I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
This was an intriguing mystery, starting with the mysI received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
This was an intriguing mystery, starting with the mysterious deaths of teenaged girls. They die suddenly, and the autopsy brings up more questions than it answers. These girls have had too many medical procedures that appear professionally performed – but unnecessary. Then, another unrelated case, investigated by the same detectives is brought up. There are several people who appear in both investigations. There are personal things brought up about all of the detectives, especially the protagonist of the book. There are believable GLBT characters, who have jobs and outside interests. They are real people!
Nothing is as it first appears in this book. There are some twists and turns that become obvious later, or some of them are unresolved at the end. This book is second in a series, and I’m sure some of the unresolved issues will be explored in depth in a future book in the series. Although I have not read the first book in the series, I had no problem understanding what was happening. ...more
I read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher.
Why do we need vaccines against horrible, deadly, debilI read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher.
Why do we need vaccines against horrible, deadly, debilitating, or disabling diseases? That hardly needs to be answered in more than a couple of words. Humans have worked for thousands of years to reduce spread of these diseases, but it was not until the advent of vaccines roughly 150 years ago that significant reductions were possible – and even some diseases have been eradicated – or made extinct.
The forward to the book succinctly describes what the book will cover, and who it is written for – children 9-12. Thus, the book is simply written, words in bold italics that a reader will need to understand to comprehend the book, and a glossary of scientific or medical terms used is included. Illustrations, showing diverse people as scientists, healthcare workers, patients, or community is lovely, and illustrations themselves make the concept pop more graphically. Professionals in healthcare, science – including the social sciences briefly discuss their work, how or why they got into it, and advice to young people including it in their career exploration.
The book describes what sorts of “germs” cause disease, something about them, descriptions in the text and in the glossary – as well as how to avoid them, and what the immune system is or how to fight them. Herd immunity and community immunity are also discussed, and why it is important for every eligible person to be part of the immune community to help those who are unable to be vaccinated. Healthcare inequities – both in the US and Canada among various groups of people, and developing and developed nations is discussed. Many historical figures are discussed, and how things were done in their time, and what they did that caused a progression in how science, medicine, or society runs....more
I read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
To put a succinct summI read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
To put a succinct summary on it, in typical academic parlance, "More research is needed". Indeed, there was a lot to think about in this book, and it brought up other notions, hunches, or hypothesis. Such as, as the dopamine reward system is dampened among people with Alzheimer's, and is increased by curiosity and filling the information gap, perhaps part of dementia is boredom? Or, the amygdala being documented as larger in conservatives, who don't move out of their comfort zone (fear, perhaps), their anxiety exceeds their curiosity.
As someone who has been interested in learning more about how memories are formed, forgotten, modified – or how memories can be reframed because of some traumatic memories and learning what happens from neuroscientists who studied or treated me after a TBI 35 years ago, I learned a lot of updated information in this book. Indeed, all of neuroscience is advancing at a remarkable speed over the past few decades. Memory is neither long-term nor short-term, but rather episodic (tells a story in context) or semantic (gives information). Much of memory is recreated based on what we know about categories of things, perhaps with something in it which was surprising – unlike what we expect of things belonging to a category....more
I read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher.
This book was both informative and amusing. The focus wI read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher.
This book was both informative and amusing. The focus was on body parts and structures we seldom think of. Especially the artwork, both on the cover and between chapters of the book were illustrative, artistic, and often amusing. Throughout the book, the origins of anatomical words is spelled out in detail, with Greek, Latin, Proto-Indo-European, and a few others. The author makes comments about the words and what they mean, in the most amusing ways. This is certainly anything but a dry textbook of anatomy!
Reading this book would require some prior familiarity with anatomy and anatomical terms, but many of them are covered in high school biology. On page 19, it says, "Even if you've never seen a real human skeleton", then proceeds to describe how bone is constructed. One can have seen this with a non-human skeleton, such as a skeleton or individual bones of any mammal. A cook, hunter, or anyone who has dissected animals in a biology class can see what is required here.
