Prevention Issues Books

Hello...

This book gave me the insights I needed when I was in tremendous pain and fear because of a dental crisis. I hadn't been to a dentist in 20 years, and because of this book, I was able to avoid them long enough to gain the strategic insight so I would not just be another casualty of a society which forgets its origin in Nature. Coming home to Nature has been fulfilling on such a primal level. I feel more of who I am as a physical being on this plane. All my life, I've watched the follies of Western Medicine, along with the good deeds, and have been surprised at the disparities. Diet & Core Beliefs are my first priorities when any physical ailment arises. Addressing them effectively has ALWAYS given me the results I've desired.

This book is written honestly, simply and in a very easy to comprehend manner. The Author has actually 'tried and tested' what he advocates in this book. It clearly states that curing tooth decay is possible contrary to mainstream thinking. It looks at the value of good nutrition, and how modern day living has attributed to a decline in tooth health.

I've always known deep down that teeth can heal naturally.
When my own daughter began having dental issues, I went on
a mission! Already been down that path, and being very
scarred from the dental experiences I endured, I knew I couldn't
put my child through it. I found Dr. Weston Price's research
and my instincts told me this was it! Ramiel has now written
a book, drawn from Price's findings, but specifically directed at restoring dental health. The result is a very comprehensive
book that lays it all out. He is honest. And the truth is
an incredible eye-opener! The protocol works. Get this book,
especially if you have children.

Rami Nagel is an "ordinary mortal" who has, by virtue of necessity and courage to dare - and the remarkable archive of anthropological-medical data created by Dr. Weston Price achieved an extraordinary goal - arresting and reversing what most people and practitioners routinely believe to be an inevitable degeneration in dental health

He has come at his subject with all the doubts, hopes and vulnerabilities of a layman whose inner quest will not allow him to be satisfied with the pathological state of affairs that modern medicine takes to be "normal". It is normal in the truest sense of the word - meaning, the condition of the majority, the mean, the present state of things. But normal is not necessarily natural, and the quest for the natural is clearly what inspired both Weston Price and Rami Nagel.

While there are many ways of providing the essential elements required for the job, Nagel chooses to model his approach on that of Dr. Price, who did decades of detailed study and analysis which few now would care to undertake.

However, other - not incompatible - paths exist, such as the very promising potential of modulating the pH acid-alkaline balance in the bloodstream, a pre-condition which is pivotal in virtually all other and later developments in human physiology. One brief example will do: it is necessary for the salivary pH to be at least 6.5 in order for new enamel to be formed.

Even if all other conditions are ideal, and this is not the case, the desired results may not occur. Ideally, "primal" nutrition would create such a condition, but years - perhaps decades - of extreme imbalance (even on well-intended diets), but experience shows that, at least initially, more aggressive measures may often be needed to rectify the all-important fluid state of the body.

Nagel's book is admirable for its honesty, clarity and inspirational power, and deserves to be taken as the deeply valuable resource which it is, collating hundreds of pages of clinical research and distilling it into user-friendly form for impatient contemporary readers and needers.

About a month ago I noticed that my enamel was stripping off. I don't believe this was typical enamel erosion. I don't eat citrus fruits or drink soda, don't have gerd or acid reflux, and I'm not bulemic. I have patches and dull strips where there used to be shiny enamel. I bought this book and changed my diet immediately. Within a few weeks the stripping of the enamel stopped. And all of a sudden in a matter of days, I started noticing vast improvements in the surface of my teeth. I read that tooth structure is lattice like, and it really is. You can really see it! For a couple of days, I actually watched it re-knit, and some of the patches have shrunk, by refilling with shiny enamel. I cheated on my birthday and the progress slowed for several days and I didn't notice daily improvements. I am just starting to see them again. There will be no more cheating. I don't want to slow this down.

My daughter just started getting her permanent teeth this spring and they don't have any shine to them at all. She is also getting some enamel finally. Hers doesn't have the appearance of lattice, yet. She is just now getting her first vertical lines. If I could capture this, I'd probably just post the pictures online for the whole world to see that dentists are wrong! Everywhere you read online, "enamel does not grow back..." But, it does. I don't think this is just the enamel "like" glassy coating that Rami refers to. I really believe this is actual enamel re-knitting.

My husband is getting improvements in his teeth as well. A couple of his molars appeared to have black decay in them, and the blackness is fading away.

A bonus from this diet, is that I am finally starting to absorb my nutrients. Both myself and my daughter suffer from deficiencies caused by malabsorption. We are both doing better. And the proof for me, besides my teeth healing, is that my prematurely gray hair is reversing. Premature gray hair is caused by a lack of minerals. So, I must be absorbing some finally.

This book shows you how important proper nutrition is, not just for teeth but for all health. The teeth are not just for eating. They are not unnecessary and expendible. They are keys to your health. They can tell you when something is wrong in your body. Dentures can't do that. If you have cavities, or enamel issues, it's not just a "dental" issue. It's a HEALTH issue. And fillings are just a bandaid. You MUST take responsibility and take control of your health. Only YOU can do that. No doctor or dentist can do that for you. It is hard work. Change is not easy, and not always fun. But it is SO WORTH the effort. Not only will you feel better physically because you're getting proper nutrition, you will feel good knowing that YOU did this for yourself. No bandaids, no magic pills.

I also recommend Sally Fallon's, Nourishing Traditions book along with your purchase of Ramiel Nagel's, Cure Tooth Decay. Her book will help you keep with the guidelines that Rami suggests in this book.

I just want to add a thank you to Rami for his hard work and dedication to writing this book.

Phenomenal work. Great for those who work with patients with back issues. I would highly recommend it!

Though longer and harder to read than most exercise books written for the general reader, Stuart McGill's, Low Back Disorders, has such ground breaking information it is well worth buying.

