Editorial Review

The Emperor of All Maladies is a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer—from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it to a radical new understanding of its essence. Physician, researcher, and award-winning science writer, Siddhartha Mukherjee examines cancer with a cellular biologist’s precision, a historian’s perspective, and a biographer’s passion. The result is an astonishingly lucid and eloquent chronicle of a disease humans have lived with—and perished from—for more than five thousand years. The story of cancer is a story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance, but also of hubris, paternalism, and misperception. Mukherjee recounts centuries of discoveries, setbacks, victories, and deaths, told through the eyes of his predecessors and peers, training their wits against an infinitely resourceful adversary that, just three decades ago, was thought to be easily vanquished in an all-out “war against cancer.” The book reads like a literary thriller with cancer as the protagonist. From the Persian Queen Atossa, whose Greek slave cut off her malignant breast, to the nineteenth-century recipients of primitive radiation and chemotherapy to Mukherjee’s own leukemia patient, Carla, The Emperor of All Maladies is about the people who have soldiered through fiercely demanding regimens in order to survive—and to increase our understanding of this iconic disease. Riveting, urgent, and surprising, The Emperor of All Maladies provides a fascinating glimpse into the future of cancer treatments. It is an illuminating book that provides hope and clarity to those seeking to demystify cancer. ... Read more

Reviews

OFF THE CHARTS
You remember the scene in the film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"? From the top of the bluff looking into the distance at dusk, Butch sees the lights of the pursuing posse which doesn't stop tracking them even at night and says "How many are following us? They're beginning to get on my nerves. Who are those guys?" In the same threatening way cancers have been dogging human beings since the dawn of time, and although we now know quite a lot about cancer we still don't really know "who are those guys" or how to shake them. And they sure are "beginning to get on our nerves" as Butch said. Almost one out of four of us will eventually wrestle with cancer -- the defining illness of our generation -- and lose our lives in the process. Until it catches up with us most of us will try to ignore this fact, just as when we were very young children alone in our bedroom trying to go to sleep at night we tried to ignore the monster that we sometimes feared might be lurking in our bedroom closet.

Enter oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee who almost parentally takes us by the hand to give us the courage to open with him the door to that dark and foreboding closet in order to see what is really lurking inside. Since eventually most of us are going to have to wrestle with this monster anyway -- either as a victim or as a loved one of a victim -- looking intelligently and closely into that dark closet does diminish fear and enhance wise perspective. And on this incredible journey into the depths of that darkness, what an absolutely marvelous guide is this modern day Virgil called Siddharta Mukherjee as he leads us on this long and often harrowing journey through the swarth that cancer has cut through mankind throughout time.

Mukherjee is a veritable kaleidoscope. Turn his writing one way and you experience him as an exciting writer of page-turning detective stories or mystery stories; turn him another and he's a highly effective communicator of cellular biology; turn him a third and you get superb science writing; turn him a fourth and he has the grandeur and broad sweep of an excellent historian. It's hard to believe that this one book, combining all of these appealing characteristics, is the work of just one man. And underlying it all is his sterling medical training and credentials which have been enumerated often elsewhere.

The book itself is a tour de force. It is the first book of such extraordinary scope regarding cancer. Its architectural structure brings to mind Melville's Moby Dick and how effectively and artfully Melville braided together the three strands of his great classic: a grand adventure story, the technology of whaling, and a treatise of humanity and philosophy. Equally effectively does Mukherjee weave together all the various facets of this iconic disease throughout history, from describing cancer from the patient's perspective, to viewing the never ending battles of physicians and medical researchers with cancer over the centuries, to examining the mysteries of the cellular nature of cancer itself and what really goes on in there, to the pro and con impact of this never ending plague on the spirit of the individual human and on our race as a whole, to peering into a crystal ball for a glance of cancer's and our future together. While doing all of this the alchemy of Mukherjee's writing continually turns science into poetry and poetry into science.

Simply put, it is so good, and so incandescently clear and lucid, and so powerful, and so engrossing, and so easily consumed that you will not lay it down without someone or circumstances forcing you to.

Had I read this book in my teens I would have found my life's career. I can only imagine that while you are reading this book, somewhere there will be some very young teenage girl or boy who will also be reading it at the same time you are, and who will become totally hooked by this book just as you will be, and who will go on to make a career in cancer research, a career that might provide the breakthrough that humanity has been searching and hoping for all of these many centuries. Thus although you will never know it, you will have "been there" at the initial motivation of that person and thus indirectly present at the earliest genesis of the eventual great idea.

This book has THAT potential. It is THAT good.

Kenneth E. MacWilliams

The Burden, The Mass, Onkos
In the United States one in three women and one in two men will develop cancer in their lifetime. Dr Siddhartha Mukherjee, a medical oncologist, has written a definitive history of cancer. It may be one of the best medical books I have read. Complex but simple in terms of understanding. A timeline of a disease and those who waged the wars. In 1600 BC the first case of probable breast cancer was documented. In the thousands of years since, the Greek word, 'onkos', meaning mass or burden, has become the disease of our time. Cancer. The title of the book, is "a quote from a 19Th century physician" Dr Mukherjee had found inscribed in a library book that "cancer is the emperor of all maladies, the king of our terrors".

As a health care professional and as a woman who is six years post breast cancer, Cancer has played a big part in my life. I used to walk by the Oncology clinic, and quicken my pace. I used to give chemotherapy to my patients, before it was discovered that the chemo was so toxic that it needed to be made under sterile conditions and given by professionals who specialized in Oncology. Dr Mukherjee, wisely discusses cancer in the context of patients, those of us who suffer. After all it is because of the patients, the people who have gone before us, who have contracted some form of cancer, they are the base of this science.

Dr Mukherjee started his immersion in cancer medicine at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. He relates the beginning of the study of ALL, Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, by Dr Sidney Farber in 1947. Dr Farber, a pathologist at the time decided to change his focus and start caring for patients. He was given a medication to trial for ALL, and though most of his patients died, some survived to remission. This opened his world and with the help of Mary Lasker, and Charles E Dana, philanthropists, they opened one of the first clinics that specialized in cancer care and research, The Dana Farber Cancer Center. Dr Mukherjee gives us the timeline of ALL and lymphomas and the medications that turned into chemotherapy. The development of specific care for blood cancers and the emergence of AIDS and patient activism. He discusses the surgery for breast cancer. It was thought that the more radical the surgery the better the outcomes. We now know that lumpectomies have an excellent outcome. But, women before me had a radical removal of breast, chest tissue, lymph nodes and sometimes ribs. The lesson learned is that breast cancer is very curable now and all those men and women, the patients who suffered, gave us the answers and cancer care has moved on.

The onslaught of chemotherapies changed the face of cancer, and the 1970's served us well. In 1986 the first outcomes of cancer care were measured. Tobacco emerged as an addiction and soon lung cancer was a leading cause of death. Presidential Commissions ensued, politics entered the world of cancer, the war against cancer and the war against smoking. The Pap smear was developed, and prevention came to the fore. The two sides of cancer, the researchers and the physicians at the bedside, who often thought never the twain shall meet, recognized the importance of research to bedside.

The story of the boy 'Jimmy' from New Sweden, Maine, became the face of childhood cancer. The Jimmy Fund, a Boston Red Sox charity in Boston, is still going strong today. 'Jimmy' opened the door to the public for the need for money and research, and care for those with cancer. We follow Dr Mukherjee with one of his first patients, Carla, from her diagnosis through her treatment. He has given a face to cancer. We all know someone with cancer, those who survived and those who did not. Cancer prevention is now the wave of the future.

"Cancer is and may always be part of the burden we carry with us," says Dr Mukherjee. He has now written a "biography of cancer" for us, those without special medical knowledge. However, he does go astray in some discussions such as genetics. I have an excellent medical background, and found I was floundering at times. As I discovered,and Dr. Mukherjee agrees, our patients are our heroes. They/we withstand the horrors of cancer, and the horrific, sometimes deadly treatments. The stories of his patients make us weep, and the complex decision making about their care make him the most caring of physicians.

The 'quest for the cure' is the basis of all science and research, and Dr Mukherjee has written a superb tome in language that we can all attempt to understand. The biography of Cancer. Cancer may always be with us,Dr Mukherjee hopes that we outwit this devil and survive.


Highly Recommended. prisrob 11-13-10

Jimmy Fund of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, The (MA) (Images of America)

Early Detection: Women, Cancer, and Awareness Campaigns in the Twentieth-Century United States

The Everyman Book of Cancer
The brilliance of this book is the effortlessness with which the author draws the reader into the world of cancer and keeps him there as a tourist or witness. Dr. Mukherjee's engaging style, precision of prose and overwhelming compassion imbue this work with an energy that carries the reader along a ride like none other.

Whether the reader is a basic scientist or sociologist, a patient or healthcare provider, a philosopher or philanderer, this book will appeal, entertain and educate.

A remarkable achievement.

"Cancer was an all-consuming presence in our lives."
Siddhartha Mukherjee's monumental "The Emperor of All Maladies" meticulously outlines the trajectory of cancer (derived from the Greek word "karkinos," meaning crab) over thousands of years, starting in ancient Egypt. In 2010, seven million people around the world will die of cancer. Many have experienced the horrors of this disease through personal experience. The author provides us with a global view of this "shape-shifting entity [that is] imbued with such metaphorical and political potency that it is often described as the definitive plague of our generation."

In "The Emperor of All Maladies," we meet a variety of patients, doctors, scientists, and activists. We also hear the voices of such iconic figures as Susan Sontag, author of "Illness as Metaphor," and Alexander Solzhenitsyn, whose "Cancer Ward" is a desolate and isolating "medical gulag." Cancer is such a complex subject that it can only be understood by examining it in all of its facets: through myths, the anguish of its victims, and the untiring efforts of its adversaries, both past and present, some of whom were well-meaning but horribly misguided. Mukherjee says in his author's note that he has made an effort to be "simple but not simplistic." In this he has succeeded.

Ancient physicians thought that such invisible forces as "miasmas" and "bad humors" caused cancers. Many years of experimentation, studies of human anatomy, laboratory work, and clinical trials have shown cancer to be a "pathology of excess" that originates from the uncontrolled growth of a single cell. Cancer is "unleashed by mutations--changes in DNA that specifically affect genes that incite unlimited cell growth." What treatment to use--surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, or a combination of these approaches--is rarely an easy decision. Equally significant are the efforts of public health officials, who seek to reduce cancer's mortality through early detection (mammography and colonoscopy, among others, are screening methods in use today). In addition, cancer may be prevented by encouraging people to avoid environmental carcinogens such as cigarette smoke.

This elegant and heartrending narrative is far more than a biography of a terrible malady. It is also a story of paternalism, arrogance, and false hope, as well as inventiveness, determination, and inspiration. We meet Sidney Farber, who pioneered a chemotherapeutic approach to leukemia in children during the 1940's and helped launch "the Jimmy Fund"; William Halstead who, in the nineteenth century, disfigured women with radical mastectomies that, in many cases, were not curative; Paul Ehrlich, who discovered a "magic bullet" to combat syphilis from a derivative of chemical dyes; Mary Lasker, a powerful businesswoman and socialite who zealously raised money and political awareness in what would become a national war on cancer; and George Papanicolaou, a Greek cytologist, whose Pap smear "changed the spectrum of cervical cancer." Mukherjee constantly moves back and forth in time, showing how the past and the present are closely interconnected.

Throughout the book, Dr. Mukherjee's keeps returning to one of his patients, thirty-six year old Carla Long. In 2004, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells. Carla would have a long road ahead of her, one filled with pain, fear, and uncertainty. We look to the future with cautious optimism that even greater progress will be made in our never-ending battle against a treacherous and multi-pronged enemy. Mukherjee is a brilliant oncologist, gifted writer, scrupulous researcher, and spellbinding storyteller. "The Emperor of All Maladies" is a riveting, thought-provoking, and enlightening work that deserves to become an instant classic.

All In favor say "Aye"
There seems little left to say so I'll take a different tack, look to another facet of this book and its author.

Today I heard Dr. Mukherjee interviewed on the Terry Gross show (Fresh Air - NPR), where the topic, the book, was biased in favor of the author ... and a wonderful treat it was. While I am interested in cancer and progress toward cure, the fascinating aspect of today's experience was the man himself. In all the interviews of all the interviewers I've listened in on - mostly literary in nature - I've never heard a more articulate responder than Mukherjee. He's a poet. His choice of words slice in toward meaning like the scalpel itself. He avoids vagueness and ambiguity, courts acuracy and precsion like no one I've heard. He is a treat just to listen to, never mind his insights into the disease, it's history and possible future.

I ordered this book today in order to get more of his artistry but I wouldn't discourage those seeking the phycician's prowess - that is there too. If I should be in that 25% that ends up with cancer, I would hope Dr. Mukherjee would be there to consult with me and console.

As magentic as a biography can be
As a work of scholarship, this book is just tremendous. Mukherjee traces the history of our understanding of cancer from 2500 BC to present-day. He writes of political battles for public attention, incredible wiles in the biology of the disease, and schisms among the researchers sent to conquer it. All major developments are present and sourced in sixty pages of footnotes. From this grand historical scope, Mukherjee has crafted a tight and coherent narrative that I found very difficult to put down. I'm aware of no lay-account of cancer with anything approaching the level of depth present here. This book is one-of-a-kind.

Like anything so vast, it isn't quite perfect. Certain structural changes would benefit fluency, though they've no impact on my unqualified recommendation.

* More humanizing characteristics and quotations. Smaller researchers, and occasionally even key players, are summed by little more than what they've accomplished. There are perhaps a hundred contributors that Mukherjee covers, but with exception to a handful that have had tens of pages devoted to them or some peculiar eccentricity, they're interchangeable and unmemorable.

* A more even balance between discovery and those stricken by cancer. Mukherjee is at his best when he's describing the struggles of his own patients. These stories are touching, personal, and an intensely interesting ground-level foil to the bird's eye view of much of the book. The retrospective of cancer discovery is so vast and detailed that these rare moments where the story reverts to the present can feel like an oasis.

Roughly half of The Emperor is comprised of five and ten-page vignettes where Mukherjee poses a question ("If XY, then could XYZ ... ?") and resolves it with the travails of a researcher ("Person Q, a scientist at H, noticed ..."). These accounts are often gripping, especially as advances accelerate in the mid-1980s, but sets of four or five in a series are enough to cause my attention to drift.

* A different ending. In the final chapters, Mukherjee suggests he'd originally intended to conclude with the death of a particular patient. By serendipity, that patient was still living in late 2009. Given the great strides in cancer survival and the sense he conveys that genetics may well provide the magic bullets that so occupied the fantasies of early researchers, concluding on a high note would have been within the spirit of the book. Instead, Mukherjee describes another patient that did in fact die. This person was not previously introduced. She was a better fit for the narrative, but including her account for that purpose didn't strike the right tone to me.

Structure aside, I'd like to have seen Mukherjee become more of a prognosticator in later chapters. I was reeling at the sheer mass of information on display by the last page, but I also felt as if I'd accumulated a great depth of trivia with little binding glue to the present. There probably aren't a hundred people alive in a better position than the author to comment on the state of cancer research, to predict, or to theorize in new directions. But these insights are spare.

These points aside, if you've even a tangential interest in cancer or biology, Mukherjee's opus remains a must-read.

Spectacular insight into the most feared of all diseases
This is a spectacular book. I read 100 books a year and this is definitely in the top 10. It is very, very well written and, in some ways, it is like a mystery. The way the book is written, we follow the stream of research and clinical medical treatment over 150 years. It's like feeling around in the dark for a bomb that we know will go off. It is simultaneously horrifying and compelling. I am a doctor and think I am compassionate towards my patients. This book increased my compassion 10X. What surprised me the most was the politics involved in attempting to cure a disease that potentially affects everyone. Surgeons want to cut and oncologists want to drug. They each have their turf and don't want to give it up. The fact that 50% of all men and 33% of all women will get some form of cancer before they die is a very sobering one. The section on the evilness of the tobacco industry was particularly illuminating. I can't put the book down and will truly be sad when it is finished.

Fantastic insight into the science behind medical research
Great book, I will read it again. I love learning and understanding the thought processes, errors and vast achievements of all aspects of scientific research, particularly medicine. This book does not disappoint. The author leans somewhat heavily on his thesaurus, be prepared to dig around in the dictionary. However, great history and insight into the scientific method. A fascinating peek into the mind of a scientist and a clinician. Must read.

The New Standard for Cancer Stories
It is difficult to even imagine the stacks of reports, articles, notes and interviews that Dr. Mukherjee processed to produce this fabulous book. Each page explains, in very readable prose, complex, arcane subjects. For anyone looking for reason to hope that their cancer is curable, this book is trove of stories of lives saved and changed by the work of cancer researchers.
This book will be referenced in other works for a long time. ... Read more

Editorial Review

“An engaging and compelling read that illustrates how the new brain science can help us understand elements of our basic humanity.”

–Zindel Segal, Author of The Mindful Way through Depression and  Cameron Wilson Chair in Depression Studies at the University of Toronto and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

“Miriam Boleyn-Fitzgerald has given us a remarkably clear and engaging account of the ways that the new brain imaging technologies can give us deep insights into our gravest maladies. Her conclusion, that healing may often lie with us, joins science with the wisdom of the ages.”

–Jonathan D. Moreno, Author of Mind Wars, David and Lyn Silfen University Professor, and Professor of Medical Ethics and of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania

Who are we?

What’s going on inside us when we think, feel, hope, or imagine?

Can we change?

Can we become happier, smarter, healthier, more altruistic–better?

For thousands of years, people have wondered about questions like these. Now, using the latest brain scanning technologies, neuroscientists can watch your brain at work–and they’re amazed by what they’re seeing. Now, you can see it, too. Pictures of the Mind presents the images that are revolutionizing neuroscience and offers you a personal tour of the frontiers of brain research.

You’ll discover why scientists are becoming increasingly excited about your brain’s abilities to keep growing, learning, changing, and healing, all through life. You’ll follow cutting-edge researchers as they blaze new trails toward potential cures for everything from depression to dementia and brain injury to addiction. And you’ll preview what could become the greatest scientific revolution of all: the one that finally explains mind, emotion, and consciousness.

Reviews

Full of surprises about how the brain works, and inspiration for the brain's potential, March 12, 2010
In this book, scientist Miriam Boleyn-Fitzgerald reports the latest on fMRI scanners and what they reveal to neuroscientists. The brain, once thought to be fixed and locked in after a certain age, is now known to be plastic and to regenerate. This neuroplasticity can give us great hope for people with injuries, addictions, memory problems, etc.

The journey begins with a British woman who was thought to be in a PVS (persistent vegetative state) but found to be conscious the entire time, but unable to communicate. The book highlights cases of various states, such as a young athlete who had everything a young man could want until after a tragic accident. He has since been left in LIS (locked-in syndrome). People have conceptions that such people would want to die, but most of them find something to live for and ways to communicate, even if just by blinking.

Moral dilemmas appear as we learn more about the brain. For example, one part of the brain rules morality and how we rationalize our moral decisions. Can we really hold accountable someone whose brain is different than the norm, thus leading to a crime? We are on the verge of being able to wipe out painful memories. Should we erase memories that ruin the lives of people with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder)? Or would we abuse that as drug companies encourage us to expand the definition of PTSD to include bad relationships? (Think of the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, in which this happened!) How could people learn from their pain, gaining empathy, if every painful memory were eradicated?

Another chapter informs us on where addiction takes place in the brain. People who have had this part damaged (the insula) have been able to stop smoking cigarettes effortlessly! The book discusses how crystal meth damages the brain; yet the brain is able, given time, to repair itself to a great extent.

The book is full of surprises about the brain. For example, in one person, whose corpus callosum has been totally severed, there is no connection harmonizing the left and right brains. One researcher asked such people if they believed in God. The right brain would say "yes" but the left brain (analytical part) would say "no." The scientist performing the experiment noted that one hemisphere of the brain is an atheist, while the other is a believer, and this finding should have shaken the theological community to the core. "If this person dies, what happens? Does one hemisphere go to heaven and the other go to hell?"

The author saves the best for last: The last chapter deals with the mystical parts of the brain (the temporal lobes; people with seizures have all kinds of mystical experiences); the brain on meditation; the sense of merging with the cosmos and there being no separate self. We are shown how the power of simply paying attention to the breath affects the brain, and virtually all religions have noticed that.

This book leaves you with hope and inspiration that, whether you are brain damaged or healthy, you have the ability and potential to do more and go further.

Pictures of the Mind: a combination of neurology, psychology, and a how-to on happiness, February 10, 2010
I actually found this book randomly in the Kindle store while looking for books about Anne Boleyn, and decided to buy it on a whim due to a growing interest in neurology.

I'm glad I did.

This book taught me about the amazing possibilities and future of fMRI, but I also learned about just how important living in the present, as well as compassion and empathy, are to happiness.

As someone who suffers from extreme anxiety, i am deeply appreciative of the lessons I learned in this book. I have been walking down the crowded, stressful streets of San Francisco sending mental messages of "May you be free of suffering and all that causes it" towards strangers that usually scare me, and have found that love defeats all fear.

Thank you for writing this book and sharing your research with me. I can not express in words just how much it has helped free me from suffering, and may you be free of all suffering as well.

Fascinating!, November 26, 2010
This book describes in very readable terms, the basic findings of recent research of the mind using fMRI imaging. Have you ever known someone that suffers (or has suffered) from anxiety disorders, coma, traumatic brain injuries? You need to look at this book! I picked it up on a whim and am so glad I did! This book does not give the "answers" but it explores research regarding the minds of "normal" people, those with Alzheimers, the aging mind, convicted criminals, teenagers, victims of traumatic brain injuries, etc. Absolutely fascinating and very informative! You will never look at people (especially "annoying" or "scary" people) the same after you read this!

Early review, not finished yet., December 14, 2010
I have not finished this yet but still would like to recommend it for anyone having
interest in the working of the brain and the latest technology and findings.
There are also suggestions such as a meditation technique that I have tried and find
effectual. I look forward to reading more.
It is in plain english and very easy to understand. It explains the technology and
findings in a way very easy to understand for a lay person. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Trigger point therapy is one of the most intriguing and fastest-growing bodywork styles in the world. Medical doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists, and massage therapists are all beginning to use this technique to relieve formerly undiagnosable muscle and joint pain—conditions that studies have shown to be the cause of nearly 25 percent of all doctor visits. The technique involves applying short, repeated massage strokes to trigger points, tiny contraction knots in muscle tissue where restricted circulation and lack of oxygen cause referred pain. Trigger points create pain throughout the body in predictable patterns characteristic to each muscle, producing discomfort ranging from mild to severe. Trigger point massage increases circulation and oxygenation in the area and often produces instant relief. This dynamic technique has made a huge impact among health professionals and the public alike, becoming an overnight classic in the field of pain relief. The book has sold over 220,000 copies since the release of the first edition in 2001. The second edition is a complete update and includes a new chapter specifically for massage professionals, as well as a chapter on systematic muscle relaxation techniques that can reinforce the therapeutic power of trigger point work. ... Read more

Reviews

Excellent Book (not Quackery), January 27, 2004
I was really worried that this book might have been a standard new-age, make-a-buck, quack title. Thank goodness that turned out to be a groundless worry. This is an excellent book (with medical references) that does a very good job of helping you get rid of pain. I had hurt my lower back by performing the arduous task of putting on my underwear. The doctors and physical therapist couldn't really come up with a reason for it. After a month, it still wasn't getting any better. Searching the web gave me references to this book. Within three days of reading it and poking around in my UPPER (not LOWER) back, my thighs, and my abdomen, the pain has faded to just a reminder. I'm still not able to bend and reach like I used to. But, I'm exercising and stretching again, so hopefully that'll change. Best of all, it no longer hurts just to SIT (or lie down or stand, for that matter). After showing my wife that her lower body has just about every active trigger point known, she's also reading the book and working on her points. Hopefully, her pain will reduce in a couple of days, too.

The only reason I gave this book four stars instead of five is that it's kind of hard to find and reference ALL the trigger points associated with a specfic pain FOR THE FIRST TIME. The book does have a diagram for pain locations at the start of each chapter. But, in many cases, the pain will be caused by multiple trigger points in multiple body locations. It takes quite a bit of paging through the book to figure out what you're supposed to do. Once you figure it out, though, the book is great. Of course, in the author's defense, I can't come up with a better organization method outside of having some kind of software with an anatomical display using hyperlinks.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book if you suffer from any kind of chronic pain. Even if your doctor has pronounced judgement that he/she knows what's causing things, try this book. As the author says, trigger point therapy should be the first course of treatment: it's easy and cheap.

SAVED MY LIFE, November 15, 2005
After a full year of severe dysfunction of my right hand, arm, and particularly my right thumb THE TRIGGER POINT THERAPY WORKBOOK revealed to me the astonishing fact that most of my trouble was being caused by 'trigger points' in the scalene muscles of my neck and also in the area above my clavicle. What could I do about it? Simply massage them away - within half an hour of hitting the correct locations my right thumb (and hand and arm) seemed to heal by about 60%! The rest of the healing took maybe 3 more weeks of finding these things and methodically deactivating them.

Other muscles besides the scalene were involved and Clair Davies had them all referenced in the back of the book under "thumb". This is the case for any body part you may need help with, it is all very accessible and easy to find. Needless to say, this book was a miracle in my life - providing a simple solution to a debilitating problem that seemingly did not HAVE any solution (no doctor, acupuncturist, or even most up-to-date-book on repetitive strain injuries seemed to hit upon this stunning information). I went from abject misery to basically playing this strange video game of hunting out and zapping away all these trigger points hidden in my muscles.