If you want to know the proper names for parts of the human body to use as a more precise way to describe things or to have more precise conversations with your doctor, this is the book for you. Should you need an indepth knowledge of anatomy, while this might be a good first book to pique your interest, a typical dry anatomical tome might be in order.
Merged review:
I read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher.
This book was both informative and amusing. The focus was on body parts and structures we seldom think of. Especially the artwork, both on the cover and between chapters of the book were illustrative, artistic, and often amusing. Throughout the book, the origins of anatomical words is spelled out in detail, with Greek, Latin, Proto-Indo-European, and a few others. The author makes comments about the words and what they mean, in the most amusing ways. This is certainly anything but a dry textbook of anatomy!
Reading this book would require some prior familiarity with anatomy and anatomical terms, but many of them are covered in high school biology. On page 19, it says, "Even if you've never seen a real human skeleton", then proceeds to describe how bone is constructed. One can have seen this with a non-human skeleton, such as a skeleton or individual bones of any mammal. A cook, hunter, or anyone who has dissected animals in a biology class can see what is required here.
If you want to know the proper names for parts of the human body to use as a more precise way to describe things or to have more precise conversations with your doctor, this is the book for you. Should you need an indepth knowledge of anatomy, while this might be a good first book to pique your interest, a typical dry anatomical tome might be in order....more
I read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher.
Conspirituality is a blending of the words “conspiracy”I read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher.
Conspirituality is a blending of the words “conspiracy” with “spirituality”. That is precisely what this book is about – the meeting of the ever-growing conspiracy world with spirituality of any type or description. In a few cases, the spirituality in question is mainstream within the culture and society in question, but more often the spirituality is either a new spirituality, or one co-opted from another culture and society, and shoe-horned into American, or sometimes European culture.
Nothing lends itself so well to conspiracy as health and wellness. When combined with healthcare in the US being prohibitively costly, the alternative health has its appeal. Never mind that alternative health is populated by supposed cures that have never been proven to work, or have been proven to not work. This can be meshed into a co-opted spirituality by dubbing it “ancient wisdom”. Add in the fact that real, scientific information is held behind paywalls, or is held by those such as physicians and professors who will give it out for a fee, and the social field is ripe that THEY are hiding something from us. Then, various political pundits will at least partially fund their shows by offering supplements with proprietary formulas, and the conspiracy-health link is made.
Alternative health – indeed most of the alternative- world, is heavily infused with spirituality of whatever sort. Often the spiritual is said to be the source of it – and the “ancient wisdom” of so-called alternative medicine. The mechanisms, as well as some of the personalities driving the wellness economy are the drivers of this conspirituality movement.
Behind much of this alternative health combined with an alternative spirituality with a smattering of both conservative politics and Qanon are some age-old notions of “blame the victim”. “You create your own reality”. “You get what you manifest”. “You chose this life under these conditions”.
We need to do a better job of teaching the scientific method, accessing, reading, and evaluating research to everyone. This should at least be part of every high school science curriculum! The vacuum of real-world solutions to ever-mounting problems. Knowledge and the teaching of the scientific method and history needs to be at everyone’s hands. Otherwise, we are doomed to fall into the hands of charlatans with authoritarian, fascist aims....more
I read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher.
This is an eye-opening expose of how neurotechnology isI read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher.
This is an eye-opening expose of how neurotechnology is advancing and being applied. It’s both exciting and alarming. Some of the uses and the experimental uses are well beyond anything we could do a decade ago. Much of the science fiction is now being done and documented by researchers, corporations, and governments. Some of it can help improve lives, some of it can improve capacities for a surveillance State or corporation far beyond any Orwellian dreams. Some of it can be used to improve lives of the disabled, some of it can be used to change genetic functions, some can be used to augment functions of human bodies. Some can even be used to extend human life span – or effectively make the consciousness immortal in the foreseeable future.