McGill sets out cutting edge research to show, among other things:
1. Why endurance is more protective than strength;
2. Why stability is vastly more important than flexibility;

3. Why usually "preserving the normal low back curve" during exercise causes less stress on the spine than doing a pelvic tilt or flattening the back against the exercise mat;

4. Why back exercises should not be done during the first hour or 2 after arising; and,

5. Why adding repetitions to an exercise is safer and more productive than prolonging the hold during each repetition. Holds should be no longer than 7-8 seconds.

Following these and other specific recommendations makes doing McGill's exercises and those in other books safer and more effective.

McGill says no one exercise plan can fit the needs of every patient so he leaves it up to the therapist to determine the number of sets and repetitions needed to generate endurance. This is fine for therapists but gives inadequate guidance for the non-therapist reader and fails to take into account the needs of all those whose back problems are not so unique as to require a therapist.

By paying attention to the table of contents and the section headings, the reader can probably avoid getting bogged down in the details of the research findings. Or one can simply read the injury prevention primer (pp. 154-156), chapter 10 for the background to the exercises, and chapter 12 for the exercises.

McGill devises several new exercises that build the muscles of the back and torso while placing less stress on the spine. He also revises the way some of the old standard exercises are done.
However, he does not provide enough alternate exercises when his exercises prove too difficult or painful to do.

Because no one book can meet everyone's needs, I also encourage buying:
1. The Back Pain Book by Mike Hage; and,
2. The Multifidus Back Pain Solution by Jim Johnson.

Both books are very easy to read. Hage's book is a comprehensive, well illustrated treasure.

Johnson's book highlights the need for and shows 4 ways to do one key exercise, an exercise that both McGill and Hage (I have the 1992 edition of Hage's book) include but show only one way to do, a way that is painful for me.

In summary, all 3 books provide uniquely valuable information and each one of them has helped me.

This book is a great reference text for anyone who treats low back injuries and works to create lumbar core stabilization. Following the work of Janda and others, McGill has taken core stabilization to the next level. His research based approach is 100% applicable and easy to follow. He presents the science of how the body works and this is great. McGill, also being a Ph.D., does not have a medical, chiropractic, or other bias...he presents things as he finds them through studies. This is a great book and well worth every penny...

For those in the fitness field, I recommend the Ultimate Back Fitness book...very applicable and easier to follow...

Some other reviewers have (directly or indirectly) made it clear that this book is primarily for researchers, doctors, and other health-care professionals, but I would like to re-state this as clearly and emphatically as possible, as some buyers may be seriously misled by claims (not made by the author!) that it is "a book that can be read by almost everyone" or one that "every patient suffering from low back pain should read". Only Part 3 (about specific exercises to do and not do) fits that description. Parts 1 and 2 are highly technical and addressed almost entirely to physicians and academic researchers. For someone without a good working knowledge of anatomy (that's me, in case you think I'm being condescending to the ignorant masses), these parts of the book are impossible to follow. My advice to the sufferer from low-back pain (again, that's me) would be to get the book from a library and concentrate entirely on part 3.

Clinicians who wish to competently evaluate, manage, and rehabilitate low back disorders will find this book indispensable due to its unique content. While other texts cover topics related to examination, differential diagnosis, or specific therapeutics, this text focuses on a thorough, component-by-component research-based review of each part of the human lumbopelvic region for the purpose of providing a comprehensive understanding of how the low back truly functions, how to credibly evaluate its function, and how to properly restore as much normal function as possible. Sufficiently detailed for scholars, yet understandable by virtually anyone, Dr. McGill uses a practical, evidence-based dialogue with the reader to address issues which I have rarely seen adequately addressed by anyone. Just what is the true function of the iliopsoas muscle in relation to the low back? And is there really such a thing as an iliopsoas muscle? And how would one properly rehabilitate a weakened rectus abdomonis muscle, without potentially aggravating a low back disorder? And why is this necessary? And is it possible that many of the exercises currently prescribed for chronic low back pain are actually detrimental to the spine, and why? These are but a few of the many important and practical topics that are covered within this book. Frankly, I don't believe anyone can competently care for low back conditions of any kind without this valuable information. I consider this book a valued and essential part of my professional library.

This book, like Stephen Flynn's "Edge of Disaster" succinctly dissects the problems we face in warding off terrorism at home and exposes our vulnerabilities. They are large - ports, shipping, energy infrastructure, chemical plants, food processing facilities, for openers.
Flynn describes the problem only too well,

At the root of the problem is the Department of Homeland Security's secrecy, lack of internal coordination, turf battles, and incompatabile data base systems. Equally problematic is the complacency of the AMerican people, who are being shielded from the realities by a patronizing government.

Flynn ascribes the current situation to be comparable to the "phony war" between the time of the nazi attack in Poland in 1939, and the invasion and capitulation of France in the SPring of 1940 because of failure to consider, plan and consider new battlefield tactics. In short, the French (and also the British, were using WOrld War I tactics to fight new German panzer tactics. The parallels of today's attitudes and the last days of the Roman EMpire also are, indeed, chilling.

The government is not the only culprit that lulls our citizens into complacency. In my personal opinion, the news media does not help with its focus on the trivial, a hiding of coverage of the war on terror, and seldom reviewing the vulnerabilities Flynn covers so well and rallying our citizenry to the realities of what's at stake.

The solutions?: Active involvement of citizens; Active involvement of government with relevant private industry; open communicatioan with all relevant players in state and local government; making infrastructure sufficiently resilient that terrorists no longer find a potential target attractive.

WHat is needed, and implied, is a revival of an approach pioneered by NASA in the early 1960's when they had to establish operational paradigms and procedures for which there was no precedent. It's called 'conceptual blockbusting'. FLynn's book will help us get there, if everyone reads it.

Flynn quotes Abraham Lincoln concerning new paradigms:

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate for the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with uncertainty, and we must rise to the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

It's as relevant now in the war on terro as it was in 1962.