I found this book fairly late in the healing process, and so it's important to note that another book, IT'S NOT CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME! helped me immensely with all of the problems I had that did NOT include trigger points - I would even say that my left side (arm, hand) had healed already by studying what I found in that book alone. But the trigger points were the missing piece.

I want to thank the reviewer who suggested getting the book spiral-bound at kinko's so it will lie flat and xeroxing the cover so you can pass it out to everyone you know without lending it (I gave my first copy away but discovered I need the book on an ongoing basis).

I discovered that the book actually has its own website, which you can find by searching 'trigger points' on google. I suggest reading ALL about the book there yourself, and if you think it might help you ordering from amazon because it is cheaper. Even once you have the book, the website makes the info. very accessible.

At a certain point, I started to dot the hard-to-find trigger points on my skin with a marker. It may look bizarre but they can be hard to keep track of and you want to get all of them.

DON'T OVERLOOK THE SECTION ON PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION, even if massaging trigger points seems to be enough to cure you.

The scalene trigger points can be HARD to find. At first I found them easily, but months later my symptoms came back and after 2 weeks of despair I found a terrible trigger point that was almost completely hidden in the scalene, I could only reach it after hitting the muscle at a particular angle.

Underline as you go along! Here and there he mentions areas of referred pain that are NOT depicted in the illustration.

Very relevant pages I xeroxed and taped to the wall.

Again, SOME aspects of Repetitive Strain Injury are not brought about by trigger points, so everyone w/computer related injuries needs to look at IT'S NOT CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME! by Suparna Damany and Jack Bellis and also the books by Emil Pascarelli. If you have REAL nerve damage, trigger point therapy may ease some of your discomfort but it won't resolve the problem.

Those with back problems might want to look into John Sarno's MINDBODY PRESCRIPTION. Maybe even those w/out back problems - however this recommendation is based on other people's experiences not my own.

Other books I used: Conquering Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (by Sharon Butler & also her online book about DeQuervain's of the thumb), Your Body's Many Cries for Water, Tendon & Ligament Healing, Free Your Breath Free Your Life...and the PBS program Priscilla's Yoga Stretches (not a book, it is apparently shown in many parts of the US). Some of these I got from the library, but being that my HANDS were at stake I would have just put them all on a credit card if I had had no other choice. I also recommend spending time between the shelves of Barnes & Noble.

If you happen to live in Los Angeles, Janet Travell & David Simon's medical volumes, upon which Clair Davies' work is based, are available at the Central Library (one reference set, and one that you can actually check out). Don't know about other major cities - but they're beautiful, exquisite books and amazingly clear.

Finally, I am just now looking into Bonnie Prudden's books particularly 'MYOTHERAPY' from 1984- and I am surprised because while they are missing key components of The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook they offer insights about trigger points that I have not found in other places. She quotes Janet Travell often, and there is great spirit in her book.

There is no way to express my gratitude to Clair Davies, et al, for making this info. available to the world. I am literally better off knowing about trigger points than I would be had I won a million dollars.

It's a crime that this info has been around for over a quarter of a century & the medical world has not yet grabbed a hold of it.

Good luck everyone!

January 8th, 2006 update: After all that I now have something more to add: I did actually have more trouble getting over a recent relapse than I would have expected, and I have been greatly helped by a massage therapist who is actually very familiar with trigger point therapy. In addition to trigger points, he has been helping me with other forms of massage therapy & guidance on how to rehabilitate my muscles without overdoing it. After being so injured for a long time it is great to have professional guidance in conjunction with self-applied trigger point therapy. He knew about this book & appreciated how well-informed I was - unlike certain doctors I have spoken with who seemed to take offense at my attempt to do my own research! In summary: use this book and if necessary, try to find a great massage therapist as well.

one more thing: the book is almost entirely viewable in google books! also, it has its own website triggerpointbook dot com.

All Massage Therapists Should Own and Use This Book, May 1, 2001
Clair Davies is really on to something here. I deal with chronic pain in my massage therapy practice daily. I've been able to help my clients, using Clair's methods, to rid themselves of pain they've dealt with for years. Clair presents his material in an easy to read, practical format--and the pictures are excellent. Anyone--professional and lay person alike--can benefit from this book. In fact, I recommend this book to my clients. I'm always encouraging them to try to help themselves during the time between our sessions. If you've got pain or help others deal with their pain, get this book. You won't be sorry.

Clair Davies et al. should be canonized, October 5, 2004
If you suffer from mysterious and FRUSTRATING chronic musculoskeletal pain and are at your wit's end (like I was), ORDER THIS BOOK NOW. This book SAVED ME by helping put an end to about 4 months of "unexplained" pain in my thighs, knees, buttocks and hips. I had spent hundreds of $$ getting x-rays, MRI's, bone scans, and seeing numerous physicians as well as a physical therapist, chiropractor, and a naturopath. None had a clear expanation of what was causing me so much pain for such a long time. I was prescribed massive doses of ibuprofen (which did nothing but ruin my stomach) as well as Valium, Flexeril, Elavil, and finally Prozac. I tried various supplements including potassium, magnesium and B vitamins, but they didn't seem to do anything. I was completely unable to exercise as it made the pain much worse..at times I was unable to walk a couple blocks. I finally got this book last week and realized that little "knots" in my muscles were the source of all this grief. No wonder nothing else (physical therapy, diet, medication) worked! With the book I figured out that I had at about ~10 trigger points in my buttocks/thighs, some which were EXTREMELY painful to massage. Since it was so painful i was a bit skeptical at first but I stuck with it. I began to massage with a tennis ball several times a day. Some trigger points responded immedately after a massage and others took several days, but after a while the aching pains in my legs have subsided! I couldn't believe that something so SIMPLE (something I could do myself) could end such a debilitating problem that numerous doctors & specialists couldn't figure out. Combined with acupuncture and craniosacral therapy & occasional professional deep-tissue massage I would say my pain is 99% gone. I am so glad I discovered this book...I never thought I would find the explanation (and the solution!) for all this pain!! I can now look forward to returning to a normal, pain-free life! Thanks so much to Clair Davies and others who contributed to making this book!!

P.S. I have just started reading through ALL the sections of this book (not just the ones for leg pain) since trigger point massage seems to help with all sorts of pain (i.e. carpal tunnel syndrome, back pain, etc). So from now on I will consult this book FIRST before seeking a doctor or some medication for any type of pain. My only regret is that I didn't buy this book sooner!!

Comprehensive information that promotes self-management..., October 8, 2001
This book is a godsend. Clair Davies' book starts by describing the author's personal journey as a person in pain who discovered the power of self-applied trigger point therapy. The book then goes on to detail the basics of trigger point science and methods of self-treatment. Each body region contains muscle-by-muscle descriptions of trigger point locations, causes, referred pain patterns, and specific self-treatment techniques with fingers, thumbs, tennis balls or other hand-held "tools".

Two populations will benefit. The first are professionals dealing with myofascial pain. Mr. Davies' book has neatly summarized many of the essentials contained in the bar-setting but often intimidating 2-volume "bibles" of trigger point therapy by Janet Travell and David Simons, which will make many more practitioners comfortable with the idea of searching for and treating trigger points with manual techniques.

More important than information for clinicians is the help and hope this book offers to suffering patients. The book's focus is on self-treatment, which is not only *possible*, but is in fact *extremely* effective, and often downright necessary in this day and age: healthcare costs are forever rising, insurance coverage for physical therapy grows progressively more restrictive, massage therapists are often costly and the majority of the time, not covered by insurance, and, money factors aside, pain does not always present itself when professional treatment is readily available. Even with the *best* professional treatment, myofascial conditions are highly recurrent and knowing how to deal with these recurrences empowers patients and thereby reduces fear and apprehension.

With information referenced from current and highly reputable sources, The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook has not only my highest recommendation, but also the endorsement of many, many well-known names in the field of myofascial pain, including one of its pioneers, Dr. David Simons.

Fibromyalgia and Boby Pain, August 31, 2001
I rate this book right up there with Devin Starlanyl's books. I have had Fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain most of my adult life and have been disabled the past 5 years. This book by Mr. Davies has just helped me end 2 months of an excruiating flare of muscle pain. I showed it to my Pain Management physician, who is ordering one for his office and will advise his other patients similarly effected to purchase one if possible. When all the doctors don't know what else to tell you about relieving your body/muscle pain, this book is the answer. It is easily understood by medical professionals and laypeople alike. It's deascription of the muscles and the mechanism involved in the creation of unexplained boby pain is outstanding. Anyone, by themself or with another person, will find the diagrams showing the location of trigger points in muscles and how to achieve relief easy to learn. Mr. Davies explanation of massage therapy for trigger point release has made this book one of the best and most valued tools for self-treatment of body pain.

Worked beautifully for me, April 5, 2006
I would like to share my exerience ,briefly, with this book. I had shoulder pain for over two months, that neither rest,heat,cooling,meds, or excercise diminished in the slightest. My doctor could find no cause for it, and recommended physical therapy. That didn't help. Out of frustration, I picked up a stack of books at the library. Fortunately, this was the first one I looked at. I was skeptical frankly, but being desparate devoted a couple of hours to reading the salient parts of the book. I found my trigger point ( tender area ) on the front shoulder ( anterior deltoid as I recall ).
I purchased a lacrosse ball as recommened in the book, and proceeded to massage the area using the technique specified. The end result was in two days, the pain thruout my shoulder had diminished by approx. 80%. After 1 week, the pain was gone, with only an occasional sensation. It's been about 2 weeks now since I started, and I still have a very tiny tender area, so I give it the ball treatment a couple of times a day.
It's very important to complete the treatment until the trigger point is TOTALY erased ( as stated in the book ). Also, some have mentioned that the book is highly technical. It is to a degree, but not to where it can't be discerned by the average person with a little perseverance. You don't have to read the entire book! Just the initial couple of chapters on diagnosis and technique, then straight to the chapter that deals with your symptom area. Like I said, I spent a couple of hours reading, and went right at the treatment.
I had to write this, as I could not find the authors email anywhere, and I'm eternally grateful to him for giving the world this treatment technique that a layman can self adminster. If your a pain sufferer you owe it to yourself to at least try this system.

Eliminate pain from your life for less than $20, June 20, 2005
A lacrosse ball and this book have changed my life, and together, they cost less than $20. I have suffered from chronic pain since I was 13. At its worst, my pain was so bad that I was drinking myself to sleep at night and I thought I was going to need crutches to get around. The worst part was, I didn't know what was wrong with me, and the medical explanations I'd been given didn't seem right.

In January of this year I finally found the solution to my pain when I read this book. It knew in such detail what was wrong with me that it even explained every misdiagnosis I have ever been given. No doctor I saw ever mentioned this book, and most people haven't heard of it, but as you can see from all these rave reviews, the book is genius.

Whether you suffer from chronic pain, the occasional sports injury, or pretty much any other kind of pain, this book can help you. Some common issues it can help with are carpal tunnel syndrome, back pain, migraines, and bad knees. It can also help you with less common, even extremely uncommon issues. You may find out that whatever problem you think you have is not serious at all and can be solved with this massage technique. Regularly treating your trigger points can allow you to become more active, increase strength, sleep more soundly, and do physical activities you thought you couldn't.

I learned that, surprisingly, activities like stretching, yoga, and physical therapy can actually make your pain worse. I have had multiple bad experiences with yoga and physical therapy. I thought I was crazy for thinking that these exercises that were supposed to help were making me worse, and I scolded myself for being lazy when I quit doing them. What I learned from this book is that by going against medical advice and refusing to do something that was hurting me, I was actually doing everything right.

Listen to your body! Doctors, friends, family members, etc. do not necessarily know what is best. No one lives in your body but you. If other people's explanations or advice don't seem right to you, they probably aren't. If you want a real solution to pain, buy this book. I never thought I'd be able to feel as amazing as I feel today.

Arthritis and other pains, March 29, 2002
I was in so much pain that I couldn't sleep at night. I was diagnosed with arthritis (hip, back, etc), but I was not satisfied that this explained my pain. Then I found Davies' book and started to work on trigger points with the rubber ball he recommends. It didn't solve all my problems, but it reduced my pain to the point where I could sleep without pills (and demonstrated that my pain was at least partly muscular)--and all for the cost of a ... little ball! And now (several other therapies later), I still keep the book and the rubber ball by my bed, and still follow its directions to massage key areas on a daily basis.

This book is terrific--the best "self-help" book I've seen. It is clearly written, well organized, mostly well illustrated, and contains a wealth of really useful detail. It is definitely not one of those "glossy" books--all photos and no useful information. The author really does take the approach of someone who was himself helped by this therapy and who wants to make it as clear and accessible to his readers as possible. Very highly recommended.

Effective Self-Help for Pain, May 3, 2003
This book provides lots of good information on healing pain. It's written in an accessible, easy-to-read style for people who don't know anything about muscles, yet the information is not simplistic, and is useful even for professionals who want to learn about trigger points. This book is great for people who have chronic pain and are motivated to help themselves. Trigger point massage really does a lot more good than anything doctors have to offer -- most doctors are not trained to effectively help people with muscular pain. And it's cheaper and more effective to do it yourself than pay to see a massage therapist, because you'd need to go every day for most seriously chronic problems. I do have a few complaints: There are lots of illustrations, but they don't always show all the areas of referred pain. There are handy lists arranged by body part, but it would be even more helpful to have a more detailed reference guide where you could look up specific symptoms. I also think Davies is a little too enthusiastic, claiming trigger points are the cause of most pain. He is also unfairly disparaging of massage therapists. Any properly trained massage therapist knows it's not always the spot where it hurts that's causing the problem, and if you know how all the muscles work together to act on a joint, and a little about nerve pathways, you're going to address most of the areas that are likely to have trigger points. Still, he has a valid point in that consumers need to ask whether a massage therapist specializes in relaxation massage or knows how to treat specific pain and injuries. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Portraits of the Mind follows the fascinating history of our exploration of the brain through images, from medieval sketches and 19th-century drawings by the founder of modern neuroscience to images produced using state-of-the-art techniques, allowing us to see the fantastic networks in the brain as never before. These black-and-white and vibrantly colored images, many resembling abstract art, are employed daily by scientists around the world, but most have never before been seen by the general public. Each chapter addresses a different set of techniques for studying the brain as revealed through the images, and each is introduced by a leading scientist in that field of study. Author Carl Schoonover’s captions provide detailed explanations of each image as well as the major insights gained by scientists over the course of the past 20 years. Accessible to a wide audience, this book reveals the elegant methods applied to study the mind, giving readers a peek at its innermost workings, helping us to understand them, and offering clues about what may lie ahead. 

Praise for Portraits of the Mind: 

"The collection of images in the new book Portraits of the Mind is truly impressive . . . The mix of history, science and art is terrific." 
-Wired.com

Reviews

A mind-blowing wish come true, October 28, 2010
Through graduate school I encountered countless scientific images of the brain that were fascinating due to the creative techniques used to capture them as well as their power for unraveling sientific mysteries; but above all these images were simply beautiful in their own right and kept me wanting more.

In Portraits of the Mind, Carl Shoonover goes far beyond presenting an extensive compilation of beautiful images of the brain's physiology. He uses them in conjunction with brilliant and down-to-earth essays from top neuroscienctist to tell the story of the brain and of the people who've studied it throughout the centuries.

This book is a work of art to be treasured by anyone who shares appreciation for visual imaging, science and the brain.

Thanks Carl!

Where's Waldo?, December 2, 2010
"Science is beauty, beauty science. That is all we know or need to know." - attributed to John Keats, with bowdlerizations.

I couldn't do better for this stunning book that quote the opening paragraphs of a New York Times story by Abigail Zuger announcing it. But I've been sternly warned that such a helpful quotation from Ms Zuger's article would violate copyright laws; therefore I'm deleting my original posting. You'll need to search the Times for yourself to learn more about the book.

The most fascinating "portraits" of the title are primarily of cell networks in the brain, illuminated by various lazar and radiation technologies. The dramatic color coding of neurons in some photos results from genetic engineering that transfers 'luminescence' from the cells of squid and other sea creatures to mammalian cells. Don't ask me how any of it is done. One of the main research projects behind these pictures is called "brainbow" and you can learn about it by googling to your heart's content. I've seen a good deal of this work in the laboratory context, having had the privilege of being guided through the Harvard Institute for the Study of the Brain by its director, Dr. Joshua Sanes. I can hardly tell you how breathtaking it is, both visually and philosophically. But I'm ashamed to say that I haven't found Waldo in a single picture, or anything that would pass for a Soul, either.
... Read more

Editorial Review

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

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

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

Reviews

Death is not the end, May 20, 2003
This is a book about dead bodies. As Mary Roach demonstrates in her new book, some bodies go on to do remarkable things, such as helping FAA investigators understand why a plane crashed or helping auto-makers design safety features that save thousands of lives. Others are asked to do nothing more than rot away quietly at a research lab where forensic scientists study decomposition in order to improve crime scene investigation techniques. Some are put to slightly more questionable uses, such as the severed heads used by plastic surgeons to practice their facelift technique (surely not what people had in mind when they donated their bodies to science). Others have had even more bizarre adventures. Cadavers have been nailed to a cross in order to prove the authenticity of the shroud of Turin. Severed heads have been poked, prodded, and given transfusions in an attempt to revive them long after they and their bodies have parted ways.

The anonymous cadavers that are the subjects of STIFF could hardly have asked for a livelier or more sympathetic chronicler than Mary Roach, who has managed to write a book that balances sensitivity and respect with a wonderfully sharp wit. In fact, STIFF is unexpectedly and quite blessedly hilarious, although the humor never comes at the expense at the dead bodies that populate its pages. Instead, Roach uses humor as a kind of psychic safety valve, a vital and much-appreciated tension release from what is, at times, some very intense subject matter.

The real highlights of this book are the sections that delve into some of the more disreputable uses of cadavers. There is a droll and utterly hilarious history of body snatching and a short overview of medicinal cannibalism (human mummy confection, anyone?). There�s a fascinating catalog of the methods historically used to make sure that a dead body was in fact dead. This chapter culminates in what is surely the most spectacularly strange section of the book, in which Roach relates the story of Dr. Robert White, a neurosurgeon who in the mid-1960s performed a series of surgeries constituting what could be considered the first head transplant (or full body transplant, depending on your point of view). A wonderfully engrossing book on a subject most of us are reluctant to talk about.

Good Book with Some New Perspectives on Death, April 27, 2003
First, Mary Roach has a terrific sense of humor. She takes a challenging subject and finds ways to make you laugh just when you need it. Her humor is irreverent, but never disrespectful. She can laugh at some of the absurdity, yet still appreciate the pain dying can bring.

This is well written, well researched, and thorough. My one, very minor complaint is with the organization of the book. I feel as though it starts much more strongly than it finishes. So, for example, she might have considered organizing the chapters differently.

I don't think you need a particularly strong stomach to read this book. Only one item actually turned my stomach. But when it did, it *really* did.

The book succeeded in making me think about my own death. It also made me think about my mother's death and made it easier to accept certain events. ...

I hope this book will make you laugh and then think too.

And you thought death was depressing---, July 24, 2003
Mary Roach did her homework, and it shows. She has written and information packed, insightful, educational, respectful, and, yes, funny book on what happens to these bodies of ours when we get tired of hanging out in them. I have a newfound respect for all who have donated their bodies in the name of science. Not that I give it a lot of thought, but I figured cremation would be the most logical choice. After reading this book, heck, they can do whatever they want with me. I've always felt an obligation to help others, and if I can continue to do so after I have left this world, then HOORAY.
Meanwhile, expect some odd looks when you are sitting there reading a book obviously about the dearly departed, and you started sputtering, and can't help but laugh out loud! Quirky humour, but that's my favorite kind. Thank you, Mary Roach.
I recommend this book to anyone in healthcare, or the clergy, or anyone even dealing with people who experience loss. It gives you a new perspective.
On the other hand, I will have a hard time ever eating gelatin again...

Stiff, August 11, 2003
A few nights ago I made a weekend resolution that I'd tackle the much-neglected stack of fiction that teeters on my bedside table. However, while reverentially picking up 'The Body Artist' by Don Delillo, I was distracted by a misplaced reader's copy of Mary Roach's 'Stiff'. Evidently, despite my best intentions, a modest volume of non-fiction had managed to steal it's way into my fiction pile. As morbid curiosity has always been a personal failing, I cheerfully chucked aside 'The Body Artist' and eagerly cracked open Roach's book. For the first time in over two years, I read an entire volume in one sitting.

Roach opens her book with the comparison of death to a pleasure cruise: The way I see it, being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back. The brain has shut down. The flesh begins to soften. Nothing much new happens, and nothing is expected of you....

Stiff is, without a doubt, a bizarre yet remarkably engaging read: not surprising since Roach is such a terrific writer. The author possesses the ingenious ability of being able to make digestible the most repulsive of subjects. Curious, yet not callus, Roach manages to ask-and yes, answer-questions often best left unspoken (keeping in mind public decorum). Furthermore, Roach is hilarious. Quite honestly I was surprised at how many times the author prompted (albeit sometimes guilty) laughter. A neat trick that, keeping in mind the grisly subject matter.

Roach gleefully covers merry topics such as: practicing surgery on the dead, embalmment, body snatching, the process of decay, human crash test dummies, crucifixion experiments, live burials, human head transplants, ecological (read: green) releasments, and everyone's all-time favourite- cannibalism. All the while Roach manages to honour the dead, yet simultaneously takes deliberate pains not to over-glorify the cadaver-science is science after all. One of the most remarkable aspects about Roach's book is her take on cultural definitions of `acceptable behaviour' in relation to the human carcass.

Tonight, inspired by Roach's second to last chapter: Out of the Fire, into the tissue digester: and other new ways to end up... I asked an agnostic friend if, following her death, she'd be willing to have her body ground into dog food. "No," replied my friend, despite her love for all things canine, "...I don't think so- it seems somewhat undignified." I then asked my friend if she'd be willing to have her remains tossed into the lion pen at her local zoo. My friend replied in the positive, "Most certainly, yes that'd be very cool. Maybe even a shark tank..." Vanity to be certain. Meat either way.

A warning to the queasy: Not for you.

Gee, Mommy, can I too be a STIFF when I grow up?, May 22, 2003
Perhaps author Mary Roach thought the title of her book, STIFF, too ghoulish because she immediately begins in a festive mood:

"... being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back. The brain has shut down. The flesh begins to soften. Nothing much new happens, and nothing is expected of you." Carnival, Viking, and Holland America, take note.

As a corpse, you can indeed, as on last summer's voyage to the Bahamas, veg out. Or, as the narrative reveals, be an integral part of other activities. Why, I didn't realize that being dead could be so lively.

First and foremost, your cadaver could become the prize of body snatchers, and subsequently be sold to a medical school for the instruction and amusement of students. Or perhaps you aspire to become a crash test dummy, fodder for the military's munitions tests, or the subject of experiments in composting, freeze-drying or plastination. If you're unlucky enough to die in an airplane disaster of unknown cause, investigators may scrutinize your body, or its widely scattered pieces, for clues as to where in the aircraft the fuselage cracked open or the bomb exploded. Your dissected brain or heart could fuel arguments over the seat of the soul, while other body parts serve as the raw material for disease remedies. Or maybe just be eaten by cannibals. And, if you're the outdoorsy type, you can recline in a grove on a grassy hillside behind the University of Tennessee Medical Center where the various stages of human decomposition are studied and recorded.

STIFF is one of the most fascinating books I've read recently, even after taking into account the "yuk" factor. (In ancient Rome, the blood of freshly slaughtered gladiators was thought to cure epilepsy, while modern day Web sites have recipes for Placenta Lasagna and Placenta Pizza for those who would consume the delicacy to stave off postpartum depression.) This is largely due to the author's chatty style and marvelous sense of humor, which is dry as a mummy. For example, when declaring the existence of a Central Park statue of a certain Dr. Sims, otherwise notable for describing a suitable patient position for gynecological exam, Roach writes in a footnote:

"If you don't believe me, you can look it up yourself, on page 56 of THE ROMANCE OF PROCTOLOGY. (Sims was apparently something of a dilettante when it came to bodily orifices.) P.S.: I could not, from cursory skimming, ascertain what the romance was."

I highly recommend STIFF for the not too squeamish adult, or as a scary Halloween gift for one who is. Or as a bedtime reader for precocious youngsters - they'll think it gross, but way cool, as children are wont to do.

In case you're wondering, there's no photo section.

One of the Best Books of 2003, May 7, 2003
A book about cadavers (well, it's really about death itself) was the last thing I thought I'd ever pick up. But after reading the first few paragraphs, I knew I was in good hands. Sure, the content is fascinating in its own right, but Mary Roach's gift for writing is just as noteworthy. As has been noted elsewhere, she approaches a grisly subject with, alternately, humor, curiosity, forceful opinion (directed mainly at the quacks from previous centuries and their butchery in the name of science), graphic (but not gratuitous) detail, and unfailing respect for her subjects.

Thanks to "Stiff," I'm not so squeamish about issues surrounding the deceased anymore.

Mary Roach is a great writer. This book is a keeper.

