Best Pathology Laboratory Medicine
In this fascinating account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries and tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them. Roach delves into the many productive uses to which cadavers have been put, from medical experimentation to applications in transportation safety research (in a chapter archly called "Dead Man Driving") to work by forensic scientists quantifying rates of decay under a wide array of bizarre circumstances. There are also chapters on cannibalism, including an aside on dumplings allegedly filled with human remains from a Chinese crematorium, methods of disposal (burial, cremation, composting) and "beating-heart" cadavers used in organ transplants. Roach has a fabulous eye and a wonderful voice as she describes such macabre situations as a plastic surgery seminar with doctors practicing face-lifts on decapitated human heads and her trip to China in search of the cannibalistic dumpling makers.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"At the same time, she never shies away from the discomfort people feel; indeed, one of the most compelling threads in each chapter is discussing with the various people she meets how they manage to maintain a proper emotional balance when they’re working with the dead all the time. But that also feels like a key part of why the book works; after all, death is a fundamentally personal event, and there’s little way to read Stiff and not spend time thinking about what you would want done with your own remains, be it cremation, burial, donation, or more. And Roach builds her own debate into the book, concluding the book with a chapter that finds her pondering what to do with her own remains, having done all these studies and researches into our possible fates."
"Wonderfully written, Stiff tells of all the things that happen to dead bodies in the quest to find out more about live bodies."
"i would like to think that the souls who were thoughtful enough to give their bodies up, not only for the betterment of the medical profession, but for others to benefit from their donated organs, are looking over the readers' shoulders as we enjoy this book."
"Very interesting examination of death and what happens, or should happen, to our 'mortal coil' once we shuffle it off."
"Death is very much a part of life as this book will show you and also give you a good laugh along the way!"
"I liked the different takes on handling the dead."
"Love all her works, fascinating and written so that it is palatable to anyone."
"She also discusses scientific information in a straight-forward, non-sciency way (science is not my strongest point, although I find it extremely interesting)."
She describes how she swept ashes from the machines (and sometimes onto her clothes) and reveals the strange history of cremation and undertaking, marveling at bizarre and wonderful funeral practices from different cultures. Now a licensed mortician with an alternative funeral practice, Caitlin argues that our fear of dying warps our culture and society, and she calls for better ways of dealing with death (and our dead). --Bess Lovejoy, author of Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses". Alternately heartbreaking and hilarious, fascinating and freaky, vivid and morbid, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes is witty, sharply drawn, and deeply moving. Like a poisonous cocktail, Caitlin Doughty's memoir intoxicates and enchants even as it encourages you to embrace oblivion; she breathes life into death. Caitlin Doughty is best known for her YouTube series Ask a Mortician, and she brings the same charisma and drollery to her essay collection Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The author of this book has been fascinated with the subject of death and dying since she was a young girl and witnessed the death of another young girl who took a fall at a local mall. This book describes her experiences facing death straight on and how it actually eased her own existential angst and made her better able to appreciate and enjoy her own life. This book reminded me a lot of science writer Mary Roach and I feel like I'd love to hang out and be friends with both of them."
"I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the mortuary/funeral industry, medical students (doctors in this country don't deal with death very well), and anyone who, like me, wants to understand more about death and how to plan for it."
"Some segments of the book are of course standalone essays she has published separately, like the devastatingly good chapter "Demon Babies," which takes on the subject of cremating the bodies of children to historic heights, but there is also a clear story arc here of her early days in the mortuary business and growing up into someone much more resolved in her beliefs about how we should regard death as a necessary part of our lives and celebrate it rather than throw it into the back of a van."
The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising account of the appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their "crashes" into the human race. And in 1989 Philippine monkeys in a Reston, Va., research lab, found to be infected with Ebola, were the target of a U.S. Army-led biohazard task force that decontaminated the lab, exterminating hundreds of monkeys to prevent the possible airborne spread of the disease to humans. In a horrifying and riveting report, portions of which appeared in the New Yorker , Preston ( American Steel ) exposes a real-life nightmare potentially as lethal as the fictive runaway germs in Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I'm writing this review now because, 1- the current (July 2014) outbreak of Ebola is "the deadliest in recorded history," and 2- I've NEVER forgotten the book. The thing that is so terrifying is the way the poor people who contract the disease die."