BUY this book, and buy extra copies for your loved ones and closest friends.

This book is a must read for anyone interested in the short comings of our Homeland Security Department. I initially bought the book after thumbing through it and finding a section on the lack of security with our cargo containers, a specific worry of mine.

This book not only breaks down where we are vulnerable, it explains why and offers workable solutions as to how to reduce this vulnerability. The book is a bit frightening in a way, when you read and realize how vulnerable we really are, even after 6 years of security measures. Why isn't more being done? What are the government officials covering up?

What makes this book hit like a sledgehammer is the credentials of the author. He was a Coast Guard Commander for 20 years, an expert in National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He has been on Congressional Task forces studying the problems in homeland security as well as serving in the White House Military Office during President George H. Bush administration and director for Global Issues on the National Security Council during the Administration of President Bill Clinton. Stephen Flynn is obviously an expert on this issue and his words should be given their due weight.

Bottom line, insightful, a bit frightening, definitely a book to read if you like current events or really want to know how safe we actually are.

This book focuses practically entirely on the vulnerabilities of the American homeland, and offers some suggestions that could begin to lay the foundation for protecting those vulnerabilities. The book does not talk about the war on terror in the terms of the offensive operations such as Iraq, Afghanistan, intelligence matters, and targeted killings of Al-Qaeda at all.

The author's cogent argument rests on the concept of defense in depth. In addition to offensive operations to route out the terrorists, we also need to make our homeland less susceptible to successful attack and more resilient to the aftermath of the inevitable one that slips through the net.

The homeland is defined not just as American territory, but extends to include the global commercial, transportation, trading, and financial networks that are central to our way of life and our economy. This represents a rich field of targets for terrorists, with successful attacks being able to ripple through the networks and cause continuing and ongoing damage. Flynn opens his book with a scenario of an attack on shipping containers, and transportation links with radiological devices. The hypothetical comes off as very plausible and sobering.

The remainder of the book talks about what the major vulnerabilities of America are, such as chemical plants, food distribution, overextended medical systems via biological or chemical attacks, etc. He shows that we currently lack the capabilities, organizational structure, and practices to adequately secure these vulnerabilities.

He provides what are really "glimpses" of possible solutions to these problems, including RFID tracking of cargo containers and food shipments with embedded WMD sensors, government security standards for critical and hazardous infrastructure (nuke plants, water treatment facility chlorine gad tanks, etc.) continuing reorganization at the federal, state and local level to focus on security, insurance measures, and a particularly innovative concept to enlist private company participation patterned after the Federal Reserve system.

However at the length of this short and easily readable (if not pleasently readable) book Flynn cannot go into detail. The cost and time of implementing such systems are not gone into in a satisfactory manner, but that's not the point of the book.

The point of the book is that the government needs to do more to protect our homefront. Flynn convincingly makes his case, and provides reasonable guidelines about how to improve upon the situation.

A good read for American citizens who want to ensure that we are doing the best we can to protect our civilization.

That is how one of the chapters starts. It's a matter of when the next terrorist attack will happen, not if it will happen, according to the author, Stephen Flynn.

With absolute simplicity, common sense logic, and an irrefutable argument, he demonstrates how and why our government is failing to protect us from the terrorist threat. Industry and government are not willing to take the time and the money required to provide greater security for a war on terrorism that will never end.

Our water and food supplies, our chemical plants, and our ports are alrmingly unsecure from terrorist attack. Flynn creates a terrorist scenario demonstrating how the terrorist threat can become reality. He asserts our enemies are willing to spend the time to create the act of terror, while we are not willing to spend the time defending ourselves to foil it.

He blames industries which see no benefit in spending the money on security which will be passed on to their consumers, while non-security minded companies will maintain lower prices and take business away from the security-conscious ones.

This means that congress must act. It must set security standards that will be implemented across each industry thus spreading the cost to everyone. So far, congress, not wanting to offend their million dollar contributors have done nothing. Flynn also suggests that Americans must be willing to make the sacrifices necessary for this security.

We are operating on a World War II mentality i.e. the best defense is a good offense by taking the fight to their countries. That is not what Flynn recommends. Terrorists will always be able to get into this country. We must strengthen our security at home which will take years of dedicated preparation and action.

The author's book is a siren song. The beginning of his fourth chapter bears repeating as a end to this review. "When it comes to dealing with the new security agenda, Americans need to grow up....Terrorism is simply too cheap, too available, and too tempting ever to be totally eradicated. We must have the maturity both to live with the risk of future attacks and to invest in reasonable measures to rein in that risk."

For those who use the argument that we haven't been attacked since 9/11, remember, it took five years of planning. 9/11 is now more than five years ago. Truly, American apathy and complacency are the terrorists' greatest allies.

This is a clearly written, well reasoned book on how to provide real security for the U.S. homeland. To his credit, its author Stephan Flynn wastes no time either in partisan bashing of the current administration or in dissecting the many faults of the Department of Homeland Security. Rather he immediately shares his analysis of why domestic security in the U.S .is such an elusive goal. In the course of a number of chapters he builds a pretty strong case that in spite of all the talk, the U.S. is just as vulnerable to terrorist attacks as it was in 2000 before the 9/11 catastrophe. Flynn provides some specific examples what these vulnerabilities are and is especially effective in his analysis of shipping port vulnerabilities as a result of the exponential growth of containerized shipping. He also provides what appears to be a sensible and more importantly doable plan to actually reduce our vulnerabilities to terrorist attacks. He is an advocate of applying that long held business concept of `risk management' to the practice of homeland security. Like Richard Posner (Preventing Surprise Attacks - amazon.com) he points out the impossibility of making the U.S. completely immune to any terrorist threat and argues that it makes far better sense to rationally and logically identify which potential targets in the U.S. would cause the most loss of life and economic or social disruption if attacked and build a dynamic and multilayered defensive system to protect those targets.

