radiologist as a quick office reference. In addition, medical students would benefit from referring to this series to familiarize themselves with the art of clinical diagnosis.
Purchase at Amazon.com, or go to www.pocketradiologist.com
Go to Rat on Fiction for other health related coverage.
RELIGION
THE CONTINUUM HISTORY OF APOCALYPTICISM. Edited by Bernard McGinn, John J. Collins and Stephen J. Stein. Continuum. This fine selection just released by Continuum condenses the 1,500 page Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism published in 1998. This volume does a fine job of tracing the origins of Apocalypticism from the ancient world through modern times. “Apocalypticism,” a term which refers to a time when the world will end and God will judge his children, is the foundational idea behind Christianity (as well as Judaism and the Islamic faiths). Further, it is the true driving force behind the element of conscience and man’s understanding of the concepts of good and evil:
“Like the proclamations of John the Baptist, Cyprian’s letters to Bishop Lucius of Rome in 252 say that the sufferings of church leaders all over the empire simply make it clear that Christ is coming soon to confirm his faithful ones in joy. All these passages reveal how, in Cyprian’s hands, the imagery of the apocalyptic tradition - taken very much at face value - has become a powerful means of pastoral encouragement as well as a key to finding deeper meaning in the troubles of his time.” (Brian E. Daley; pages 229 & 230)
Given recent world events (the terrorist bombings in New York City and Washington DC in September 2001, the Iraq War in 2003), we can see how the belief that life is about to end propels human behavior. Those responsible for crashing the planes into the World Trade Center towers saluted God as they embarked on a journey that culminated in acts of savagery and barbarism. It may be hard to fathom, but these terrorists didn’t think that they were dying, but instead believed they were moving into a state of heavenly bliss, far beyond the mouth of the apocalypse.
Confused and dumbfounded on why things are happening? Well, it all comes down to how people interpret faith and their personal relationships with God, about how they fit into the holy mysteries of existence. Accordingly, the Continuum History sets out to explain the genesis of these ideas. In nursing this project to completion, the editors have done a magnificent job in synthesizing a vast amount of material and editing very complex essays, tying the book together in a seamless and, ultimately, a profound way. However, many will find that the tone of the writing is overly scholarly -- a style that is likely not to appeal to the general reader. Instead, this is a book for students of religion who are curious to understand the reasons why Man has developed in the manner in which he has. Would be an appropriate text at the University level in Theology or Religions of The World courses. Invaluable reference text for all libraries in the Religion and Spirituality sections.
To order go to amazon.com
