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Books > Biography > Science, technology & engineering
At age eight Marilyn Harlin already knew she wanted to be a scientist. Throughout the peaks and valleys in her life-including widowhood when her husband fell off a mountain in Switzerland, and the challenges of raising two children on her own--she kept her eyes on her goal and eventually joined the faculty at the University of Rhode Island as its only female botany professor. Marilyn's mission in her career and into retirement has been to inspire youth, especially girls, to venture into the sciences. Making Waves is a memoir of a progressive life lived with passion.
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.
Much has been written both about and by people who feel they were assigned the wrong body at conception, exploring the struggles and too often the tragedies that result from that mismatch of nature. Very little has been written, however, to chronicle the lifelong struggle of people to understand and come to terms with two distinct sets of emotions, one male and one female - a single soul, at times divided, at times united, by two clearly identifiable spirits. "Dear Mom and Dad: You Don't Know Me, But ..." traces the life of George through the eyes of Georgia, the female half of their soul, from early childhood in the post war Texas oil fields through the innocence of his early school years in northeastern Oklahoma. With the onset of puberty, Georgia watches the omnipresent feeling of not being normal cast a destructive pall over nearly everything George attempts. After the collapse of his lifelong dream, George begins again with hopes, new dreams and the love they've both longed for. Georgia finally emerges, but understanding her part in their soul comes slowly and is complicated by a tragedy of profound proportion. "Dear Mom and Dad" considers the ultimate understanding of God's will for both George and Georgia and its unusual conclusion, sharing a story of struggle and self-acceptance.
The medical profession is rich in those who have made names for themselves outside of medicine. The fields of literature, exploration, business, sport, entertainment, and beyond abound with doctors whose interests lie outside medicine. This book, largely written by members of the medical profession, examines the efforts of doctors in non-medical fields. The doctors discussed here are those who are, or were, well-known to the public for their contributions to their non-medical fields of choice. In many cases, the public may have been unaware that a subject was medically qualified. This book provides wide-ranging and comprehensive biographical sketches of forty-two doctors who are best known to the public for their contributions to fields outside of medicine.
This book portrays life inside a General Motors factory in the 1970's. Have you ever wondered why or how 'the lazy hourly workers' came to be that way? This myth is debunked throughout the book. Anyone who has ever worked hourly for General Motors, the big three, or any large manufacturing company will enjoy the experiences provided in this book. They will find themselves reminiscing in the past about their own work experiences. Anyone who has had a close relative that worked in a factory will want to read this book to get a feel of what their loved ones went through while earning a living.The book comes to the stunning conclusion that General Motor's top executives wasted a tremendous amount of human resources over the years. They looked down upon the factory workers and treated them as if they were 'disposable employees.' They never attempted to tap into the vast and almost incalculable amount of brainpower available because they simply dismissed their classification 'hourly worker' as useless. They treated them as if they were the source of all of their problems. They never even considered that with four hundred thousand hourly employees they might have had the resources right in front of them to help in solving the vast and complex problems that exist in the every day world of work.In today's competitive manufacturing environment Lean Manufacturing has stepped into the forefront for improvement. One of the two pillars of Lean manufacturing is respect for the worker. If you're an executive leader, manager or a student of lean you'll want to read this book to see how not to do it. One theory of management says that if you don't like what you see around you go look in a mirror first because your workforce is a reflection of your thinking and actions.
Dr Alverson's story covers his early life experiences, through high school, World War II, his education and his involvement in State, Federal and International fisheries science and management. His career and story cover the period (1950-2000) during which world fisheries would explode from small boat coastal activities to distant water fleets of large vessels. World catches would increase over 300% after WWII and most of the worlds oceans and seas would be heavily exploited. Overfishing and impacts on coastal fisheries would lead the world community to seek new laws for the harvest of ocean fisheries and result in unilateral extension of national jurisdictions over ocean space. The growth of environmental movement in the later half of the 20th century would lead to conflicts between fishing and conservation groups resulting in changes in national and international fish policies. The book tracks many of these developments and DR Alverson's personal involvements and experiences during the traumatic period of world fishery expansion. During the course of his life marine fisheries resource would be seen as the great source of world protein to feed the worlds hungry and later as overfished and polluted.
Imagine that murdered primatologist Dr. Dian Fossey of Gorillas in the Mist fame were alive today and able to reflect upon her death as well as her legacy. This is the impetus behind author Georgianne Nienaber's compelling work, Gorilla Dreams: The Legacy of Dian Fossey. At the beginning of Gorilla Dreams, Fossey attends her own funeral and watches her murdered gorillas interacting with the graveside bystanders. She establishes a new relationship with the slain gorilla Digit, who acts as her guide after death as she carefully reviews her life, its challenges, successes, hardships, and the ultimate closure of her murder. Although Fossey's death is officially unsolved, recently released documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, as well as testimony from the International War Crimes Tribunal proceedings, offer new suspects, motives, and opportunities. Every fact about Fossey's life is meticulously annotated. However, the setting of her conversations with the murdered gorillas is obviously fictional, yet steeped in African tradition. the famed primatologist's life that honors the African belief that the dead live on in spiritual form.