Of course, Flynn is a former Coast Guard officer so his prescriptions for protecting America are practical not theoretical. Having spent twenty years protecting U.S. interests in our coastal waters, his thought on how to protect this country is based on a realistic understanding of the threats we face and a knowledge of what actually can be done to mitigate those threats. It is a shame that the Department of Homeland Security has not seen fit to follow his example.

As a person with an autoimmune disease I thought this book was very interesting and thought provoking. It is a read for everyone, to see how our environment can affect our health, and steps we can take to help our bodies stay healthier.

This is a well researched book giving the scientific explanation about what is happening regarding our immune systems.

The reason for the 4 Star rating - I considered to whom the information would be most useful.
For physicians, healthcare persons: I give this book 5 stars
For lay persons: I give it 3 (see bottom of review for other reading suggestions)


Best Audience: Physicians and others wanting the technical information behind autoimmune disease.

Additional Audience: Lay person wishing a more in-depth knowledge behind autoimmune disease.
Nakazawa uses engaging case studies to illustrate her points.

Chapter One: The Red Flag Disease
Discusses the rising statistics of autoimmune disease diagnosis

Chapter Two: The Invisible Invaders: The Driving Force Behind This Epidemic
Links our increased exposure to man-made chemicals to the increased diagnosis of autoimmune disease.

Chapter Three: Dirty Little Secrets: Cluster Epidemics from Buffalo to Texas
Details the struggle of area residents and concerned citizens to the high rate of lupus cases that cropped up near a toxic site. Also shows the difficulties of proving a cluster.

Chapter Four: A Potent Package: Viruses, Vaccines, and Heavy Metals
Ties together the role of global warming with autoimmune inducing viruses.
Also covered: The role of heavy metals and vaccines
The autism-autoimmune connection
The Allergy Connection

Chapter Five: The Autoimmune Disease Detectives: Era of the Mavericks
Focuses on predicting the likelihood of autoimmune disease onset. Mostly high-tech or pharmaceutical solutions.

Chapter Six: Shielding Your Immune System: Rethinking Food, Stress, and Everyday Chemicals

I consider this last chapter to be most useful: Mentioned are steps to take to prevent and/or treat autoimmune disease.

First and foremost is the food connection. Most important: how to find out what foods are triggering you Autoimmune disease symptoms.

Finally: simple everyday suggestions are included such as green cleaners (home and body) and basic hygiene.

With the exception of the 6th (and last chapter) - this is not a how-to book.

For more detailed help with autoimmune disease I recommend the following:
1)The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Anti-Inflammation Diet (Complete Idiot's Guide to) - 2006

2)The Anti-Inflammation Diet and Recipe Book: Protect Yourself and Your Family from Heart Disease, Arthritis, Diabetes, Allergies - and More by Jessica K. Black, ND; P - 2006
125 recipes with suggested substitutions
Examples of foods to eat and foods to avoid
Week of sample menus for summer and winter

3)Diet for a Pain-Free Life: A Revolutionary Plan to Lose Weight, Stop Pain, Sleep Better and Feel Great in 21 Days, ADA...sound nutritional advice...do-able, delicious..a godsend to pain sufferers. by Harris H. McIlwain - 2006

As a holistic physician, I wanted to see how the author made her argument that the increasing number of people with autoimmune disease is due to a toxic environment. She interviewed a number of respected scientific researchers whose research links the various toxins we all have in our body with the diseases that afflict so many people today. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to begin to understand how they may have come down with their illness. The good news is that a educated and committed patient and a physician who looks for the causes of these illnesses can develop treatments that enable healing to occur. The use of pharmaceutical drugs to suppress symptoms of the illness should be temporary because the underlying problem is not being corrected. The toxicity of the drugs is an additional burden on an already dysfunctional body. One take home lesson from the book is that we all can reduce our exposure to toxins by looking for and buying nontoxic body care and home care products.

In my health care practice, I look for the toxins that throw our bodies out of balance as Donna so aptly describes in her book. We live in a sea of chemicals and if a health practitioner chooses to go looking for them, they will find them in a patient's body. Just look around at the average American today. It is obvious the medications that simply treat symptoms are not enough.

It seems so basic to clean up our bodies, our environment. Thank you, Donna, for writing such a comprehensive, truthful book about our state of affairs in health and industry today and its impact on all of us.

I am, admittedly, a fan of the book because it tells a powerful story of a neighborhood activism in Buffalo, NY, and I was involved in that story in a small way. But the story of folks with undiagnosed autoimmune disease, how this poor, minority community had the strength of will to ask difficult questions, identify scientific collaborators in the local University, and lead a groundbreaking study of lupus incidence is a lesson that bears repeating all across the US. Along with that chapter, Donna Jackson Nakazawa weaves together impressive scientific review, stories of her personal challenges and why it is relevant for patients all across the US, and clearly states key issues for those wanting to know what they suffer from.

On top of that, she identifies recommendations on health and diet.

A powerful book, because it captures a citizen and journalist describing research, citizen action and health recommendations for this rising tide of unknown diseases, that affect everyone around us.

Why so many MS patients? Why is lupus so hard to diagnose? Why do we only measure asthma and cancer, and not other disease rates? Why do we insist on such a burden of proof of problematic diseases in communities? Jackson Nakazawa identifies and tackles tough science and policy questions in a book that cannot be put down.

Scientists, medical professionals, doctors, researchers, community leaders and members, citizen activists, concerned neighbors. You all should read this book.

If you want to know the truth about the medical system and the enormous number of errors and cover-ups within that system, read this book. Well-researched with many shocking and heart-breaking case studies, the book provides answers as well as showing the problems. Thank goodness someone had the courage to buck the system and break down the Wall of Silence for all of us.