The questions of how or when or by whom these should be used or forbidden, who gets to see and store the data of what is actually INSIDE our brains, what controls or rights should be in place has not kept pace with the technology developing it. The book illustrates some of the important consequences, as well as how we can learn from past technologies and rules surrounding them....more
I read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher.
This book opened my eyes to how wide the “gray area” isI read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher.
This book opened my eyes to how wide the “gray area” is between life and death – when there is no reasonable anticipation that someone could return to leading anything like a normal life, yet they do not meet criteria for death. Too often, doctors have a “do everything” set of notions, hoping against hope to bring someone back, families and the general public have been taught that resuscitation in its various forms will bring a miraculous return of the person as they were through 60 minute medical dramas. However, this is seldom the case. A person may be in a “gray area” – legally alive because of technological innovations, but their personhood, individuality, or soul if you will, is long gone.
The author goes into the ethics of this – is it a correct thing to do to keep these people “alive” through technology, at a huge monetary expense to the person’s estate, family, insurance, or government? Is it permissible to harvest their organs which could help another person lead a longer, normal life? Moreover, how are these decisions made, and by whom?
The best this can go is if the person has made their wishes known while they were alive and fully-conscious, then their medical team and family agree that “it’s time”, the facility does not object, nor do local and national governments, and it goes smoothly – a “Good Death”, if you will. However, this may not always be the case, and others have to be brought in. The worst case is if it goes to court, with there being nothing in writing from the person caught in the “grey area”, and a judge makes a decision. That seldom goes well for anybody, breaks families apart, creates more distrust for the healthcare system, and is very costly.
This book lays out the need for more “death education” among the public, and the need for everyone to have advance directives legal in their jurisdiction, kept up to date....more
I read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher.
This is a book of six independent stories from various people of both genders, various countries, different races, and all along the socioeconomic spectrum with a single thing in common – they all have been diagnosed with mental illness, and are living with it. Some at home. Some in institutions. Most in and out of various institutions. These people have similar-but-different experiences with their treatment and living their lives. Some are not getting very much help, or of the wrong kind, no matter what they try or anyone tries on their behalf. Others are getting far too much “help” which greatly interferes with their living their lives. Some stories were from decades ago, and some of the institutions have long histories which were described. Some things work better than others for at least some people, and the book shows how far we’ve come, how some things have gotten better and worse, and we need to continue to progress and find what works. None of these stories were “the answer” for anyone. ...more
This is a must-read for anyone considering a cancer screening test or treatment for any cancer. This book centers on prostate and breast cancer, but iThis is a must-read for anyone considering a cancer screening test or treatment for any cancer. This book centers on prostate and breast cancer, but it seems to be true in many other cancers. A lot of people are making money, shortening lives while diminishing quality of lives....more
Good book, with some references. It just goes to show that we've got one more highly-advertised marketing scheme that does most people more harm than Good book, with some references. It just goes to show that we've got one more highly-advertised marketing scheme that does most people more harm than good. Concepts such as relative risk vs absolute risk and Number Needed to Treat and Number Needed to Harm are well-covered, and are for the most part just lost in the hype....more
I've been doing this 2 days per week/< 800 calories per day to help with diabetes. My bloodwork numbers look much better, and while I've lost weight, I've been doing this 2 days per week/< 800 calories per day to help with diabetes. My bloodwork numbers look much better, and while I've lost weight, it's been somewhat disappointing. However, it has gotten my diabetes under better control with very little effort - feeling hungry at times, excepted. However, this gets better too with time and with planning.
This book suggested different methods to get one into the "fasting state". I might try different ones....more
This book is full of gems. There is a bit of nonsense in it, and a number of issues in it which are out of date, and some which I suspect come from thThis book is full of gems. There is a bit of nonsense in it, and a number of issues in it which are out of date, and some which I suspect come from the author's UK outlook rather than a US outlook.