This is the story of how a young high school student, through a quirk of fate, begins walking down a path that leads him to become a rural family doctor in Montana. Having served a close-knit community for fifty years Dr. Robert Whiting recounts a story of a diphtheria outbreak, some interesting cancer outcomes, and several cases requiring difficult decision making. In this personal account, you'll learn what the medical textbooks can't teach you: How changes in medicine have directly affected practitioners The bond a small-town doctor forges with his community Creative ways to dealing with ailments The effects of malpractice charges on the profession And much more You'll also follow Dr. Whiting-a sportsman, musician, and a husband-outside the profession. Somehow, he manages all those roles as he successfully carries out his practice. Take a closer look into just how he did it, and learn how changes in medicine have affected practitioners in From the Bedside to the HMO: A Doctor's Journey.
Don Blossom, a certified pediatrician for more than four decades, relives a personal journey from childhood through a long career in medicine. Occasionally, over the course of his career, he came to think of himself as a curandero, a folk healer who serves Native Americans and Hispanic America. Before he found his calling, however, Blossom had to survive his youthful exuberance including a tour overseas as a US Army Special Forces paratrooper. After several months, he yearned to catch a glimpse of an American girl. He got his chance when he was honorably discharged and met Ellie, a beguiling lass from New Orleans. In love, he faced a future in medical school and other obstacles before realizing his dream of becoming a doctor. Blossom succeeded, becoming a doctor in private practice in a small New Mexico community, just as the field of medicine experienced some serious changes. He recalls his many adventures in medical diagnosis, the demands of a professional career in pediatrics, and the evolution of his private and family life. In his manuscript Blossom targets physicians & nurses, healthcare administrators & medical educators, parents & teachers, as well as the evolution of healthcare in America. Explore the daily life and responsibilities of a pediatrician working in a small town and join Blossom as he reminisces about his experiences in Alaska, Russia, New Zealand and beyond in "Curandero: A Physician's Life Journey."
While Francis Bacon continues to be considered the 'father' of modern experimental science, his writings are no longer given close attention by most historians and philosophers of science, let alone by scientists themselves. In this new book Dennis Desroches speaks up loudly for Bacon, showing how we have yet to surpass the fundamental theoretical insights that he offered towards producing scientific knowledge. The book first examines the critics who have led many generations of scholars - in fields as diverse as literary criticism, science studies, feminism, philosophy and history - to think of Bacon as an outmoded landmark in the history of ideas rather than a crucial thinker for our own day. Bacon's own work is seen to contain the best responses to these various forms of attack. Desroches then focuses on Bacon's "Novum Organum, The Advancement of Learning and De Augmentis", in order to discern the theoretical - rather than simply the empirical or utilitarian - nature of his programme for the 'renovation' of the natural sciences. The final part of the book draws startling links between Bacon and one of the twentieth century's most important historians/philosophers of science, Thomas Kuhn, discerning in Kuhn's work a reprise of many of Bacon's fundamental ideas - despite Kuhn's clear attempt to reject Bacon as a significant contributor to the way we think about scientific practice today. Desroches concludes, then, that Bacon was not simply the 'father' of modern science - he is still in the process of 'fathering' it.
"Darwin, Then and Now" is a journey through the most amazing story in the history of science; encapsulating who Darwin was, what he said and what scientists have discovered since the publication of "The Origin of Species" in 1859. While recognized as one of the most influential individuals of the twentieth century, little is widely known about his personal life, interests, and motivations. This book explores Darwin's driving passion using Darwin's own words from "The Origin of Species," "Autobiography," "Voyage of the Beagle" and letters. In retracing the roots of evolution from the Greeks, "Darwin, Then and Now" journeys through the dynamics of the eighteenth century that lead to the publication of "The Origin of Species" and the succeeding role of key players in the emerging evolution revolution. "Darwin, Then and Now" examines Darwin's theory with more than three-hundred quotations from "The Origin of Species," spotlighting what Darwin said concerning the origin of species and natural selection using the American Museum of Natural History Darwin exhibit format. With over one-thousand referenced quotations from scientists and historians, "Darwin, Then and Now" explores the scientific evidence over the past 150 years from the fossil record, molecular biology, embryology, and modern genetics. Join the blog at www.DarwinThenAndNow.com to post your comments and questions.
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