NEW BOOKS

The Winter Bookshelf

Recent Books by Faculty of Harvard Medical, Dental, and Public Health School

Bill Cosby and Alvin Poussaint
Come On People: On the Path from Victims to Victors
Thomas Nelson
For three years, comedian Bill Cosby and Alvin Poussaint, HMS professor of psychiatry at Judge Baker Children’s Center, held meetings around the country to listen to the concerns facing the black community. The result of their collaboration is a book that addresses what they find to be the most pervasive problems and urges the reader to find solutions rather than wait to be rescued. Included are stories from the people they met during their travels who have overcome these challenges.

Edwin Mikkelson
The Rational Use of Psychotropic Medication for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities: Pathways to and from Polypharmacy
NADD Press
The “major tranquilizer” era, writes Edwin Mikkelson, HMS associate professor of psychiatry at McLean Hospital, saw the indiscriminate use of psychotropic medications (which often had a sedative effect) in individuals with intellectual disabilities. The purpose was to address behavioral issues with little regard to any legitimate psychiatric conditions. This practice continues, Mikkelson argues, except now he encounters intellectually disabled patients who are prescribed multiple classes of modern drugs, sometimes five or six at a time. This book provides a method for practitioners to evaluate the appropriateness of psychotropic medications for these patients and rule out non-psychiatric reasons for a patient’s behavior.

Jorge Chavarro and Walter Willett
The Fertility Diet
McGraw Hill
Using data from the Nurses’ Health Study II, the authors—study founder Walter Willett, the Fredrick John Stare professor of epidemiology and nutrition and chair of the Nutrition Department at HSPH, and Jorge Chavarro, an HSPH research fellow—identify 10 dietary and lifestyle guidelines to improve ovulation-related infertility. Some of the more obvious suggestions are to avoid trans fats and exercise, but there is also the surprising finding that full-fat dairy, in moderate amounts, can improve fertility, while low-fat and fat-free dairy have the opposite effect. The authors devote a chapter to each recommendation, delving into the science behind their suggestions, and include a chapter of fertility-friendly recipes.

Lawrence Cohn, Editor
Cardiac Surgery in the Adult, Third Edition
McGraw Hill
The third edition of this text, a comprehensive guide to cardiac surgery edited by Lawrence Cohn, the Virginia and James Hubbard cardiac professor of surgery, marks the book’s 10th anniversary. This latest version includes six chapters that address new techniques, advances, and procedures, such as minimally invasive surgery, cardiac imaging, and stem cell therapy. Other sections include the history of cardiac surgery, cardiac surgical pathology, and preoperative and postoperative care. Sections are organized by disease, with chapters within each section discussing related procedures. Included is a DVD with surgical video clips to further illustrate complex procedures.

Howard Libman and Harvey Makadon, Editors
HIV, Third Edition
American College of Physicians
Due to advances in treatment and understanding, AIDS has progressed from being an automatic death sentence to, in some patients, a chronic disease that needs to be managed. Edited by Howard Libman and Harvey Makadon, both HMS associate professors of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the new edition of this treatment guide contains updated chapters that reflect this and other recent developments in the management and treatment of AIDS. Additions include chapters on global epidemiology and the challenges of delivering care in developing and resource-limited communities. The book also includes a drug glossary, an update on drug-resistant mutations, and full-color photographs.

Blaise Aguirre
Borderline Personality Disorder in Adolescents: A Complete Guide to Understanding and Coping When Your Adolescent has BPD
Fair Winds Press
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is often misdiagnosed in teenagers, or brushed off as typical adolescent moodiness. In addition, according to Blaise ­Aguirre, HMS clinical instructor in psychiatry at McLean Hospital, BPD has such a stigma attached to it that many clinicians are reluctant to burden a child with the label. But this may do a disservice to patients and their families. Written for parents, this book provides an in-depth discussion of symptoms, coping strategies, and treatment options. In particular, Aguirre favors dialectical behavior therapy, which focuses on teaching patients the skills to deal with overwhelming emotions.

Simeon Locke
Consciousness, Self-consciousness, and the Science of Being Human
Praeger
There are three questions that arise in the debate about consciousness, writes Simeon Locke, a retired HMS associate professor of neurology. These address how to define consciousness, how to measure it, and how to explain it. Locke attempts to answer these questions by examining different elements of consciousness—attention, language, and movement, for example—as functions of the central nervous system and by looking at the phenomenon from both a philosophical and scientific perspective.

Lisa Zaoutis and Vincent Chiang, Editors
Comprehensive Pediatric Hospital Medicine
Mosby
The notion of a hospitalist, or a physician who spends a significant amount of time as a primary care doctor for inpatients, is relatively new in the United States. Editors Vincent Chiang, HMS assistant professor at Children’s Hospital Boston, and Lisa Zaoutis, at the University of Pennsylvania, have assembled more than 300 contributions that address the subspecialty of pediatric hospital care from infancy to adolescence. The book is organized into four sections. The first discusses general issues of pediatric medicine; the second provides an overview of common symptoms; the third provides a systems approach to specific conditions; and the fourth highlights particular procedures. Color coding makes it easier to navigate the book’s 1,200-plus pages.

Muriel Gillick
The Denial of Aging: Perpetual Youth, Eternal Life, and Other Dangerous Fantasies
Harvard University Press
All the vitamins, exercise regimens, and plastic surgery in the world can only stave off the inevitable for a while—we are going to get old. It is time to abandon efforts to reverse the aging process and instead focus on getting ready for a satisfying old age, urges Muriel Gillick, HMS associate clinical professor of ambulatory care and prevention. Less is more, she advises, noting that efforts to cure illness and prolong life can make the last years of life more uncomfortable than they should be. She also offers wisdom on Medicare, nursing homes, and assisted living, using the stories of patients she has met.

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