Book Description
The thrilling story of the brilliant and audacious pioneers who revolutionized cardiovascular medicine.
The history of heart surgery is a fascinating saga. In the dark ages of medicine, physicians commonly prescribed blood letting as a treatment for ridding the vascular system of diabolical elements and bizarre medicaments like brain extracts, and until quite recently, the basic treatment for a heart attack was to lie down and bear it. Within the last century, physicians have evolved from fearing to even touch a living human heart to rebuilding and even transplanting hearts with beguiling, if sometimes dangerous wizardry. Not long ago, cardiac surgery was celebrated as akin to miracle working, yet a new therapeutic age has since taken hold. Today heart attacks can often be stopped in their midst, and astonishing non-invasive surgical techniques regularly eliminate any need for a knife, while clearing vital arteries in just minutes.
Journey Into the Heart traces this epic quest involving a cast of thousands who struggled to solve medical complexities that long boggled the most brilliant minds on earth. David Monagan tells their story as never before, for the first time paying tribute to the daring tactics and outsized personalities of scarcely appreciated pioneers from Oregon to East Germany. The risks some took were hard to fathom: when a promising therapy seemed far too dangerous to perform on a patient, charismatic doctors experimented on themselves. Meanwhile, a multi-billion dollar business involving angioplasty and countless related knifeless procedures charged into life, often overshadowing the noble quest for innovation with a race for profit. The great figures behind these advances have been little chronicled, but their lives encompassed all the triumph and anguish of the last century.
Andreas Gruentzig, an East German “child of the rubble,” took center stage in revolutionizing cardiovascular care, developing the first tiny balloon-tipped probes in his Zurich apartment. Despite harsh skepticism, Gruentzig demonstrated that his gadgets could transform the lives of millions. His findings catapulted him to worldwide fame, and he was nominated for the Nobel Prize. After being lured to Emory University, Gruentzig's career escalated to dizzying heights, and then concluded tragically with an Icarus- like ending. Journey Into the Heart is a compelling biography and a multi-faceted tale of medical discovery and business intrigue, all centered on the seat of human life. The twentieth century journey to understand the human heart was a saga on par with the race to the moon.
Customer Reviews:
Journey into the heart.......2007-10-02
This is a well written book that very nicely details the history of interventional cardiovascular techniques. It is a good read.
An interesting study of angioplasty and people.......2007-04-23
I came to this book thinking it was truly a journey into the heart and its functioning. The book was actually a studied history of angioplasty, the use of catheters to clear the cardiac arteries and reduce the risk of heart attacks. Several themes stand out and make the book worthy of serious reading. The story again shows that medicine is now barely 100 years old in any modern sense as there is very little of note in the heart prior to 1900. Also, the book shows how much the review process has changed in the past fifty years, with surgical options which were untested and unproven being used with some regularity. Finally, the book profiles the leading researches and shows that medicine, like any other profession, is full of talented but unusual people.
Pity the Patient!.......2007-03-27
Pity the patient with heart problems/symptoms - a serious situation fraught with complex decisions and painful and risky alternatives. "Journey Into the Heart" tells of the struggle and errors of physician-leaders moving practice trends to angioplasty, and away from other treatments - especially CABGs (coronary artery by-pass grafts). But now a new study reports angioplasty doesn't save lives or prevent heart attacks better than generic drugs in non-emergency patients - where it is used mostly. Experts also concluded that it only fixes one artery at a time (vs. drugs operating on all at the same time), and the clogs treated are not the really dangerous kind.
Angioplasty also lost favor recently when it was reported that popular drug-coated stents can raise the risk of blood clots months later. Now the procedure in its entirety is in question.
Bottom Line: The "courageous" individuals pioneering this procedure featured in "Journey Into the Heart" were overzealous, at best. Unfortunately, "Journey Into the Heart" doesn't provide good advice about when to receive angiography, so here's some. About 600,000 angioplasties per year are now performed for patients with chronic chest pain - replacing just 350,000 with drug therapy would save as much as $10 billion/year. On the other hand, for those with unstable chest pain, stenting provides better outcomes than drugs alone, as well as for patients treated within 12 hours of a heart attack; later stenting for those with heart attacks, however, doesn't help. (Information courtesy of Wall Street Journal, 3/27/07, and Washington Post, 3/26/07).
