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The boy searches the zoo, even tries to sort out his friend from penguins in an enclosure, but is unable to find him. That night, the boy stands in the moonlight of his bedroom window, worrying about his friend. The penguin, as it turns out, has found the traveling show he was looking for and is immediately hired, but when night comes, he too is out of sorts. He wonders where the boy is and how to get home, and realizes he might not be so big on flying after all. The next day, the boy goes everywhere he imagined the penguin could be, when a poster at the airport catches his eye. Will the boy get to the penguin in time to catch him zooming out of the cannon? Beguilingly mellow, beautifully tender and spare, Jeffers's story leaves you feeling that all is good in the world. If you don't already know about the boy and penguin from Jeffers's wondrous 2006 picture book Lost and Found, you're in for a delight.
By: Aline Pereira,
on 6/14/2008
Blog: PaperTigers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Picture Books, Up and Down, Books at Bedtime, The Tiger's Bookshelf, reading aloud to children, Buddhism, zen, Are You Sure?, Bruno Dreams of Ice Cream, Nancy Bevington, New Frontier Publishing, No Presents Please, Peter Whitfield, Zen Tails, Add a tag
There are times when that oasis of time before sleep provides the perfect space for gentle reflection on what might have gone slightly differently during the day: for example, a moment of selfishness or irrationality. Stories which pinpoint these emotions for young children are found in the series of Zen Tails by Peter Whitfield and illustrated by Nancy Bevington (New Frontier Publishing). I was fortunate enough to meet Peter at the Bologna Book Fair, when he introduced me to the books: and I have to say, I was captivated by them then and continue to be so. Each story is a beautifully tuned fable which gets its message across without preaching – but the moral is made clear at the end, alongside the traditional Zen story it is based on. This format allows the stories to resonate deeper, providing further food for reflection. Indeed, I would say that Peter, himself a lecturer in philosophy, has recognised that children can take the pill of the spelt out message along with the sugar of the parable.
At present there are four stories in the series, Bruno Dreams of Ice Cream, Up and Down, No Presents Please and Are You Sure? The books have their own website, where you can find e-versions of the books and meet the characters – who all have witty names like Shelly the Tortoise and Grizzel, a (grumpy) bear. Wise characters come in such guises as Guru Walter Wombat (this is an Australian series, after all) and Saint Bernard (a dog). You can watch Peter introducing the characters and the rationale behind them here. Children will identify with them and with the situations in the stories; and the illustrations are also engaging, with unobtrusive but again witty details. There’s something in there for the grownups too, like the titles of Gilbert B. Beaver’s books.
These stories are very much grounded in the Zen tradition and follow Buddhist principles – so, for example, Grizzel comes to his senses when he realises that he has stomped on a daisy (and I have discovered that, as in the illustration, Australian daisies are yellow…). However, these stories are relevant to all children, no matter what their religious background. They would work well in school (and there are resources on the website), as well as being just right for a special bedtime story.
By: Rebecca,
on 1/15/2008
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: medicine, care, oupblog, employer, ninth, expenditures, localities, san, francisco, zelinsky, Health, Law, Politics, Current Events, American History, A-Featured, erisa, ordinance, preemption, circuit’s, Add a tag
Edward A. Zelinsky is the Morris and Annie Trachman Professor of Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University. He is the author of The Origins of Ownership Society: How the Defined Contribution Paradigm Changed America which looks at how defined contributions (IRAs, 401(k) accounts, 529 programs, FSAs, HRAs, HSAs…) have transformed tax and social policy in fundamental ways. In the article below he reflects on a recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decision and its affects on health care reform. Check out Zelinsky’s previous article here. (more…)
By: Rebecca,
on 11/26/2007
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: beecher’s, Health, Science, mondays, A-Featured, Medical Mondays, Psychology, medical, medicine, oil, oupblog, snake, placebo, alternative, barker, bausell, Add a tag
This morning we presented a post from R. Barker Bausell, author of Snake Oil Science: The Truth About Complementary and Alternative Medicine , in which he argues that the placebo effect has as much healing power as alternative medicine. Below, in an excerpt from Bausell’s book, we learn about the history of the use of placebos in scientific research.
