Ruth Winter

BOOKS BY AND FOR MEMBERS

by Ruth Winter

Tell Me Where It Hurts: How to Decipher Your Child’s Emotional Aches and Physical Pains by Jonathan A Slater, M.D., and Mark L. Fuerst (NASW), published by Adams Media.

Mark Fuerst, a New York freelancer, and his co-author, pediatric psychiatrist Jonathan Slater, aim to teach parents how to read their children’s physical symptoms and assess them from both an emotional and a medical standpoint. When a child is inexplicably sick, it can be a source of significant distress within the family and can also affect the child’s social and academic functioning, the authors note. The book helps parents understand warning signs and take action even before a child gets sick. It also describes other issues affecting children’s health, such as alternative medical therapies, depression, school performance, shyness, social pressures, sleep disorders, and stress. Fuerst says the book aims to help parents understand and communicate better with their children and find the best ways to help them grow into happy, healthy, confident adults. The publicists for the book are Carol Fass and Laura Malone, 212-691-9707 or fasspr@aol.com.

Science Firsts: From the Creation of Science to the Science of Creation by Robert E. Adler (NASW), published by John Wiley & Sons.

Robert Adler, a California freelancer, says that throughout the history of science, there have been men and women whose curiosity and intellect led them to seek new explanations for the way the universe works. Among those are the privileged few who were the first to glimpse new ideas, break new ground, and make unprecedented discoveries-many of which changed the course of history. Adler says, “In writing Science Firsts, I wanted to let readers look over the shoulders of these great scientists as the scientists made their most important discoveries.” He tells of 35 landmark scientific discoveries, from the first accurate prediction of an eclipse in 585 B.C. to the recent cloning of Dolly the sheep. Adler can be reached at 707-542-4362 and adler@nasw.org. The publicist at Wiley is Walter Halee, whalee@wiley.com.

Upheaval From The Abyss: Ocean Floor Mapping And The Earth Science Revolution by David M. Lawrence (NASW), published by Rutgers University Press.

In 1996, David Lawrence, a Virginia freelancer, was urged to write about Marie Tharp, the woman who mapped the ocean floor and discovered the mid-ocean rift. In time, Lawrence says, the book developed into a narrative about how ocean exploration fueled the scientific upheaval that forced scientists to acknowledge that large portions of the Earth’s crust can move great distances over time. He says that while his book chronicles an exciting bit of science history, he hopes that it also captures the humanity and determination-and in some cases the heroism-of the scientists involved. Lawrence can be reached at 804-559-9786 and dave@fuzzo.com. His Web site is fuzzo.com. The publicist for the book is Lisa Gillard Hanson, 732-445-7762, x626, lgillard@rci.rutgers.edu.

The Gene Masters by Ingrid Wickelgren (NASW), published by Henry Holt & Co.

Ingrid Wickelgren, a contributing correspondent for Science magazine, has written about how a group of wildly ambitious scientists competed to win one of the most competitive races in the history of science-the mapping of the human genome. She says, “I wrote this book because nobody had told this complete story in an accessible and entertaining way, and it seemed like the story of the decade. I wanted to untangle the contentious politics of the National Institutes of Health and between the NIH and its rival agencies and corporations.” In the tradition of Paul de Kruif’s classic The Microbe Hunters, Wickelgren’s book vividly portrays the people behind one of the most contentious and enterprising scientific endeavors of our time, delving deeply into the scientists’ motivations, fears, and goals. Ingrid Wichelgren can be reached at 973-761-4951 and ingrid@nasw.org. The publicist for the book is Kristin Minnick, 212-886-1009, kristin.minnick@hholt.com.

Bad Medicine by Christopher Wanjek (NASW), published by John Wiley & Sons.

Christopher Wanjek, who writes about cosmology for NASA and is also a frequent contributor to the Washington Post health section, debunks a lot of what he calls “outrageous nonsense being heaped on a gullible public in the name of science and medicine.” In this, his first book, he points out that prehistoric humans believed cedar ashes and incantations could cure a head injury, and ancient Egyptians believed the heart was the center of thought, the liver produced blood, and the brain cooled the body. Today, he writes, “We are still plagued by countless medical myths and misconceptions.” Bad Medicine debunks widely held yet incorrect notions of how the body works, from cold cures to vaccination fears. Wanjek can be reached at 301-286-4453 (w) and 301-891-1041 (h). The publicist is Walter Halee, whalee@wiley.com.

Watson and DNA: Making A Scientific Revolution by Victor K. McElheny (NASW), published by Perseus Publishing.

Feb. 28, 2003 marks the golden anniversary of the discovery of the double helix. James Watson, one of the men responsible for what many consider the greatest scientific achievement of our time has, until now, blocked would-be biographers with his own memoirs-The Double Helix and Genes, Girls, and Gamow. Victor McElheny, who worked with Watson at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for four years and who has known him for 40 years-has written a book that sheds light on this complicated, mercurial man. McElheny says he has felt both friendship and admiration for Watson. “I had unique access to one of the most important figures in the history of science and to many of the amazing band of scientists with whom he worked.” McElheny says Watson’s associates were at the same time “stunned by his drive, candor, curiosity, and ability to get things going, and appalled at his manners.” As for Watson’s probable reaction to the book, McElheny says, “I can’t predict. As a writer, Watson has shown that he likes a good story, preferably spiced with gossip.” McElheny can be reached at 617-497-7428 and mcelheny@mit.edu. The publicist for the book is Lissa Warren, 617-252-5212, lissa.warren@perseusbooks.com.

