Résultats de recherche de titre
Articles 3141 à 3160 sur 3847
The Iceberg: A Memoir
Par Marion Coutts. 2014
In 2008 the art critic Tom Lubbock was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The tumor was located in the area…
controlling speech and language, and would eventually rob him of the ability to speak. He died early in 2011. Marion Coutts was his wife. In short bursts of beautiful, textured prose, Coutts describes the 18 months leading up to her partner's death. This book is an account of a family unit, man, woman, young child, under assault, and how the three of them fought to keep it intact. Written with extraordinary narrative force and power, The Iceberg is almost shocking in its rawness. It charts the deterioration of Tom's speech even as it records the developing language of his child. Fury, selfishness, grief, indignity, and impotence are all examined and brought to light. Yet out of this comes a rare story about belonging, an "adventure of being and dying." This book is a celebration of each other, friends, family, art, work, love, and language.So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells you what…
you need to know—before or after you read the original book. Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and gives you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader. This short summary and analysis of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot includes: Historical contextPart-by-part summaryContext and analysisDetailed timeline of key eventsCast of charactersImportant quotesFascinating triviaSupporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work About The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot: For decades, scientists have been using “HeLa” cells in biological research, from the polio vaccine and the nature of cancer to studying how human cells behave in outer space. This famous cell line began as a sample of cells taken from a poor African American mother of five named Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta died of cervical cancer in 1951 without before ever knowing that medical professionals from Johns Hopkins had taken these cells without her consent. When her family finds out that Henrietta’s cells are being bought and sold in labs around the world, they unwittingly find themselves at the intersection of a debate on science, race, and medical ethics. In her New York Times #1 bestseller, science journalist Rebecca Skloot tells the story of the woman behind the cells and her family’s struggle with the medical institutions that failed to acknowledge the human cost of scientific advancement. The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.'I thought my family was complicated until I read Chrysta Bilton's wonderful memoir about the unique collection of irresistible characters…
in her life. Bilton has a big heart, gentle wisdom, keen eye and lovely wit. She's a gifted writer with an astonishing story to tell.' -David Sheff, author of Beautiful Boy'By turns hilarious, wrenching, and achingly tender... Bilton writes beautifully, with sharp insight and a light touch, about her harrowing, astonishing journey into understanding her parents, her (very) extended family, and herself.' - Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author of On Animals and Rin Tin TinFor most of her life, Chrysta Bilton was one member of a small, if dysfunctional, family of four. There was her sister, Kaitlyn, her hedonistic, glamorous, gay mum Debra, and Jeffrey, who Debra hand-picked, in an LA hairdressers, to be the father of her children. During Chrysta's unstable childhood, Debra struggled to keep the family afloat and Jeffrey wandered in and out of their lives.Then, in her twenties, Chrysta discovered that her father had secretly donated his sperm over 500 times - and that she had at least 35 other siblings.A Normal Family is a captivating coming-of-age memoir about Chrysta's reckoning with the secrets both parents had carefully kept from her. Heartfelt, warm and funny, it's a story of embracing the family we have, in all the forms we find it.The Couch, the Clinic, and the Scanner: Stories from Three Revolutionary Eras of the Mind
Par David Hellerstein. 2023
Over the past several decades, psychiatry has undergone radical changes. After its midcentury heyday, psychoanalysis gave way to a worldview…