Absolutely,Insanely Fantastic, June 18, 2003
I Saw this book on the shelf and the minute I read the first few sentences I was hooked. I read it at work,on the train and at home. This book was so good. Mary Roach is amazing. She is respectful and yet she adds sarcasm and such great humor on a subject matter that many people avoid. I am an avid reader on
forensic science and true crime. But, Ms.Roach opened up a whole new world to me with this book. As a reader you will discover things that will amaze and suprise you. Stiff gives the reader an insider look to what scientists and doctors do in order to try and improve the lives of the living. These people are the brave and silent ones who do what many cannot.This book is definitely a must read for not just the summer but for the year and the year after that.

A weird little guilty pleasure read, April 23, 2004
Who knew a morbid topic like cadavers could provide such a fertile source for humor? I found myself laughing out loud many times while reading this odd but fascinating book. Early on the author states that Stiff is not about the process of dying or the loss of loved ones which are decidedly unfunny topics. It's all about the curious things that human kind has done with the dead over the centuries. Yes, much of it is rather gruesome but it's written in such a humourous and tasteful way as not to be offensive (strange as that may sound). This is not subject matter that most people would be apt to admit an interest in, however there must be a reason there are so many popular "morgue" shows on TV. While certainly not for everyone, if you've ever been curious about the "lives" of cadavers, this one will not disappoint. 4.5 stars.

Would you be my best friend?, April 4, 2004
I first opened the book to the middle and read something about what happpens to bodies when they are donated to science. It was a little hard to read but fascinating information. Then I turned to another page and read about what happens to a human body even after embalming. By then I didn't feel so good. Was it the book or the Mandarin chicken I had for lunch? I kept reading.

I decided I might not be ready to read this book after all. I meant to put it down put somehow found myself starting from the beginning and reading every word. By the time I got to page 22, "You cut off heads. You cut off heads. You cut off heads." I decided that I wanted the author, Mary Roach to be my best friend. The book reads like an histerical conversation between friends about an absolutely morbid topic. The humor helps you through the information you need to know.

The book made me feel a lot better about donating my body or body parts to science. And, I feel a lot better about being a journalist and writing as well. A fascinating read.

Fun with the Dead, April 24, 2003
I loved this book. It is filled with great history and ever surprising humor. Roach makes the creepiest and most unsettling situations and themes interesting and compelling.The writing is crisp, illuminating and at times screw ball and as I contemplated corpses in their many activites and professions I gained a new respect for them. I don't think I want my body used as a crash test dummy or have a group of medical students slice me up but Roach gives a new respect to people who give their bodies for these uses. A must read for the curious with a sense of humor. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Vividly illustrated in color, this text presents a simplified and interactive format for rapid comprehension. Emphasizes understanding rather than memorizing. Previous edition: c1996. For students. Softcover. ... Read more

Reviews

I've seen 'em all -- by and far, Dubin's book is the best!!, April 7, 1998
Over the last 25 years of my medical career, I have read just about every book published on EKG interpretation. As a full-time educator, I appreciate simplicity, especially when it is totally practical. Of all the texts I've seen, Dubin's "Rapid Interpretation of EKGs" is simply the best. He explains intricate concepts with simplistic beauty, using a unique programmed learning style and original figures. If you don't learn "all there is to know" about EKGs from this book, you will never really understand them the rest of your career... Mikel A. Rothenberg, M.D., Emergency Care Educator, Medicolegal Consultant, Professor of Emergency Medical Services -- American College of Prehospital Medicine.

The best, December 29, 2000
I've worked in SICU for almost 15 years. I like surgical patients because when they "go down," it's usually pretty clear why. Frankly CCU type patients always trouble me. Like most ICU nurses I can pick out your basic abnormal beats and rhythms, but when it comes to a "designer" strip, I head next door to MICU where the "whiz kids" of the EKG monitor hang out! One of the best books I've ever come across for learning almost everything you could possibly want to know about an EKG--either the monitor or the 12-lead--is this book. It's been around at least since the 70s, when I first came across it, and it's still around. Take it from me, there's a good reason for it too. Every few years, I try to review the book again to refresh my memory on "everything you ever wanted to know about EKGs and then some," and I always enjoy the experience. I come away with a sense that I've truely gain something. The book is designed on a programed learning format--an old method perhaps, but in my opinion, still the best one--so you learn a small incriment of information, are asked a question about it and then given the answer immediately thereafter. It really sticks in the memory well, and when reviewing even up to 5 years later, I find I can get through the book rapidly even with the topics I don't regularly use. The book also containes some useful "cards" which can be reproduced and carried conveniently in ones pocket. I still have a set I had laminated for me years ago. Very definately a book worth buying, one worth keeping, and one worth reviewing from time to time.

Wonderful book for med students or anyone who needs to learn, November 12, 2003
This is a wonderful book for nursing or medical students, or anyone who needs to learn EKGs/ECGs. I'm a physician and read EKGs every day and I've never seen another text that was able to teach me the necessary concepts so painlessly. Yes, it *IS* written as if the reader is a third grader and I'm sure that offends some people who have spent their life in school or who want to make people believe that EKG reading is some magical art. Personally I enjoy being taken by the hand and shown everything like it was the first time I'd seen it. I think the teaching method presented here is quit effective for the average Joe or Josephine. Reading EKGs is not magic and this book shows you that anyone *can* really do it. I would strongly encourage anyone who has had trouble grasping the concept of EKGs to pick this book up, and that includes physicians, nurses, students, EMTs, medical technicians, respiratory therapists, heck, ANYONE who wants to learn to read EKGs! I give it my highest recommendation.

Even better in full color!!, November 14, 2003
Over the last 30 years of my medical career, I have read just about every book published on EKG interpretation. As a full-time educator, I appreciate simplicity, especially when it is totally practical. Of all the texts I've seen, Dubin's "Rapid Interpretation of EKGs" is simply the best. He explains intricate concepts with simplistic beauty, using a unique programmed learning style and original figures. The new color 6th Edition adds many completely new diagrams, making learning even easier. It also features new sections on the autonomic nervous system, more detailed information on dysrhythmias, and a nifty set of "Quick Reference Sheets," of course, in full color! If you don't learn "all there is to know" about EKGs from this book, you will never really understand them the rest of your career... Mikel A. Rothenberg, M.D., Emergency Care Educator, Medicolegal Consultant, Professor of Emergency Medical Services -- American College of Prehospital Medicine.

"How to Beat Everybody in EKG", January 2, 2005
I read this book in my third year in medical school. When I first started, I was skeptical because it looked too simple. After finishing the book and attending my rotation, I realized the value of this book. I was able to rapidly read any EKG with no problem. Some of my classmates thought that I had attended a special class!! I have compared t to many other books, this is the best one because of its simple approach and the way that it teaches you. You will never forget how to read an EKG.

The Gold Standard for EKG texts? Get a second opinion!, May 12, 2003
Dr. Dubin's classic manual has become the most popular EKG text among members of the medical profession. Dr. Dubin's book takes a lot of the stress out of the formidable task of learning EKGs through his lighthearted and systematic lesson-based approach. This book covers the basics of EKGs, and provides helpful lessons on rate, rhythm, and basic arrythmias.

As helpful as this book is, however, this text is incomplete. The section on axis determination is not fully instructive, and the text does not offer enough clinical scenarios, as well as it omits a fair number of common abnormalities seen on EKG.

Thaler's text, titled The Only EKG Book You'll Ever Need is a more instructive and comprehensive text, and--in the humble opinion of this doctor--is a superior text for those looking to develop a functional understanding of EKGs.

I'd recommend this book to anyone., October 31, 1999
This was a great book! I am a nursing student and I was a little intimidated at first because I was afraid that a book written by a doctor on the subject matter would be to complex, however he made it very plain and simple. If I can understand Ekg interpretation, anyone can!

The only EKG book a medical student needs, June 24, 2003
As a medical student interested in cardiology, I can say this is by far the best book on the subject of EKGs I've ever read. It may not have every possible pattern, but it lays everything out in a clear, concise, and easy to read and remember format that in invaluable when time is a limiting factor. A true life-saver for any student who wants maximum learning and efficient use of time.

I Came I Saw I Kicked It's a@#, December 18, 2001
From the time i started learning about EKG's, till the point and time this book was bestowed apon me i had no clue on how to read an EKG. I was always always confused. I never knew top from bottom and just tried to memorize as much as i could. That all changed the day this book came in the mail. In a matter of 4 hours i had read more than half it like a story book. The repititions of words (important ones) and relentless number of pictures that were in it made it impossible not to understand. even my mother who is an RN knows how to read EKG's now. THIS BOOK IS JUST SIMPLY OUTSTANDING IN EVERY ASPECT.

The teaching methodology used is just amazing, December 12, 2005
Hello:

The most important reason I bought Dr. Dubin's Rapid Interpretation of EKG's was because I knew nothing about EKG's, and I wanted to learn not the basics, but the most important aspects of EKG. I am an EMT-Basic, but I often work on EMS with EMT-Paramedic level fellows, so my contact with EKG and patients with heart disease is very common.

Looking for the wide variety of EKG books available, I realized that I needed a book that could not only teach the topics I really needed, but that would do it in such an easy way that an EKG newbie like me could end up understanding complex things as myocardial infarction and heart axis.

Dr. Dubin uses a very interesting methodology for teaching. Each page of this book has a highly detailed practical illustration, and the rest of the page is composed of 3 o 4 parragraphs where, using the most practical language available, he explains the concepts related to the illustration. It is impressive how Dr. Dubin manages to explain complicated things so easily by using the detailed illustrations and the correct language.

What's more, Dr. Dubin focuses on making the reader understand why an EKG tracing looks the way it does, and does not rely on memorization of the morphology of waves to justify a diagnose. This is critically important, because once you see an EKG tracing, you clearly understand the details of the pathology showed and that gives you a precise idea of what's happening inside that patient's heart and what treatment can help the patient's outcome.

If you want to introduct yourself into EKG's, then this is the book you need. But don't misunderstand, this book is not basic, it really deals with complex topics too; the thing is that they seem so easy...

This book has really helped me perform better on my job in the pre-hospital setting, and I'm really grateful about that. ... Read more

Editorial Review

From one of the most significant neuroscientists at work today, a pathbreaking investigation of a question that has confounded philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists for centuries: how is consciousness created?
 
Antonio Damasio has spent the past thirty years studying and writing about how the brain operates, and his work has garnered acclaim for its singular melding of the scientific and the humanistic. In Self Comes to Mind, he goes against the long-standing idea that consciousness is somehow separate from the body, presenting compelling new scientific evidence that consciousness—what we think of as a mind with a self—is to begin with a biological process created by a living organism. Besides the three traditional perspectives used to study the mind (the introspective, the behavioral, and the neurological), Damasio introduces an evolutionary perspective that entails a radical change in the way the history of conscious minds is viewed and told. He also advances a radical hypothesis regarding the origins and varieties of feelings, which is central to his framework for the biological construction of consciousness: feelings are grounded in a near fusion of body and brain networks, and first emerge from the historically old and humble brain stem rather than from the modern cerebral cortex.
 
Damasio suggests that the brain’s development of a human self becomes a challenge to nature’s indifference and opens the way for the appearance of culture, a radical break in the course of evolution and the source of a new level of life regulation—sociocultural homeostasis. He leaves no doubt that the blueprint for the work-in-progress he calls sociocultural homeostasis is the genetically well-established basic homeostasis, the curator of value that has been present in simple life-forms for billions of years. Self Comes to Mind is a groundbreaking journey into the neurobiological foundations of mind and self.

Reviews

Good news and bad news, November 19, 2010
The deep enigma of consciousness has been explored from many directions, including contributions by neuroscientists, psychologists, philosophers and a few physicists (both quantum and complex systems scientists). An important study area consists of injuries or diseases that destroy specific brain structures; these clinical events are often closely correlated to nuanced effects on selective aspects of consciousness. Professor Damasio's book makes good use of these data to describe many known neural correlates of consciousness. For purposes of this book, he adopts the working hypothesis that mental states and brain states are essentially equivalent. While many (including this reviewer) find this idea questionable, such tentative hypothesis is quite appropriate for a book of this kind. In science we often adopt useful, if highly oversimplified, models in the early stages of our studies with no illusions that they are perfectly accurate. In this manner "Truth" is (hopefully) approached in a series of successive approximations. Thankfully, Damasio does not claim to "explain" consciousness.

The book's title is based on Damasio's suggestion that our evolutionary history reveals many simple creatures with active "minds" (defined broadly), but only much later did self (awareness) develop; in other words the human self is built in steps grounded in the so-called "protoself." An essential step is the development of homeostatis (life regulation needed to survive) in single cell creatures like bacteria, followed by progressively more complex "societies of cells" in more complex creatures like insects, reptiles, and mammals. Thus consciousness, rooted in our evolutionary past, helps to optimize our responses to the environment so that we may continue our existence. Damasio also describes the self in terms of stages: the protoself, core self and autobiographical self, along with specific brain structures that may support these distinct stages. He concludes that conscious minds emerge from the brain's nested hierarchy of neural networks operating at multiple spatial scales (levels); I will expand on this last point later.

Several chapters consider brain structures that are most essential to mind and consciousness, providing more status to the brain stem and its sub structures than is normally acknowledged by neuroscientists. Damasio's arguments here are based on observations of children born without a cerebral cortex and on several evolutionary considerations. The book cites quite a bit of detailed brain anatomy so non experts should probably read the excellent Appendix on brain structure before tackling any material beyond chapter 2. Normally this suggestion would be offered in a Preface, but this book has none.

I gave the book four stars based on my evaluation of both the good and not so good features: 1) the nice development of a number of important ideas on conscious correlates, 2) the fluff, e.g., some unnecessary technical jargon and the belaboring of obvious points, 3) important omissions. In an example of the latter, I found the memory chapter inadequate given its central role in consciousness. I would have liked to read more about how, where, and at what spatial scales are various kinds of memory stored, or at least given some sense of which parts of the memory puzzle have actually been solved. By loose analogy, if I ask how a TV works, I am unsatisfied by explanations of how to dial in specific channels. Rather, I want to hear about electromagnetic fields and electron guns.

Many readers avoid Endnotes; this may be a mistake. Here is one shining gem involving an interchange between Damasio and Francis Crick, who pointed to several provocative definitions in the International Dictionary of Psychology (1996), providing both these guys quite a laugh. I will not spoil the story by relating the dictionary's definition of "consciousness," but here is this dictionary's definition of "love," "A form of mental illness not yet recognized by any of the standard diagnostic manuals." (Note to my wife, I do not endorse this definition.)

The apparent critical importance of the brain's nested hierarchy to consciousness seemed to me to be substantially understated in Damisio's book. I say this because nested hierarchy is a hallmark of many if not most complex systems, and brains are considered by most to be the pre-eminent complex systems. Think of social systems, for example. They typically consist of persons, neighborhoods, cities, states and nations; their observed dynamic behaviors are fractal-like (scale dependent) and the essence of their behaviors is rooted in the nested hierarchy of interactions at multiple scales, both top-down and bottom-up, the so-called "circular causality" of Synergetics, the science of cooperation and self organization (see books by Hermann Haken). The brain's nested hierarchy and its apparent critical importance to consciousness are discussed in Todd Feinberg's From Axons to Identity Neurological Explorations of the Nature of the Self [HC,2009] and my new book Brain, Mind, and the Structure of Reality, 2010, which also explores the possible fundamental role of information in both the physical and mental realms. This latter topic is also covered in a series of essays edited by Paul Davies and Neils Gregersen Information and the Nature of Reality: From Physics to Metaphysics, 2010.

Piecing It All Together., November 22, 2010
Dr. Damasio says that, "This book is dedicated to addressing two questions. First: how does the brain construct a mind? Second: how does the brain make that mind conscious?" Do I think he does an exceptional job of tackling these two questions? Yes, I do.

I believe the greatest strength of this book lies in Dr. Damasio's capacity to take account of vast amounts of information and viewpoints related to mind and consciousness. He has included large swaths of issues that are usually books in and of themselves (Body Maps - The Body Has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better, Extended/Embodied Cognition - The Extended Mind (Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology), Efficient Computational Theory of Mind - Your Brain Is (Almost) Perfect: How We Make Decisions, Selfhood - The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self, Free Will - Distributed Cognition and the Will: Individual Volition and Social Context (Bradford Books), Neuroeconomics - Rationality for Mortals: How People Cope with Uncertainty (Evolution and Cognition Series) and Neuroanatomy - Mapping the Mind: Revised and Updated Edition). Furthermore, Dr. Damasio is very forthcoming in demarcating the known from the unknown and the probable from the possible in regards to neuroscience. The only downside I experienced while reading this book is that I felt a little lost, or perhaps impatient, while waiting for Damasio to tie everything together. It was only towards the last half of the book that the big picture began to emerge.

That being said, I believe that this book is a significant advancement in neuroscientific research. Most importantly, I actually understand what Damasio means when he speaks of the proto self, core self, and autobiographical self. His explanation of Convergence-Divergence Zones (CDZ's), as well as anatomical structures, is very effective and his manner of description is so unsophisticated that even a layman like me can understand exactly what he is illustrating. Also, there are many pictures, diagrams, and charts to help too.

In conclusion, I very much enjoyed the substance of this book (the style is somewhat lacking, but hey, it's not supposed to be Shakespeare!). I also took pleasure in the way in which Damasio took a back-handed approach to dismissing a certain philosophers (Daniel Dennett, ahem) approach towards consciousness; I liked it because when it comes to Mind/Brain/Consciousness issues, I think philosophers must necessarily take a supporting role to the neuroscientists. "I see the neurology of consciousness as organized around the brain structures involved in generating the lead triad of wakefulness, mind, and self. Three major anatomical divisions - the brain stem, the thalamus, and cerebral cortex - are principally involved, but one must caution that there are no direct alignments between each anatomical division and each component of the triad. All three divisions contribute to some aspect of wakefulness, mind, and self." A great book, I highly recommend it.

For bumblebee scholars, too., November 25, 2010
As I write this I am trying to assess the three previous reviews which were written by those more scholarly than I. That said, I encourage "bumblebee scholars" such as I to dig in to this seminal work. It can't hurt and might be good for you.

Cautionary Note: If you read the Endnotes you may construct a reading list that will prompt you to delay your demise for at least twenty years beyond your current biological expectancy.

Puts William James on a Modern Foundation of Neuroscience, November 21, 2010
"Self Comes to Mind - Constructing the Conscious Brain" is Antonio Domasio's latest landmark book on the nature of consciousness and how it is created. In his previous book "The Feeling of Knowing" Damasio provided an account that was logically consistent with third party perspectives of philosophy, psychology, plus the latest findings in neuroscience.

In the "Self Comes to Mind" he announces his intention to "start over" with explanations, and he stakes out new ground with a daring first person subjective perspective that is akin to William James view of "my" objects of attention versus "I" as the self or protagonist who is the active agent in the changing stream of consciousness, and "owns" the other objects as "knower". He successfully brings off this new venture of understanding.

He names the two questions to be addressed: how does the brain construct a mind? and how does the brain make that mind conscious? He affirms James' idea of the importance of a self, and brings it alive with his own earlier ideas of the three aspects of self (the proto self, the core self, and the autobiographical self) but develops them more fully in the "Self Comes to Mind" with the active protagonist in mind.

The shift to Damasio's first person subjective protagonist perspective from his prior third person objective prospective takes place when he makes the distinction between neural maps constructed by the brain for information, and images formed in the mind (conscious or unconscious) for use by the protagonist in navigating their external environment to achieve goals having biological and cultural value.

He acknowledges in the Appendix that the mind-brain equivalence hypothesis is not universally liked or accepted. I believe the Domasio's mind-brain hypothesis is logically correct for two main reasons. First, the equivalence of subjective mental images and objective brain neural maps is quite convincing - after all, people can communicate their mental images with one another by talking and listening while paying close attention to each other. A "sentence" can be spoken, listened to, and repeated back to the speaker to confirm error free communication, high fidelity, and understanding of the intended meaning. A third witness can verify the accuracy of the information exchanged. Second, Domasio avoids the common philosophical error of dualism which is so easy to make when moving from the outside objective view to the inside subjective view of the human brain and its mind. Mortimer Adler, renown American philosopher, reminds us that there are three object types (real, subjective, and intentional), and all three must be included when discussing the conscious mind. Intentionality was lost as a philosophical concept since Kant obliterated it. This is OK for mindless rocks, but not for human beings with meaningful language. Domasio puts the Protagonist process back in the Jamesian stream of consciousness with attention and intention. The stream of consciousness runs on a layered foundation of proto self, core self, and extended or autobiographical self.

Part IV is a nice wrap up for the non-specialist public with an deep interest in neurology, psychology, and philosophy of mind. Domasio takes care to not use suit case words that mean different things to different people, and in the process introduces delightful new words that are more general and less controversial.

He introduces the term Genomic Unconscious (page 278) to provide for the biological diversity of dispositions (another new term) to better convey psychological concepts (instinct, automatic behaviors, drives, and motivations) from a neurological foundation. Domasio acknowledges that the Genomic Unconscious has something to do with what Freud and Jung sensed, but avoids getting bogged down on Freud's emphasis on sexuality that caused Jung to break company from him. Jung went on to develop concepts of consciousness (personal consciousness, personal unconsciousness, and the collective unconscious or archetypal realm) and enduring patterns that arise in civilization as it ascends to the pinacle of consciousness. Yes, Genomic Unconscious covers this!

Damasio includes feeling and value as fundamental observables of the self and its objects. He briefly uses the "intuition" word without reservation (page 276). Jung included intuition in his functional classification of sensation, intuition, thinking, and feeling. Jung identified four ways of perceiving and judging both the external and the internal objects in the field of consciousness. The subjective sensation function monitors subjective feelings, and the subjective rational valuing function makes judgments as to whether a privately held object of attention is good or bad, OK, or not OK.

On the last two page of the last Chapter, Damasio acknowledges imagination's ability to navigate the future as the ultimate gift of consciousness, and this depends on the intersection of self with memory, tempered by personal feeling, with consideration of the well-being of members of society. Damasio handles mapping vs simulating body states on pages 101-107, and touches on the recent discovery of mirror neuron's ability to simulate body state feeling of another creature (monkeys were the subject) in the observing self's brain-mind. He suggests that being able to simulate or imagine the other "object" would not be possible if the neurological network were not first in place to simulate and imagine one's own "self" in an "as-if" future. It is important that imagination is included in Damasio's new neurologically based model of the intentional attentive protagonist self-in-mind.

James devoted entire Chapters in his two books to imagination and attention. Jung, coming from an empirical study of the mental categories of objective and subjective knowledge, came up with the sensation, intuition, thinking, and feeling categories of information that can be held in the conscious mind and witnessed by the small momentary "self", against a longer term unconscious background of the larger "Self". Jung included imagination as an actual perceptual content of the intuition function, but not as a separate intentional function. However, Jung included a fifth transcendent function that comes into play for reconciling opposing tendencies of the functional information about objects. This transcendent function works with symbolic images that may be developed and brought forth in a process described by Jung as active imagination. Jung also identified the two directions of attention and interest known as the extraverted and introverted attitudes of consciousness. Jung's terms extraversion and introversion are widely used today. They are included as options of attentional choice in the MBTI�(Myers Briggs Type Indicator), and as one of the five factors in the Five Factor Model of Personality. Geldart included attention and imagination as functions of intentionality, plus Jung's four functions of perception and judgment for both subjective and objective objects of attention in the EPIC model (Emergent Patterns of Individual Consciousness).

Damasio implicitly puts William James psychological and pragmatic concepts of self, attention, imagination, ideomotor force and steam of consciousness on a modern neurological foundation. I think it is time for Carl Jung's knowledge categories of consciousness (very suitable for the autobiographical self) to be considered for its pragmatic value by scientists of consciousness today. Why so? Jung spoke of the four functions (knowledge aspects) of consciousness (S, N, T, and F) or sensation, intuition, thinking, and feeling. Jung described them in his Psychological Types in 1921. Beebe thinks of them as types of consciousness, not types of people [Beebe, J. (2004). Understanding Consciousness through the theory of psychological types, Cambray and Carter (eds.) Analytic Psychology: Contemporary Perspectives in Jungian Analysis]. Brunner-Routledge. Geldart included imagination and intention as functions of intention, along with Jung's four extraverted functions for real external objects and four introverted functions for subjective internal objects of consciousness in the EPIC model (2010).

Damasio has something to say on page 14 about attempts by others to relate a view of the mind as a nonphysical phenomenon with laws of quantum physics. He appeals to relying more on an unfolding understanding from neuroscience instead of possibilities from a more remote and less accessible quantum physics. He prefers not to explain the mystery of conscious mind with another mystery of quantum physics, and refers to several authors leaning on a quantum physics explanation. He does not refer to the work by Schwartz, J. and Begley, S. (2002). The Mind and its Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force. Schwartz working with Henry Stapp found that the effect of attention can be modeled in Schrodinger's wave equations that are normally applied to physical matter at the sub-atomic level. They assume that attention can change the odds on which wave function wins and hence which thought wins (page 362, Figure 8 of their book). Obviously, this does not explain how consciousness emerges in mind with associated mental images, nor is this what they intend to do. But it is a creative effort to show that selective attention of the subject-agent (as James described it) is not something metaphysical, but something permitted in the laws of physics. This hardly needs to be proved because Schwartz's book provides ample evidence that learning new habits and unlearning obsessive compulsive habits can be accomplished by harnessing the self's power of attention to achieve actual free will or free won't choices in the transient moments of decision prior to a voluntary response. What makes this challenging is that Domasio's "core self" is a transient phenomenon that provides the only window of opportunity to make a new free will or free won't response in the real world where things are matter and do matter.