Journey into the Heart.......2007-03-20
Very well written history of treatment of the problems of the heart, including those that made the problem worse, unto these enlightened days where so much can be done due to the hard work of so many doctors. The author had to do much investigation and then compilation to make such a readable book.
Amazon.com
When Sue Hubbell moved from her longtime home on a farm in Missouri to a house perched on the rocky coast of Maine, the first thing she did was investigate the living things in her new environment to ease the loneliness of a new place. She peered under rocks, in dark crevices, and beneath mounds of leaves, looking for members of nature's secretive ruling class--the invertebrates.
In Waiting for Aphrodite, Hubbell first trains her microscopic gaze on camel crickets--"They grew a bright orange bump on the back of what we would like to call their necks but mustn't, because bugs don't have necks"--and sea cucumbers--"cool and leathery and limp, a little like a damp, deflated football." From there, she continues her tour with millipedes, sponges, periwinkles, corals, earthworms, horseshoe crabs, and other underappreciated earth-dwellers, describing each species in lushly metaphoric prose and a perfectly appropriate sense of wonder. These are strange beasts, and their ways are mysterious. Yet Hubbell seeks, and finds, common ground between invertebrates and humans. She writes that the first useful behavioral mandate for isopods such as pill bugs is "Walk toward shelter," a rule that applies easily to vulnerable humans as well.
The thing that binds all animals is the constant search for the necessities of life. And for Hubbell, a sense of place and knowledge of her neighbors is as crucial as food or shelter. Hence the heart of the book--her search for a glimpse of the elusive sea mouse, Aphrodite aculeata, a small, soft-bodied sea creature with a velvety, iridescent coat. While waiting for Aphrodite, she finds gorgeous bits of life all around her and begins to feel at home. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
In this wonderful new book Sue Hubbell takes us into the remarkable lives of the little-known creatures that really run the world: earthworms, corals, lightning bugs, pill bugs, millipedes, crickets, spiders, sea urchins, horseshoe crabs, and, most elusive and enigmatic of all, Aphrodite, the sea mouse. She also leads us on a journey through the mysteries of time -- geological, biological, and personal -- as she writes of the evolution of life on this planet and the evolution of her own life, from childhood next to a Michigan graveyard to beekeeping in the Ozarks and finally to a tower by the sea in Maine, where she waits and watches for Aphrodite.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful look at nature!.......2003-11-22
I grew up in New England, on the water, so when I came across this book it particularly sparked my attention. I've always had a great fascination with horseshoe crabs adn there's a superb chapter on them in this book. There are lots of neat animals discussed in this book - sea life like sea urchins, horseshoe crabs, sea sponges etc. But also land dwellers like spiders, millipedes, crickets fireflies, etc. Like other books by Hubbel there are some technical aspects to the book but its woven in so nicely with other interesting facts, stories that its an enjoyable read. I also like that she provides additional references for further reading.
Invertebrates in All Their Glory!.......2003-08-01
Sue Hubbell's book, "Waiting for Aphrodite: Journeys into the Time Before Bones," is a treat for anyone interested in these fascinating creatures. Her coverage of earthworms, millipedes, fireflies, sponges, horseshoe crabs and the strange mouse-like worm, Aphrodita, is a joy to an invertebrate zoologist and should be a great read for laymen who are open to the strange world of so-called creepy-crawlies. I have studied these creatures for much of my life, but could find few errors in Hubbell's chapters. She did her research well. Her life on the Ozarks reminds me of a woman I once met at a scientific conference. She also came from the Ozarks, where her family had worried about her when she was a little girl because she liked to watch salamanders in the rain and spiders spinning their webs. Some of her mountain relatives were sure she was bewitched. I am sure that Sue Hubbell is also "bewitched" by the strange world of these strange creatures- weird enough to live on the planet Mars. I know I was!
Read this book if you are at all interested in the natural world around you. It will introduce you to the real masters of our planet.