guided by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, which precisely defined mental disorders and their treatments; more recently, this too has been displaced by a model inspired by neuroscience. Each of these three dominant models overturned the previous era’s assumptions, methods, treatment options, and goals. Each has its own definitions of health and disease, its own concepts of the mind. And each has offered clinicians and patients new possibilities as well as pitfalls.The Couch, the Clinic, and the Scanner is an insightful first-person account of psychiatry’s evolution. David Hellerstein—a psychiatrist who has practiced in New York City since the early 1980s, working with patients, doing research, and helping run clinics and hospitals—provides a window into how the profession has transformed. In vivid stories and essays, he explores the lived experience of psychiatric work and the daunting challenges of healing the mind amid ever-changing theoretical models. Recounting his intellectual, clinical, and personal adventures, Hellerstein finds unexpected poetry in hallways and waiting rooms; encounters with patients who are by turns baffling, frustrating, and inspiring; and the advances of science. Drawing on narrative-medicine approaches, The Couch, the Clinic, and the Scanner offers a perceptive and eloquent portrayal of the practice of psychiatry as it has struggled to define and redefine itself.The Unexpected Einstein: The Real Man Behind The Icon
Par Denis Brian. 2005
A fascinating book that exposes the many myths about the great scientist. Acclaimed biographer Denis Brian takes on the many…
myths surrounding the eccentric genius--that he was a woman hater and plagiarist who stole other scientists' ideas, that he didn't speak until he was four or five--many of which were circulated and published while he was still alive. Featuring never-before published interviews and photos, this entertaining and informative book reveals many unexpected facets of Einstein's life--such as his culinary exploits--as it captures the man behind the myths.All in My Head: A Memoir of Life, Love and Patient Power (Language Acts and Worldmaking #6)
Par Jessica Morris. 2022
All In My Head is a memoir by a woman who in her early fifties received a life-shattering diagnosis. It…
is about her determined search for effective treatment, the birth of a campaign to get proper data and funding for research into glioblastoma (GBM), and finally her coming to terms with the knowledge that she has reached the end of the road. Jessica Morris takes the reader on a whirlwind journey. How does an ordinary person who last studied biology aged sixteen negotiate with world-renowned doctors and surgeons about cutting-edge treatments she must decide between? How do you remain positive when the median statistics suggest you have only fourteen months to live? How instead do you cast those fears aside and bounce back? All In My Head is much more than a book about GBM. It takes the reader into the life of a woman who when confronted by devastating news chooses to be strong. It is about fighting adversity with hope and finding reasons to be positive in the darkest moments.Bill McKibben—award-winning author, activist, educator—is fiercely curious. “I’m curious about what went so suddenly sour with American patriotism, American faith,…
and American prosperity.”Like so many of us, McKibben grew up believing—knowing—that the United States was the greatest country on earth. As a teenager, he cheerfully led American Revolution tours in Lexington, Massachusetts. He sang “Kumbaya” at church. And with the remarkable rise of suburbia, he assumed that all Americans would share in the wealth.But fifty years later, he finds himself in an increasingly doubtful nation strained by bleak racial and economic inequality, on a planet whose future is in peril.And he is curious: What the hell happened?In this revelatory cri de coeur, McKibben digs deep into our history (and his own well-meaning but not all-seeing past) and into the latest scholarship on race and inequality in America, on the rise of the religious right, and on our environmental crisis to explain how we got to this point. He finds that he is not without hope. And he wonders if any of that trinity of his youth—The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon—could, or should, be reclaimed in the fight for a fairer future.Still Life with Bones: 'I defy you not to be moved' - Sue Black
Par Dr Alexa Hagerty. 2023
An anthropologist working with forensic teams and victims' families to investigate crimes against humanity in Latin America explores what science…
can tell us about the lives of the dead in this haunting account of grief, the power of ritual, and a quest for justice."Exhumation can divide brothers and restore fathers, open old wounds and open the possibility of regeneration-of building something new with the pile of broken mirrors that is loss and mourning."Over the course of Guatemala's thirty-year armed conflict -the longest ever in Central America-over 200,000 people were killed. During Argentina's military dictatorship in the seventies, over 30,000 people were disappeared. Today, forensic anthropologists in each country are gathering evidence to prove atrocities and seek justice. But these teams do more than just study skeletons-they work to repair families and countries torn apart by violence.In Still Life with Bones, anthropologist Alexa Hagerty learns to see the dead body with a forensic eye. She examines bones for evidence of torture and fatal wounds-hands bound by rope, cuts from machetes-but also for signs of a life lived: to articulate how life shapes us