What separates Wall of Silence by Gibson and Singh from other books on this topic is the refreshing and bold truth telling contained within it's human stories of pain, injustice and frustration. Not only did the authors shoulder the risks and courage requisite for listening to and then writing about the human face, consequences and devastation of needless medical error tragedies, but they also ferreted out and exposed the ugly truths, told by medical providers themselves, about how the pervasive greed, secrecy and code of silence in the healthcare industry works to bury medical mistakes through a host of means; including blackballing and burying the careers of the competent and ethical medical providers who dare to tell the truth and who place patients above profits. As a medical provider, I can find no better way to encapsulate the meaning and hope of this treatise than through those words offered by the Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. This book is, as she states, 'A call to arms for families who have had loved ones disabled or die in the pursuit of medical treatment.' And, I can only hope that it could also catalyze a 'Call to Arms' for medical providers who wish to return medicine and healthcare to the patient oriented, compassionate, ethical and hippocratic way of practice.

This is a better book by far than the unfortunately better known INTERNAL BLEEDING. It is certainly more honest. It has the clear advantage of being written by people who know and understand the subject ,and unlike Internal Bleeding, it does not suffer the disadvantage of having been written by physicians who, purposfully or otherwise, seem very intent in obscuring the responsibility for medical mistakes.

The authors of Wall of Silence have written an honest and valuable book deciding (to the public's advantage) to let the chips fall where they may. A MUST READ!!

This book is a well researched, well written must read for all Americans. The authors share their personal story as well as the stories of others who have suffered at the hands of a careless physician. While the stories will break your heart, they may also save your life, or the life of someone you love. While none of us want to believe that those we trust with our bodies and our lives would neglect a sacred trust, the fact is it is happening all too often. This book delivers the message without hype, fear or hysteria. Read it, share it and take it with you.

If even one person dies, that is one too many. But it is not just one, not even 10 or 100 patients who are maimed and dying from health care mistakes. As Gibson and Singh reveal, the numbers are much much higher than that. And anyone of them could be you or your loved ones. Medical errors do not discriminate. Everyone is vulnerable even doctors themselves as patients.

Yes, to error is human but that really doesn't appear to be the problem here. A great deal of the problem appears to be that a percentage of health care providers make multiple errors because no one stops them. According to Grayson and Singh many nurses do not recommend their place of employment to their family and friends.

When people are not held accountable for their actions and the consequences of those actions everyone is endangered. Taking or being forced to take personal responsiblity for your actions and their consequences plays a large part in how many mistakes you make.

I would think it would be every irresponsible health care provider's nightmare to literally have to personally experience everything that they inflict on their patients.

Since health care providers are safe from the magic wishing wand, the next best thing is to guard against such mistakes and be public with the information. It is a matter of ethics. When you are ten and don't want to "rat out" a buddy it is rarely life or death. But health care providers are not ten anymore and it is their ethical obligation to put the safety their patients or potential patients first. Please read this book and tell others about it. All of our lives depend on it.

Dr Janda performed surgery on my should a couple of years ago. He's an incredibly talented and caring individual who's extremely passionate about helping others by preventing sports injuries. His book is easy to read, incredibly interesting and insightful into big issues in health care, and is 100% from the heart.

The story of Roger Hall (inventor of the Lego type breakaway baseball / softball base) is amazing for both his challenges and persistence. Roger lost a friend after a freak sliding injury resulted in death (due to complications). Roger spent the next eight years working to create a breakaway base that would reduce the chance of injury. When he finally had a working design, he found he could not manufacture and market the base himself. He teamed up with a manufactuer who then did not promote the product. He then broke ties with this manufacturer and tried to have the bases made overseas, but the original manufacturer blocked the tooling to create the bases. The book dives into the reasons why a major sports equipment maker would neglect to produce a safer baseball base, why the insurance industry doesn't get involved to reduce its medical expenses, and why professional and college teams do not demand safer equipment. The story is incredibly interesting!

I expected The Awakening of a Surgeon: A Family Guide to Preventing Sports Injuries and Death by Dr. David H. Janda to be technical, dry and boring. Well, was I surprised to find it engaging, very readable but also, very alarming.

While doing his residency in orthopedic surgery, Dr. Janda discovered that the majority of baseball and softball injuries came about by players sliding into bases. Most of these injuries were caused by stationary bases. He researched various breakaway bases, and found a set that he thought would prove to be much safer. He convinced the University of Michigan to replace six of their fields with stationary bases, and the other six with the new breakaway bases. He had a group of volunteers record the injuries due to sliding over a two year period. At the end, the results were amazing! Injuries were reduced by 96% and cost of treatment reduced 99% with the breakaway bases. This helped lead to his founding The Institute for Preventative Sports Medicine. It is one of the very few independent research groups that focus solely on prevention and is not funded by sporting good companies.

What I find alarming is Janda's conviction that nobody is much interested in preventing sports injuries--from sporting good companies to insurance companies to schools and communities. Surprisingly, most baseball and softball leagues (from professions to amateurs) refused to start using the breakaway bases despite Janda's research. Many times there's a conflict of interest. "The National Operating Committee for the Safety in Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE), [is] an organization funded by the sporting goods manufacturers." Of course they're not going to rule against equipment manufactured by their sponsors. Janda ponders that unsafe and defective automobiles are required to be recalled, but "Why aren't sporting goods manufactures subject to the same standards?"

Janda also provides lots of autobiographical information about his childhood, his schooling, his family, and how he became interested in medicine. He also spends much time discussing his efforts in the area of prevention. There are also a number of appendices at the end that are helpful to parents by covering such topics as Preventing Soccer Injuries, Playground Safety, Dehydration, Swimming and Water Safety, Preventing Baseball and Softball Injuries, and a Prevention Checklist--just to name a few.

As a physical education teacher of 31 years and someone who coached varsity sports for 24 of those years, I can't recommend The Awakening of a Surgeon enough.