I went back to William James to study his understanding of attention as a macroscopic (not quantum physics) phenomenon on the conscious mind side of the mind-brain system. A closer reading of James found that he discovered (without naming it) a psychological quantum of action and intentionality on the scale of fractions of a second to a few seconds. James' indivisible ideomotor action released in body by the self as agent, and James' indivisible privately voiced mental statements about mental images (the pack of cards is on the table) are pragmatic evidence of a psychological quantum of action effect. This predates quantum effects in physics.

Antonio Domasio's new book "Self Comes to Mind:Constructing the Conscious Brain" is delightful, well worth waiting for, and well worth reading over and over. It's bound to become a classic.

Walter Geldart developed a logical model that integrates William James' intentional functions of attention and imagination with Carl Jung's perception (sensation and intuition) and judgment (thinking and feeling) functions of consciousness. The information is held briefly in working memory. The mathematical model predicts emergent patterns that are analogous to information patterns owned by a "core self" (Domasio). The predicted patterns can be interpreted with definitions from philosophy,psychology, and neurology. The EPIC model is inclusive. It omits no necessary categories of object types (all three real, subjective, and intentional object type categories of philosophy are present). Then it maps ten necessary and sufficient psychological functions from Jung and James to the correct object type categories and to their own position in ten intervals in the momentary indivisible event cycle of consciousness (the Jamesian quantum of psychological activity). It then becomes possible to predict emergent strings of functional content of consciousness using the mathematics of prime number division of the integral duration of the event cycle.


The Epic Roles of Consciousness: Emergent Patterns of Individual Consciousness - Paperback (Jan. 15, 2010) by Walter J. Geldart

Resolving the "Mind-body" Problem through Mental Cartography, December 20, 2010
Professor Damasio begins this incredible story using Darwin's Theory of Evolution as the driving force and centerpiece of a theoretical odyssey that is as intimate as it is cogent and thorough. For the author, the theory of how the mind becomes "self" is a labor of love, surely his professional life quest: the last remaining riddle of the universe, now finally solved by the life work of this author. It is told so carefully, so cogently, and with such clarity and depth that it amounts to a convincing love story that will simply take the breath away.

This book is sure to be one of the finalists in the National Science Book of the year Award. It certainly gets my vote!

At the center of this incredible story (and the author's theory) is the ever-evolving cell: that powerful "active" (but much underrated) building block of all living systems. With the evolution of the cell, which importantly, has, since its inception, always had the capacity to be a "stand-along," "purposefully surviving" functional living system and unit of life. That is to say as a "proto-animal," the cell brings intrinsically into being the functional aspects of an "intentional life." The mind is simply one of the latest evolutionary adaptations of this exquisite carefully balanced, living piece of architecture called (animal) life. One of the key remaining unanswered properties of a cell is that it comes with the "will to survive," built-in? How it does this?-- the author does not touch with a ten-foot pole; and this remains the only flaw in the design, as the research leaves unanswered, and thus begs this most important of questions. But more about that later.

As Professor Damasio demonstrates so elegantly, having a "proto-animal" as the functional building block of life is no small matter. But in fact is a very large matter indeed. It is qualitatively different than say that of having a dead (and thus passive) object (such as an inactive or dead cell or a brick) as the building block of a system. For as the cell has evolved, it's inherent (and unexplained) but powerful and purposeful "will to survive" has also evolved to promote much more specialized and infinitely more complex survival requirements, components and imperatives.

This increased specialization and complexity combined with the unexplained need for a cell to survive, alone appear to be the key elements explaining human motivation, the economics of value, "intention," "anticipation," the ability to predict, the need to reason and plan, as well as "will" itself. Arguably, it is these unexplained aspects of the cell that drive the machinery of life, self and the life of the mind. With it, the cell (as well as the body as organism), is motivated to adapt in order to live, and as a result of this built in imperative, it has "learned" over eons how to coalesce and combine with other cells to form "colonies," which over those years have also evolved into specialized sub-components (such as organs of the body, etc.) and ultimately into organisms and other larger living eco-systems themselves -- all engineered and controlled by the DNA of the genes (or their equivalents, mimes of culture).

It is the members of these specialized groups of cells, the neuron in particular, that is the protagonist and hero of this story: One that in my view finally gets the mystery of consciousness out into the open, and the story about consciousness, the self, emotions and feelings, right. The neuron is not just a cell, but the "micro system" at the cellular level that through its signaling, mapping, imaging and messenger roles, is pretty much responsible for sculpting, and controlling the activity of the larger macro system called the body (or organism).

Nothing in science is quite so dense, so elegant, so surprising, so cogent, or so beautiful as the author's carefully honed and incremental descriptions, that build into a crescendo, of how the neuron through evolution has resolved the long-standing and formidable "mind-body" problem. That problem is dispatched as a matter of course, and so easily and with such elegance that it reduces simply to a side issue dealing with the question of the need for the body to maintain less than a dozen or so parameters within very narrow homeostatic ranges.

In it role as the conductor of a symphony of a multilayered orchestra of cells, it is the neuron's job as the CEO of that operation to maintain the body in the necessary homeostatic condition. However, "body maintenance" is a job that predated even the brain and exists even in animals without a conscious mind. These "proto-mental" capacities were important antecedents to the mentality that eventually encompassed what we have come to know as "conscious mentality." Therefore the older brainstem, which still "maintains" the body through passive processes and processing, is strongly implicated and shown to necessarily have been a precursor to the more complex later set of brain operations that we have come to recognize as the "self" and as consciousness.

The neuron conducts the body's orchestra of both "normal body maintenance" as well as its self-reflective activities, which actually create the "self." The neuron does this by being a serious multi-tasker; one scripted to provide the charts for the music of the body: its feelings and emotions (which just happen to bring them into being). The sheet music comes in the form of interactive maps, images and bi-directional messages of the cell's and the organism's activities, all brought together as a symphony of managed anticipation, forward feedback and pre-processing, predictions, storage, retrievals and editing from memory, and the channeling of interests and attention -- all in defense of maintaining homeostasis -- that is to say in defense of the body's (or the system's or organism's) global survival interests. The summation of this mostly cartographic activity, called up as perceptions, maps and images, from either inside or outside the brain, is what constitutes the brain's response to the imperatives of life. We sense this constant teeming brain activity as conscious feelings and emotions that we can uniquely attach to the self. QED.

All of this exquisite complexity is resolved beautifully in the Occam's Razor sense. To wit: No other theory, so far, explains what the brain or the mind does quite as economically as does Professor Damasio's. No other theory explains how the "self" comes into being quite so cogently as Professor Damasio's. No other theory explains how evolution plays such a critical role in the development of this orchestra as does that of Professor Damasio's. And all of this knowledge is gained by him the hard way: through careful observation of diseased brains, of split-brain research, through the author's on over-sized introspective brain, and by the pulling together of the research of nearly every fruitful avenue in neurology over the last century. To say that this book is a tour de force would be an understatement.

Because Professor Damasio's theory does not even attempt to explain where the cell's "will to survive" comes from, it leaves the back door open for the "Intelligent Designers" to pounce on. I predict that it will be just a matter of time before they seize on this single isolated fact as an opportunity to say that: it is a god that implants this will to live into the cell? Surely, they will do this, but when they do, it will be a poison pill as surely they can then will be able to see that they have walked into a trap of their own making: as they then will have no choice but to accept Darwin's theory of evolution as god's own handiwork. If they want to do that, then fine. It simply makes god superfluous, as we already knew he always was. Fifty stars.

A few thoughts, December 18, 2010
I'm in no way a neuroscientist or someone with deep psichology or neurology knowledges. I'm just an interested layman that finds the subject at hand fascinating. I'm also perfectly aware from the fields that I study that there are frequently several contesting theories, and rarely there's consense over all the minutiae.

I must commend the other reviewers for the excellent commentaries on this work. I will not be so thourough and analytical.

This book might take some time to read and absorb the contents, specially if you lack bases of anatomy and neurology (like me), altough professor Damasio tries to simplify matters with many metaphors and practical examples. Many aspects are covered in this work, including the construction of maps through our "objectives"; how memory works and how do we reconstruct things from memory (although sometimes lacking details) through the Convergence Divergence Zones; the importance of homeostasis and mechanisms of reward-punishment; the construction of conscience and the importance of the Cerebral Cortex, but also of the Thalamus and the brain stem! Not forgetting the effects and relation between culture, society and biology of the brain among many other fascinating subjects (like the Qualia).

Naturally we are only scratching the surface on how our brain works and what makes the self, but with the work of Professor Damasio and several other top neuroscientists slowly we will take conscience on how conscience works. ... Read more

Editorial Review

An astonishing new science called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries- old notion that the human brain is immutable. In this revolutionary look at the brain, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge, M.D., provides an introduction to both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they've transformed. From stroke patients learning to speak again to the remarkable case of a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, The Brain That Changes Itself will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential. ... Read more

Reviews

The Leopard Can Change His Spots, March 25, 2007
Neuroplasticity has recently become a bit of a buzzword. Long the preserve of neuroscientists, this is one of a number of new books on the topic written for the public.

I recently reviewed Sharon Begley's superb book - Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain - and this one is in a similar vein. Though it is rather different from Sharon's book in which the main focus was on the changes wrought in the brains of meditators, while this one looks at the extraordinary responses of the brain to injury or congenital absence of sensory organs. Since this book went to press, yet another study, this time from India, has shown that some blind children may be able to regain their sight, an observation that is helping turn a lot of neurology on its head.

Neuroplasticity is a topic of enormous practical importance. The increasing evidence that the brain is a highly adaptable structure that undergoes constant change throughout life is a far cry from the idea that we are simply the product of our genes or our environment. Our genes help determine how we can respond to the environment; they do not make us who we are. And we all have untapped potential. This is more than the old nature/nurture debate in a new bottle. It has implications for human potential: how much can you develop your own brain and mind? Can you really teach a child to be a kind, loving person who can dramatically exceed his or her potential? Can psychotherapy really help change your brain for the better? Can we help re-wire the brain of a psychopath? Do we have the right to try?

The author is both a research psychiatrist and a psychoanalyst who has interviewed many experts in the field. His book is full of well chosen and detailed stories about scientists and their discoveries as well as case reports of triumph over unbelievable adversity. There is also a good discussion of people who have remarkable abilities despite the absence of key regions of the brain.

This book is a good complement to Sharon Begley's and if you can afford it, then I strongly recommend that you get both books. If your interest is more in personal development and its effects on the brain, then Sharon's book will be the one for you. If you are more interested in the science and anecdotes about scientists and some amazing patients, then this book may be the one to go for.

Highly recommended.


Richard G. Petty, MD, author of Healing, Meaning and Purpose: The Magical Power of the Emerging Laws of Life

Excellent balance of case history, theory, and empirical research, July 11, 2007
This is one of the most interesting nonfiction books that I have *ever* read. I found the book fascinating, but lest that be chalked up to my being a psychologist, my husband the computer scientist found it fascinating, too.

Scientists used to believe that the brain was relatively fixed and unchanging -- some of them still believe that -- but recent research shows that the brain is much more mutable than biologists, psychologists, physicians (and any other scientists who studied brains) had ever thought.

For example, anecdotal evidence had long supported the idea that blind people hear better than sighted people, but scientists pooh-poohed this idea, saying that there was no mechanism for that to occur. Well, they recently discovered that the area of the brain usually called the visual cortex is taken over for auditory processing in blind people. So blind folks have twice as much brain space devoted to processing sounds, which means that they really do hear better, and now we know why. Scientists were astounded to discover that the "visual" cortex was really just brain space that could be used for anything.

Psych 101 and Bio 101 textbooks often have a picture in them that shows which areas of the brain control which bodily functions, and this is all presented as fixed and unchanging. Imagine our surprise to learn that the brain can make fairly large shifts in just a few days -- for example, if you blindfold somebody for five days, the area of their brains that's usually called the visual cortex starts using large sections of itself to process touch and sound, and this change is made in as little as two days. Two days!

The book is not just theoretical, though -- the author is interested in the theory, but he's even more interested in how all of this can be applied to better the lives of real people. He talks about people with strokes who've learned to walk again, people with vestibular problems who've learned to substitute something else for their missing vestibular system, people who've been helped with ADHD, autism, retardation, and many other "incurable" conditions by altering their brains.

The downside of the book is that the author is a Freudian, so there are some annoying comments about how Freud knew it all along, but if you can overlook that, it's all fascinating. The author does an excellent job of drawing the reader in with a story about a real person, then elaborating on the ideas by talking about studies that show the basic principles and their implications, then explaining how this can be used to ameliorate or even cure conditions that were considered incurable.

This book blew me away!

The chapter titles will give you more information about the subject matter:

1. A Woman Perpetually Falling...: Rescued by the Man Who Discovered the Plasticity of Our Senses
2. Building Herself a Better Brain: A Woman Labeled "Retarded" Discovers How to Heal Herself
3. Redesigning the Brain: A Scientist Changes Brains to Sharpen Perception and Memory, Increase Speed of Thought, and Heal Learning Problems
4. Acquiring Tastes and Loves: What Neuroplasticity Teaches Us About Sexual Attraction and Love
5. Midnight Resurrections: Stroke Victims Learn to Move and Speak Again
6. Brain Lock Unlocked: Using Plasticity to Stop Worries, Obsessions, Compulsions, and Bad Habits
7. Pain: The Dark Side of Plasticity
8. Imagination: How Thinking Makes It So
9. Turning Our Ghosts into Ancestors: Psychotherapy as a Neuroplastic Therapy
10. Rejuvenation: The Discovery of the Neuronal Stem Cell and Lessons for Preserving Our Brains
11. More than the Sum of Her Parts: A Woman Shows Us How Radically Plastic the Brain Can Be
Appendix 1: The Culturally Modified Brain
Appendix 2: Plasticity and the Idea of Progress

Highly recommended!

worth reading, with caveats, July 6, 2008
I have a general professional interest in psychology and brain science, which often leads me to be frustrated by the tendency towards reductionism and exaggeration. This book looked promising to me because the author is advertised as a psychoanalyst--something that usually does not mesh well with neuroscience. I was intrigued to see how Freud might think about modern psychology's biological determinism. On that score, I found The Brain That Changes Itself reasonably satisfying; the chapter on how neural plasticity can help us understand the impact of psychotherapy was among the best in the book. I very much appreciate the emphasis on how experience (including talk therapy) and culture, not just genes and drugs, shape the brain. That is something that is easy to miss in viewing the pretty brain scans of contemporary popular science. I also found the appendix on how culture works through neural plasticity interesting, although I don't find it helpful to define culture as Doidge seems to--something akin to cultivation and taste (a definition that leads to a problematic hierarchy of cultures based on somewhat arbitrary criteria). It is, however, important to recognize that culture and the brain have a reciprocal relationship.

My main concern with the book is that much of the argument seems to imply that the brain is infinitely malleable with the right exercises and effort. Though Doidge does note at points that plasticity is not infinite, he also seems to endorse the very American cultural script that individuals have total control over everything that happens to them. If babies are properly stimulated they will all be geniuses! If ADHD children go through the proper attentional exercises they will suddenly excel! If the elderly go to brain gyms they will never lose their memory! These, unfortunately, are primarily openings for marketers rather than scientific realities. Of course we have some control, and the key findings of neural plasticity research have been helpful in supporting that, but there are some things that are not just about effort--but also about care and community. Overall, I did find this book interesting and worth reading, but also found myself worried about what seemed to me strategic exaggeration.

Helpful, hopeful, heartwarming, April 17, 2007
I have taken an interest in mind/brain science over the past several months. Having started my nursing career on a medical neurology ward, I "grew up" with the localizationist interpretation of brain function and of the irreversible nature of brain damage. One couldn't help, however, having seen evidence in the course of ones practice that overwhelmingly contradicted the accepted view, so I was very pleased to see that so much has been done lately in researching the plasticity of the brain and its ability to "fix" or at least bypass damage to its structure.

The author, a psychologist with a practice in Canada, approaches his narrative almost as a journalist. He has researched the field and interviewed many of those who have been responsible for breakthroughs in mind/brain science. He gives a brief personal biography and characterization of the scientist as an individual, and then goes on to report the results of their research and the contributions that the work has provided individual patients. Here too the persons' lives and experiences are provided so that each becomes real to the reader. In this way the actual advances are given very personal meaning and significance.

In my opinion, the book should be a must read for neurology residents--if it or something like it has not already been added to the core curriculum. The research and the individual representative cases provided are an amazing illustration of what has and may be done in the near future of neurological diseases and disorders. Certainly anyone with a neurological disorder will find the information inspiring and hopeful. No longer is he or she expected to learn to "accept" their disability or to "learn to live with it." More active approaches to treatment seem to work far better than had been believed by earlier generations of neuroscientists and physiotherapists. Most important is the issue of providing treatment for disabilities, of extending and intensifying therapies not just to a fixed time decided upon arbitrarily but to a point when actual change and improvement are seen to occur. Some of the illustrative cases are certainly exceptional, maybe even just "lucky" individuals, but many of them derived considerable benefit from the approaches used to treat their disability by researchers.

Among the most amazing stories are those of stroke victims who have recovered almost entirely from their neurological damage and returned to an active life. Others are about new technologies for providing sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and greater autonomy to the movement impaired. Some of the findings about the aging brain are especially interesting and hopeful. In fact I was so impressed with some of it, that I gave the book to a friend who also worked in neurology in "the old days" and who is now dealing with the issues of living with her mother whose memory is gradually failing and whose everyday life is getting to be more and more difficult and complicated.

A superb book.

The Review That Wrote Itself, March 27, 2007
A revolution is now sweeping through the field of brain science, and this book chronicles the stories of the men and women who have ushered in a new age. The brain is no longer viewed as a machine that is hard-wired early in life, unable to adapt and destined to "wear out" with age. Instead, we learn that scientists are beginning to unlock the secrets of the powerful, lifelong, adaptability - or "plasticity" - of the brain. The implications are enormous for treating neurological disease, for addressing the aging process and for dramatic improvements in human performance. Author Norman Doidge is a psychiatrist on the Columbia faculty and he tells one spell-binding story after another, as he travels the globe interviewing the scientists and their subjects who are on the cutting edge of a new age. Each story is interwoven with the latest in brain science, told in a manner that is both simple and compelling. It may be hard to imagine that a book so rich in science can also be a page-turner, but this one is hard to set down.

Astonishing Stories of Damaged Brains Repairing Themselves, June 15, 2007
"The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science" by Norman Doidge, is an easily readable, enjoyable, and thought-provoking book that gives the nonprofessional an overview of the new science of neuroplasticity--the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections over the life span. We learn that the brain is no longer thought of as being hard-wired, that people are no longer believed to be merely products of their genes and environment, and that damaged brains have the remarkable ability to repair themselves.

Doidge recounts stories of real people who have benefited from advances in neuroplasticity. He gives us just enough background information about each case so that we find ourselves genuinely caring about these people--each person comes to life, like characters in a fine novel. He tells us stories about stroke victims with major physical dysfunction who were able to recover nearly everything that they lost, and then go on to live normal lives again. There is an astonishing story of a woman who lost her balance mechanisms; with help from neuroplasticians, she was able to rewire her brain to use other senses to achieve the same goal. We learn that neuroplastic physicians can design high-technology devices capable of bringing sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and movement to the paralyzed. We learn about an utterly courageous woman who, completely on her own, was able to rewire her brain to compensate for a large number of severe learning disabilities. Eventually, she goes on to found a very successful network of schools devoted to the methodologies she used.

The basic concept is simple: the brain can change itself--rewire itself, so to speak. Often it needs only a little structured help to force it into making the new connections.

The implications of this new science are staggering. Imagine retraining the brains of the severely mentally disadvantaged--the learning disabled, the autistic...perhaps even the psychopath--so that they are able to function almost normally in society. Imagine the impact this new science may have on prison rehabilitation, special education, psychiatry, and rehabilitation therapy, to name but a few. This is a truly astonishing new frontier, and Doidge makes the concepts easy and enjoyable. I recommend this book highly.

Exciting new understanding of the brain written by 'true believer', May 28, 2008
This is a book that my men's book club enjoyed. I also enjoyed the book, but found the author to be a bit of true believer - if what he claims is true most every case of autism, paralysis, tinitis, and other neurological disorders can be fixed by taking advantage of the new understanding that the brain can create new routes and perhaps new nerves. The range of impact of this approach is staggering and will have implications for many years to come. The topics covered include sexual attraction, social skills, 'itches' of amputated limbs, fetishism, spatial reasoning, stroke recovery, feelings from phantom limbs, pain of phantom limbs, pornography addiction, cognitive decline, OCD, and even blindness. As you can tell, I found the information of various cases exciting and offering great promise, but I also found the lack of a balanced presentation by the author to be disconcerting.

Good Book but Definitely Not an Intro to Neuroscience, August 29, 2008
For decades now there has been a longstanding feud between biologists and psychologists on how the human brain forms and develops -- otherwise known as the nature versus nurture debate. Evolutionary biology teaches us that genes is destiny, and with his book the Canadian psychiatrist Norman Doidge makes his case for individual agency and cultural influences.

Like Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, & Steel" Dr. Doidge's book is not original research but rather a synthesis and summary from the frontiers of brain science. Supplemented with case studies "The Brain that Changes Itself" is about neuroplasticity, which argues that the brain is "plastic," or organic and malleable. For hundreds of years, thanks to thinkers like Rene Descartes, scientists have thought of the brain as mechanical, certain functions localized to certain sectors in this machine -- over time it rusts, with no chance of regeneration. Thanks to decades of research by a brave few who dared to defy their mainstream bethren and to the invention of brain scans neuroplasticity is now the accepted view.

The good news about neuroplasticity is that the brain you have is the brain you make it. New external stimuli (such as learning a new language) causes new neural connections in the brain (the "neurons that fire together wire together" rule of neuroplasticity). Often when we're learning a new language or skill after some fast improvement in the early stages we reach a plateau where we seem to have no improvement at all. Then after a while we suddenly make a great leap. That's because it takes time (as measured by nights of good sleep) for these neural connections to consolidate themselves but once they do we can move onto the next level. Of course if we don't keep on practising this skill these connections will weaken (the "use it or lose it" rule of plasticity) because space in the brain is, after all, limited.

Individual agency over our brains gives great hope to those who suffer from aging and brain damage. Scientists have developed brain exercises on the computer to help the elderly maintain a sharp and alert mind, and help stroke victims restore once lost cognitive functions.

The bad news is that the brain you have is the brain that you make it, and unfortunately most of us choose the path of least resistance and decide not to use it at all. As Dr. Doidge explains the plastic paradox means that exposing yourself to new stimuli can make the brain flexible but choosing to stay within your comfort zone will also make the brain rigid. Learning is fast and furious when we're kids but as we reach adulthood the brain becomes less plastic, making learning more difficult, and instead of choosing to learn most of us choose merely to rely on our current belief system. And when the world challenges this belief system we choose to ignore the world, and if forced we'll opt to fight the world. Thus, the plastic brain that allows us to learn new languages can also paradoxically make us intolerant and racist.

Indeed, as Dr. Doidge warns us, the individuals that he profiles who have managed to change themselves have done so because they make a honest and hard commitment to change themselves. Dr. Doidge's patients went into psychotherapy (which operates from the principles of neuroplasticity) to discover how trauma created unhealthy neural connections, and how through discussion, self-analysis, and will-power to create new neural connections. But this process is painful and costly and takes many years.

And it's so hard because the brain is so adept at protecting us. When we suffer a physical injury the brain will actually decide on what the appropriate level of pain we feel is. And when we're traumatized when we're young (for example, our mother dies or we're sexually abused) the brain will often decide to not convert this experience into long-term memory, and build defenses to disassociate ourselves from the possible pain of further trauma. The net effect is that our hippocampus -- the area of our frontal lobe that transfers experience into long-term memory, and thus what governs our ability to learn -- will shrink, thereby giving a scientific explanation to why adult victims of childhood trauma seem so adolescent and immature.

Neuroplasticity offers hope though: love. It seems that our neural network will automatically become more flexible in two critical periods of our adulthood: when we fall in love, and when we have children. Presumably it's because in both instances we need to urgently learn a new skillset to match the two most important circumstances we could find ourselves in. So being in love with someone does allow you to change who you are. Of course, being the circumspect doctor, Dr. Doidge reminds us that if we find ourselves in love with the wrong person we can change for the worst as well, seeing our confidence and healthy attitude suddenly shatter.

I'm not sure how Dr. Doidge would view my summary of his book, because I've taken great liberty in summarizing it. It's a pithy book and there's really a lot of refreshing and insightful material in the book but I'm not happy about the writing style -- which seems rushed and choppy to me -- and the organization, which hurts the clarity and effectiveness of the book. I've read quite a lot on the workings of the brain so I could follow through most chapters but I think a novice will have a particularly hard time reading this book. For a great introduction to how the mind works I suggest watching the BBC documentary series "The Human Series," hosted by Robert Winston -- possibly the greatest documentary series ever made.

Unhappy porn addicts, check out chapter 4, January 8, 2010
Doidge's chapter on acquired sexual tastes is much needed for today's heavy porn users, some of whom are experiencing miserable unexpected side effects from their Internet porn habits. He addresses familiar symptoms like desensitization to normal sex, erectile dysfunction, escalation to watching things the viewer doesn't even like just to climax, and the deterioration of relationships.