…The placebo effect itself escaped serious scientific scrutiny until 1955, having largely been considered prior to that time to be more a part of medical lore (or physician mystique) than a documented clinical entity. (more…)
By: Stephanie,
on 11/26/2007
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Health, Science, A-Featured, Medical Mondays, medicine, placebo, iridology, acupuncture, homeopathy, alternative, mondays, medical, oil, oupblog, snake, Barker, Bausell, Add a tag
The debate regarding the healing potential of alternative and complementary medicine can be a heated one. In his book, Snake Oil Science: The Truth About Complementary and Alternative Medicine Barker Bausell, professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, dissects alternative medicine practices, and finds that much of their healing powers lie in the placebo effect. In the post below, he takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the battle between alternative medicine and the placebo effect.
One of the many daunting tasks I faced in writing Snake Oil Science: the Truth about Complementary and Alternative Medicine was to compare the biological plausibility of the theories supporting the analgesic effects of alternative medical therapies with that of their chief rival, the placebo effect. (more…)
By: Rebecca,
on 11/5/2007
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Health, Science, illness, A-Featured, Medical Mondays, depression, Psychology, medicine, oupblog, psychiatry, depressive, mental, bipolar–unipolar, manic, goodwin, jamison, Add a tag
Manic-Depressive Illness: Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression, Second Edition by Frederick K. Goodwin and Kay Redfield Jamison chronicles the medical treatment of manic and depressive episodes, strategies for preventing future episodes, and psychotherapeutic issues common in this illness. In the excerpt below the authors introduce their second edition.
It has been 17 years since the publication of the first edition of this text; they have been the most explosively productive years in the history of medical science. In every field relevant to our understanding of manic-depressive illness—genetics, neurobiology, psychology and neuropsychology, neuroanatomy, diagnosis, and treatment—we have gained a staggering amount of knowledge. Scientists and clinicians have gone an impressive distance toward fulfilling the hopes articulated by Emil Kraepelin in the introduction to his 1899 textbook on psychiatry. (more…)
By: Rebecca,
on 10/29/2007
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Health, Science, A-Featured, Medical Mondays, lupus, darleen, sjo¨gren’s, arthritis, joints, steroids, family, medicine, sexuality, marriage, spouses, wallace, Add a tag
Daniel J. Wallace, M.D., is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the David Gefen School of Medicine at UCLA based at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. In The Lupus Book: A Guide for Patients and Their Families 3rd ed. Wallace provides an accessible guide to what can be a very confusing disease, providing up-to-date information and advice to living a happier life with Lupus. In the excerpt below Wallace looks at how marriages suffer when one spouse has been diagnosed with Lupus.
Darleen and George were happily married for 5 years when Darleen was diagnosed with SLE. George had grown up with learning difficulties and had had limited educational opportunities. Darleen tried to tell him what lupus was, but he didn’t seem to pay attention. When Darleen was put on steroids and gained 20 pounds, George made fun of her appearance. One night her joints were so swollen that she couldn’t even get into the car to go to George’s friends’ house for dinner. George said that her joints looked OK to him and started yelling at her. Over the next few months, George started drinking heavily and lost interest in sex. Darleen was scared to talk to him, and one day he just didn’t come home. (more…)
By: Rebecca,
on 10/29/2007
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: History, Reference, Science, oxford, A-Featured, Medical Mondays, medicine, oupblog, centenary, Add a tag
Below is a fascinating article about the long history of Oxford’s medical publishing program. To celebrate the centenary OUP-UK is also offering 100 medical titles to a deserving institution. Learn more about the contest here. We will be sure to let you know who wins!
By Alison Bowker Head of Marketing Medicine and Law, UK
The Oxford University Press Medicine Department is proud to celebrate its centenary in 2007. Medical books have been published in Oxford since the fourteenth century, but the official medical publishing program began in 1907, under the guidance of Sir William Osler.
From some of the earliest medical texts ever published, through essential guides to battlefield medicine in the First World War, OUP claims some of the best known copyrights in medical publishing. The current list serves the needs of doctors worldwide, at all stages of training and practice.
Herewith, we offer a brief history of Oxford Medical Publishing dating back nearly 700 years. (more…)
By: Rebecca,
on 10/22/2007
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Health, research, A-Featured, Medical Mondays, Psychology, patient, klitzman, physicians, medline, prognoses, technology, oxford, sick, house, illness, america, medicine, oupblog, columbia, healthcare, Add a tag
It is not easy for anyone to become ill and be at the mercy of doctors, but what about doctors themselves? How do they react to being on the other side of stethoscope? In When Doctors Become Patients Robert Klitzman, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University, looks at what the experience is like for doctors who become sick, and what it can teach us about our current health care system and more broadly, the experience of being ill. In the excerpt below Klitzman explores how doctors go about researching their own diseases and how this research seems more disheartening once they have become part of the statistics.