down to the bone. A weaver is recognized from the tiny bones of the toes, molded by years of kneeling before a loom; a girl is identified alongside her pet dog. In the tenderness of understanding these bones, Hagerty discovers how exhumation serves as a ritual in the naming and placement of the dead, and connects ancestors with future generations. She shows us how this work can bring meaning to families dealing with unimaginable loss, and how its symbolic force can also extend to entire societies in the aftermath of state terror and genocide. Encountering the dead has the power to transform us, making us consider each other, our lives, and the world differently.Weaving together powerful stories about investigative breakthroughs, grieving families, histories of violence, and her own forensic coming of age, Hagerty crafts a moving portrait of the living and the dead."Touching, but achingly honest-a most amazing account of training as a forensic anthropologist. When Hagerty talks about "lives being violently made into bones," I defy you not to be moved. The text is unflinching, but then the crimes and the victims deserve nothing less. I guarantee this will make you think long and hard about cruelty and human rights and the dedication and humanity of the forensic scientist." - PROFESSOR DAME SUE BLACK(P) 2023 Headline Publishing Group LtdThe People's Hospital: The Real Cost of Life in an Uncaring Health System
Par Ricardo Nuila. 2023
How do medical staff offer care and hope to patients and families when faced with the mayhem and lottery of…
a broken healthcare system?'A fascinating and beautifully written memoir that reminds us what we have with our NHS - and what we stand to lose' Christie Watson'A tour de force... lyrical and riveting prose' Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone'Nuila details the horrific reality of the American healthcare system from the front lines, and shows us why it doesn't have to be like that' Sally Hayden, author of My Fourth Time, We DrownedThe People's Hospital is the story of how Ben Taub Hospital strives to provide healthcare to Houston's most vulnerable population, against the background of the chaos of American healthcare. By telling the frequently heartbreaking stories of patients who have had to battle their desperate financial circumstances as well as life-threatening illness - from Rogelio, a twenty-something, undocumented immigrant from Mexico recently diagnosed with kidney disease, to Roxana, a Salvadoran woman who appears in ER after a life-saving surgery resulted in her developing potentially fatal complications - and many more. These are extraordinary stories in which doctors are tied up with complex moral questions about money versus healthcare, and patients manipulate their health conditions in dangerous ways in order to be eligible for life-saving treatment that they cannot afford.The Birds of Pandemonium: Life Among The Exotic And The Endangered
Par Michele Raffin. 2014
“Michele Raffin has made an important contribution to saving endangered birds, and her book is a fascinating and rarely seen…
glimpse behind the scenes. The joy she gets from her close relationships with these amazing animals and her outsized commitment to them comes through loud and clear in this engaging and joyful book.” —Dominick Dorsa, Curator of Birds, San Francisco ZooEach morning at first light, Michele Raffin awakens to the bewitching music that heralds another day at Pandemonium Aviaries—a symphony that swells from the most vocal of over 350 avian throats representing over 40 species. “It knocks me out, every day,” she admits. Pandemonium Aviaries is a conservation organization dedicated to saving and breeding birds at the edge of extinction, including some of the largest populations of rare species in the world. And their behavior is even more fascinating than their glorious plumage or their songs. They fall in love, they mourn, they rejoice, they sacrifice, they have a sense of humor, they feel jealous, they invent, plot, cope, and sometimes they murder each other. As Raffin says, “They teach us volumes about the interrelationships of humans and animals.”Their stories make up the heart of this book. There’s Sweetie, a tiny quail with an outsize personality; the inspiring Oscar, a Lady Gouldian finch who can’t fly but finds a way to reach the highest perches of his aviary to roost. The ecstatic reunion of a disabled Victoria crowned pigeon, Wing, and her brother, Coffee, is as wondrous as the silent kinship that develops between Amadeus, a one-legged turaco, and an autistic young visitor. Ultimately, The Birds of Pandemonium is about one woman’s crusade to save precious lives, bird by bird, and offers insights into how following a passion can transform not only oneself but also the world.“Delightful . . . full of wonderful accounts of bird behavior, demonstrating caring, learning, sociability, adaptability, and a will to live. Its appeal is ageless, her descriptions riveting, and her devotion to the birds remarkable.” —Joanna Burger, author of The Parrot Who Owns Me: The Story of a Relationship“A remarkable book. Reading about the birds of Pandemonium will make you laugh and cry; it will make you see more clearly the need to take care of our planet; and it will confirm that one person with a passion can make a difference.” —Jeff Corwin, nature conservationist and host, Animal Planet“The Birds of Pandemonium touched me deeply . . . This book is about reconnecting with the nature of birds, and the nature of ourselves.” —Jon Young, author of What the Robin KnowsThe Soul of a Doctor: Harvard Medical Students Face Life and Death