Without moralizing Doidge explains that, "Pornographers promise healthy pleasure and relief from sexual tension, but what they often deliver is addiction, tolerance, and an eventual decrease in pleasure." He makes the interesting point that if mankind's attraction to porn were purely the product of millions of years of evolution, tastes would be similar and wouldn't change over time. Instead,

"Hardcore pornography now explores the world of perversion, while softcore is now what hardcore was a few decades ago. ... When pornographers boast that they are pushing the envelope by introducing new, harder themes, what they don't say is that they must, because their customers are building up a tolerance to the content."

So if you want to understand the mechanics of how you (or your beloved) got hooked, this book is useful. Unfortunately, Doidge's patients were apparently mated men, and he seems to underestimate the difficultry of withdrawal from porn addiction for single guys whose addiction has resulted in social isolation. Single men need lots of social contact and support during the lengthy, often agonizing, withdrawal required to unhook from Internet porn use. (See "The Road To Excess" [...]) Still, Doidge's book offers hope just by virtue of explaining what has happened in guilt-free terms, and can motivate an unhappy user to face the challenge of withdrawal.

Seriously flawed, November 2, 2009
The most fascinating thing about this book is the nearly complete lack of honest critical response to Doidge's book.

Doidge, a Freudian psychoanalyst, has no training in neurobiology, and prior to this book has published next to nothing relevant to the topic. He makes two fundamental errors in the way he tells his story.

The first of these is the division he makes between "localizationists" and "neuroplasticians". No one working in neuroscience would take seriously the straw man position that Doidge puts forth for localizationists, that there is "one location, one function" and that the brain operates as an unchangeable machine. It is one of the most fundamental axioms of neuroscience that neural changes underlie any learning mechanism. No one would seriously postulate that brains *don't* change a great deal during the life of an organism. Even those involved in the practice of understanding how functions are localized (e.g., speech in the left hemisphere) would not suggest that there is anything special or unchangeable about the physical location, that this location couldn't change after brain injury. Mainstream neuroscience, not a marginalized fringe, has long been aware of the adaptations and plasticity that can happen after a stroke or other brain damage. Doidge seriously misrepresents himself as the champion of a movement.

The second error is the implication that brains are infinitely malleable. He presents a cherry-picked set of case studies and select experiments that might suggest that this is the case, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest exactly the opposite conclusion. Doidge even goes as far as to intimate that any neurological condition can be fixed with the right training. Autism, dyslexia, maybe even Alzheimer's. This is seriously misleading at best.

One of the traps that Doidge falls into is the excessive use of "brainspeak". Many of the examples and implications that he talks about are behavioral, and a brain description is really not the appropriate level. After a while, the term "brain map" has lost a good deal of it's punch as it's applied to anything at all. He suggests that Freud was ahead of his time because, in essence, psychotherapy is "changing your brain maps". Well, yes. But so is any learning at all; there's no privileged place for psychoanalysis. In essence, Doidge is trying to convince you that evidence for brain plasticity should let you know that YOUR brain (and life) can be changed. But in many ways the brainspeak is an unnecessary diversion. The world is full of stories of personal triumph, and those enough are evidence that personal triumph is possible. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The astonishing New York Times bestseller that chronicles how a brain scientist's own stroke led to enlightenment

On December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor, a thirty-seven- year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist experienced a massive stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. As she observed her mind deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life-all within four hours-Taylor alternated between the euphoria of the intuitive and kinesthetic right brain, in which she felt a sense of complete well-being and peace, and the logical, sequential left brain, which recognized she was having a stroke and enabled her to seek help before she was completely lost. It would take her eight years to fully recover.

For Taylor, her stroke was a blessing and a revelation. It taught her that by "stepping to the right" of our left brains, we can uncover feelings of well-being that are often sidelined by "brain chatter." Reaching wide audiences through her talk at the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference and her appearance on Oprah's online Soul Series, Taylor provides a valuable recovery guide for those touched by brain injury and an inspiring testimony that inner peace is accessible to anyone. ... Read more

Reviews

Important
This is, indeed, a first-person description of stroke by a scientifically and dare I say it -- spiritually -- sophisticated person. The author describes a range of experiences that make sense given our knowledge of localization of function. I'm not sure that such a detailed and consistent report by a scientist is available anywhere else. As such, this story is unusual and important. Moreover the author reports how she turned her stroke into an opportunity for profound wisdom and insight. Amazing stuff! And this may save lives.

Personally, I don't share all the author's ideas about strict functional localization in the brain... but that is secondary and doesn't detract from my admiration of her remarkable contribution.

My enjoyment of this book was enhanced considerably by the material and links at the author's website. She has posted a number of video and audio presentations, radio shows, etc.

Stroke of Brilliance!
I first came across Jill Bolte Taylor, Phd when her speech at TED (an annual conference devoted to Technology, Entertainment, Design) went viral. In it, she describes how she witnessed herself having a stroke and the subsequent feeling of peace that enveloped her when her logical left brain shut down and her right brain became dominant. I became intrigued after watching the video and then read the book.

The book expounds on her experience while having the stroke and her subsequent recovery. It was amazing on many levels:
(1) She gives a 1st person narrative of her experience of the stroke and recovery but she doesn't portray it as something we should all pity and feel sorry for. Instead, she lays it out not unlike an explorer discovering new territory, full of suspense and wonder.

(2) She gives incredible tips on how to communicate with and care for stroke victims. For e.g., some people would yell at her after they saw she didn't understand what they were saying. However, she wasn't deaf. She could only process one word at a time. If those people would have spoken more slowly rather than loudly, she would have been able to understand them. This is something that would never have occurred to me if I hadn't read this book.

(3) She takes us on a tour of the 'mystical' right side of her brain which little is known about and whose capabilities in today's world seem to be dismissed. She says the right side of the brain is the gateway to enlightenment and nirvana. She shares tips on how to 'tend the garden of your mind' and to interrupt or stop those stories we all tell ourselves over and over again (usually about how we are deficient, not good enough, etc.). She calls them loops.

Dr. Taylor's tips about how we can all achieve nirvana by accessing the right side of the brain as a conscious process is worth the price of the book many times over. We all have a "loop of deep inner peace" wired into our neurological circuitry in our right brain and we can consciously choose to run this loop whenever we wish.

Closely related to this topic are books by Ariel & Shya Kane. They've written three outstanding books: Working on Yourself Doesn't Work: The 3 Simple Ideas That Will Instantaneously Transform Your Life, How to Create a Magical Relationship: The 3 Simple Ideas that Will Instantaneously Transform Your Love Life & Being Here: Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment. The Kanes have been teaching about accessing the magic of the right-side of the brain for over 20 years and their book is chock full of tips, and stories on how to recognize those loops Dr. Taylor talks about and how to bypass them. If you're serious about getting enlightened, get Dr. Taylor's and the Kanes' books NOW!

Required Reading
My wife is a "massive" stroke victim. Her survival and recovery themselves were miracles. We are very fortunate. But one of the god-given gifts that has not returned is her speech. And while as a husband of 45 years when asked how she is doing often facetiously say that her loss of speech "is not all bad", I feel for her occasional frustration as she stumbles in her attempt to convey her feelings - fortunately, it is only occasional. We were warned it would be much, much worse.

But the bottom line, this book has restored her faith in the possibilities of even further recovery. It should be required reading for all stoke victims whose speech was affected. Likewise, for all caretakers of those victims. For just to see the light shine in her eye as she showed me many passages in the book that still gave her hope was well worth the price and time involved.

Fantastic!
I've been recommending My Stroke of Insight to nearly everyone I know. Jill provides a great moment-by-moment account of her stroke, a potentially devasting event many of my relatives have experienced. I deeply admire her determination to work through it. She also does one of the best jobs of describing brain function I've ever run across. I came away with a renewed sense of understanding, wonder and hopefulness about the capabilities of the human brain. Highly recommended!

Glimpse Inside the Mind of Another
Dr Taylor shows there are many kinds of knowledge, but maybe only one kind of awareness. The specialjourney that "Stroke of Insight" chronicles is surprising. It's a lesson how new learning, understanding and benefit can come of an experience that most would consider a severe blow. If you have the courage to face it and see it.

The ability to experience something on several levels, beyond the daily vision of most of us, and then to share it in such a clear and thoughful account is rare. In this book, Dr Taylor shows her courage doesn't end with facing pain, loss or mortality, but she also now breaks convention and presents her ideas and experience in full view, with their emotional and philosophical content included. Not only was she inspired by her own journey, but she shares the inspiration directly with the reader.

More than just an interesting read, this is one of the books that lets the reader peek inside the mind of another and, in doing so, to learn more about the self and the nature of our existence. Well worth your time.

Great book
How often do you get to hear a neuroscientist describe her own stroke?
This is an amazing story on three levels; physical, emotional, and spiritual. Dr. Jill's description of her eight year recovery is both uplifting and powerful. But the spiritual aspect is alone worth the price of admission. (I won't spoil it for you.)

Dr. Bolte-Taylor is not a writer of prose. Her style is that of someone experienced in writing scientific papers; factual, concise and parsimonious. But the content! That is what makes this a great book in my opinion.

A quick read but a powerful story.

Danny

My Stroke of Insight
An absolutely wonderful journey by a brain anatomist who suffered a stroke. Her resilience, her deep understanding of the condition and lessons to be learned by her and other health care professionals is outstanding. A must read for anyone whether faced with a health problem or not. Is a mind awakening experience!!! ... Read more

Editorial Review

In his most extraordinary book, "one of the great clinical writers of the 20th century" (The New York Times) recounts the case histories of patients lost in the bizarre, apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders. Oliver Sacks's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat tells the stories of individuals afflicted with fantastic perceptual and intellectual aberrations: patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; who are stricken with violent tics and grimaces or who shout involuntary obscenities; whose limbs have become alien; who have been dismissed as retarded yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents.

If inconceivably strange, these brilliant tales remain, in Dr. Sacks's splendid and sympathetic telling, deeply human. They are studies of life struggling against incredible adversity, and they enable us to enter the world of the neurologically impaired, to imagine with our hearts what it must be to live and feel as they do. A great healer, Sacks never loses sight of medicine's ultimate responsibility: "the suffering, afflicted, fighting human subject." ... Read more

Reviews

Truly incredible tales and a great read, November 18, 2004
It is utterly fascinating to know that, as a result of a neurological condition, a man can actually mistake his wife for a hat and not realize it. It is also fascinating to learn that a stroke can leave a person with the inability to see things on one side of the visual field--which is what happened to "Mrs. S." as recalled in the chapter, "Eyes Right!"--and yet not realize that anything is missing. In both cases there was nothing wrong with the patient's eyes; it was the brain's processing of the visual information that had gone haywire.

Neurologist Oliver Sacks, who has a wonderful way with words and a strong desire to understand and appreciate the human being that still exists despite the disorder or neurological damage, treats the reader to these and twenty-two other tales of the bizarre in this very special book. My favorite tale is Chapter 21, "Rebecca," in which Dr. Sacks shows that a person of defective intelligence--a "moron"--is still a person with a sense of beauty and with something to give to the world. Sacks generously (and brilliantly) shows how Rebecca taught him the limitations of a purely clinical approach to diagnosis and treatment. Although the child-like 19-year-old didn't have the intelligence to "find her way around the block" or "open a door with a key," Rebecca had an emotional understanding of life superior to many adults. She loved her grandmother deeply and when she died, Rebecca expressed her feelings to Sacks, "I'm crying for me, not for her...She's gone to her Long Home." She added, poetically, "I'm so cold. It's not outside, it's winter inside. Cold as death...She was a part of me. Part of me died with her" (p. 182). Rebecca goes on to show Dr. Sacks that they pay "far too much attention to the defects of...patients...and far too little to what...[is] intact or preserved" (p. 183). Rebecca was tired of the meaningless classes and workshops and odd jobs. "What I really love...is the theatre," she said. Sacks writes that the theatre "composed her...she became a complete person, poised, fluent, with style, in each role" (p. 185).

Another of my favorite stories is Chapter 23, "The Twins." These two guys, idiots savants, "undersized, with disturbing disproportions in head and hands...monotonous squeaky voices...a very high, degenerative myopia, requiring glasses so thick that their eyes seem distorted" (p. 196) had the very strange ability of being able to factor quickly in their heads large numbers and to recognize primes at a glance. They could also give you almost instantly the day of the week for any day in history. One day a box of matches fell on the floor and "<111,> they both cried simultaneously." And then one said "37" and then the other said "37" and then the first said "37" and stopped. There were indeed 111 matches on the floor (Sacks counted them) and three times the prime number 37 does indeed equal 111! (p. 199). Later he discovered them saying six-figure numbers to one another. One would give a number and the other would receive it "and appreciate...it richly." Sacks discovered that they were tossing out primes to one another just for the sheer joy of doing it.

Another of Sacks's discoveries about his patients is that "music, narrative and drama" are "of the greatest practical and theoretical importance" (p. 185). He demonstrates this again and again here and in his more recent book, An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales (1995), which is also an incredibly fascinating book. (See my review here at Amazon.com.) Many people with neurological disorders or deficiencies become whole when engaged in a process such as story, music or drama. The process seems to give them a structure to follow which, for the time being, overcomes their handicap. This is seen remarkably even in a surgeon with Tourette's syndrome who, while performing surgery, was without tics (as reported in the book mentioned above).

It's clear that one of Sacks's purposes in sharing his experience is to dispel the prejudice against people who are different because of their defects. One can see that respect for others regardless of their limitations is something Sacks incorporates in his practice and his life. It is one of the many virtues of this wonderful book, that in reading it, we too are moved to a greater respect for others, people who really are challenged in ways we "normal" people can only imagine.

Fascinating, October 3, 1998
The first thing I did after reading this book was to hop back onto Amazon.con and order "Awakenings" and "An Anthropolgist on Mars." This book was recommended by one of my philosophy professors in college about six years ago. Well, it took me six years to pick it up, and I don't regret the decision. As a complete layperson, my eyes were opened to what a complex piece of machinery the brain is. Sack's personal perspective on these patients disorders is what takes this interesting material and makes it fascinating reading. The only problem I had with this book was that I was disappointed to see most every chapter end. I wanted to know more about most every case. I only rank it 4 instead of 5 for that reason (It could have been more in-depth) and a couple of the cases were simply mildly interesting rather than mind-bending. It's almost imcrompehensible to perceive the world and one's self in the same manner as some of these unfortunate people. I was especially intrigued by one of the questions Sack's brings up concerning the case history discussed in the chapter "The Lost Mariner." A man can remember nothing for more than a few seconds. His entire life, all of his experiences are gone almost as soon as they are past. "He is a man without a past (or future), stuck in a constantly changing, meaningless moment," Sacks writes. Sacks then ponders the question that will stop your heart: "Does he have a soul?" If you have ever been bothered by the question of the spiritual nature of man, Sacks --who stops well short of reaching any theological conclusions -- will disturb you with this material. From that standpoint, he is brilliant at informing by simply forcing the reader to ask questions of his or her self...questions which Sack's himself admits even he has no clue as to the answers. This book could change your perspective on life, or simply entertain you as an interesting novelty. In any case, I very highly recommend it...can't wait to get into "Anthropologist" next.

A little old, but still interesting, July 25, 2002
I used to work on a neurology ward when I first started in health care, and the many sad stories that I was privy to during that time has encouraged me to keep up with some of the research in brain and mind science.

Oliver Sacks' book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat was first published in 1970 and has been reprinted several times with new material added. The book is an interesting collection of stories of individuals with neurological deficits that highlight and clarify how the normal brain works. The author approaches his study with a compassion for his patient's troubled existence, and where the patients are content with their lot, he prudently leaves well enough alone, something not all MD's are willing to do. He also appreciates what his patients have to teach him about life and even about the practice of medicine itself. His ability to learn from others considered "unfortunate" or mentally "defective" makes the book a very insightful work.

While the author's extensive clinical practice has allowed him to make some interesting statements about what parts of the brain are involved with different mental functions, what he fails to do in this book is to provide anything approaching testable ideas or actual research supporting his theories. The colorful stories are well worth reading as moral parables, but a better book on current mind and brain research might be Ramachandran's Phantoms in the Brain. One might begin with the Sacks book, which is easy to read, and proceed to the more extensive work by Ramachandran.

A Deeply Spiritual Book, May 20, 2001
I first encountered the essay "Rebecca" (one of the fine "clinical tales" in Sacks's book)in a Norton Anthology I used in a writing course. In this essay, Sacks describes his encounter with a young girl on a park bench outside the hospital. Later, he encounters her in a clinical setting as a patient, and has a different view of her. His clinical methodology uncovers her deficits; his challenge is to see past them to the whole spiritual being he saw sitting on a park bench transfixed with the beauty of spring. That he is able to do so refocuses his attitudes toward his other patients, for what he sees in Rebecca, he now "saw in them all."

For me what was most interesting about these fascinating stories is that the underlying question has to do less with cures for bizarre neurological diseases, than with the essential question of what makes us who we are, and what do we do when our entire concept of self is savaged and the world left unrecognizable?

For Sacks, at least part of the answer lies in art--the narrative in the synagogue that knits Rebecca's deficits and makes her whole (holy?); the music that enables some patients who are unable even to walk without difficulty, the ability to dance; the notes that enable stutterers to sing.

This is a wonderful book that does what wonderful books do--it makes the reader look again at what he only thought he saw before, and see it whole.

Hang on to your right hemisphere!, July 24, 2003
This is one of the most entertaining and thought provoking books I've read in a while. Oliver Sacks has done a marvelous job of illustrating just how mysterious and tenuous our perception of the world is by relating stories about patients who have suffered some kind of injury to the right hemisphere of their brains. Why the "right" hemisphere? As Sacks explains, the left hemisphere has a fairly comprehensible role; it seems to follow rules. When it does not function appropriately, the consequences are reasonably predictable. "Indeed, the entire history of neurology and neuropsychology can be seen as a history of the investigation of the left hemisphere."

In contrast, the right hemisphere has been something of an enigma, and is consequently called the 'minor' hemisphere. But, "it is the right hemisphere which controls the crucial powers of recognizing reality which every living creature must have in order to survive." For example, the right hemisphere is responsible for "proprioception", which allows us to feel our bodies as "proper to us"; that they belong to us. This is so basic that it is difficult to even imagine what it would be like to have impaired proprioception. Sacks is keenly aware of this challenge; in a sense, the entire book is an attempt to give us a glimpse into such an incomprehensible world.

Sacks quotes Wittgenstein:, "The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity. (One is unable to notice something because it is always before one's eyes.)" Those things that are most basic, most obvious, have a deeply mysterious foundation in the brain. One can begin to appreciate this when one considers those unfortunate individuals who have lost some of these basic perceptions due to injury or illness. As Sacks points out in the introduction, "It is not only difficult, it is impossible, for patients with certain right-hemisphere syndromes to know their own problems... And it is singularly difficult, even for the most sensitive observer, to picture the inner state, the 'situation', of such patients, for this is almost unimaginably remote from anything he himself has ever known."

Sacks presents detailed and compassionate accounts of numerous patients whose worlds are indeed unimaginably remote from our own. He tells us of patients who have difficulty distinguishing between people and inanimate objects, those who have perfect "vision" yet cannot discern the purpose of an object without tactile feedback, those who fail to recognize their own limbs as belonging to them, and those who have lost fundamental spatial concepts, such as the distinction between left and right. One of the most intriguing cases that Sacks presents is that of a woman who had "totally lost the idea of 'left', both with regard to the world and her own body," a condition known as hemi-inattention. To this woman, everything in her left visual field simply ceased to exist, in analogy to the way each of us fills the blind spots in our visual field. This unfortunate woman would eat half her lunch (that on the right side of her tray) and was incapable of turning to the left (since left did not exist) to discover what remained. In time, she learned to turn herself around, always to the right, until she found the rest of her lunch.

This book is not only engrossing, it is challenging; it forces one to acknowledge that what we take as so plainly obvious about the world is intimately tied to basic brain function. Oliver Sacks demonstrates beautifully that the brain is still deeply mysterious, particularly in how it creates our sense of reality. There are profound implications here for those interested in psychology and philosophy. It's a great read.

Excellent book of case studies on the diseases of the mind, April 22, 2004
This is a layman's journey into the case studies of nureological problems. The book is written in a clear style that makes each case a story rather than a statistic. If you've ever wondered about diseases of the mind, this is the book for you.

It's not really a good book to read before bed as some of these people have problems that could make one want to stay up and talk about it with someone else.

A Neurologist with Great Humanity., February 8, 2004
Considering my stereotyped image of a neurologist, i.e., having that strict 'scientific' view of the human being (the mind/brain having solely mechanical processes, devoid of 'soul'; a noticeable unawareness or avoidance of a human's actual 'being', that purely 'clinical' approach to the patient as mere 'subject') was exploded in a thousand pieces after reading this special book. Sacks' general humanity in general and particularly for his patients glimmered bright from every page. As a doctor, researcher and therapist in this field, he communicates quite freely and clearly as to his personal views on his profession and where he would like it to go:

"The patient's essential being is very relevant in the higher reaches of neurology, and in psychology; for here the patient's personhood is essentially involved, and the study of disease and the identity cannot be disjoined. Such disorders, and their depiction and study, indeed entail a new discipline, which we may call the 'neurology of identity', for it deals with the neural foundations of the self, the age-old problem of mind and brain.' (X)

This book is a collection of twenty-four cases, clinical tales about people who, in some cases, have been struck with terrible brain related illnesses during the prime of their lives. The physical, emotional and very foundations of how they function and view the world, has been drastically altered. In the case of 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat', Dr. P., a musician of distinction, teacher and accomplished painter, developed a type of visual agnosia or prosopagnosia, where he could not recognize faces and came to see things, people and objects as something else. His entire perceptions of the world had totally changed. One aspect of this particular story that was interesting was Dr. P's paintings, which Sacks observed hanging on the wall of his home. In the beginning the paintings depicted a 'realist' style, almost mirror representations; as the years went by, each painting became more impressionistic, ending in the most recent work being entirely abstract. Sacks made a comment about this fact to the Dr.'s wife, who believed that his artistic style simply matured over the years. However Sacks saw the paintings as representing the progressive nature of the man's condition. I found this case to be at once bizarre, interesting and sad.

Most if not all of the cases in this book are bizarre, interesting and sad, but Dr. Sacks conveys a deep humanity, a scientific concern and a real hope that the profession will find more effective ways in dealing with the brain. He believes the profession should re-think their approaches; perhaps ask different questions, however, most importantly, not forget that, as physicians, they're not dealing with just 'clinical subjects', but human beings with identity. In other words, to truly understand the brain/ mind relation, the essential being, science and the humanities must join forces. One can see from this wonderful book, that Oliver Sacks has already attempted to do just this, with varying degrees of success.

This is a book that drastically changed my views on a lot of things, not least the utter vastness of the mind, and how easily we can lose what we take for granted everyday.

Exists on 2 levels, one better than the other, June 8, 2000
This book could be read on two levels: in a clinical sense, with its million-dollar scientific terms and long winded, detailed description of methods and diagnoses; and in an anecdotal sense, as stories about quirky, remarkable characters. After reading a bit, I preferred to continue reading with the latter approach in mind, and was distracted by the clinical stuff. I felt it really took away from the amazing stories therein. Additionally, Sacks was kind of self-aggrandizing, and didn't so much place his patients as the book's center as he did himself, and his assessment of their eccentricities.

A touchstone book, November 14, 2001
"The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" suggests a theatrical image from Ionesco, or perhaps a brightly illustrated volume shelved next to "If You Give a Moose a Muffin." And yet this book is far from absurdity or fantasy: It describes actual neurological dysfunctions, and the title captures the human dimension of these afflictions -- personal, puzzling, embarrassing, disabling, alienating and, yes, even funny. With his combination of clinical expertise, compassionate insight and comfortable prose, Dr. Oliver Sacks ("Awakenings" and "An Anthropologist on Mars") is the perfect guide to this unusual investigation. On one level his case studies are fascinating glimpses of the complex -- and fragile -- circuitry that must be integrated to produce "normal" brain function, and they illustrate how isolated deficits can have life-transforming impact. But Sacks is more interested in people than in diagnoses, and he introduces us to vivid personalities whose responses and adaptations are often inventive and unpredictable, and whose individual circumstances often evade conventional wisdom. There is the title character, who learns to sing himself through his day after he loses the capability to connect visual imagery with interpretive categories. Sacks sympathetically describes the savant brothers who are perfectly content communicating privately through prime numbers, but who are deprived of joy when therapeutic protocol pushes them into "normal" life. And then there's the man with Tourette's Syndrome for whom the physical and verbal tics are either a burden or a blessing, depending on the day of the week. Every once in awhile a book comes along that becomes a touchstone, a standard source of reference and perspective in daily life, a dependable source of insight and inspiration. "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" may become that for you, as it has for me.