‘‘We know very little,’’ Roxanne, the gastroenterologist, said, referring to the medical literature on the causes of cancer. As suggested above, once ill, many of these physicians came to reassess the role of research in individual medical decisions, and became more critical in their evaluations of research as a whole. Roxanne, for example, became more sensitive to the elusiveness of ‘‘the truth,’’ no longer thinking there was just one answer. ‘‘People base things on the literature and on one paper that’s not been duplicated. I’m skeptical. There’s a lot of literature, but also fashions—things used in the past. Now we’re into other treatment approaches. We can’t cure anything.’’ Indeed, these ill physicians appeared previously to have paid little heed to the implications of this pattern. (more…)
By: Rebecca,
on 10/1/2007
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Health, history, US, aids, Cancer, sex, A-Featured, Medical Mondays, Psychology, medicine, world, disease, psychiatry, chronic, cure, psychiatric, panic, management, Jimmie, Holland, Sloan, Kettering, mental, Add a tag
Earlier today, Mary Ann Cohen, co-editor of the Comprehensive Textbook of AIDS Psychiatry helped us better understand the AIDS epidemic in young American men. Cohen’s book (with Jack M. Gorman), navigates the ample evidence supporting the fact that psychiatric treatment can decrease transmission, diminish suffering, improve adherence, and decrease morbidity and mortality in AIDS patients. In the excerpt below, Jimmie Holland, MD the Wayne E. Chapman Chair in Psychiatric Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a Professor of Psychiatry at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University provides a forward which puts the Comprehensive Textbook of AIDS Psychiatry into historical perspective.
The publication of the Comprehensive Textbook of AIDS Psychiatry, edited by two psychiatrists who have ‘‘been there’’ since the beginning of the epidemic, is a benchmark for the field —it has come of age. (more…)
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By: Sarah Aronson,
on 7/11/2007
Blog: Sarah After School (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: up and down, roller coaster life, up and down, roller coaster life, Add a tag
Speed up: After ALA, I am so behind in my work. New guy starts. I Feel like I'm accelerating moment to moment. Must write Mitzvah Day flyer...
Even faster: We leave for Purchase, NY, to drop off R at camp and hand off E to Grandma.
DOWNhill fast: In the parking lot, M finds out that his father has died suddenly. He is in shock. I am in shock. R needs to get to camp. I don't have the checks for the key deposit. I THINK THIS KIND OF JUXTAPOSITION OF EVENTS ONLY HAPPENS TO WRITERS!!!
STRAIGHT AWAY, screaming: Her roomie is very connected. I imagine every terrible mean girl story I have ever read. I cry. R's last words: Cut the cord. She looks fine. We drive home and get M ready to go south.
speed up again: Off to Alabama. On one hand, it is sad. Very sad. Everyone says they want to die suddenly and quickly. But this is only good for the person who dies. On the other hand, M's family is wonderful. They are honest, caring people. Up front. They tell me sad and happy stories. I share, too. I feel grounded. This is a good family.
DOWN: We miss our flight. (Long story--M made me promise not to tell.)
UP: We go to a resort and recover with massage and facials. Does my guy take care of me or what?
STRANGE: In the hotel, I get my first review. It's solid. It's on Booklist, so I can't print it anywhere....
FINISH THE RIDE: We are home. We need to get air conditioning. The storms are restorative. I sit in my quiet house--kids away--and reflect. Read Parrotfish.
It is GREAT!!!!
New ride: Today I have printed out my long suffering manuscript. I read Chapter One. So far, so good!!!
By: Rebecca,
on 7/2/2007
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Health, Politics, Science, A-Featured, Medical Mondays, Psychology, medicine, smoke, marijuana, respiratory, cannabis, vaporizers, pipes, particles, earleywine, pot, Add a tag
Rebecca OUP-US
Earlier today we had a post from the other side of the ocean about their new smoking ban. In keeping with the smoking theme, we have Mitch Earleywine author of Pot Politics, Mind-Altering Drugs and Understanding Marijuana writing for us today. While we don’t endorse the use of illegal substances we do think Earleywine’s point is important, that there are ways less harmful than smoking to use marijuana. Earleywine, an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University at Albany, State University of New York has also worked for 14 years on the faculty at the University of Southern California. He is a leading researcher in psychology and addictions. To learn more keep reading.