Par Jerome E. Groopman, Gordon Harper, Sachin H. Jain, Susan Pories. 2006
True stories of transitioning from medical school classrooms to the realities of the hospital: “Moving, eloquent, and often unforgettable” (Atul…
Gawande, MD). After years of practice, doctors can sometimes seem aloof, uncaring, and hurried. What goes on in their minds? Were they always like that, or has their work changed them? And how do some physicians manage to retain their warmth and humanity over the course of a long career? This “thoughtful and illuminating” book takes us into the day-to-day lives of third-year medical students at an Ivy League school—just starting out in their profession and dealing with patients face-to-face for the first time (Publishers Weekly). In their own words, more than forty of them reveal what it’s really like to enter this field, having their principles of scientific rigor and idealism tested as they cope with real people and real crises in real time. This doctor’s-eye view of the dramas—and occasional comedies—of the world of health care offers fascinating insights about clinical medicine and a behind-the-scenes look at a job that can range from repetitive routines to life-and-death decisions at any given moment. These stories “offer a unique vantage on illness, life, and struggle—capturing in vivid glimpses that crucial moment in a doctor’s life when one transitions from outsider to insider” (Atul Gawande, MD, New York Times–bestselling author of Being Mortal). “Thoughtful and illuminating.” —Publishers WeeklyThe Bathysphere Book: Effects of the Luminous Ocean Depths
Par Brad Fox. 2023
"Hypnotic . . . Beautifully written and beautifully made." —W. M. Akers, The New York Times Book Review"Mesmerizing . .…
. Original and often profound, [The Bathysphere Book] is a moving testament to the wonders of exploration."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "Imbued with the adventurous spirit of science and exploration . . . [The Bathysphere Book is] an enchanting cabinet of curiosities." —Kirkus Reviews A wide ranging, philosophical, and sensual account of early deep sea exploration and its afterlives, The Bathysphere Book begins with the first ever voyage to the deep ocean in 1930 and expands to explore the adventures and entanglements of its all-too-human participants at a time when the world still felt entirely new.In the summer of 1930, aboard a ship floating near the Atlantic island of Nonsuch, marine biologist Gloria Hollister sat on a crate, writing furiously in a notebook with a telephone receiver pressed to her ear. The phone line was attached to a steel cable that plunged 3,000 feet into the sea. There, suspended by the cable, dangled a four-and-a-half-foot steel ball called the bathysphere. Crumpled inside, gazing through three-inch quartz windows at the undersea world, was Hollister&’s colleague William Beebe. He called up to her, describing previously unseen creatures, explosions of bioluminescence, and strange effects of light and color.From this momentous first encounter with the unknown depths, The Bathysphere Book widens its scope to explore a transforming and deeply paradoxical America, as the first great skyscrapers rose above New York City and the Great Plains baked to dust. In prose that is magical, atmospheric, and entirely engrossing, Brad Fox dramatizes new visions of our planetary home, delighting in tales of the colorful characters who surrounded, supported, and participated in the dives—from groundbreaking scientists and gallivanting adventurers to eugenicist billionaires.The Bathysphere Book is a hypnotic assemblage of brief chapters along with over fifty full-color images, records from the original bathysphere logbooks, and the moving story of surreptitious romance between Beebe and Hollister that anchors their exploration. Brad Fox blurs the line between poetry and research, unearthing and rendering a visionary meeting with the unknown.Pre-order UNDOCTORED: The Story of a Medic Who Ran Out of PatientsThis is Going to Hurt was the publishing phenomenon…