What a GREAT read! I thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Janda's book. It was informative, thoughtfully written, and contained just the right amount of humor. Dr. Janda is a person of integrity who genuinely cares about his patients and has an interest in preventing people involved in sports from becoming his patients. This is a very good book for individuals who want to prevent injuries for their children.

This book is absolutely Magnificent! This book is great for anybody! I fully encourage you to read this book! All coaches everywhere should have it! So, now go out there and buy the heck out of it!!!

This is an essential book for parents and weekend sportsmen, an inspirational book for anyone who has ever believed in or fought for a cause, and a good story for just about everybody. It is also a good mystery: why haven't the recommendations of Dr. Janda and the Institute for Preventative Sports Medicine been widely implemented nationally? It seems like a no brainer: the recommendations don't seem to interfere with the enjoyment of the sports, they have been proven to dramatically reduce injuries, and they greatly reduce health care costs. The recommendations seem to make everybody happy. What's the problem? Read the book to find out. I may be prejudiced because Dr. Janda saved my arm, but I loved this book and so has everyone to whom I have given it. I even have something to tease Dr. J about next time I see him: initially entertaining the thought for even a brief second that he had a prayer of taking sliding out of softball.

I was so sick!!! and so sick of the meds!!! I suffered from what they termed "Complex Complicated Migraine" and the meds they prescribed only made things worse!! This book showed me why. Following the information here I have been completely migraine free for 16 years, and I lost over 60 pounds too!!

My late first wife had chronic daily headaches, with a full-blown migraine once or twice a week. Much of our marriage was spent with her sick in bed or at the emergency room. I got her to eliminate sugar. Almost immediately, her daily headaches disappeared completely, and she had only one migraine in six weeks.

I have been pre-diabetic for at least 10 years, with extremely high insulin levels. During this time, I suffered from chronic daily headache, with migraines increasing in frequency (6 migraines during last month). 24 hours after I eliminated all refined sugar from my diet and began eating a sugar-free snack every 3 hours - my migraines and headaches are gone. Thank you, Dr. Low. I finally have my life back. Dr. Low gives a clear, scientifically valid explanation of why refined sugar triggers migraines in individuals with high insulin levels: insulin causes adrenaline to be released, which causes prostaglandins to be released, which causes blood vessels in the head to swell, leading to the pounding headache called "migraine." Dr. Atkins, in his book The New Diet Revolution, reaches many of the same conclusions that Dr. Low has. I would recommend both books to people suffering from hypoglycemia, pre-diabetes, diabetes, or migraines.

Reviewer: gcruz@ecopetrol.com.co From: Bogotá, Colombia, S.A. It's an excelent book! It's the better book about migraine I have read. My wife completely prevented her migraines. Please, write me if you know about this.

This book was the reason I stopped having migraines which I had had all my life. I had 4 a month that lasted 3 days each. This book, explaining that migraine sufferers are hypoglycemic and must give up refined sugar, helped me give up the sugar that had always been bad for my system and led me to a life free of migraines and a way of eating that keeps my blood sugar level normal and me calm yet energetic.

I liked this book so much that we got one copy for every school in the district.We even have a dusty the smoke smeller dragon puppet show to add to the fire safety educational program here.About 20.000 children hear this life saving message each year.Kent Landsberg

I bought this is as a bifthday gift for my daughter. She was having a tea party. I really liked that this was a cute story with fun illustrations as well as imparted a little bit about fire safety, a much needed topic of discussion now that my children are getting old enough.

We really like this book and helped introduce fire safety to our 4.5 & 3 year old girls. It is a bit long for my 3 year old (she didn't sit thru the whole book, but was in the room and able to talk about it afterwards). Gets the conversation going about not hiding, a family meeting place outside of the home, and not going back for treasured items Highly recommended!!

I have been a professional fire fighter for more than twenty years. I thoroughly enjoy reading this book to my kids and to school children whenever I have the chance. The book covers important fire safety topics but folds the safety curriculum into a wonderful story. I have read this story aloud a hundred times and it has always been a wonderful experience. -- If I could, I would place a copy of this book into every young child's classroom.

This book provides important fire safety messages in a way that is not frightening to small chidren. And the storybook format makes it more likely that the messages will be reinforced by the parent or family member reading to their child. Several important fire safety rules are included; don't hide in the burning building, get low and crawl to safety, get out of a burning building quickly, meet at the agreed-upon meeting place, call 911, don't go back into the burning building, etc. A delightful and important book for young children.

Very funny, very well written book on kind of a dry subject!

Definitely worth reading, because as the quote goes:

Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.

Elizabeth Pisani's The Wisdom of Whores - Bureaucrats, Brothels and the Business of AIDS is a great book (along with a great website). Elizabeth Pisani is an epidemiologist with years of experience working on HIV/AIDS (or sex and drugs, as she puts, which sounds a lot, well, sexier) at a variety of agencies, including UNAIDS. The book is the story of her frustrations at the way the international community, national governments, NGOS and AIDS activists have dealt with the epidemics, as well as her hopes in some of the progress made.

I got interested in the book when I read an interview Pisani gave to the Guardian. The interview kinda billed the book as a controversial work where Pisani would be the mean lady who said people got AIDS because of their stupid behavior and not enough was being done because of political correctness. So, I was ready to get really pissed off with the book. That has not been the case at all.

Elizabeth Pisani is a scientist and that perspective is pervasive in the book. That's a good thing. I much prefer sober, "just the facts" perspective to touchy-feely stuff. Actually, one of the main frustrations that Pisani deals with in the book is the fact that AIDS had to be made about innocent wives and children for the international community to gear into action, as opposed to the real populations at risk in most parts of the world (except Africa, and she shows that even in Africa, the innocent wives and children trope does not work, as the data show): drug injectors and people who buy and sell sex.