Bug Lady of Maine.......2001-06-01
At first this book is interesting and sometimes amusing. Above all it is informative and then again it is informative. In the final analyses it is informative. Did I mention that the book is informative? The next time Mr. Spock says that he left a bad taste in the mouth of the alien being because of his copper based blood, you can say, "According to Sue Hubbell that is no big deal; as pill bugs have a copper based system. So there!"
Sue covers a variety of bugs that haven't got any backbone. And we all know what you think of creatures without backbone. I am not sure that she is too focused or too diverse? However she really covers them and it is so informative that you may find yourself falling to sleep.
Invertebrates, and life, made easy.......2000-11-09
Before reading this book I could never have foreseen myself wading through 232 pages on invertebrates. Sue Hubbell not only maps the journey, she makes it intoxicating and leavens her science with a generous smattering of life philosophy. Which could be tedious from a lesser person. Not from Hubbell, who presents the workings of a sharp intellect with such a light touch that her logic and opinions have a homespun tang. There is an unassailable rightness about many of her views, her argument for conservation for instance. But this isn't a platform for her ideals, it's a showcase for the kind of tiny animals few of us bother to notice unless they threaten us. From crickets to sea mice (the Aphrodite, or part of it, of the title) via spiders, woodlice, sea cucumbers, fireflies, horseshoe crabs, honeybees and many others, we're given just enough information to intrigue and inspire investigation into the generous "Further reading" list at the end of each chapter. It's difficult to make a book like this work. Go too deep, and you've scared-off the layman. Stay on the surface, and you're labelled a dilettante. For my money, Sue Hubbell compromises triumphantly. She puts her small animals centre stage and ensures you'll look on them with new and respectful eyes. But the real heroine of the book is Hubbell herself. Her love for her animals and for life itself blazes through the book and you close it thoroughly warmed through.
Scientific curiosity indulged, & presented with a fine touch.......1999-08-12
This is the third book I've enjoyed by Sue Hubbell. Her curiosity reminds me of my childhood days around my back yard creek when it seemed there was always something to be amazed at, and I took the time to be amazed. Some of the creatures she describes: well, you've always wondered about them; others: you've never heard of. In the background she is describing her sources and the characteristics of these creatures in a personal, straight forward, no axe-to-grind way. Then, she quietly slips in the best argument I've ever heard for trying not to eliminate any of our fellow creatures, regardless of how much or how little we think we understand about their value and their relationship to humans. It could be heavy - but it isn't. It could be trivial - but it isn't.
Average customer rating:
- YOU NEED THIS BOOK!
- A SCIENTIST BECOMES A SAVIOUR
- An important book of science and meta-science
- Almost Human: A Journey into the World of Baboons
- Wonderful-I felt like I was in the field with her
|
Almost Human: A Journey into the World of Baboons
Shirley C. Strum
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Apes & Monkeys
| Animals
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Mammals
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Primatology
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ecology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Nature & Ecology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Primatology
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons
-
In the Shadow of Man
-
In Quest of the Sacred Baboon
-
Sex and Friendship in Baboons
-
Gorillas in the Mist
ASIN: 0226777561 |
Book Description
In 1972, a young graduate student named Shirley Strum traveled to Kenya to study a troop of olive baboons (Papio anubis) nicknamed the Pumphouse Gang. Like our own ancestors, baboons had adapted to life on the African savannah, and Strum hoped that by observing baboon behavior, she could learn something about how early humans might have lived. Soon the baboons had won her heart as well as her mind, and Strum has been working with them ever since.
Vividly written and filled with fascinating insights, Almost Human chronicles the first fifteen years of Strum's fieldwork with the Pumphouse Gang. From the first paragraph, the reader is drawn along with Strum into the world of the baboons, learning about the tragedies and triumphs of their daily lives—and the lives of the scientists studying them. This edition includes a new introduction and epilogue that place Strum's research in the context of the current global conservation crisis and tell us what has happened to the Pumphouse Gang since the book was first published.