A must read for families facing Alzheimer's Disease, February 8, 2000
My Husband, Tom's, neurologist recommended that I read this book as a means of helping me understand what was happening to Tom's brain. Tom died of Alzheimer's in 1995. This book is not about Alzheimer's but in many ways it gave me more insight than anything else I read. I reasoned that if the brain can manifest the extremes in behaviors and misinterpretations exhibited in the case studies Dr. Sacks highlights then perhaps a brain deteriorating randomly, as it does in Alzheimer's, can also mainifest similar behaviors and misinterpretations. It helped me immesnsely in figuring out what was behind his behaviors and his losses and I dared to allow myself to enter his world and see that world through his eyes. I detail some of these moments of insight in my book, "He Used to be Somebody, A Journey Into Alzheimer's Through the Eyes of a Caregiver," and how this insight translated in his care. (Tom died in our home after a 14 year battle with this disease. If he knew nothing else he knew his was loved. We should all be so lucky.) Dr. Sacks never loses sight of the human being facing the challenges he writes so eloquently of. He has that quality which allows him to see past the symptoms and into the soul of the person. The lesson is that the disease does not define the person. Alzheimer's is no exception. I highly recommend this reading for families and professionals working with this Alzheimer's and other dementia. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Revised and Expanded

With the same trademark compassion and erudition he brought to The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks explores the place music occupies in the brain and how it affects the human condition. In Musicophilia, he shows us a variety of what he calls “musical misalignments.” Among them: a man struck by lightning who suddenly desires to become a pianist at the age of forty-two; an entire group of children with Williams syndrome, who are hypermusical from birth; people with “amusia,” to whom a symphony sounds like the clattering of pots and pans; and a man whose memory spans only seven seconds-for everything but music.

Illuminating, inspiring, and utterly unforgettable, Musicophilia is Oliver Sacks' latest masterpiece. ... Read more

Reviews

Extraordinary!, October 26, 2007
Musicophilia is an absolutely phenomenal book, and will be of interest to anyone fascinated by music, mysteries of the mind, and the human condition. Sacks covers 29 different topics, ranging from synesthesia, to musical hallucinations, to savants, and beyond. In each chapter, he introduces the topic through cases (his own and famous ones in the literature--neurological and classic fictional literature, that is!), always maintaining a deep engagement with the humanity of the subjects: what is it like for these individuals? how do they describe their talent or illness or condition? Sacks also speculates on the possible neurological bases for these fascinating scenarios. This is a real page-turner, beautifully and clearly written, and it will give readers a new respect for the special place of music in our psychology, as well as a deeper understanding of the range of what it is to be human. 20 stars!

Music and Science were never so interesting, November 5, 2007
Dr. Oliver Sacks is a British neurologist with a love of music and science. This book blends music and science together like no book I've ever read. There are some amazing stories here. I love the story of surgeon Tony Cicoria who developed a passion for listening and playing music after he was struck by lightning. The story of British conductor Clive Wearing is amazing too. He developed amnesia after his brain became inflammed. He has the the memory and ability to conduct and sing music, but he can't remember anything else. I also loved the story the research chemist named Salimah. Her shy personality was changed after she suffered a seizure. She suddenly had the desire to listen to music all the time. I also touched by the story of Woody Geist. He suffers from Alzheimers disease, but he still performs in an a cappella singing group. Leon Fleisher is a classical piano player who performed with one hand for many years because of a condition called dystonia which affected his right hand. I learned about a genetic disorder called Williams Syndrome in this book. Kids with Williams Syndrome have difficulty paying attention, but they often possess a love for music. I was entertained and informed by this book so much.

Music and its role in our lives, October 24, 2007
It is refreshing to see how a specialist still retains the ability to be marveled by the cases he sees in his office. Too often scientists get so blas� over their practice that they miss the finer human aspects of every case. Sacks leads the reader gently by hand, even while using neurological jargon, into amazing stories of patients who live through situation we would not have imagined. And they all involve music and how humans experience it.

I believe this book is a must for musicians, who will probably acquire new understandings regarding the dimensions of their music in relation to their own brains.

Needs editing, November 25, 2008
My wife thoughtfully purchased this book for me. I had read about it and was very excited to dive right in. Unfortunately I ended up really having to convince myself to finish it, as it became redundant fairly quickly. Sacks presents (too) many case studies regarding music and the brain, but the presentation feels random and somewhat unfocused. Had his editor suggested grouping the studies by themes or urged Sacks to provide more neurological background information it perhaps would have better kept my attention. It felt as if the reader had to do a lot of work to pull together some of the concepts.

As for the perceived redundancy, I kept waiting for the conclusion or wrap-up that would provide the overarching theme to all the seemingly disconnected patient stories, but to no avail. It almost felt as if the stories were starting to repeat themselves but with different patient names. The length too felt far too long, almost as if everything presented in the first half were just recycled for the second. Additionally, the writing style is very informal and easy to digest, which is not necessarily a positive. The book begins to feel as if the author were afraid to intelligently, academically, and thoroughly dissect the subject matter for fear of alienating too many readers. The result is a glossy feeling, like you're reading the U.S.A. Today version of something that could have really offered some insightful perspectives.

Promising topic, but presented without much organization, background information, or conclusion. I'm surprised that an editor would allow such breadth to be published without any true depth.

Outstanding!, November 15, 2007
In his latest book, Oliver Sacks continues to tell us stories that draw us in, engaging our minds and emotions. In each chapter he introduces different people, some sorely affected by neurological disease, who have strange and profound relationships with music. This is not a dry scientific treatise. Sacks describes these people in a highly personal way, so that we see and feel the human aspect of science. At the same time he teaches us about the science of the brain, and the wonderful ways that music and the mind are intertwined. The subject is inherently fascinating, and the author does not disappoint. Drawing upon case histories from his own practice, and some from literature, he delves into the mysteries of the human brain, how it produces music, and how it is profoundly affected by it.

Sacks writes in a clear and straightforward manner. It is wonderful to find medical writing that is so accessible. There is some material here from his prior books, but it does not detract from this work. This is a highly engaging and informative book. I took great pleasure in reading it. If you are interested in music or science, you will enjoy this new offering from Oliver Sacks.

Wired for Music, Humanness and the Musical Language, December 15, 2007
Dr. Sacks has written about brains for decades now. He's also a decent, enthusiastic amateur musician. In Musicophilia, the good Dr. brings the brain and music together to cover what can go wrong and also oh so right when music and the brain get together.

Dr. Sacks first covers the various problems when the mind either fails to process music "normally" or attaches a variety of extra sensory reactions to music. His experience is both anecdotal and academic as he relies both on his own experiences as a neurophysiologist who has known and treated musical illnesses, and also his training as a networked professional involved in the studies of varous types of amusia and hypermusicality. I was also very interested in the positive corrolation between the higher occurrences of absolute pitch in those populations which speak tonal languages (like Mandarin).

Of special interest to me were the closing chapters on various aspects of music therapy in geriatric patients, autistics, those who suffer various types of dementia, and the very interesting introduction (for me) to those people at the opposite end from the autistics, those who have Williams' syndrome.

Some criticize the book for offering more questions than answers, but even the questions offer patterns from which the thoughtful reader can see a certain wondrous calculus emerge, a uniquely human and late-appearing link between what it means to think and how music is inextricably linked to our humanness.

Musical Intuitions Grounded in Scientific Reasoning, November 26, 2007
As a person with a neurological disability who has been helped by music, I can relate to this book personally and thouogh yes, I found it entertaining (and incredibly informative), I find it a shame when people
think of Oliver Sack's books as amusing case studies as that is not his intent and his books, "Musicophillia" included are much richer than that in thought and retrospect. Understanding the intricate working of the brain is essential for all people and as well, many of the conditions detailed in this book such as Parkinson's, stroke, Alzheimer's can often be acquired in later life so these are experiences that may and often do happen to people later on in life to people they know or who are caregivers to (as is detailed). Most importantly, though music is an essential part of human life (would this site exist without it?) and of the social experience and the perception of sound and the world outside can be more easily interpreted through a fully understanding of people's interpretation of music. These are more than interesting stories about odd people whose brain functions differently. They are (in a figurative sense)portals into the thinking of everyone with or without neurological impairments. When you hear a song and say "that brings back memories" or find a song sticking in your head or don't know why or experience a feeling of sadness without knowing why when hearing music or turn on music(or more particulary a certain song) to relax, you may be experiencing in a more real world sense what the people described in this book are experiencing and it may bring a fully understanding of the phenomenon. And most importantly, its solid, intelligent, scientifically accurate but accessible writing by a top professional and expert in the field in a way that an average reader can comprehend.

Discovering the powers of the brain, November 6, 2007
This is a wonderful book on many levels. It is extremely well written. It is fully of compelling stories. And it helps us to look inside our remarkable instrument, the brain. If you have ever whistled a tune you might have wondered what others hear when they listen to music. Some hear nothing but noise. Some hear entire symphonies. Some hear music that won't stop. And others hear a stream of original music. Some can hear melodies but not rhythm. And some can hear rhythm but not melodies. I always thought it was remarkable that I could compose and hear complete symphonies in my dreams but not when I was awake. Well, I am not alone. You too have likely experienced some intriguing musical experience. You might find some insight into that experience in this remarkable book.

Sacks Writes Another Great Book -- But ..., January 25, 2008
... I was a little disappointed. 4.5 stars

I enjoy every book by Dr. Sacks. He's always insightful, empathetic, and a brilliant storyteller. All the things you like about Dr. Sacks' writing you will find in full in this book. I really like this book. Once again, Dr. Sacks makes the stories of his patients come alive and demonstrate brilliantly the relationship between our mental states and abilities and the physiological functioning of the brain. Bravo. If you like Sacks, you will like this book (very much I would say.)

But ... my but: With a title like Musicophilia ("the love of music") I was expecting much more about WHY we humans ENJOY music so much. Why are we the musical ape? This is only touched on tangentially in this book. I felt a bit of false advertising in the title. I've read Anthony Storr's book "Music and the Mind" and "Music, The Brain, And Ecstasy: How Music Captures Our Imagination" by Robert Jourdain (both are good.) With Dr. Sacks' title (and maybe it was chosen by his publisher, this often happens) I expected something more in that vein: the enjoyment of music. (And so, I still await further explorations ...)

All in all a great book. Enjoy.

Very interesting, November 21, 2007
This book is very interesting to me, as a music teacher. I teach over 500 students twice a week and sometimes their abilities and inabilities amaze me. I do ear training for 10 and 11 year-olds and the range of ability to hear and order pitches is all over the map. Sometimes it can be improved upon (usually) and occasionally I can't get them to ever actually hear and identify pitch. While this book does not suggest fixes, I am better able to understand and sympathize with my students. I have a few exceptionally gifted students also. As I am NOT one of them, it is fun to imagine how they conceive music. Great book - thanks. ... Read more

Editorial Review

When Thomas Edison began wiring New York City with a direct current electricity distribution system in the 1880s, he gave humankind the magic of electric light, heat, and power; in the process, though, he inadvertently opened a Pandora's Box of unimaginable illness and death.

Dirty Electricity tells the story of Dr. Samuel Milham, the scientist who first alerted the world about the frightening link between occupational exposure to electromagnetic fields and human disease. Milham takes readers through his early years and education, following the twisting path that led to his discovery that most of the twentieth century diseases of civilization, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and suicide, are caused by electromagnetic field exposure.

Dr. Milham warns that because of the recent proliferation of radio frequency radiation from cell phones and towers, terrestrial antennas, Wi-Fi and Wi-max systems, broadband internet over power lines, and personal electronic equipment, we may be facing a looming epidemic of morbidity and mortality. In Dirty Electricity, he reveals the steps we must take, personally and as a society, to coexist with this marvelous but dangerous technology. ... Read more

Reviews

Brilliant and imperative reading for everyone!
"Dirty Electricity" is a slim but power-packed book by one of the country's most noted epidemiologists of the last 50 years, Samuel Milham, MD, PhD. The book explores and exposes the dangers posed by the continual and increasing "electrification" of the society since the 1930s and 1940s, and its direct association with the surge of modern diseases of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: including cancers, heart disease and diabetes.

The approach of the book is a successful blend of biographical anecdotes and research findings that only a scientist of Milham's standing-- with over one hundred published papers concentrating on the adverse impacts of manmade electromagnetic radiation exposure on both workers and the general public-- could have written. The style is straightforward, informative and deceptively easy to read. And this is real tribute to the scientist/author successfully tackling a very important and extremely relevant subject that is too often made unclear or over scientifically detailed for the average reader.

As a result, the book lends itself as not only an excellent introductory primer for members of the general public starved for accurate information on this most pressing environmental issue of the day-- that directly relates to the ongoing health problems surrounding the continual saturation of power lines, cell phones, computers and compact fluorescent lights among the population-- but also serves an excellent read for those already grounded in the subject and who are looking to fill in details to be even better informed.

Included among the research highlighted in the book is a brilliant study revealing the development of childhood leukemia in the society, which Milham was able to show as being associated with the increased "electrification" of residences in the United States, beginning around the 1930s and 1940s.

While showcased is a recent study of multiple cancers among a teacher population in a California middle school that Milham was able to link to abnormal electric voltages-- "dirty electricity"-- being emitted in the wall wiring of the school, and serves as a sobering and chilling warning of similar incidences almost certainly being played out and being unreported across the rest of the country.

This highly recommended book should be read by anyone within the U.S., or outside it, who is interested in preserving and protecting his or her health, because it relates to the current health issues surrounding the ever increasing silent and adverse impacts of manmade electromagnetic radiation sources that are, and will continue to be, at the heart of the this and other nations' health debates from this point forward.

G. Friedman

Insightful, informative and entertaining!
Dr. Sam Milham shares his experiences about his life and the work he did as an epidemiologist and medical doctor. He describes how, when, and why he did his research and in the end the reader learns about electromagnetic fields, dirty electricity and the other forms of electrosmog to which we are increasingly exposed. Dr. Milham shows how the increase in childhood leukemia and the diseases of the post-industrial age (depression, suicide, heart disease, diabetes and cancers) are associated with electrification. While we are unlikely to give up using electricity and our wireless toys, we can certainly learn to use them more safely. By reading this book you will learn how to protect your health and the health of those you care about. Although this topic can be quite technical, Dr. Milham's style is easy to read and to understand. His research papers are provocative and he has been proven to be correct time and again. Sam Milham should receive a Nobel Prize for his research and his discoveries as he was among the first to document the biological and health effects of electromagnetic pollution. This book is a must read!

Dr. Magda Havas, Trent University, Canada

It's about time!!
I'm so happy that Dr. Milham has written this book! People have no idea what EM Fields cause. It's about time that the world gets an idea what's happening.

The Most Important Book of the Twenty-First Century
Dr. Milham has published seminal papers over the 40 some years of his career as an occupational epidemiologist. He has received international recognition for his work, winning the highly prestigious Ramazinni prize for his pioneering work on the risk of cancer from occupational exposures to electromagnetic fields (EMFs).

But this book surpasses all of his previous work. It certainly is, in my view, the most important book yet published in our new century. He convincingly shows that a set of diseases, the "diseases of civilization" (cancer, Alzheimer's, cardiovascular, asthma, type 2 diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis and depression) is the result of the exposure to EMFs, though not necessarily the only cause.

The book begins with a wonderful rendition of how as a medical doctor he became entranced with epidemiology. He give a brief overview of his experiences in medical school and his success as a young doctor, particularly as his mentor Gilbert Beebe taught him to do, "listening to patients, if properly questioned, would always tell the doctor the diagnosis."

He tells story after story of how he was able to detect a health problem that no one else had seen. For example, when his infant daughter became quite ill. He diagnosed her with a strep infection (as any doctor would have likely done) but he went beyond the obvious. He checked with his neighbors and discovered that the community was in the middles of a milk-borne strep infection, which in his words was a "clear example of a public health failure." It was this, and many other similar examples, that brought him to epidemiology.

He shows that the same skills that he brought to his medical practice when he became an epidemiologist MD. That is, as an epidemiologist, as he had been as a practicing doctor, he looked beyond the obvious. It is the continuous application of this skill that resulted in his wining of the Ramazzini prize. This book is about how he came to the understanding that dirty electricity is a hazard, yet a hazard, if recognized by society that can easily with little to no expense be mitigated such that we can continue to live with the benefits of electricity and substantially eliminate the diseases of civilization.

Everyone concerned about health issues beyond contagious diseases should read this short and highly readable book, then each reader should pass on to their friends, what an important book Dirty Electricity is.

Great, eye opening book
My father first read this book and liked it so much, he went out and bought 20+ copies, handing them out to everyone he knew and cared about, including me. I wish there were more people in the world like Samuel Milham (the book's author). He presents a very valid case and good research on how dirty electricity is a silent killer, and yet a problem that could be so easily solved. My wife, who is a school teacher in California, has long noticed that cancer rates among school teachers are much higher than average. This book finally explains why. It also gives very practical advice as to how to prevent or reduce exposure to dirty electricity. The book is well written and a quick read-- I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. Pocket manual provides key clinical data for students and residents. Includes areas of internal medicine, cardiology, pulmonary, gastroenterology, nephrology, hematology-oncology, infectious diseases, endocrinology, and rheumatology. ... Read more

Reviews

Standard of Care, June 12, 2001
Unfortunately, the previous reviews have failed to adequately address the role and purpose of this publication. Pocket Medicine, at least as I have used it, is the most concise and accurate reference for the practice of Internal Medicine in the United States as conducted at most teaching institutions today. It essentially covers all the major organ systems and disease processes as the most recent literature and textbooks recommend. Possession of this book will allow students, residents and staff to give patients the best care possible from evidence based medicine. You will shine on the wards and at morning report with this material. In fact, you could easily pass the Internal Medicine board certification exam if you knew everything in this book. For those practicing internal medicine from med students on up, it renders Scut Monkey, Ferre, Wash Manual, tarascon ICU books etc, all obsolete. Just look at the section about Swan Ganz monitoring -it's all there. Look at microscopic polyangiitis- it's all there. These are all real patients I've treated and this book works. More than half of the residents, students and staff in my hospital use it. Even surgeons own it. As medicine becomes more complex and scientifically based, publications such as this will be the only way to keep up. In fact, it's very inexpensive for what you get. One caution is that it may be too advanced for 3rd year med students with a poor knowledge base. A wash manual may be a simpler way to start. Unfortunately, those people who gave it a poor review have simply demonstrated their complete ignorance of the modern scientific practice of medicine. I simply hope they never treat any of my relatives!

a "balanced" view from a former MGH housestaff..., January 6, 2003
As a former Mass General resident, I got a kick out of seeing our humble housestaff manual transformed into a glamorous pocket notebook. And apparently a somewhat controversial transformation, given some of the extremely negative reviews that have been posted. Ignoring the commercial aspects of this debate for a moment, I think the manual contains solid and comprehensive information that should serve any housestaff well (it certainly did for me for 3 years!). It probably does not contain enough explanation for most 3rd and 4th year medical students and, as such, should be used to supplement another manual (such as Washington or Ferri).

IM Residency Must Have, January 8, 2006
I've used this book for three years and it is by far the best handbook. It provides a quick prep for attending rounds and morning report. I also have used it in preparation for the in service exam given each year. While obviously not an all encompassing text (and not intended to be) it is surprisingly complete. A good deal of information covered on the ABIM exam is actually in this book. My only gripe is the text - too small. Every IM intern and resident should carry this book and learn it in and out. Worth the 37 bucks.

The ONLY Book you need on the wards, August 11, 2003
I agree w/ many of the other reviews. This is a fantastic book for RESIDENTS, not medical students. It tends to gloss over basic information that any resident should already know. For that reason , the book is concise and has all the relevant info in order to manage patients. I also like the small notebook format, so I can add additional pages of info. I agree that this book does need a neuro/psych section to cover CVA/Seizures, delirium/dementia and ETOH withdrawal management. I've already worn my book out in the past two years and look forward to future editions. I have recommended this book to every intern I have supervised on the Wards...It is the only reference book I carry.

Pocket Medicine Review, January 31, 2002
This small ring bound book is an excellent
resource for the most current diagnostic,prognostic,
and therapeutic information when evaluating many patients
during a limited time frame.Typically, the authors provide references after each subject, to which you can "quote"
to your senior resident or attending or make a dash to
the library, only to return with copies of an up to date journal
article to distribute on rounds while discussing your patient.
One suggestion I offer for improvement would be to include
a brief review of the basic neurological events that we are often
faced with on the wards, such as: CVA (ischemic/thrombotic), seizure,etiologies of dementia/delirium.

Great for review, but you will need to go deeper, May 7, 2006
Although I consider this to be one of the best handbooks for a quick superficial review, there are several other books which allow for more in depth learning while on the wards... such as The Consult Manual of Internal Medicine & of course... The Washington Manual. I would definitely carry around, or at least have handy, one of these while on the wards. If you get Pocket Med, make sure you get the new edition (2nd) as there is a new neurology section which is very nice.

Study results!, July 23, 2003
I see a lot of both good and poor reviews for this book. Personally, I like the book a lot. What it has that Ferri's doesn't is evidence-based medicine. Several major studies (PIOPED, and the like) are summarized. Yes, it is someone's notebook in fancy form. But it's cheap, it's small, and it's good. I found that it was too light on details when I was starting out, but once I felt a little more comfortable with my ability to come up with a basic differential, this was the book for me. It was great help for those long medicine write-ups, providing clinical research correlations. Now it is the only book that I carry in my pocket, full of micrographic notes that I have made from lectures, other books, etc. Ferri's isn't exactly pocket-friendly.

A MUST-HAVE pocket reference for residents, January 16, 2006
Read an UpToDate article and then read about that topic in Pocket Medicine and you will see 99% of the information from Uptodate but in concise format, including references to key articles. This book is packed with information. However, it's more in bullet and table format than in paragraph form, so not easy to read from if you're learning about a topic for the first time. More of a reference to the key points in each disease process assuming that you know a little about it beforehand. For that, you need 5 minute clinical consults or something similar. Also, the index could use some more cross-indexing, it can be tough to find subjects sometimes if you are in a hurry. It's available for handhelds too...haven't tried it yet though.

disappointing..., August 26, 2009
I agree with the last reviewer on all points. This book is quite disappointing. The content is superb but the presentation is horrendous. The publisher did a very poor job. Ringbinder is bulky, impossible to open quickly and flip through pages, pages are too thin, and font is ridiculously small. There are large portions of the pages left blank for "note taking" but ink bleeds through the "tissue paper" pages (You're lucky if you don't poke a hole through it first with the tip of the pen). The favorable reviews sound like suck ups. I give it 5 stars for excellent content, but subtract 3 stars for lack of usability in the real world

Replaces all my other pocket guides!, January 22, 2008
Pocket Medicine is an outstanding quick reference, covering an astonishing amount of information in a small notebook.

During spare moments, I can review the well-designed chapters. When I need a reference, the facts are laid out in a clear and logical format, and referenced to journals and studies where appropriate.

A more complete index is the one thing I would add to this book, but that's a small quibble. It's easy enough to add notations to the back of the book, or add a few extra pages (the binder takes standard six-ring refills, such as FiloFax Personal pages).

My pockets are lighter since I found Pocket Medicine. ... Read more

Editorial Review

At last! This special cookbook puts flavor and choice back on the menu for people with diabetes and their families
Betty Crocker, America's most trusted friend in the kitchen, has teamed up with the International Diabetes Center (IDC)--one of the leading medical centers--to create an indispensable source of easy-to-make recipes and up-to-the-minute food and nutrition information for the growing numbers of people who have diabetes, more than 15 million of them.
Here is the first cookbook to include recipes featuring Carbohydrate Choices--the new, simplified approach to meal planning recommended by the American Diabetes Association. For people who find diet exchanges too hard, too limiting or too much work, this new method is a real breakthrough. Each of the book's 140 recipes shows the number of Carbohydrate Choices per serving, so that planning the rest of the meal is easy. From Old-Time Beef and Vegetable Stew to Creamy Vanilla-Caramel Cheesecake, the recipes are made with everyday ingredients, including sugar. No food groups or ingredients are left out, so there's no need for anyone to feel deprived or restricted to a special diet. Food exchanges are also included, making it easy for those who still count calories.
Betty Crocker's Diabetes Cookbook is also packed with expert medical and nutrition tips from Dr. Richard Bergenstal, an endocrinologist and diabetes doctor, and two registered nurses--invaluable for the newly diagnosed as well as for those who have been coping with diabetes for years. Throughout the book, real-life advice from people who have diabetes offers inspiration and great ideas on dealing with this chronic disease. When it comes to eating and living with diabetes, people need guidance and advice they can trust. ... Read more

Reviews

So many refined carbohydrates!, July 14, 2004
I am completely baffled by this book and the reviews it has received! After only a few pages I was aghast and realized I had thrown my money away.

I am not a medical professional or scientist but all of my own personal research into diabetes and related blood disorders strongly recommend avoiding refined carbohydrates. This book is full of recipes using highly refined carbohydrates: white sugar and white flour.

I also found recipes containing an uncomfortably high percentage of calories from fat. I expected recipes emphasizing whole, low glycemic foods prepared in as close to their natural state as possible - foods that had as much of their beneficial properties (such as nutrients and fiber) intact. I was extremely disappointed by what this book had to offer and am sorry I bought it.

Great food and a better understanding of diabetes..., September 16, 2003
I received the double-whammy 3-4 weeks back...my fasting blood sugar level was in the pre-diabetes range and my cholesterol was moderately high. The doctor wanted me to attend classes on both, and also suggested that weight loss and exercise would help. I have already attended the cholesterol class, and I felt I could bring the blood sugar level down by cutting out sodas, exercising, eating healthy food, and learning more about diabetes! My first stop was the ADA web site, and my second stop was Amazon.com... More than a decade ago, I had purchsed the Betty Crocker "New American Cooking" cookbook (low fat, low cholesterol recipes), and I love that book!!! And, I remembered seeing that they had published a diabetes cookbook. This book contains some GREAT recipes that are healthy AND tasty, enabling the whole family to enjoy them. The introduction to the book also explains diabetes, counting carbs, and "do's and don't" about eating healthy to control diabetes. So far, I don't miss those nasty things I was eating before, and I feel I even have more energy. I would recommend this book to anyone with concerns about diabetes and folks just interested in eating healthier!