To me, precisely because the book is data-driven, it was not controversial. My reaction was more, "well, if that's what the data show, so be it." But also, I think, the book was billed as controversial because Pisani calls things what they are: penises, receptive or insertive anal sex, etc. and she does spend a lot of time describing her study in red light districts of Jakarta and other (mostly Asian) place. She discusses the brothels, the warias (transgendered male prostitutes) and rent boys, the drug injectors. She does spend a lot of time describing that world that a lot of people would rather never hear of: the stigmatized, the marginalized, those we can safely ignore and those that don't get politicians votes come election time. Doing nice things for whores and junkies carries no political rewards. Doing things for innocent wives and children does. So, that's what has been done with HIV/AIDS and this has been a tragic mistake.

But these descriptions are unvaluable and fascinating because we never read about them. If you read about HIV/AIDS, you will read a lot about Africa (which does make sense since the high rates of infection in the general population are to be found in Eastern and Southern Africa). The problem is that the African patterns of infection have been assume to apply everywhere, especially Asia, where that is just not the case. So, the solutions and programs suggested are inadapted.

The programs needed in Eastern and Southern Africa are not those that are needed in Asia. In these parts of Africa, AIDS does affect the larger population but that's just not the case in Asia where most of the solutions described by Pisani involve programs to distribute condoms, lubricants and clean needles. It is also one of Pisani's other frustrations: we know how HIV is transmitted (biologically, that is), we know the types of behavior most likely to facilitate this transmission, so, we know what kind of prevention is needed. And yet, there is too much focus placed on treatment, rather than preventing people from getting infected in the first place.

Another thing that definitely comes through as Pisani tells the story of her peregrinations through Jakarta, trying to collect good data to design good public health policy, is that, whether she likes it or not, she comes across as someone who really does care about all the junkies, whores and warias she meets along the way. Her scorn is reserved for other people: UN bureaucrats who do not want to call things what they are because of who might get offended, religious conservatives who lie and work their hardest to prevent good prevention or good policy. But don't think the liberal crowd, the NGOs or activists are off the hook either.

Pisani has no patience for distraction, a major one being that AIDS is a gender / development / poverty issue. Pisani shows that this liberal idea, favored by a lot of NGOs and UN agencies and other donors is a distraction. First, it's a distraction because first, you may have the causality wrong (AIDS causes development / gender issues rather than the other way around), second, as shown in the book, even in Africa, that's not always the case, and third, because, again, that gets in the way of common sense prevention which should be the main focus, along with treatment for the already infected population. But again, focusing on women and children makes the AIDS issue more palatable to donors than those filthy whores, junkies and fags, so, Pisani and her colleagues at the AIDS Mafia, as she calls them, played that game too. After all, once you have the money, you can still get stuff done.

And, of course, I particularly enjoyed the chapter blasting the Bush administration and its faith-based initiatives and PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief). Although she does credit the Bush administration for putting money on the table, Pisani makes mince meat of the Bush and his religious nuts crowd for their hypocrisy and nonsensical attitude. She deals swiftly with Virginity Pledges and the creepy Virginity Balls and the whole family values crowd.

Finally, Pisani has also no patience for the workings of the international community and civil society, the demands that donors put on local activists, the circuits of money distribution which end up sometimes producing ridiculous policies: like having an AIDS program in East Timor when there is no AIDS problems in East Timor (although there are other problems that would need funding but don't get it).

Again, let me state: when was the last time you read an epidemiology book that was a great read, straight to the point, data-based, sometimes fun, but always informative.

I am seldom found without at least one book close at hand, and end up trying to give books away in order to keep my shelves from collapsing. But I'm not ready to give this one away, I intend to read it again in a while. What I might do, however, is to order a few extra copies and have them delivered to people I know. Why just this one? Because it is one of those books that you come across once in a while, that works on more than one level. It is a book that keeps me turning the pages, with the energy that comes from a genuinely engaging story. Then there is the author's solid knowledge of the topic, and her ability to present it in an accessible way. This is a writer who knows her tools: she knows how to structure a presentation and how to juggle angles to keep it interesting, all in a style that gets the message across clearly and simply, with a strong personality and sense of humor. But the main reason why I want to gently blackmail my friends into reading it by buying it for them, is the information it contains and the message that it spells out. It is an important book. It untangles the facts about HIV and HIV prevention from the myths, which is good. It also shows clearly how ideological/religious/political/economical agendas often play a bigger role than science, which is depressing ... but essential to know. Getting the facts straight, about the infection and about the HIV/AIDS industry, is vital. And in my mind, Elizabeth Pisani is exactly who you should turn to for those facts

I read a lot, on a wide variety of topics. If it has words on it, I'll try to read it, even if I _don't_ know the language, I'll try to decipher it. But some books are much more rewarding than others, and this is one of the most rewarding books I've ever read.

The other reviews cover the topic well: she's a great writer, a person who really cares about people and not just people who are like her, a scientist who can understand numbers and make them make sense to others. She has a wide-reaching understanding of how AIDS is transmitted, and how that transmission is partly biologically determined and partly culturally determined. And she can convey that complex and detailed understanding in a simple way. Repeatedly, so if you miss it the first time, you get a lot of additional chances. And with hilariously shocking illustrative stories, so there's no remote chance of boredom ever setting in.

I know there's no way she's going to slog through bureaucracy for a second cause -- that would be unfair to ask of anyone. But I hope global warming/climate change/peak oil/etc. gets someone half as brilliant as Pisani. Hopefully several someones.

For sheer accuracy of synopsis, maybe "The Wisdom of Whores"'s subtitle ought to be "Practical Epidemiology, What We Know About Solving the AIDS Crisis, and How the Politics of International Aid Complicate Matters." Though Pisani probably wants to sell a copy or two.

