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Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Science, technology & engineering
Alzheimer's hijacked their plans, required their full attention,
and forced them to change their daily habits-their very lives-in
order to accommodate its merciless, unrelenting demands. In "My Mom
Inez," author Bob Miller shares the story of his family's life
against the backdrop of Alzheimer's disease.
In this deeply personal and powerful account, Miller tells of
his role as an only son who unexpectedly found himself in the
position of having to care for his beloved mother, Inez, once it
became clear she had been stricken with Alzheimer's disease. In
this memoir, he narrates his struggles to understand what was
happening and how he then coped with the emotional, medical,
social, and economic issues her condition brings to their
lives.
With the family's history interwoven, My Mom Inez demonstrates
the strength of the human spirit as Miller remains dedicated to
providing the same loving care for his mother that she delivered to
him throughout his life.
Thomas Addison, a physician from the North of England, was
acutely ill, and he knew it. The profession of medicine had been
his life. Students and patients flocked to Guy's Hospital in London
because he taught and worked there. He had no rival in Britain
during the early Victorian era.
Addison taught his students that most people resisted new ideas
even when society benefitted from them and that people were
unwilling to admit the merits of a great discovery. This would
prove to be true particularly in the case of his own discoveries.
Addison weathered five years of scorching criticism from his peers
when he discovered that the adrenal glands were essential to life
and that diseased adrenal glands could darken a white person's skin
to mulatto hues. In the end, he experienced an unshakable
depression that ultimately led to suicide.
Medical science subsequently validated Addison's ingenious
discoveries, which led other investigators to isolate and identify
epinephrine, the adrenocortical steroids, and even vitamin B12.
In this biography, author Margaret R. O'Leary, MD, presents
Addison's life story, considering his reception during his lifetime
and recognizing his profound contributions to modern medicine.
"I found it (the story) at first sad and tragic, all the more to be
uplifted by its outcome. What better ever proof of a miracle, of
the value of family support, of the power of faith, of the hand of
God, of the unpredictability of life. All in all it's a wonderful
piece to read. What's more, you make readers care, because the
woman (Jane Williams) and her family, including the convincing and
articulate narrator, Dr. Henry, become real people in readers'
minds, people they know well enough to worry about, to cheer for. I
came to feel, thanks to Dr. Joel Hilaire's sharp and rich writing,
that I was one of those people, close to the family, involved in
every down-and-up event. To my mind you achieved exactly what you
were after with this extensive true-to-life story."--Lou Fisher,
from Long Ridge Writers Group
"As Normal as Possible" is the story of breast cancer from a
caregiver's perspective. Ray Hall was the caregiver to his wife,
Brenda, from her first diagnosis in 1996 to her passing in 2008. It
tells of their journey through treatments, the effects of those
treatments on their lives and the many medical evaluations she
encountered through their ordeal with this dreaded disease. The
story of the cancer and its issues is intertwined with the story of
her life during their years together.
Ray wanted to tell this story because it helped him with the
devastation of her being gone and often when a celebrity is
diagnosed with this disease it becomes a huge story and is splashed
all over the headlines, which is as it should be. Brenda Hall was
not a celebrity known by the public by any stretch of the
imagination; as a matter of fact she avoided the spotlight at all
costs. She was a celebrity to her family and friends, the people
who were part of their everyday lives. But, she was one of the
thousands of ordinary women living ordinary lives who are diagnosed
with this disease.
"As Normal as Possible" is Ray's loving tribute to his wife and
their life together
A portion of the proceeds from all sales will go to fund breast
cancer research.
In 1973, Dr. Boer created the Solar One house, the first house to
convert sunlight into electricity and heat. His leadership made a
lasting impact on science, engineering, and the solar industry.
"The Life of the Solar Pioneer Karl Wolfgang Boer" describes the
life of one of the most influential and recognized solar energy
pioneers. It is a must read for anyone interested in the modern
development of solar energy, Boer's dynamic life as one of the key
movers in the field, and his world authority in CdS (Cadmium
sulfide).
It provides rare insight into the personal life of a scientist
growing up in turbulent postwar Berlin. After his emigration to the
USA and his transformation as a leader in solar energy, he set the
direction for the future in significant ways:
Bridged the divide between academia and industry
Wrote over 350 science publications, dozens of books, and
patents
Created the most successful international solid state physics
journal
Promoted worldwide implementation of solar energy
NASA SP-4113. The NASA History Series. Provides a biography of Dr.
William H. Pickering. The dust jacket states: "More than any other
individual Bill Pickering was responsible for America's success in
exploring the planets, an endeavor that demanded vision, courage,
dedication, expertise, and the ability to inspire two generations
of scientists and engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory," a
quote from Thomas P. Everhart.
This memoir details the ups and downs of a life in science, as well
as the pleasures of life in Europe, Japan, and Africa. Alfred
Prince describes the importance of his many friends in contributing
to his education, successes in research, and pleasure in life. He
also describes the enemies who made life difficult. A major portion
of the book concentrates on the nature of chimpanzees, which have
played such an important role in Dr Prince's research. The
relationship between these near human animals and man is
extensively explored. Finally, Prince speculates on the creation of
a chimp-human hybrid, MANZEE, in the hope that this offspring could
cast further light on the relationship between these two closely
related animals.
Learn why NASA astronaut Mike Collins calls this extraordinary
space race story "the best book on Apollo" this inspiring and
intimate ode to ingenuity celebrates one of the most daring feats
in human history. When the alarm went off forty thousand feet above
the moon's surface, both astronauts looked down at the computer to
see 1202 flashing on the readout. Neither of them knew what it
meant, and time was running out . . . On July 20, 1969, Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the
moon. One of the world's greatest technological achievements -- and
a triumph of the American spirit -- the Apollo 11 mission was a
mammoth undertaking involving more than 410,000 men and women
dedicated to winning the space race against the Soviets. Set amid
the tensions and upheaval of the sixties and the Cold War, Shoot
for the Moon is a gripping account of the dangers, the challenges,
and the sheer determination that defined not only Apollo 11, but
also the Mercury and Gemini missions that came before it. From the
shock of Sputnik and the heart-stopping final minutes of John
Glenn's Mercury flight to the deadly whirligig of Gemini 8, the
doomed Apollo 1 mission, and that perilous landing on the Sea of
Tranquility -- when the entire world held its breath while
Armstrong and Aldrin battled computer alarms, low fuel, and other
problems -- James Donovan tells the whole story. Both sweeping and
intimate, Shoot for the Moon is "a powerfully written and
irresistible celebration" of one of humankind's most extraordinary
accomplishments (Booklist, starred review).
The life of Sir William Watson Cheyne spanned the flamboyant era of
colonial expansion and some of the most important medical
developments of the 19th century. His own role in these advances -
as an eminent surgeon, an early researcher in medical bacteriology,
a staunch ally of Lord Lister, an MP, and an intrepid traveller -
has not previously been studied in depth. Fittingly for a man of
meticulous detail, yet with a restless and pioneering imagination,
his extraordinary story emerges from a fascinating mix of family
and community memory and detailed archival research. Added to this
resource is the sheer wonder of the digitisation of photographs and
glass lantern slides from the family home - whereby faded sepia and
scratched surfaces revive the 'ghosts' who took tea on the lawns of
Leagarth House or served in the medical units of the Boer War. Many
of these rare images are reproduced in the biography. When the
author, then the manager of the museum on the remote Shetland
island of Fetlar, first began to research 'Sir Watson' in 1999, she
imagined 'in some small way ...restoring him to his rightful place
in history'.She has surpassed this, both for readers of biography
and for social historians, not only those those researching the
history of medicine.
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