Solar System by Nigel Hey (NASW), published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson (distributed by Sterling Publishing Co.)

Nigel Hey’s book on the marvels of the solar system is filled with spectacular color illustrations. A freelancer who lives in Albuquerque, British-born Hey has interspersed his text with 12 short essays written by space experts from Arthur C. Clarke to David Morrison and Donald Gray. The book concludes with a glossary of 300 space terms. Solar System covers the history of space exploration, planet-by-planet profiles, and explanations of launch systems and spacecraft instrumentation. Hey says one of the reasons he wrote the book is that he feels people are falling into the rut of what Carl Sagan called “growing up in urban surroundings where city lights and polluted skies hide the stars from view, concealing a vast resource for human imagination and wonder.” The publicists for the book are Chris Vaccari, 212-532-7160, x125 and Amanda Labruna, 212-532-7160, x163.

Enlightenment in Our Time: The Perennial Wisdom in the New Millennium by Lonny J. Brown, Ph.D. (NASW), published by BookLocker.com.

Lonny Brown is a holistic health counselor, educator, and writer who says his expertise in mind/body healing grew out of his personal meditation practice and self-healing experiences. While his first book, Self-Actuated Healing, explored the curative effects of auto-regulatory modalities, he says his latest work “extends to contemporary spirituality and the ultimate discovery of enlightenment.” Brown’s section titles include “Scientific Mysticism,” “Ways of Transformation,” “Your Psychic Energy Centers,” “Sacred Sexuality,” “Why Death is Not a Problem,” and “Does the Internet Have Buddha Nature?” His book is available as an e-book or paperback at www.BookLocker.com/LonnyBrown. Brown can be reached at lonny@holistic.com. His Web site is www.holistic.com/lonny.

Brain Fact: A Primer on the Brain and Nervous System by Joseph Carey (NASW), editor, and Leah Ariniello (NASW), science writer, published by The Society for Neuroscience.

The Society for Neuroscience is the world’s largest organization of scientists and physicians dedicated to understanding the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system. Brain Fact is a beautifully illustrated book, which not only includes brain anatomy but describes the effects of strokes, Alzheimer’s, and many other ailments that affect the structure of the brain. The contact for the book is The Society for Neuroscience, 202-462-6688, http://www.sfn.org.

Insect Lives: Stories of Mystery and Romance from a Hidden World by Erich Hoyt (NASW) and Ted Schultz, published by Harvard University Press.

Erich Hoyt, an American-Canadian writer now living in Scotland writes, “Alien creatures have overrun earth. They wear their skeletons on the outside, bite sideways, smell with antennae, taste with their feet, and breathe through holes in the side of their bodies. Some of them live in complex societies and use a combination of dancing and intricate perfumes to communicate with each other. They are insects.” Hoyt says he and his co-author, Ted Schultz, an entomologist at the Smithsonian Institution and a former Whole Earth Review editor, found that entomologists are amazingly good writers. The book is a collection of unusual, dramatic, and revealing writings about the unseen world of insects, ranging from the Bible to Darwin and from Harvard’s E.O. Wilson to Wired magazine founder Kevin Kelly. Whether scientific, poetic, or funny, each piece helps the reader discover the hidden lives of these much-misunderstood creatures. Insect Lives is mainly literary but it also contains period drawings and sketches that range from 19th-century natural history classics to Gary Larson’s Far Side cartoons. Hoyt can be reached at ehoyt@compuserve.com. The press representative at Harvard University Press is Jacquelyn Moorad, jacquelyn_moorad@harvard.edu.

Ethics and Evidence-Based Medicine: Fallibility and Responsibility in Clinical Science by Kenneth Goodman (NASW), published by Cambridge University Press.

Kenneth Goodman, director of the bioethics program at the University of Miami, writes that the growth of evidence-based medicine is one of the hottest topics in health- care practice, policy, and education in a generation and has occurred against a backdrop of healthcare reform, managed care, cost containment, and quality improvement. “This tension-between efforts to make medical practice more scientific and the suspicions of many clinicians-has caused one of the greatest practical and ethical challenges in the history of the health professions.” His book reviews the history and conceptual origins of evidence-based practice and discusses key ethical issues that arise in clinical practice, public health, and health policy. Chapters address issues ranging from controversies over mammography screening to management of bioterror threats. Goodman can be reached at kgoodman@miami.edu. The publicist at Cambridge University Press is Alice Ra, 212-924-3900.

Ethics and Information Technology: A Case-Based Approach to a Health Care System in Transition by J.G. Anderson and Kenneth Goodman (NASW), published by Springer-Verlag.

Kenneth Goodman, director of the bioethics program at the University of Miami, and his co-author, J.G. Anderson from Purdue University, present 130 case studies illustrating ethical and social issues that arise from the increasing use of computers in medicine, nursing, psychology, pharmacy, and the allied health professions. Goodman says: “The rapid development of health informatics offers a rich array of issues and challenges to academics, clinicians, and system developers. These issues involve threats to privacy and confidentiality, misuse of clinical and genetic information, risks to patients of bias and discrimination, erosion of the practitioner-patient relationship, threats to the autonomy of the health professional, and compromises to the quality of care provided.” Goodman can be reached at kgoodman@miami.edu. The publicist at Springer is Natasha Thompson, 800-777-4643, x669.

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Send material about new books to Ruth Winter, 44 Holly Drive, Short Hills, NJ 07078, or e-mail ruthwrite@aol.com. Include the name of the publicist and appropriate contact information, as well as how you prefer members to get in touch with you.