New Books: June 2019

Ten drugs: how plants, powders, and pills have shaped the history of medicine, by Thomas Hager.

“Behind every landmark drug is a story. It could be an oddball researcher’s genius insight, a catalyzing moment in geopolitical history, a new breakthrough technology, or an unexpected but welcome side effect discovered during clinical trials. Piece together these stories, as Thomas Hager does in this remarkable, century-spanning history, and you can trace the evolution of our culture and the practice of medicine.

​Beginning with opium, the “joy plant,” which has been used for 10,000 years, Hager tells a captivating story of medicine. His subjects include the largely forgotten female pioneer who introduced smallpox inoculation to Britain, the infamous knockout drops, the first antibiotic, which saved countless lives, the first antipsychotic, which helped empty public mental hospitals, Viagra, statins, and the new frontier of monoclonal antibodies. This is a deep, wide-ranging, and wildly entertaining book.” — Amazon.com

NMS surgery casebook, edited by Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, Eric D. Strauch, MD.

“Ideal as a stand-alone review or as a companion to NMS Surgery, this highly practical casebook presents a series of surgical cases that begin with a clinical scenario and progress step by step through the decision-making process of patient management. It offers medical students a structured subject review, practice questions to prepare for the USMLE Step 2 exam, and an opportunity to work through clinical cases with a unique “what next” approach to decision making.” — Amazon.com

USMLE step 2 CS lecture notes. 2019: patient cases + proven strategies, edited by, Mariana Cuceu, Sherine Elsayegh, Phyllis Levin.

“In USMLE Step 2 CS Lecture Notes 2019, you’ll get step-by-step advice on how to master essential patient care skills so you can complete all 12 of your cases efficiently. Time management is key on the CS exam, and our test-like cases help you get comfortable gathering patient information, performing physical examinations, and communicating findings so that you can ace the test.”– Amazon.com

Selecting the right analyses for your data: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, by W. Paul Vogt, et al.

“What are the most effective methods to code and analyze data for a particular study? This thoughtful and engaging book reviews the selection criteria for coding and analyzing any set of data–whether qualitative, quantitative, mixed, or visual. The authors systematically explain when to use verbal, numerical, graphic, or combined codes, and when to use qualitative, quantitative, graphic, or mixed-methods modes of analysis. Chapters on each topic are organized so that researchers can read them sequentially or can easily “flip and find” answers to specific questions. Nontechnical discussions of cutting-edge approaches–illustrated with real-world examples–emphasize how to choose (rather than how to implement) the various analyses. The book shows how using the right analysis methods leads to more justifiable conclusions and more persuasive presentations of research results.” — Amazon.com

Big Sonia, by Inflatable Film & Argot Pictures.

“In the last store in a defunct shopping mall, 91-year-old Sonia Warshawski–great-grandmother, businesswoman, and Holocaust survivor–runs the tailor shop she’s owned for more than thirty years. But when she’s served an eviction notice, the specter of retirement prompts Sonia to revisit her harrowing past as a refugee and witness to genocide. A poignant story of generational trauma and healing, BIG SONIA also offers a laugh-out-loud-funny portrait of the power of love to triumph over bigotry, and the power of truth-telling to heal us all.” — Container