A handy reference that addresses the detection and treatment of common diseases and disorders.
The first in a two-volume health care guide for both laypersons and health care workers.
Veluchamy brings over 30 years’ experience in medical research and patient-care services to this easy-to-read work, which is both an at-home guide to health and wellness and a clinical reference manual. The first volume discusses a host of topics, including the doctor-patient relationship, patient safety, diagnostic tests and preventive wellness care. It’s particularly designed to provide health care information to readers in developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region, where chronic diseases have eclipsed infectious diseases as the leading causes of death. Still, the manual is general enough for a worldwide audience. Part 1 of this book looks at risk factors for chronic ailments, informed consent and patient rights, common medical errors and when to get a second opinion. The author includes stories about his own patients, which illustrate his points and make the guide more instructive. For example, as he discusses the case of a surgical patient, he offers a questionnaire to help patients determine whether they’re strong enough to undergo surgery. In this section, there’s also a useful table of screening tests for a variety of diseases, with recommended intervals. In Part 2, Veluchamy covers preventive care and wellness initiatives, with special sections on the health needs of children and the elderly. The subchapter “Healthy Aging” is particularly helpful, as it addresses the changes one may expect during the natural aging process. Part 3 specifically tackles chronic diseases, including heart and vascular issues, cerebrovascular disorders, diabetes, and respiratory and kidney ailments. Drawings, photos and tables in each chapter will help readers understand the material, and the text is amply footnoted with explanations and cross-references to other chapters. Overall, the book will be easily accessible for nonexperts, as it’s generally free of medical jargon. Although the guide could benefit from a topical index, its table of contents is detailed and well-organized, allowing readers the chance to explore hundreds of subjects.
A handy reference that addresses the detection and treatment of common diseases and disorders.Pub Date: July 15, 2014
ISBN: 978-1493712458
Page Count: 320
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An exhaustive and exhausting marriage of Austen's Pride and a modern reader’s analysis of it.
A mammoth edition, including the novel, illustrations, maps, a chronology, and bibliography, but mostly thousands of annotations that run the gamut from revealing to ridiculous.
New editions of revered works usually exist either to dumb down or to illuminate the original. Since its appearance in 1813, Austen's most famous work has spawned numerous illustrated and abridged versions geared toward younger readers, as well as critical editions for the scholarly crowd. One would think that this three-pounder would fall squarely in the latter camp based on heft alone. But for various other reasons, Shapard's edition is not so easily boxed. Where Austen's work aimed at a wide spectrum of the 19th-century reading audience, Shapard's seems geared solely toward young lit students. No doubt conceived with the notion of highlighting Austen's brilliance, the 2,000-odd annotations–printed throughout on pages facing the novel's text–often end up dwarfing it. This sort of arrangement, which would work extremely well as hypertext, is disconcerting on the printed page. The notes range from helpful glosses of obscure terms to sprawling expositions on the perils awaiting the character at hand. At times, his comments are so frequent and encyclopedic that one might be tempted to dispense with Austen altogether; in fact, the author's prefatory note under "plot disclosures" kindly suggests that first-time readers might "prefer to read the text of the novel first, and then to read the annotations and introduction." Those with a term paper due in the morning might skip ahead to the eight-page chronology–not of Austen's life, but of the novel's plot–at the back. In the end, Shapard's herculean labor of love comes off as more scholastic than scholarly.
An exhaustive and exhausting marriage of Austen's Pride and a modern reader’s analysis of it.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-9745053-0-7
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Startling, at times pretentious in its self-regard, but ultimately breathtaking: The Lost Weekend for the under-25 set.
Frey’s lacerating, intimate debut chronicles his recovery from multiple addictions with adrenal rage and sprawling prose.
After ten years of alcoholism and three years of crack addiction, the 23-year-old author awakens from a blackout aboard a Chicago-bound airplane, “covered with a colorful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood.” While intoxicated, he learns, he had fallen from a fire escape and damaged his teeth and face. His family persuades him to enter a Minnesota clinic, described as “the oldest Residential Drug and Alcohol Facility in the World.” Frey’s enormous alcohol habit, combined with his use of “Cocaine . . . Pills, acid, mushrooms, meth, PCP and glue,” make this a very rough ride, with the DTs quickly setting in: “The bugs crawl onto my skin and they start biting me and I try to kill them.” Frey captures with often discomforting acuity the daily grind and painful reacquaintance with human sensation that occur in long-term detox; for example, he must undergo reconstructive dental surgery without anesthetic, an ordeal rendered in excruciating detail. Very gradually, he confronts the “demons” that compelled him towards epic chemical abuse, although it takes him longer to recognize his own culpability in self-destructive acts. He effectively portrays the volatile yet loyal relationships of people in recovery as he forms bonds with a damaged young woman, an addicted mobster, and an alcoholic judge. Although he rejects the familiar 12-step program of AA, he finds strength in the principles of Taoism and (somewhat to his surprise) in the unflinching support of family, friends, and therapists, who help him avoid a relapse. Our acerbic narrator conveys urgency and youthful spirit with an angry, clinical tone and some initially off-putting prose tics—irregular paragraph breaks, unpunctuated dialogue, scattered capitalization, few commas—that ultimately create striking accruals of verisimilitude and plausible human portraits.
Startling, at times pretentious in its self-regard, but ultimately breathtaking: The Lost Weekend for the under-25 set.Pub Date: April 15, 2003
ISBN: 0-385-50775-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2003
BOOK TO SCREEN
4 Book Adaptations to Check Out In December
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