Customer Reviews:
YOU NEED THIS BOOK!.......2006-12-20
This is an engaging, honest and intriguing story documenting a scientist doing fieldwork/research on a baboon troop. Although vastly informative and fact-filled, it is written for a general reader and refreshingly free of jargon. Ms. Strum also allows feelings - her own and the baboons' - to enter into the picture, as George Schaller did in "Year of the Gorilla," although Ms. Strum writes with much more humor than Dr. Schaller. Her observations and theories about baboon behavior - especially the male/female relationships - are extraordinary and compelling. I've re-read this book twice, just for the pleasure it gives me, and I highly recommend it to anyone who finds this type of research fascinating. And a terrific companion piece is "A Primate's Memoir," by Robert Sapolsky, also a researcher among the baboons...
A SCIENTIST BECOMES A SAVIOUR.......2002-02-25
This book could not have come into my life at a more opportune time. As a Volunteer Wildlife Police Officer I am involved inter alia in investigation of illegal possession of all wild species. However I had developed a particular interest in and love for primates - notably here vervet monkeys and baboons which are the most commonly "kept" here. I had made it my goal to remove as many of these from private possession as humanly possible. In all cases we find these intensely sociable animals being kept on their own, and with their movements restricted to no more than a few feet. After confiscation I start the rehabilitation process myself and then pass them on to a large sanctuary in Lusaka where they are integrated into troops and start their new lives. However my ultimate goal was to return them to a totally free life in the wild. Shirley Strum's seminal and successful translocation of the "Pumphouse Gang" in Kenya therefore convinced me that we had a chance of doing the same with our individuals/troops. The difference being that the "Pumphouse Gang" had always lived free and ours not. Shirley Strum's greatest accolade should be that she went beyond being the objective observer to caring participant. If Strum had only been involved with the baboons as subjects of an intellectual exercise, she would have been no different to many other scientists many of whom are responsible for hideous acts of cruelty to our non-human relatives. Thankfully, when the "Pumphouse Gang" was at risk of destruction, she allowed her humanity to guide her and so committed herself to finding a solution to their plight which was successful. I must admit that as a layman, some of the anthropological observations went over my head! I do feel that this is an extremely important study for anyone involved with primates, and those involved in the anti-vivesection movement (certainly in Africa where baboons are used as laboratory animals) since as the title states - they are "almost human".
An important book of science and meta-science.......2001-08-03
Strum's account of her fieldwork is intensely interesting, as she looked past the "received wisdom" about baboon hierarchies and saw what was really going on. Of course baboons are not identical to humans - but the fundamental impulses of baboon behavior and their strategies for dealing with the their society and the world around them are similar to many things humans do; Strum claims no more than that.
Just as fascinating as her discoveries about baboons, however, is her account of the effort to get her field results heard within the closed shop of baboon studies. She ran into a problem that damages almost all the sciences: The experts who get to decide whether the results of your research get published in scientific journals are usually the very same people whose triumphant discoveries of twenty years ago your research is about to supercede or even contradict. Naturally they think your work is nonsense and do all they can to keep it from getting published - because if you are right, and prevail, then their great work is erased. This struggle has been faced by so many scientists that it's a wonder we ever advance human learning at all. The only things that get published quickly and easily are the results that confirm our preexisting views. Indeed, one sees quite a bit of baboon behavior among scientists - as among all other humans....
This was an important book for me, with insights that I have used in my own writing for years. I'm glad it's coming back into print in a new paperback edition. It's about time!
Almost Human: A Journey into the World of Baboons.......1999-12-18
This was a fascinating look at baboons society. It was also extraordinarily personal in perspective. The book was absorbing and easy to read science written in a very subjective voice. The author gets very emotionally involved in her subjects and lets that come through clearly. She presents a somewhat controversial approach to field work.