Yummy foods, good advice, March 5, 2003
The folks at Betty Crocker have done it again: given us mere mortals great, easy recipes my whole family can enjoy. The best thing about this book is that the recipes aren't made from weird food you have to hunt for; they are made from items already in your kitchen. And they are recipes anyone can eat for good health. So, if one member of your family has diabetes, the whole family can eat this food and love it.

The recipes are great, especially the desserts. And you thought you couldn't eat dessert with diabetes! The Carbohydrate Choices is a great counting device. I've never seen it in any other cookbook and I find it much easier to use than exchanges. Plus, it's not just a cookbook. There's doctor's advice and management plans inside. This book is very uplifting and practical.

GET THIS BOOK! IT'S THE BEST DIABETES COOKBOOK, hands down.

Perfect recipes for Diabetic, June 20, 2005
For those who thought desserts are not for diabetics, here's a book which is a must read. The ingredients used in the recipes are the basic things found in every kitchen thus making it enjoyable for all in the family. The book also has doctor's advice to remain fit. A great book for diabetic people.

[...]

Betty Crocker's Diabetes Cookbook, May 24, 2003
Excellent book - Recipes that will take the boring out of healthy cooking and teach the reader how to eat healthy, limit fats, and sugars, etc.
Purchased out of need because my husband's triglyceride count and other medical tests show him to be pre-diabetic. For a beginner in counting carbohydrates, learning about all types of diabetes and meal planning for a healthier lifestyle, this book fits the need! Easy to read, hints and comments from other diabetic patients & medical advice from contributing M.D.s.

Delicious Food, September 4, 2003
The food is delicious and the recipes are easy to follow. The whole family will love these dishes.

There are very helpful aids to daily living with diabetes. The pictures are attractive and the print is large. If I was only going to have one cookbook this would be it.

Fabulous Cookbook!!, March 7, 2003
This is the best diabetes cookbook that I've ever had. The pictures are beautiful, the meals are wonderful and the advice is extremely practical. Everyone with diabetes should have this cookbook!

This cookbook is dangerous for diabetics, February 24, 2008
I received this cookbook as a gift so I can't offend the giver, but it is by far one of the worst cookbooks that a diabetic could possibly use. Not that it isn't pretty, and not that it doesn't contain many luscious looking dishes, but almost every recipe calls for either sugar or flour or other sugary or starchy ingredients - all catagories included, not just desserts - none of which a diabetic should ever eat. The somewhat confusing use of 'carbohydrate choices' is further dangerous, because one - and only one - 'carb choice' is worth 15 grams of actual carb and by combining several foods from this book into a single meal plan, one will be way over the limit for safety. The menu plans in the back of the book prove this - add up the number of carbohydrate choices in any one day's meal plan, and you get between 15 and 17 carb choices. Multiply that by 15 and you are looking at nearly 300 grams of carb a day. What people don't realize (because they have not been told by doctors and 'diabetes educators' who do not for some reason, continue their education in metabolism) is that the word SUGAR should be substituted for any carbohydrate. In fact, The American Diabetes Association is still using decades-old protocols which encourage huge amounts of carbs in a 'diabetic diet' that invariably fails to manage the disease. A safe and sensible diet for a diabetic either on or off insulin, must restrict sugar and starch of any kind because within minutes of hitting the bloodstream it all turns to pure glucose and out of control insulin production - the cause of diabetes. Feeding yourself more sugar only hastens complications, and they can be very bad indeed. Virtually all good low carbohydrate diets restrict carbs (sugar!) to 50 or less per day - not 50 'choices' but 50 actual carbs. I myself, a diabetic, cannot tolerate more than 30 or 40 carbs a day to maintain decent blood glucose control, and less is better if I can do it. When a disease such as this has the potential to rob one of their eyesight, kidneys, limbs, and life itself if not properly managed - it is ludicrous to demand that one be allowed daily potatoes and pastas and cereals and sugary desserts. Anyone wishing to help themselves try and maintain safe blood glucose levels before it's too late should instead purchase 'Dr. Bernstein's Diabetic Solution' - a Type 1 diabetic himself, he has helped millions prolong their lives with proper diet. He doesn't sell anything, he doesn't do anything but be virtually the best diabetes doctor in this country. Another extremely informative and widely respected book is 'Good Calories' Bad Calories' by Gary Taubes. Other resources are all over the internet. One's life is worth the effort to do the research.

Great Cookbook and more!, March 12, 2006
You will find great recipes in this cookbook and learn how to plan meals and snacks for diabetics. This book also explains diabetes and gives guidelines on how to live with it. Our doctor ordered one to have in his office to show his other patients after I showed him my copy. It has been so helpful in coping with this new lifestyle.

The Best Diabetic Cookbook I've Seen!, September 9, 2003
I ordered this book a few months ago and use it all of the time! The information included is helpful, but the recipes are the real star! As a diabetic it's hard to find recipes that are good for me and taste good and are fairly easy to make. This book delivers on all three of those requirements. Try this book- you'll be glad you did!! ... Read more

Editorial Review

THE MOST UP-TO-DATE, EXPERT ADVICE
FOR MOTHERS, FATHERS, AND CARE PROVIDERS FROM
THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS

From the most respected organization on child health comes this essential resource for all parents who want to provide the very best care for their children. Here is the one guide pediatricians routinely recommend and parents can safely trust, covering everything from preparing for childbirth to toilet training to nurturing your child’s self-esteem. Whether it’s resolving common childhood health problems or detailed instructions for coping with emergency medical situations, Caring for Your Baby and Young Child has everything you need.

•Basic care from infancy through age five
• Guidelines and milestones for physical, emotional, social, and cognitive growth
•A complete health encyclopedia covering injuries, illnesses, congenital diseases, and other disabilities
•Guidelines for prenatal and newborn care with sections on maternal nutrition, exercise, and screening tests during pregnancy
•An in-depth guide to breastfeeding, including its benefits, techniques, and challenges
•A complete guide for immunizations and updated information on vaccine safety
•A guide for choosing child care programs and car safety seats
•Ways to reduce your child’s exposure to environmental hazards, such as secondhand smoke
• Sections on grandparents, building resilience, media, and multiples
• New chapters on sleep and on allergies—including food allergies
•New content on prebiotics and probiotics, organic foods, and other healthy lifestyle topics
•And much more ... Read more

Reviews

Authoritative, Wide-Ranging, Relatively Easy to Read and Use, and Improved From Fourth (2004) Edition - But Not Perfect, October 21, 2009
With so much information on children's health to be found on the Internet, and many other books giving advice on child-rearing, is this reference book worth buying? The answer is yes! Consider the following four upsides of this "Complete and Authoritative Guide... New and Revised Fifth Edition" (per the front cover):

1. IT'S TRUSTWORTHY. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which according to its Web site represents 60,000 pediatricians, publishes it. Over 100 pediatricians (and 4 dentists) contributed to the book. The information is sound and up-to-date as of 2009. The opinions expressed are "mainstream" (not "fringe"), which is reassuring since child-rearing is stressful.

2. IT'S WIDE-RANGING (and some may go farther in describing it as "complete" or "comprehensive"). Although no book can be all things to all people, it contains important information on many common health and behavior problems, and it gives advice on when problems might be so serious that you should bring the child to a doctor.

3. IT'S RELATIVELY EASY TO READ AND USE. The authors write clearly and concisely. Although some jargon is present (e.g., "flat angiomata"), that is held to a minimum. The organization into Part 1 (pages 1-506, covering normal development and needs chronologically from birth to age 5*) and Part 2 (pages 507-848, covering specific health issues from "Abdominal/Gastrointestinal Tract" to "Emergencies" to "Your Child's Sleep") is logical. You'll find the index quite useful for locating info (but see "B" below). Numerous drawings and text boxes complement the body of the text.

4. IT'S IMPROVED FROM THE FOURTH (2004) EDITION, with 145 more pages. Some of the less useful parts of the old edition have been scrapped**, and this edition has a lot of revised or new material***. The text is more pleasant to read than before because there is more space between the lines, and the illustrations are better coordinated with the text.

OK, now for five (minor) downsides, which I'll phrase in the form of a wish list.

A. I WISH THAT THE BOOK HAD ITS OWN WEB SITE for updates, corrections, etc., along the lines of the sites for Baby Bargains, 8th Edition: Secrets to Saving 20% to 50% on Baby Furniture, Gear, Clothes, Toys, Maternity Wear and Much, Much More! or AAP's own Red Book: 2009 Report of the Committee on Infectious Diseases (Red Book Report of the Committee on Infectious Diseases).

B. I WISH THAT IT COULD BE SEARCHED ELECTRONICALLY (even though the index is generally very useful). Example 1: Let's say I was interested in complementary and alternative medicine, folk remedies, and the like. There's no index entry relevant to these - you have to manually find the box on "natural" therapies on page 619. Example 2: If you want info on mercury in fish, the index doesn't have "mercury" or "fish" as main entries; you have to go to "food," then "fish warning." An electronic index would prevent problems like these. [NOTE ADDED AFTER WRITING THIS REVIEW: Maybe I missed it the first time around, but Amazon's "Click to Look Inside" allows you to search individual words in the book. Thanks, Amazon!]

C. I WISH THAT THE AAP HAD KEPT ITS PUBLIC POLICY OPINIONS OUT OF THE BOOK. We learn that the AAP supports "legislation that would prohibit smoking in public places" (page 9), "gun-control legislation" (page 470), "legislative efforts to improve the quality of children's [television] programming" (page 579), etc. The AAP's Web site, not a book on parenting, is the right place for political statements such as those.

D. I WISH THAT SOME OF THE STATEMENTS HAD BEEN LESS BLACK-OR-WHITE. Example: Page 786 claims that heart murmurs "become a concern" when "they occur very early at birth" because they "are not functional or innocent" (with "not" italicized). But studies such as "Prevalence And Clinical Significance Of Cardiac Murmurs In Neonates" and "Can Cardiologists Distinguish Innocent From Pathologic Murmurs In Neonates?" find that perhaps only half of heart murmurs in newborns are actually problematic. So a better wording would have been "...MAY NOT BE functional or innocent."

E. I WISH THAT IT HAD PHOTOGRAPHS. For example, photos would be worth a thousand words for the skin rashes, birthmarks, and such mentioned on pages 127-128 and 813-836.

Purchase this very nice book from Amazon.com!

* In Part 1, the topics within each chapter from "5. Your Baby's First Days" to "13. Your Four- to Five-Year-Old" may include "Growth and Development" (e.g., movement, language, cognitive, social, emotional); "Basic Care" like feeding and sleeping; "Behavior"; "Health Watch" or "Visit to the Pediatrician"; "Immunization Update"; and "Safety Check."

** Among the material deleted from the old edition are some drawings (e.g., how to use a cloth diaper, hormones in the milk let-down process, crib gym and mobile), some data graphics (e.g., table of sugar content of juices, pie chart of causes of developmental disabilities), and some text (e.g., on vegetables with nitrates, "smaller extended families," "working mothers," and "stay-at-home fathers").

*** Some selected specific improvements: (i) Information on weaning from breast to bottle has been moved from the chapter on 4-7 months to the chapter on 8-12 months. (ii) "The Second Year" chapter in the old edition has been retitled to the less confusing "Your One-Year Old." (iii) The "Age Three to Five Years" chapter has been split into separate chapters for 3-year-olds and for 4- to 5-year-olds. (iv) Part 2 has been reorganized more-or-less alphabetically with new chapters 17 on allergies and 34 on sleep. (v) There is new or substantially revised text on psychological resilience (pages xxxiii-xxxvi), Tdap and other vaccines (7 & 793-800), toxoplasmosis (8), tests during pregnancy (10-13), delivery (13-6 and 36-8), probiotics (118 & 523), vitamin D (169), autism spectrum disorders (336-7 & 622-7), school transportation safety (450-1), E. coli (524-5), sickle cell (635-7), BPA (702), well water (703), and MRSA (825). (vi) The new Appendices on pages 850-866 collect together schedules, growth charts, and so forth that were scattered throughout the old edition.

Up to date, but still outclassed, December 22, 2009
We asked our nurse practitioner about some advice from The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two (Revised and Updated Edition) and she warned us that Dr. Sears was out of date, we should buy this book instead. So we did. But I have to say it is disappointing (particularly coming off a well written book like the Sears book). I check this book for "modern updates", but honestly, every time I go to look something up in here, my wife says "It probably won't be in there, try Dr. Sears." Part of the problem is that this book has a poor index. Interested in sleep positions? It's not in the index -- not as sleep position or position sleep, back sleeping or even Back to Sleep (the AAP's campaign to get kids on their back). If you happen to look up SIDS, sleep position is in the text -- just not the index (and if you already know that sleep position is a factor in SIDS, you probably don't need to look it up). If you can read and digest a nearly 900 page book, you will have the information. But I hope you are not in a hurry.

The organization and chapter scopes are also inconsistent. For example, there is good material on reflexes in the section on Growth and Development in the chapter called "The First Month". Although this chapter is supposed to be on the first month, this section talks about some things that last for several months or even years and often without clear indication which time frame is being discussed (note: there are similar chapters for time frames up to five years). Taken literally, the book says that babies in their first month need "a balanced experience of freedom and limits." The first month? That is probably not what the author meant to say since a few sentences into the next paragraph the time frame three years is mentioned but where were the editors? Whoever let that go should be spanked. But it also brings up the questions: who is the author? who are the editors? There are several dozen contributors listed and seventeen people listed in a review or editorial capacity. But there are no attributions to who wrote what. This suggests that the book is written by committee and frankly it reads like it. Were it only a matter of prosaic style, that would be one thing. But there are many places (like the example above) where the meaning becomes ambiguous that should have been caught by a good editor. Maybe the problem is that it was edited by committee rather than being written by committee: the buck doesn't seem to stop anywhere. Regardless of how it got there, while it is "up to date" the extensive sections on development cannot hold a candle to the scholarship or practical wisdom of Babyhood either.

As others have commented this books tends to recommend consulting a pediatrician on almost everything including some things that seem pretty safe to comment on. For example, if you are wondering if formula that contains probiotics is safe for your child -- you should consult your pediatrician. OK, maybe there is more to it than meets the eye, in which case say something like "due to a lack of regulation in the probiotic industry, you should consult your pediatrician before choosing a specific formula." But our pediatrician (recommended by a professor of pediatric neurology as the most thorough pediatrician in Buffalo) gave us a basic probiotic formula as part of a starter kit at a prenatal visit without comment. So I have a sense that the style sheet says to end every discussion with "consult your pediatrician".

Some of the material is very good, but the writing is spotty. We do trust the factual advice -- and look up anything we can find in here to double check older sources for late breaking science, but it is hard to get enthusiastic about it. So three stars seems about right.

Caring for Your Baby and Young Child,5th Edition, November 5, 2009
This is my standard baby shower gift. I have purchased the previous editions for 2 of my daughters in law and several young mothers that I work with. I have been a pediatric nurse for many years, I looked at many baby and child care books before I chose this particular book. The advice is well researched, practical and is presented in an easy to use format. Many young moms don't have the benefit of living near extended family. This book will help them get through some of the rough spots of child rearing. It provides excellent information on developmental milestones and immunizations.

great reference, February 17, 2010
this was the best baby shower gift i received. it was given to me by a friend of mine who is himself a pediatrician, and it came with other books from the AAP. my husband and i have referenced it MANY times as new parents. this book put our minds at ease more than once, as well as kept us out of doctors' offices and ERs for needless visits. though it shouldn't be used to replace a doctor's advice based on a live assessment of a child, it often gave us a reality check in terms of what was serious and what wasn't. since we realized that new parents have a tendency to be hyper-concerned at times, this was just what the doctor ordered.

ADVICE FROM EXPERTS, December 8, 2009
No fancy theories, No newest models, just the knowledge we should know about babies. It's great as a reference.

Great resource, February 24, 2010
This is a wonderful resource for new and experienced parents. Easy to use. Helps prevent unnecessary calls to the pediatrician! It was given to me and now I am giving one to soon to be new parents.

so so, December 5, 2009
i bought this book because our pediatrician recommended that we get it as first time parents. i read it and i didn't learn that many new things. it gives helpful tips but it's quite repetitive...i think i could have gone without it. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The 50th Anniversary Edition of the World’s Most Popular Annual General Medicine Book – Celebrated with a New Full-Color Design

Includes 5 online-only chaptersat no additional cost atwww.AccessMedicine.com/CMDT

Your first place to turn for current developments that promise better patient care
Written by clinicians renowned in their respective fields, CMDT offers the most current insight into symptoms, signs, epidemiology, and treatment for more than 1,000 diseases and disorders. For each topic you’ll find concise, evidence-based answers to questions regarding both hospital and ambulatory medicine. This streamlined clinical companion is the fastest and easiest way to keep abreast of the latest medical advances, prevention strategies, cost-effective treatments, and more.

MORE usable patient-care information in LESS text:

• A strong focus on the clinical diagnosis and patient management tools essential to daily practice
• Full review of all internal medicine and primary care topics, including gynecology and obstetrics, dermatology, neurology, and ophthalmology
• The only text with an annual review of advances in HIV treatment
• Hundreds of drug treatment tables, with indexed trade names and updated prices – plus helpful diagnostic and treatment algorithms
• Recent references with PMID numbers for fast access to abstracts or full-text articles
• ICD-9 codes listed on the inside covers
• Five online-only chapters available at no additional cost at www.AccessMedicine.com/CMDT

NEW to this edition:

• Full-color photos and illustrations integrated with text throughout book, including much expanded dermatology and ophthalmology images
• Newly introduced topics: E. coli O145, floppy iris syndrome, and expanded coverage of H1N1 influenza A
• New information: emerging role for B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) as marker of early left ventricular myocardial failure, new approaches to correction of aortic stenosis and to aortic regurgitation in Marfan syndrome, risks of typical and atypical antipsychotic medications, and new hypoglycemic agents
• Substantial update on cardiology and hypertension, including use of stents and cardiac resynchronization therapy with biventricular pacemaker insertion, recent ACC/AHA criteria for appropriateness of coronary revascularization, use ofprasugrel and clopidogrel compared with aspirin in prevention of stent thrombosis, dronedarone and catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation and dabigatran versus warfarin in prevention of atrial fibrillation-related stroke, as well as guidelines for developing an antihypertensive regimen
• Updated information on pathogenesis and treatment of immune and drug-induced thrombocytopenia, new investigational anticoagulants such as rivaroxaban and idraparinux, risk stratification and prophylactic regimens for deep venous thrombosis and venous thromboembolism, and a prognostic model for pulmonary emboli
• Expanded information on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, treatment of pharyngitis and laryngitis, approaches to the diagnosis of syphilis, diagnosis and complications with borreliosis and its coinfections, acute and chronic viral hepatitides, amyloidosis, treatment and prognosis of venous stasis ulcers, and therapy for heat stroke and burns
• Substantially updated treatment sections: HIV infections and AIDS and advances in therapy for breast cancer in women
• Updated section on immunization requirements
• New CMDT Online chapter on Sports Medicine and Outpatient Orthopedics

Reviews

CMDT 2011, November 20, 2010
This is an excelent choice, this is my rigth hand on my general practice, the items are very clear and the new topic about internation criteria rocks, I really joy reading this book, satisfaction 110%

Medical Book(Cliff Notes) for Busy Primary Care, November 27, 2010
I have been buying the books from local U S F Medical School, book store, for years. Was unaware of ,availability of Medical Books at Amazon!
C M D T from Lange Publication has been trusted source, to remain current in a busy schedule, for years.

Dr. Bhat

CMDT 2011, November 25, 2010
Excellent book for medical students who want to review not only the topics of internal medicine, but also gynecology, obstetrics, psychiatry... It's also for the clinician seeking for a rapid consult. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Deborah Blum follows New York City's first forensic scientists to discover a fascinating Jazz Age story of chemistry and detection, poison and murder.

Deborah Blum, writing with the high style and skill for suspense that is characteristic of the very best mystery fiction, shares the untold story of how poison rocked Jazz Age New York City. In The Poisoner's Handbook Blum draws from highly original research to track the fascinating, perilous days when a pair of forensic scientists began their trailblazing chemical detective work, fighting to end an era when untraceable poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime.

Drama unfolds case by case as the heroes of The Poisoner's Handbook-chief medical examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler-investigate a family mysteriously stricken bald, Barnum and Bailey's Famous Blue Man, factory workers with crumbling bones, a diner serving poisoned pies, and many others. Each case presents a deadly new puzzle and Norris and Gettler work with a creativity that rivals that of the most imaginative murderer, creating revolutionary experiments to tease out even the wiliest compounds from human tissue. Yet in the tricky game of toxins, even science can't always be trusted, as proven when one of Gettler's experiments erroneously sets free a suburban housewife later nicknamed "America's Lucretia Borgia" to continue her nefarious work.

From the vantage of Norris and Gettler's laboratory in the infamous Bellevue Hospital it becomes clear that killers aren't the only toxic threat to New Yorkers. Modern life has created a kind of poison playground, and danger lurks around every corner. Automobiles choke the city streets with carbon monoxide; potent compounds, such as morphine, can be found on store shelves in products ranging from pesticides to cosmetics. Prohibition incites a chemist's war between bootleggers and government chemists while in Gotham's crowded speakeasies each round of cocktails becomes a game of Russian roulette. Norris and Gettler triumph over seemingly unbeatable odds to become the pioneers of forensic chemistry and the gatekeepers of justice during a remarkably deadly time. A beguiling concoction that is equal parts true crime, twentieth-century history, and science thriller, The Poisoner's Handbook is a page-turning account of a forgotten New York.

... Read more

Reviews

A Genuine, But Highly Entertaining, Poisoner's Handbook, December 31, 2009

The Birth of Forensic Medicine Against a Backdrop of Prohibition, January 15, 2010

A CSI for the Jazz Age, January 8, 2010

The Not-too-chemical Handbook, October 21, 2010
As I started "The Poisoner's Handbook", I thought this was a great book: a fine history of modern American forensic science, told through a double biography of Norris and Gettler, two of its major founders, and illuminated with engrossing tales of murder, mayhem, and nightmarish misadventure. That thought died as soon as I started to spot the technical explanations that were uninformative, misleading, or downright wrong. Will a dozen examples do?

p. 56: Hydrocyanic acid (HCN) is not a potent acid or corrosive; it is just about the weakest acid known. The fact that it is ferociously toxic has nothing to do with its acidic strength.

p. 22: Chloroform is not terribly corrosive; on keratinized tissue (normal skin) it has no effect at all.

p. 86: You cannot get anything by mixing arsenic (As), copper (Cu) and hydrogen (H2) because the first two are metals and the last is a gas that does not react spontaneously with either of them.

p. 179: Radium (Ra) does not react with water to produce radon (Rn); it produces Rn by atomic decay.

p. 183: Radium (Ra) does not decay to produce polonium (Po) and radon (Rn) - its atomic weight is far less than that of Po and Rn combined so it cannot produce both. It can decay to produce Rn, which then decays to produce Po.

p. 187: Sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) is not slightly acidic; as any highschooler knows, it is moderately basic.

p. 191: There is no such thing as diethyl phlatate. (Did Blum mean diethyl phthalate? Did anyone proofread this book?)

p. 201: Ethanol (EtOH) does not "dissolve" into acetic acid; it is converted to acetic acid by tissue enxymatic activity.

p. 206: DDT is not an organophosphate; it contains no phosphorous at all. It is a chlorinated hydrocarbon.
passim: Blum does not seem to realize that wood alcohol, methyl alcohol, and methanol are just three different names for the same compound, used at different times as chemical terminology became more precise over the years.

And at least two misconversions from US weight units to metric.

How Blum got a Pulitzer for popular science writing and a job teaching it at the university level I cannot imagine; perhaps her zoology is better than her chemistry (it would have to be much, MUCH better), but her chemistry is far too inadequate to qualify her to explain it to others.

I propose that henceforward any book purporting to explain chemistry for the layman should be vetted by a committee of ten members randomly chosen from the American Chemical Society, before it is let loose on the unsuspecting public. Why shouldn't popular science writings be subject to the same peer review that professional writings are?

If Blum had left out the chemistry or else got it right, this would be a four-star book; as it is, it's a one.

"This is a Poison. Warn Everyone...", December 30, 2009

Fascinating forensics history book - sort of a "CSI NYC, the Early Years", December 28, 2009

Well Researched, Well Explained Doesn't "Read Like Fiction", December 22, 2009

An excellent read, May 8, 2010
When I first saw this book, I wasn't really sure if I wanted to read it. But, it sounded intrigueing. Now, I extremely gladd I did. It's and easy read, it flows, and you really don't want it to end. I was really sorry when I got to the end, I wanted it to continue. A good written account of the birth of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Toxicology while weaving into a story. It's great when you are reading and all of a sudden you get to say to yourself "So thats why". I did that many times and throughly enjoyed the book, it will take its place in my permanent Library.

an amazing book, April 26, 2010
I am very interested in forensic medicine. when I read the review of Deborah Blum's new book I was intrigued and had to purchase it. This is for anyone who loves history, science and medicine and crime. As a New Yorker I had no idea that the first medical examiner was not a physician. I just assumed that position required such (it does now). I enjoy the way the chapters are organized...according to the type of poison. A good read and not terribly technical.