of the century, read by many millions, loved by at least fifty of them, and adapted into a major TV series. But it was only part of the story. By turns hilarious, heartbreaking and humbling, Undoctored is about what happens when a doctor hangs up his scrubs, but medicine refuses to let go of him.It's about an extraordinary medical school education. It's about opening old wounds and examining the present-day scars.It's about hospital admissions and personal ones. It's about blowing up your life and stitching it back together.It's about being a doctor and being a patient.It's about 300 pages long. Undoctored is Adam Kay's funniest and most moving book yet - an astonishing portrait of a life in and out of medicine, from one of Britain's finest storytellers.Just Show Up
Par Jill Lynn Buteyn, Kara Tippetts. 2015
Kara Tippetts's story was not a story of disease, although she lost her battle with terminal cancer. It was not…
a story of saying goodbye, although she was intentional in her time with her husband and four children. Kara's story was one of seeing God in the hard and in the good. It was one of finding grace in the everyday. And it was one of knowing "God with us" through fierce and beautiful friendship. In Just Show Up, Kara and her close friend, Jill Lynn Buteyn, write about what friendship looks like in the midst of changing life seasons, loads of laundry, and even cancer. Whether you are eager to be present to someone going through a difficult time or simply want inspiration for pursuing friends in a new way, this eloquent and practical book explores the gift of silence, the art of receiving, and what it means to just show up.Enchanted by Daphne: The Life of an Evolutionary Naturalist
Par Peter R. Grant. 2023
The extraordinary life story of the celebrated naturalist who transformed our understanding of evolutionEnchanted by Daphne is legendary ecologist Peter…
Grant’s personal account of his remarkable life and career. In this revelatory book, Grant takes readers from his childhood in World War II–era Britain to his ongoing research today in the Galápagos archipelago, vividly describing what it's like to do fieldwork in one of the most magnificent yet inhospitable places on Earth. This is also the story of two brilliant and courageous biologists raising a family together while balancing the demands of professional lives that would take them to the far corners of the globe.In 1973, Grant and his wife, Rosemary, embarked on a journey that would fundamentally change how we think about evolution. Over the next four decades, they visited the Galápagos every year to observe Darwin’s famous finches on the remote, uninhabited island of Daphne Major. Documenting how eighteen species have diversified from a single ancestral species, they demonstrated that we could actually see and measure evolution in a natural setting. Grant recounts the blind alleys and breathtaking triumphs of this historic research as he and Rosemary followed in Darwin’s footsteps—and ushered in a new era in ecology.A wonderfully absorbing portrait of a life in science, Enchanted by Daphne is an unforgettable chronicle of the travels and discoveries of one of the world’s most influential naturalists.Enchanted by Daphne: The Life of an Evolutionary Naturalist
Par Peter R. Grant. 2023
The extraordinary life story of the celebrated naturalist who transformed our understanding of evolutionEnchanted by Daphne is legendary ecologist Peter…
Grant’s personal account of his remarkable life and career. In this revelatory book, Grant takes readers from his childhood in World War II–era Britain to his ongoing research today in the Galápagos archipelago, vividly describing what it's like to do fieldwork in one of the most magnificent yet inhospitable places on Earth. This is also the story of two brilliant and courageous biologists raising a family together while balancing the demands of professional lives that would take them to the far corners of the globe.In 1973, Grant and his wife, Rosemary, embarked on a journey that would fundamentally change how we think about evolution. Over the next four decades, they visited the Galápagos every year to observe Darwin’s famous finches on the remote, uninhabited island of Daphne Major. Documenting how eighteen species have diversified from a single ancestral species, they demonstrated that we could actually see and measure evolution in a natural setting. Grant recounts the blind alleys and breathtaking triumphs of this historic research as he and Rosemary followed in Darwin’s footsteps—and ushered in a new era in ecology.A wonderfully absorbing portrait of a life in science, Enchanted by Daphne is an unforgettable chronicle of the travels and discoveries of one of the world’s most influential naturalists.She Persisted: Florence Nightingale (She Persisted)
Par Shelli R. Johannes, Chelsea Clinton. 2023
Inspired by the #1 New York Times bestseller She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger, a chapter book series…