Wonderful-I felt like I was in the field with her.......1999-11-20
As someone who has studied primates in the field, I greatly related to this book. Studying primates is so rewarding and I enjoyed sharing her discoveries and her journey. It is an easy read, and you will not want to put it down. Kudos to Dr. Strum
Average customer rating:
- A true adventure
- One of the most definitive sources of Quapaw Indian culture
|
A Journal of Travels into the Arkansas Territory During the Year 1819 (Arkansas Classics)
Thomas Nuttall
Manufacturer: University of Arkansas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Arkansas
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Oklahoma
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Classics
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Travel
| Writing
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
| Anatomy
| Animals
| Bacteriology
| Biochemistry
| Bioelectricity
| Bioinformatics
| Biology
| Biophysics
| Biorhythms
| Biostatistics
| Biotechnology
| Botany
| Collection & Preservation
| Ecology
| Ecotoxicology
| Fungi
| General
| Genetics
| Microscopy & Techniques
| Paleontology
| Plants
| Population Biology
| Research
| Taxonomic Classification
| Zoology
General
| Geography
| Earth Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Essays & Travelogues
| Reference & Tips
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Arkansas
| States
| United States
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
North America
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Geography
| Earth Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1557285616 |
Customer Reviews:
A true adventure.......2000-07-21
This is the journal of Thomas Nuttall who, in 1819, with $200 and a residual case of malaria,traveled from Philadelphia down the Ohio and the Mississippi to the Arkansas River and various of its tributaries. His journey extended as far west as the current site of Oklahoma City. His account of the plant and animal life, the geology and the streams of Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma are accurate, jargon-free and, in many cases, still definitive. His portrayals of the European and Native Americans he met are objective, unsentimental and unprejudiced. Througout the considerable dangers and difficulties he faced, he maintained, and conveyed, a refreshing sense of wonder at the natural world he explored, an attitude of realistic compassion for the people he encountered and a sense of the historical significance of what he witnessed. The journals are well-edited by Prof. Lottinville whose notes identify sites described by Mr. Nuttall with their current names and provide historical context for various events discussed in the book. This book is a great find for anyone interested in the land, history and people of Arkansas and Oklahoma.
One of the most definitive sources of Quapaw Indian culture.......1999-08-26
Thomas Nuttall traveled through Arkansas on the White river and described what he saw in great detail. He actually named many of the plants that he found on the trip. The drawings in the book depict landscapes that anyone from Arkansas would recognize yet devoid of all the manmade features.
Average customer rating:
|
Biology : A Journey into Life
Karen Arms , and
Pamela S. Camp
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Anatomy
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The St. Martin's Guide to Writing
-
American Government: Institutions And Policies
ASIN: 0030987962 |
Customer Reviews:
Beautifully illustrated.......2000-04-07
I've used this book in University for an introductory course in Biology. We had a choice of two books (the other was Keaton). I chose A Journey into Life because it was so attractive - the illustrations are truly captivating and stimulating. I was disappointed with the content though, since on many occasions I had to use other books to complete my class notes. Even for an introductory course, I really think the content could be a little more in-depth (information missing on hydrostatic pressure and osmosis, etc.). Except for the extent of the content, I feel that the layout and writing of the book is appropriate for an introductory course.
Books:
- Lofts of London (Exhibitions International)
- Microbiology: Principles and Explorations
- Mies In Berlin
- Moorish Architecture in Andalusia (Taschen 25th Anniversary Series)
- Morgantina Studies
- Neural Networks and Genome Informatics (Methods in Computational Biology and Biochemistry)
- New Frontiers in Bryology: Physiology, Molecular Biology and Functional Genomics
- Nutrition: From Science To Life
- Office & Corporate Interiors
- Organogenesis of the Kidney (Developmental and Cell Biology Series)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Entering the Castle: An Inner Path to God and Your Soul
- Warlord
- Origins of Algae and their Plastids
- Structure and Transport Properties in Organized Polymeric Materials
- The Glass Castle: A Memoir
- Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
- Tidewater on the Halfshell: Fine Virginia Recipes
- Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America
- The Architect's Guide to Design-Build Services
- Sonoran Desert Wildflowers: A Field Guide to the Common Wildflowers of the Sonoran Desert, Including
Every Second Counts: The Race to Transplant the First Human Heart
Happy Accidents: Serendipity in Modern Medical Breakthroughs
King of Hearts: The True Story of the Maverick Who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery
Partners of the Heart
Coronary: A True Story of Medicine Gone Awry