Arguments about recreational and medical use of marijuana often turn to discussions about the health of the lungs. Inhaling particles, toxic gases, and heat is never a great idea, but people who smoke marijuana (but not cigarettes) rarely experience serious lung problems. Theoretically, however, the potential for marijuana-induced pulmonary troubles seems high. As public service announcements consistently remind Americans, the smoke from the tobacco and marijuana plants are very comparable. Some carcinogens and irritants are more concentrated in marijuana smoke than tobacco smoke. In addition, many marijuana users inhale the smoke deeply and hold their hits for long durations, giving tars and other toxins a greater chance to deposit on lung tissue (For reviews, see Earleywine, 2005; Iversen, 2000). (more…)
By: Rebecca,
on 5/14/2007
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Health, oxford, genetics, A-Featured, Medical Mondays, medicine, gene, Marfan, syndrome, disease, Add a tag
Earlier today we posted an excerpt from When A Gene Makes You Smell Like a Fish…and Other Tales about the Genes in Your Body, by Lisa Seachrist Chiu. Now we are going to delve deeper into the book with an excerpt that looks at a specific genetic disease, Marfan syndrome.
On January 24,1986, U.S. Olympic volleyball player Flo Hyman took a well-earned breather during a game her team was playing in Matsue, Japan. It was the third game of the evening, and Hyman rotated out on a routine substitution. She sat on the bench and within seconds slid to the floor. Just two years after her team made history winning a silver medal in Los Angeles, the woman touted as the best female volleyball player ever was dead. (more…)
By: Rebecca,
on 5/14/2007
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Health, science, oxford, genetics, A-Featured, Medical Mondays, medicine, gene, autosomal, inheritance, dominant, trait, Add a tag
I’m going to be honest. I have been waiting for When A Gene Makes You Smell Like a Fish…and Other Tales about the Genes in Your Body to come out in paperback. It is one of those book where you are so immersed in the stories you only realize later, after you put it down, how much you have learned. Author Lisa Seachrist Chiu tells stories about rare and not so rare genetic quirks while explaining modern genetics. Below we have excerpted the beginning of chapter two, Just One Bad Apple, this afternoon we will look at the Long Stretch Gene.
Your third-grade teacher was right. Sometimes it takes only one bad apple to spoil the barrel. (more…)
By: Rebecca,
on 5/7/2007
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: emotions, oxford, star, medicine, wild, spock, trek, Health, Science, A-Featured, Medical Mondays, Psychology, Add a tag
Emotion: The Science of Sentiment by Dylan Evans is an exploration of the questions that surround the most basic of human instincts, emotion. In the excerpt below we are introduced to the idea that emotion (yes even that time you cried at the Hallmark commercial) is essential to human survival.
If you ever watched Star Trek, you’ll remember Spock, the pointy-eared alien. Spock was half human and half Vulcan - a species of alien that, by some quirk of fate, happened to look remarkably human in all respects other than those tell-tale ears. (more…)
By: Rebecca,
on 5/7/2007
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: blog, Health, Technology, Science, oxford, A-Featured, Medical Mondays, brain, medicine, neuroscience, rose, Add a tag
Today’s Medical Monday’s post looks forward toward The Future of the Brain. In the excerpt below author Steven Rose explains both the “promise and the perils” of the future of neuroscience.
‘Better Brains’ shouted the front cover of a special edition of Scientific American in 2003, and the titles of the articles inside formed a dream prospectus for the future: ‘Ultimate self-improvement’; ‘New hope for brain repair’; ‘The quest for a smart pill’; ‘Mind-reading machines’; ‘Brain stimulators’; ‘Genes of the psyche’; ‘Taming stress’. These, it seems, are the promises offered by the new brain sciences, bidding strongly to overtake genetics as the Next Big Scientific Thing. (more…)
By: Rebecca,
on 4/30/2007
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Philosophy, Medical Mondays, fetus, intact, abortion, Health, ethics, medicine, supreme, court, Law, Science, Current Events, Add a tag
Laurie Shrage, the author of Abortion and Social Responsibility: Depolarizing the Debate, is a Professor of Philosophy at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Below she looks at the Partial Birth Abortion Act.