"He carefully connects the main players as their paths cross again and again, their lives altered by this unseen, unclean thing, the filovirus (Ebola) sisters. One cannot help but to realize how at risk we humans are that a virus hidden deep in the jungles of Africa could hop-scotch around the world in a day, traveling incognito inside its naive host."
"I learned a lot about the virus. After reading this book, im able to read between the headlines of what is being said and more importantly, what's NOT being said. Medical researchers working with the virus give share their information."
"I bought this book in its hard-cover version when it first came out, quite a few years ago, and what with the recent Ebola crisis in Africa and now in the news here in the U.S., I wanted to re-read it. I am dismayed that the CDC is still "learning" how to contain this disease, when the knowledge has been in use by the U.S. Army, and various charitable organizations in Africa for many years."
"A scary, eye opening book about Ebola. He describes in detail the Ebola Reston outbreak in Maryland."
"A must read for anyone who wants the scientific truth about this disease, how it can be spread & how easily & quickly it can mutate."
"Although twenty years old, the information is timely and so. pertinent for our age when Ebola is devastating Africa and may be advancing thought the world."
Best Pathology Forensic Medicine
She describes how she swept ashes from the machines (and sometimes onto her clothes) and reveals the strange history of cremation and undertaking, marveling at bizarre and wonderful funeral practices from different cultures. Now a licensed mortician with an alternative funeral practice, Caitlin argues that our fear of dying warps our culture and society, and she calls for better ways of dealing with death (and our dead). --Bess Lovejoy, author of Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses". Alternately heartbreaking and hilarious, fascinating and freaky, vivid and morbid, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes is witty, sharply drawn, and deeply moving. Like a poisonous cocktail, Caitlin Doughty's memoir intoxicates and enchants even as it encourages you to embrace oblivion; she breathes life into death. Caitlin Doughty is best known for her YouTube series Ask a Mortician, and she brings the same charisma and drollery to her essay collection Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The author of this book has been fascinated with the subject of death and dying since she was a young girl and witnessed the death of another young girl who took a fall at a local mall. This book describes her experiences facing death straight on and how it actually eased her own existential angst and made her better able to appreciate and enjoy her own life. This book reminded me a lot of science writer Mary Roach and I feel like I'd love to hang out and be friends with both of them."
"I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the mortuary/funeral industry, medical students (doctors in this country don't deal with death very well), and anyone who, like me, wants to understand more about death and how to plan for it."
"Writing in first person and drawing from personal experience, she blends hard facts with a sense humor, all the while handling her subject with the sort of kindness that overwhelms fear."
"Loved her refreshing honesty and sense of humor."
"This was such a great read!"
Best Pathology Clinical Chemistry
Pharmacology, Organ Systems, Cardiovascular System, Endocrine System, Gastrointestinal System, Hematology and Oncology, Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue, Neurology and Psychiatry, Renal System, Reproductive System, Respiratory System. Tao Le, MD, MHS is Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Allergy and Immunology at University of Louisville.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I feel like the overall clarity, and the way this book is organized in terms of relating one page to another is done quite nicely in this edition. If you are planning on taking it within a month, have a lot of notes in the 2014 edition, or just don't feel like spending another 50 bucks or so then you should stick with 2014. So bottom line is that if you have 2014 and if you want to get the 2015 edition for new content solely then don't, stick with 2014 because the content overall is the same."
"The cases in this book are great - the book is a great learning tool."
"I haven't read the book through in earnest yet, but from my quick skimmings, what I have noticed is that most of the content is very similar to the 2012 edition, except that the HUGE list of errata from the 2012 edition has been corrected. EDIT: I have noticed some errors as I have gone into my devoted Step I study period, but they are still much less than that of the 2012 edition."
"(see attached images: my standard handwriting is line 1 and you can barely see it). I think the new photographs and diagrams make it definitely worthwhile to upgrade to this edition if you are taking the step 1 this year."
"I've have opened this book twice and the binding is already coming apart."
"Why is this title not available via the Inkling platform? If the publishers are reading this, I strongly urge them to consider broadening platforms and license with Inkling, or if Amazon Kindle folks are reading this, then I ask you to improve the Kindle format for medical text books; an investment in this area will yield a better customer experience and lead to higher sales in the future."