Immensely Entertaining and Engaging Account of Prohibition Era NYC, Murder by Poison & the Birth of Forensic Toxicology, April 22, 2010
This book hit a home run. It took us back to NYC in the early 20th Century, combining the prevailing politics, culture and science and how it dealt with death from exposure to toxins--either in the workplace or at the hands of a murderer. Entertaining, interesting and educational, the book describes how the the NYC Medical Examiner's office evolved from being headed by a drunk political hack to being competently run by accomplished and dedicated men of science. Investigating death and disease in the workplace and baffling murders by poison challenged these men, and they responded, with nothing more than some beakers, their education and their ingenuity and determination. In the process, the science of forensic toxicology was born. Unlike the overwhelming number of examples where scientific discovery and achievement resulted from commercial motivation (which I have NO problem with), here, forensic toxicology's creation and advancement drew its motive force from the altrustic need to reveal and punish premediated murder. The author's style was excellent for the subject matter, and demonstrated a true affection for the era and the science. She described complexity in an entertaining, understandable and even folksy way, and at times, made me laugh out loud. To disclose a personal bias making this book so enjoyable to me: Over the course of my adult life, I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with a few toxicologists, and I find common characteristics--tremendous intellect, scientific curiosity and objectivity, knowledge and appreciation of past and present scientific literature, and a laser-beam focus on detail and precision. I recommend this book to anyone who likes history of scientific discovery ... Read more

Editorial Review

Get the most from your study time...and experience a realistic USMLE simulation! Rapid Review Pathology, by Edward F. Goljan, MD, makes it easy for you to master all of the pathology material covered on the USMLET Step 1 Exam. It combines an outline-format review of key concepts with over 400 hundred USMLE-style practice questions - online - that give you all the practice you need to succeed!

Book

• Outline format: Concise, high-yield subject matter is presented in a study-friendly format.

• High-yield margin notes: Key content that is most likely to appear on the exam is reinforced in the margin notes.

• Visual elements: Full-color photographs are utilized to enhance your study and recognition of key pathology images. Abundant two-color schematics and summary tables enhance your study experience.

• Two-color design: Colored text and headings make studying more efficient and pleasing.

New! Online Study and Testing Tool

• A minimum of 350 USMLE Step 1-type MCQs: Clinically oriented, multiple-choice questions that mimic the current USMLE format, including high-yield images and complete rationales for all answer options.
• Online benefits: New review and testing tool delivered via the USMLE Consult platform, the most realistic USMLE review product on the market. Online feedback includes results analyzed to the subtopic level (discipline and organ system).
• Test mode: Create a test from a random mix of questions or by subject or keyword using the timed test mode. USMLE Consult simulates the actual test-taking experience using NBME's FRED interface, including style and level of difficulty of the questions and timing information. Detailed feedback and analysis shows your strengths and weaknesses and allows for more focused study.
• Practice mode: Create a test from randomized question sets or by subject or keyword for a dynamic study session. The practice mode features unlimited attempts at each question, instant feedback, complete rationales for all answer options, and a detailed progress report.
• Online access: Online access allows you to study from an internet-enabled computer wherever and whenever it is convenient. This access is activated through registration on www.studentconsult.com with the pin code printed inside the front cover.

Student Consult

• Full online access: You can access the complete text and illustrations of this book on www.studentconsult.com.
• Save content to your PDA: Through our unique Pocket Consult platform, you can clip selected text and illustrations and save them to your PDA for study on the fly!
• Free content: An interactive community center with a wealth of additional valuable resources is available.

Reviews

Very Difficult to Read, March 11, 2007
I've read through BRS Pathology many times, but I decided to give RR Pathology a try after hearing all the praise. I went through half of it so far and frankly I don't like it. I find it very difficult to read mainly because of its poor structure. It has improved over the first edition, but it still feels like a plethora of detail without any flow. Granted, there is quite alot of information that you won't find in the other books and it does integrate physiology better. But I really think there's too much detail and redundancy which makes it a less efficient source. After reading each chapter, I found it hard to retain alot of the detail.

My advice is, stick with the book that you feel most comfortable with and could easily master. Many students have done extremely well using BRS.

But most importantly, don't change books! If you know your first source well, don't jump to another thinking you'll have more knowledge. Most of the time, it will just confuse you more like this book did to me. Good luck.

RR vs. BRS, March 22, 2007
First of all, I should say frankly, that I like review books from "Robbins" family - "Pocket Companion to Robbins & Cotran PBD" and "Robbins & Cotran Review of Pathology" - more than either "BRS Pathology" or "Rapid Review: Pathology"; on the other hand, if this combo is too much for you, then you should make your choice between BRS and RR; I think that both these books are mandatory if you want to be well prepared for step 1, but, again, this couldn't be an option for many people - they are forced to read either BRS or RR and have a big question - which one is better? my answer is - pick RR - you will not be disappointed.
OK, what do you like in BRS?
Do you like that there are glaring omissions of many high yield topics and you'll be unable to answer many questions on your USMLE step 1? or, maybe, do you like, that BRS has no explanations of mechanisms of pathophysiology - the flesh and bone of the USMLE step 1 - and you'll be forced to cram without understanding?
RR is much more complete and comprehensive; it ellegantly describes pathogenesis, leaving no stone unturned; this book even contains excellent integrated topics from other subjects - for example, concise and very high yield acid-base chapter.
Do you like that in BRS there are boring lengthy descriptions of gross and microscopic pathology, without any picture of what is desribed?
In RR you can find numerous full color slides and drawings, mostly, from "Robbins" - remember, that on your step 1 you'll get many pathology MCQs with accompanying pictures.
Or, do you like, that MCQs in BRS are too easy and not like those on the actual exam?
RR contains many USMLE-ish MCQs and even more - online.
BRS is oversimplified - you'll be reading mostly the stuff you already know, so, you wouldn't need much effort - that's why it's more easy to read BRS than RR - but don't be tempted by comfortable reading - RR will make your performance on the USMLE step 1 much better, than BRS.

Haven't touched my BRS pathology since I got this, February 5, 2007
If you have the old edition, strongly consider upgrading. There are tons of color images and clinical correlations. I love the way Goljan integrates concepts. For example, he'll mention something you learned in biochem and give you a brief reminder of the concept (sometimes with a little diagram) or he'll mention a drug or a vitamin and he'll remind you about the mechanisms. He even ties in a little anatomy every once in a while. It does make it take a little longer than the equivalent BRS chapter, but I feel like I remember it a lot better. I also feel like things are starting to fit together from all of the different subjects now. Also, there are high yield notes in the margins. You can run through them very quickly before an exam. You're guaranteed to get some questions right just from those margin notes. I'm using this now for class, but when I review for the boards, I know the high yield margin notes, clinical correlation boxes, and the charts will help with a quick review. I owned the last edition and bought this one because of the great updates. It was well worth spending the money.

Very thorough, but..., June 7, 2008
...don't try to use this for your pathology review if you are only allotting yourself a month TOTAL for board review, and you haven't been through it before to highlight the key information. It is far too much material to get through. I spent 9 half days (4-5 hours each day) on pathology and came out of it feeling like I hadn't retained anything due to the density of the book. I think it's EXCELLENT and very well-organized, but it's far too much if this is your first complete pass through it. I ended up giving up and switching over to BRS Path because it was so much more concise. I did, though, go back through RR after reading BRS to look at images and read through the margin notes, which I found to be extremely helpful. I think for many people this will be a great resource because it's complete; you almost don't even need to read extra physio stuff! But for students who have limited time to prepare and/or who haven't read through the book during the course of the year, this may be too much.

Great if you can manage to read it, July 1, 2009
This book is packed with high yield facts and images. Unfortunately it also packed with some less high yield material, making it a very difficult read. I found myself struggling to slog through it and wasting lot of board study time on it. In the end I dropped it from my board study routine for this reason. I found the audio lectures had the information more succinctly. If you have time to use this book during your coursework it is a good investment. It will pay off big time when you get to board review and have a solid background. Plus you will be familiar with the book and can use it as a quick reference to look up points of confusion

Great review and classroom adjunct, April 30, 2009
I got this book in February for board prep, and I wish I had it for the duration of the year. It is a great board review book, and is longer than BRS. However, unlike many, I don't think it's better. It has more info, but takes significantly longer to get through, and is missing some associations and facts that BRS has. At any rate, I have both and use both equally, and have found this book to be invaluable.

Pathology Organized for the Busy Med Student, April 19, 2007
This book doesn't just aid in review, it is a great resource for initial learning. I find that having an outlined overview of what I'm trying to learn before I start studying helps me a lot. This book gives you a beautiful outline format with layers of detail that you can pick up as needed. I am so amazed at how much core pathology content has been squeezed in this book. I'm using it along side of my course notes in my Human Disease course at the UCSD School of Medicine and I've been very glad to have it when prepping for exams.

As the USMLE Step 1 exam creeps closer, I'm thankful I bought this book early. Knowing that Step 1 is about 50% pathology, upper level students who've already taken their boards have told me it is a good idea to have a solid concise Path resource that you can count on in the final weeks before the exam. I'm satisfied that Goljan's Rapid Review Path will pull me through. This is a great resource and I highly recommend it!

P.S. I also have Rapid Review Histology and Cell Biology: With STUDENT CONSULT Online Access (Rapid Review) and I found it very helpful. Knowing what normal tissue structure looks like is an important foundation for pathology.

OVERRATED!! BRS Path is better, February 18, 2007
Like most of you, I bought this book because I heard amazing things about it. Maybe the Golgian audio is amazing but this book is lousy. It's written in an outline form, however, it offers minimal text. It's basically a bullet point type of outline that offers barely any explanation. Please indicate an example of RR explaining a mechanism. Thus far, the only book that offers any details regarding mechanisms and pathophysiology is the big Robbins text. If you think you will get that from RR, you are sadly mistaken. The reason why people love this book is due to it's color photos and full details. Details are nice but when presented in a bullet point outline style, it distracts one from the pertinent information. You have no sense of what are the main important concepts. Rather, this is just a regurgitation of details in a glossy format. This book is great for those who already understand pathology intuitively and just need to glance at these topics and commit them to memory. Imagine if you took the Robbins text and then just compiled a bunch of bullet points from each chapter into an outline form. There is no sense of organization and I have no idea how someone would retain the information by reading this "book". Again, I don't even consider this a book. It's merely a 600 page outline.

I personally like to understand what I read this and this book doesn't explain items. Granted, no one has time to read the full Robbins text or even the baby Robbins text but I feel the BRS Pathology book offers the best of both worlds. It's concise but it's written in sentence form so it explains things without going into overkill. Granted the BRS Pathology leaves out some details but let's be realistic, if you can master that book, you will have 90% of all the Pathology you will need to know for the boards. You have to be realistic. Sure, you could read Golgian's book and then not retain anything because it was 600 pages of bullet points or you can read BRS and master 400 pages of concise well written sentences.

Yes, it lacks pictures and quality MCQ's. However, those who love this book are fully aware of this and we use other sources for pictures and MCQ's. I love the Robbins MCQ book. For pictures, there is webpath in addition to Netter Pathology which is far better.

Great book!, January 8, 2010
Disclaimer- This is about the 1st Edition**

I am a 4th year medical student now, and I started using this book during my second year of medical school. I think that this was the best book I have used in medical school. It is accurate, and includes everything and anything you need to know. It integrates every subject into path too- like Micro, and Pharm, and important physiology. The best part is that it explains things (especially when used with his lectures!). For example, the hematology is great, in that it explains why lab values are low/high, based on path, so you do not have to memorize the material. Sure, a common complaint is that there is too much info, which is especially true for the heme section, but who cares, your going to be a doctor. You never know what a patient may have, or what a board question will ask. This book is why I succeeded into 3rd and 4th year. It will make your shelf exams easier, and of course, step 1 easier! Why? You will understand medicine, and not just memorize it to forget it! Thus, when you use this book, your not just studying for step 1, but, your also learning info for every shelf exam, and every board exam you will ever take. Believe it or not, its good for PIMP questions on the wards! I can't tell you how many ridiculous questions I knew, even when residents didnt know the answer, because of this book. Every high-yield fact, and buzz-word, is in this book. I was never brilliant or anything, ie) average MCAT, but I sure did very well on all my boards and shelf exams. There are great color photos in this book too. Some of these you will see on...well...hint hint hint. Another great part of this book- sure, it has a lot of great step 1 info, but it is also great clinically. I used this book during every rotation- that's right: Peds, Surgery for the GI section, GYN disease, etc. I think this is because it is very good at giving "most commons", which is definitely important to know. Basically, if you want a book that has every part of medicine in it, and really want to learn and understand medicine, then get this book.

People who don't like it usually pick it up 2 months before taking their step 1 exam. Why? It's huge! There is so much info in here, and yes, it can take longer than BRS to get through. That's why you get it early in your studying, aka, during 1st and second year. Then, when you review it, it's a piece of cake. Also, there is too much info here, but that's why it is great for 3rd and 4th year. So, don't get caught up with details when studying for step 1! It really isn't that big either, especially when you have one source with everything you NEED TO KNOW (micro, pharm side effects, etc). This is certainly one book that I am not selling. As far as editions- I am sure the second edition is great. Also, I used the biochem RR to study, which is great too. Definitely how I learned biochem for the boards. It focuses on clinical biochem, which is what you need to know! And, its only like 200 pages, with great diagrams and charts. Definitely use it over that other book that starts with an L...

Great book, but..., September 22, 2009
This is a great book. It is helpful for Pathology class and for Step 1. The only problem is that the Student Consult website doesnt have what the book promises it does. The book says that SC contains over 400 questions but as of today (9/22), none of them are on the site. I tried contacting student consult twice and Dr. Goljan to ask about this but no one got back to me.

It is still a great book and I recommend it for anyone in medical school, but until SC puts up the promised 400+ problems, it gets four stars from me.

Edit: The questions are now up! The book gets 5 starts from me! The questions are very useful and seem like the type of stuff we're expected to know for Step 1. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Revised in 2006 for its twenty-fifth anniversary, this best-selling book is the "bible" for families caring for people with Alzheimer disease, offering comfort and support to millions worldwide. In addition to the practical and compassionate guidance that have made The 36-Hour Day invaluable to caregivers, the fourth edition is the only edition currently available that includes new information on medical research and the delivery of care.

The new edition includes:

-new information on diagnostic evaluation-resources for families and adult children who care for people with dementia-updated legal and financial information-the latest information on nursing homes and other communal living arrangements-new information on research, medications, and the biological causes and effects of dementia

Also available in a large print edition

Praise for The 36-Hour Day:

Reviews

An absolute must for caregivers, July 27, 2007
For those of us who are caregivers, this book is a lifesaver. Before reading this book I was certain that many of the behaviors that my family member exhibits were unique to her. While I often read about Alzheimer's, I never read anything that made me stop and realize that, first, I am not alone, and second, that there are ways that I can handle situations better. This book is full of great suggestions on how to deal with the many behavioral issues that are exhibited by those with Alzheimer's and dementia.

Whenever I have an especially difficult day, I go online to the Alzheimer's page and remind myself how difficult it is for my family member. This book drove home that message, yet more importantly provided me with some tools on how to deal with these issues. I cannot stress enough how much I thought our situation and the behaviors were unique; it is liberating to realize that they are not. As well, understanding why the person exhibits such behaviors makes it much easier to respond correctly.

I wish I could thank the authors personally for this book. I hope they both know that their wisdom, concern and awareness of the Alzheimer patient has made a difference for me, and I am certain has made a difference for many others.

Caregivers -- buy this book, you will find some stress greatly diminished.

Excellent for entire family system, especially the caregiver, September 15, 1999
The book is informative, explicit for people who know nothing about mental health and diseases of the mind. Good for the lay person, the afflicted person, all of the family. Gives insight and helps with understanding care of the patient, and the grief involved for those around the patient. Good reference--I will be using it in a church group setting also.

Dealing family member with Alzheimers, January 17, 2000
I found this book to be a life saver. I thought that I was losing my mind, until I read this book and now I know there is help out there. I have read this book a few times and each time it helps me understand a little more about Alzheimers patient. It is like a bible for people who are dealing with a family member with Alzherimers.

Excellent Guide, April 10, 2007
This is a excellent book and reference for those learning to deal with Alzheimer. Plenty of resources and ideas of what to look for when caring for someone with this disease. You can get a good idea of what to expect and how to help those suffering with this devastating disease. Easy to understand and read. Can't recommend this book enough.

THE 36-HOUR DAY continues to be the 'bible' of recommendation for any caregiver whose family member suffers from dementia., February 7, 2007
When THE 36-HOUR DAY appeared in its original edition it was unprecedented in its information for families struggling to care for people with Alzheimer Disease and other dementias: now this updated 4th edition in large print includes new details on diagnostic evaluation methods, new medications and research, and new social and legal issues involved, and will find a place not only on health and public library shelves, but in the home shelves of caregivers searching for information. From financial aid and nursing homes to alternatives to treatments and living arrangements, THE 36-HOUR DAY continues to be the 'bible' of recommendation for any caregiver whose family member suffers from dementia.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

The Answers I Have Been Searching For, July 5, 2004
It doesn't give medical advice, it doesn't give technical advice, although it provides resources for seeking such advice. What it does give are explanations and insights into the thinking of brain impaired persons, explanations for their behaviors, and advice on how to manage and cope with being their caregiver.

These are exactly the answers I have been searching for. So many of my father's actions, reactions and behaviors are profiled in this book, and it's becoming clear that his decline had started many years ago with smaller incidents that we as his family had dismissed. The path of progression can be tracked, and even predicted. It will be helpful to know what's coming next and be prepared. But most important to me is the understanding of why. Being able to understand the why of his behavior helps me a great deal in being able to let go of the anger and to cope better with the situation that has recently escalated to horrific.

In trying to manage the situation I have started taking anti-anxiety meds, as well as antidepressants and high blood pressure med. I have done all that I can to make changes within myself, yet things have gotten progressively worse. I am beginning to understand that these changes have been part of the problem in a sense in that I have become "unpredictable" to him in not reacting the way he expects me to.

The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for People with Alzheimer Disease, Other Dementias, and Memory Loss in Later Life, July 1, 2007
Well-written, easy to read, and comprehansive..excellent resource! I have already recommended it to others facing a future as a caregiver.

Succinct and Thorough, May 6, 2007
This is an exemplary book,thorough and well written re the information essential to dealing with a loved one with alzheimers. I couldn't put it down...not that I enjoyed what I read...but how appropriate it was to the situation at hand.

Help for the family, April 1, 2007
This book has been the single most helpful tool my family has been given to help us help my mother as she progresses with Alzheimer's Disease. While other books have touched on many of the topics in this book, no where else have we found as much practical information on how to avoid confrontations with her; ways to improve her daily living; ideas to keep her involved with us and to provide meaning to her life; questions to ask her doctors; types of resources that are available (depending on your area); what to expect as the disease progresses; and how to help each other as we take on the many different roles needed to provide care for her.

I highly recommend this book to others; in fact, I have purchased multiple copies to share with family members and donate to my local library - that's how helpful and important this book is!

Essential for families experiencing Alzheimer's, January 4, 2001
The small type notwithstanding, this book has been so helpful to us in understanding how to deal with our family member and her spouse. Each experience we have had seems to be covered; I wish we had bought this when we first noticed symptoms, long before she was diagnosed, and long before her spouse would admit there was a problem. However, we did find that when we gave it to the (elderly) spouse, he did not read it and found the large amount of material daunting. I don't think a smaller type face would have helped, as the other reviewers indicated, because it would have then been even a longer, larger book. What he finally *would* read was only a brochure from the doctor, which was very basic. ... Read more

Editorial Review

NEWLY REVISED AND UPDATED

The Out-of-Sync Child broke new ground by identifying Sensory Processing Disorder, a common but frequently misdiagnosed problem in which the central nervous system misinterprets messages from the senses. This newly revised edition features additional information from recent research on vision and hearing deficits, motor skill problems, nutrition and picky eaters, ADHA, autism, and other related disorders. ... Read more

Reviews

Informative and builds awareness on SI, December 6, 2005
My child's teacher let me borrow this book after some concerns about some sensory issues he was having. This book clearly lays out senses, their function and better yet examples of normal SI and sensory dysfunction. Although my child is not on the spectrum where he would be considered to have SID, the book provided me with an understanding as to why he seems to be sensory driven in everything he does. With the knowledge from this book, I can now "feed him a better sensory diet" as opposed to continue on with my frustrations. The book also has A TON of resources for those children who may need further evaluations.

Warning, April 10, 2007
Before you buy this book make sure you also buy at the same time "The Out of Sync Child has Fun."

Why , because you need both - The first book presents lots of different case studies but is strategy poor.
Book 2 , Has Fun , is jammed packed full of activities.

Four Stars because you have to buy both....looking for an alternative / another view try Raising a Sensory Smart Child: The Definitive Handbook for Helping Your Child with Sensory Integration Issues This is the Bible.... a must have.

Very Good Resource, August 28, 2005
I am a behavioral Consultant for children with Autism. I am always looking for good resources to better understand the children that I work with and how I can provide the best help to meet their needs. I previously purchased the companion to this book, The Out of Sync Child Has Fun. I found that it was a great resource for activities and that it provided an overview of different sensory issues. I realized that I needed this book to dive a little deeper into sensory disorders. I think that this has been a great resource for me and I refer it to the parents I work with as well. I also recomend the campanion book as well as I have found some great ideas in it.

Children with SPD disorders, December 17, 2006
This groundbreaking book deals wit the child with Sensory Processing Disorder , a disorder in which children misinterpret the message from their senses to their brain.
The book defines Sensory Processing Disorder , lists the common symptoms , as well as it's possible causes.
It analyses the different types of children with the disorder such as the overresponsive child , the underresponsive child and the sensory-seeking child as well as how to identify these problems.
Lots of case studies.
The second part of the book deals with how to cope with SPD , with lots of practical advice and lots of games and exercises to help the SPD child.

An indispensable guide to parents , teachers , therapists and anyone else with concerns about the 'out of sync' child.

Completely opened my eyes, March 1, 2008
This book was recommended to me by an Occupational Therapist after he evaluated my son through the state. At this point, I had no idea what SI was or that my son had it (also autism diagnosis). Since then, this book has become my primary resource for my son and other children I encounter. I've given copies to every member of my family and to my son's teachers. Why? Because it explains why kids do and act the way they do when they have sensory dysfunction.

One thing my son used to do was put his head on the ground to look at toys. He also used to avoid touching paint, glue, playDoh. He couldn't tolerate a playground and even family birthday parties were overwhelming. This book explains all of these things - all of the reasons why my son was acting the way he was. And since then, with the help of an occupational therapist, we've corrected these behaviors. My son is happier than ever. He still has SI, but he knows how to avoid certain situations and he's learning how to adapt to school, parks, the world in general.

Carol Stock Kranowitz explains and gives examples of why some kids act out in class, are aggressive, shy, etc. Anyone who is around special needs children will benefit from the knowledge on these pages. It's changed my entire world.

Like with anything new, learning the ins and outs of sensory integration takes time. It's not a super easy read and until you're familiar with the terms (tactile, vestibular, proprioception, gravitational insecurity, etc) it takes some getting used to. Don't be turned off by this last sentence, anyone can learn it and understand and then apply the techniques.

Id even recommend this for parents of typical children as everyone can benefit.

Here's the parts the book is split into:

1. Recognizing Sensory Integration Dysfunction
2. Coping with Sensory Integration Dysfunction

Some of the chapters include:

Does your child have Sensory Integration Dysfunction?
How to tell if your child has a problem with the Tactile sense
Your child at Home
Your child at School
Coping with your child's emotions
Looking at your child in a new light

There are also a number of resources listed in the back of the book.

A Must Read for ANY parent, March 9, 2006
This book is the must-read for every parent, whether their children suffer from sensory integration or not. It is an eye opening look into the way we interpret our surroundings, and has given me information, tools, and hope for my daughter, who suffers severe developmental delays from this disorder. I would highly reccommend this book!

The Out-of-Sync Child, October 10, 2005
This book is excellent. It is a resource I will treasure and share for many years to come.

It is informative and encouraging to parents of children who just don't fit the "norm". Self tests help to determine if you should seek professional help. There are practicle techinques offered to try at home.

I am keeping this book as a reference for my child's future teachers as well as myself.

Very Pleased!, October 13, 2005
I have two children that experiece this disorder and I really enjoy this book. It is very down to earth as well as provides me with the insight and oppertunities to create better communication and life with our children. I would highly recommed it to anyone as alot of individuals are missed in their diagnosis and this could provide some great information.

Understanding a complicated behaviour, February 24, 2006
This book is very easy to read and understand. Once I began reading the introduction I identified a lot of the behaviours with a child in my care. The author has a great pen and a complete understanding of her topic choice. I recommend this book to all who are concerned about a child in their care whose behaviours you don't quite understand.

A "must have" for anyone with a child with sensory processing problems!, September 6, 2005
When my oldest son was diagnosed with a sensory processing disorder we were desperate to find out what that meant and, more importantly, what we could do about it. This book was recommended to me by another parent and I have since given a copy to each set of grandparents and a close friend. Not only does it give a thorough explanation of SPDs, but it also includes checklists for diagnosis, coping strategies, teacher helps, and lots more. Exactly what we needed! ... Read more