The author shares my realization that physicians are hardly more than the marketing arm of a pharmaceutical industry. Doctors prescribe pills. Surgeons, OTOH, promote surgery - that's their job. It's a different form of sales, as they don't make so much from drug companies, but you've got to question them appropriately.
Nobody makes money on the simple things, like adequate hydration and a nutritious diet, so the doctor rarely discusses them.
All-in-all, I certainly suggest reading it before your next doctor's visit or hospital visit, if nothing else, to have something of self-defense....more
I read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher.
Healthcare costs eat 20% of the US GDP, with expenditurI read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher.
Healthcare costs eat 20% of the US GDP, with expenditures about 10% higher than all US Federal taxes combined. Most healthcare – as in over 50% - is useless. It’s ineffective, barely effective, or often speculative. A large number of things we are treated for are a result of advertising. Indeed, television commercials are filled with ads for medications, and no more information than “Ask your doctor”. This is disease mongering – many of these so-called diseases didn’t exist until someone had a cure – and test – for this (pseudo) disease. This has gotten to the point where people everywhere are talking about their diseases, pseudo-diseases, medical tests, and test numbers, while commonly taking 10 different prescription medications each day. Fifty years ago, this was considered “boorish” conversation, engaged in by a few hypochondriacs. Death rates of numerous things are staying steady, but there are a lot more patients. Over the past few years, average age of death has shortened. We are certainly not getting what we are paying for! Loose Money, Corruption, Poor-Quality Healthcare is the "triad" in the American healthcare system of the early 21st century.
We have many tests and procedures said to “save lives”. However, these do not change all-cause mortality, or some might even lower it. What good is it to have a test and treatment for one disease only to increase your odds of dying sooner of something else?
This has also impacted the science. Industry pays for most studies, and even if they are found to be worthless, the data is retrospectively analyzed to find relationships between unstudied variables. There may be thousands of these pairs or triads of relationships, and chances are that something appearing significant will seem to be significant – but isn’t.
The book goes into a number of causes for this, including the method for remuneration, there being no way to find out what you’re paying or agreeing to pay. Another reason is the number of organizations, including corporations and government agencies who pay for various things, at various rates.
The loser in all of this is the patient – both with their health and monetarily.
I read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher.
This book explains, as concisely as possible, how multiI read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher.
This book explains, as concisely as possible, how multiple systems and methods put in place for containing a pandemic or treating victims all failed. It talks about what went right, and how this could have been much worse. It leads the reader to consider what would be best to do to solve these problems before the next pandemic hits. As this was densely-packed with facts, I had to stop reading to consider them. I found the book extremely thought-provoking.
It dispels many misunderstandings of terms currently being bantered about, such as “herd immunity”, “second wave” and beliefs that diseases become less deadly as they spread and time goes on. It touches on issues with vaccines, especially “leaky” vaccines that allow the virus to spread while not causing symptoms, thus select for more virulent viruses.
It also taught me some of the updates with virology and immunology which I did not know, which explain how vaccines are being developed much faster than they were in the past. ...more
Interesting read of how healthcare of today is different from that of earlier, from our childhood, or that from our parents' childhoods with the familInteresting read of how healthcare of today is different from that of earlier, from our childhood, or that from our parents' childhoods with the family doctor - who often made housecalls. It shows how some of the methods - or techniques - we use now, have the appearance of science, but are not. It talks about how many of our medications have sales brochures where we would think it would be scientifically valid evidence. The doctors actions are managed by people with backgrounds in other industries, are limited in time and producing care, but must provide "health service". All of this leads to year-on-year falling life expectancy - unlike what we had in the early part of the 20th century.
This book gives a good history of testing for cervical cancer, the types, and history. It gives some brief descriptions of what the drawbacks of each This book gives a good history of testing for cervical cancer, the types, and history. It gives some brief descriptions of what the drawbacks of each of these are - especially for specific populations. It also mentions that the high uptake in being tested for this disease creates a great deal of overtreatment, and at the same time, provides for serious non-treatment and undertreatment for others. Testing is not without potential of harm....more
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