This is one of the few books I've read that actually lives up to its jacket blurbs. One author describes it as not only a work of science, but also a page-turner. And indeed it is. Pisani holds a Ph.D. in epidemiology, and you can tell from reading The Wisdom of Whores that she has the chops to do serious data analysis. It's data analysis in the service of a practical end, namely figuring out the most efficient ways to stop AIDS. Pisani has been on the ground interviewing prostitutes and junkies for a couple decades now, so she's learned a bit about how the disease actually spreads.

Part of the answer is just common sense: HIV spreads when an infected person's blood comes in contact with an uninfected person's blood. When heroin users share needles, the risk of HIV's spreading rises. Unprotected sex is riskier than protected sex. Unlubricated sex is riskier than lubricated sex, because the risk of causing tears is higher. Uncircumcised men are at higher risk than circumcised men. Prostitutes and their johns are at higher risk than non-prostitutes, because they have more partners.

This much should be common sense; the fact that this common sense often doesn't translate into policy is where the "bureaucrats" in the subtitle come in. The Bush administration and many other nations have changed the conversation: we don't talk about the actual mechanics of sex and drug use, in part because prostitutes and drug users are considered wicked, and it helps no politicians to aid the wicked. From a public-health perspective, most of our effort ought to be focused on the populations that are most at risk: addicts, gay people, and prostitutes. But that doesn't sell. What sells is to talk about "neutral" topics: pretend that consumers of prostitution come home to their innocent wives and unwittingly give them the disease, which then spreads to their kids. When you frame the issue as "AIDS hits everyone," surely you can get votes. Likewise with international aid: if you tell your voters that "poverty and gender disparities" cause AIDS, you can sidestep the icky topics of sex and heroin injection.

Once the money flows, there's a great risk of corruption and waste. Fortunately, Pisani tells us, there are a lot of people on the receiving end of that money who are really trying to do right by the world's taxpayers. And there are organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that seem to disburse funds more efficiently and measure programs' effectiveness better than a lot of governments do. And the governments are learning from their mistakes, in no small part because the epidemiologists on the ground are pushing back on them. Pisani never takes the step that a lot of libertarian fanatics do, namely jumping from the observation that foreign aid can be wasteful to the conclusion that all foreign aid should end. That's because Pisani isn't a libertarian fanatic. She's a hardworking, nose-in-the-details scientist who, like a good disciple of Herb Simon, tries to assume as little as she can before she starts gathering data.

Indeed, the big takeaway from The Wisdom of Whores is that reality is complicated, and that the only way to actually help solve the AIDS epidemic is to dig into the details and be honest about how the disease actually spreads. Don't let ideology, for instance, blind you to the virtues of free condom distribution. Don't let ideology stop needle-exchange programs. At the same time, don't let ideology convince you that needle-exchange programs always work: look at the data first. This book is what happens when a truly scientific worldview merges with the passion of an activist.

Pincus weave a fascinating, true tale of what makes killers tick in this 2001 book. Pincus himself interviewed hundreds of killers during his career as a neurologist. He combines his knowledge of the human body and psyche to draw his own conclusion about why people kill. Whether or not you buy into his theory, Pincus offers a solid case in a well-written, slim book that is an excellent, quick reference for fiction crime writers.
Angela Wilson
Author

The point of this fairly slim volume is to convince the reader that many (perhaps the vast majority) of our most dangerous criminals have neurologic impairments, and that brain dysfunction, along with child abuse and paranoid thinking, is at the heart of much violent behavior. This is not an entirely new message, but it is one Pincus approaches with a great deal of authority -- he's a professor of Neurology at Georgetown, was formerly at Yale and has studied dozens of death row prisoners along with his colleague Dorothy Ortnow Lewis.

Dr. Pincus clearly decided not to risk alienating readers with scientific terminology or complex explanations of brain physiology. The book follows the familiar "casebook" true crime format used by various ex-FBI profilers, coroners, and cops. Most chapters focus on a particular criminal Pincus had dealings with (many of them in his role as an expert witness) and what that criminal's life story shows about the origins of homicidal violence.

The coversational writing style (and oddly cheery alliterative chapter titles) stand in contrast to the horrific nature of much of the material. The crime scene details will be familiar to any reasonably hardened reader in the literature. What really stood out for me was the descriptions of childhood abuse endured by many of the perpetrators Pincus has studied. As a former inner-city teacher, I taught kids from pretty screwed up homes, and had some friends from abusive families while growing up. But the stories Pincus recounts (corroborated by siblings and others) remind us that there is almost no downward limit to the depths of human depravity.

What's rather odd about all the better works in the study of violence and homicide is the sense that this field is under-funded, under-appreciated and obscure. Pincus and other pioneers in the field have answered some important questions, but their work raises hundreds more. If, say one percent of the money our government has spent trying to prove that marijuana is dangerous were instead spent on studying the roots of violence, perhaps we'd have more answers.

I just finished "Base Instincts: What Makes Killers Kill" and I am adamant that our society shows so much more monetary respect for crime and punishment than early childhood education. We have had recent headlines about men, here in Austin, spiking babies and toddlers like footballs after a touchdown, in anger, killing or maiming them and ending up in prison for life. While this outrage is profoundly disturbing, professionals dither at whether or not early childcare intervention is ethical, cost effective or necessary in our society. Paying attention to parenting of the young child uplifts not just that family, but our societies future well being. Child abuse is the single most important determinant of future violence, and it is endemic and epidemic in our frontier based national mind set. We need to launch an all out campaign to raise the national consciousness about the importance of the nurturance of women, and the children that they in turn nurture, in the first three years of life, and beyond.

This is a well written, well researched book that should be required reading for all professionals involved with adults and children who exhibit anti-social behaviour. It will be invaluable to educators, psychologists, attorneys, police officers,psychiatrists and more. Why wouldn't anyone who can do so not want to be aware of new findings that could lead to identifying, intercepting and possibly changing the course of a future serial killing or classroom tragedy? Take the time to read the book. It's worth it.