about women who spoke up and rose up against the odds--including Florence Nightingale!When Florence Nightingale decided as a teenager that she wanted to become a nurse, her parents tried to talk her out of it, claiming that it wasn't a suitable profession for a woman. But she persisted in her career and went on to save countless lives of patients, especially of soldiers. Known as "The Lady with the Lamp," she is widely considered to be the founder of modern nursing.In this chapter book biography by critically acclaimed author Shelli R. Johannes, readers learn about the amazing life of Florence Nightingale--and how she persisted. Complete with an introduction from Chelsea Clinton, black-and-white illustrations throughout, and a list of ways that readers can follow in Florence Nightingale's footsteps and make a difference! A perfect choice for kids who love learning and teachers who want to bring inspiring women into their curriculum.And don&’t miss out on the rest of the books in the She Persisted series, featuring so many more women who persisted, including Sally Ride, Rosalind Franklin, Temple Grandin, and more!Struck by Genius: How a Brain Injury Made Me a Mathematical Marvel
Par Jason Padgett, Maureen Seaberg. 2014
Jason Padgett was an ordinary, not terribly bright, 41-year-old working in his father's furniture shop when he was the victim…
of a brutal mugging outside a karaoke bar in 2002.That same night his stepfather died of cancer, and two weeks later his only brother went missing (his body was discovered three year later). The combined traumas of these three events proved, unsurprisingly, too much for Jason and he withdrew from life completely, living as a hermit for four years suffering with agoraphobia and the onset of OCD. During this time he developed a fascination with the principles of the physical universe, devouring mathematics and physics journals. He also started to see intricate webs of shapes in his head and discovered that he could draw these by hand.A chance encounter in a mall pointed him in the direction of college. There, his extraordinary mind was recognised, and he was set on a path in which his drawings were identified as mathematical fractals and neuroscientists were able to diagnose a unique individual.Jason is a miraculous everyman with an inspiring 'what if' story that pushes beyond the boundaries of what scientists thought possible.Before the Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe and What Lies Beyond
Par Laura Mersini-Houghton. 2021
A revolutionary new account of our universe’s creation—and a breathtaking exploration of the landscape from which we sprang—from one of…
the world’s most celebrated cosmologistsWhat came before the Big Bang, and what exists outside of the universe it created? Until recently, scientists could only guess at what lay past the edge of space-time. However, as pioneering theoretical physicist Laura Mersini-Houghton explains, new scientific tools are now giving us the ability to peer beyond the limits of our universe and to test our theories about what is there. And what we are finding is upending everything we thought we knew about the cosmos and our place in it.Mersini-Houghton is no stranger to boundaries—or to pushing through them. As a child growing up in Communist Albania, she discovered a universe beyond her walled-off world through the study of math and science, and through music. As a female cosmologist in a male-dominated field, she transcended the limits that society and her profession tried to place on her. And as a trailblazing researcher, she helped to revolutionize the study of our universe by revealing that, far from living in a cosmic Albania, with a world that ends at its borders, we are part of a larger family of universes—a multiverse—that holds wonders we are only beginning to unlock. Mersini-Houghton’s groundbreaking research suggests that we sit in a quantum landscape whose peaks and valleys hide a multitude of other universes, and even hold the secret to the origins of existence itself. Recent evidence has revealed the signatures of such sibling universes in our own night sky, confirming Mersini-Houghton’s theoretical work and offering humbling evidence that our universe is just one member of an unending cosmic family.The incredible scientific saga of one woman’s mind-expanding journey through the multiverse, Before the Big Bang will reshape our understanding of humanity’s place in the unfathomable vastness of the cosmos.My Inventions and Other Writings
Par Nikola Tesla. 2011
The fascinating autobiography of the legendary inventor behind the radio, wireless energy, robotics, and much more. Famous for his pioneering…
contributions to the electronic age, his lifelong feud with Thomas Edison, and his erratic behavior, Nikola Tesla was one of the most brilliant and daring inventors and visionaries of his time. My Inventions is Tesla's autobiography, with meditations on his major discoveries and innovations, including the rotating magnetic field, the magnifying transmitter, and the Tesla coil. This volume also includes three articles by Tesla, as well as an enlightening introduction that discredits many of the myths surrounding the thinker's eccentric life. This rare window into the industrial age's most tragic genius will fascinate historians, scientists, aspiring inventors, and curious fans alike. .