The surgeons' heads seemed small next to the huge dome-shaped lights. Together heads and lights zoomed in on this sick heart, which looked like a wiggly red ball of flesh. Gloved fingers felt and searched for new possibilities.

All of a sudden there was an undeniable knowing that someday I would be a member of such a team and stand at the head of the patient to guard his or her life...

Bold and brilliant, "Behind the Ether Screen" shares the true story of Gabriele F. Roden, a woman whose attempt to break free from a childhood of relentless expectations of performance and perfection, instead ended up choosing a career with similar challenges that resulted in great successes.

Born in post-war Germany, Roden was raised with rigorous discipline and motivation to choose a career based on humanitarian principles that would outlast the demolished, chaotic surroundings of her home. But it was a pivotal move to Ireland in her teens and her enrollment at University College Cork that launched her career in medicine.

Her early drive to excel in the specialty of anesthesiology brought her to the United States of America as a young graduate. She completed her internship in Worcester, MA, pursued her anesthesia residency at Yale University, and after a few years in private practice at a community hospital, she returned to academic medicine in Boston.

Spanning a career of more than thirty-seven years, Dr. Roden's moving account offers insight into the behind-the-scenes struggles and rewards of her specialty.

Early in 2008, doing ordinary, mundane things like tying his shoes and walking up steps literally took author Jim Uhrig's breath away. He had trouble breathing, and it seemed as though he could never catch his breath. That was the beginning of a long journey for Uhrig, who shares his story in Partners 4 Life. In this memoir, he narrates the path his life took after being diagnosed with the incurable idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and undergoing a subsequent lung transplant in April of 2009. Uhrig not only discusses his diagnosis and treatment, but also places special emphasis on the partners-from his personal life, his business, and his sports activities-who provided him with inspiration and help and played an integral role in his survival. He includes his partners in medicine, the donor and her family, caregivers, and special angels. Uhrig's story relates how he tackled his lung disease and transplant with the same fervor he lived life. Partners 4 Life communicates the saving grace of an organ transplant as well as the power of positive thinking.

Becoming part of the Ribbon, My personal journey is just that. It tells, in detail, what I went through during my whole process of getting breast cancer. I have always said that it is all in the attitude and now I can live to tell how true that is. I can remember saying to my Mom, "Let's try to have as much fun with this journey as we can" and I can say that I did do that. I hope that this book gives other women that are diagnosed the courage and strength to get through this terrible disease.

Dorothy Wrinch, a complicated and ultimately tragic figure, is remembered today for her much publicized feud with Linus Pauling over the shape of proteins, known as "the cyclol controversy." Pauling emerged victorious and is now seen as one of the 20th century's greatest scientists. History has proven less kind to Wrinch. Although some of Wrinch's theories did not pass the test of time, her contributions to the fields of Darwinism, probability and statistics, quantum mechanics, x-ray diffraction, and computer science were anything but inconsequential. Wrinch's story is also the story of the science of crystals and the ever-changing notion of symmetry fundamental to that science. Drawing on her own personal relationship with Wrinch as well as the papers archived at Smith College and elsewhere, Marjorie Senechal explores the life of this brilliant and controversial figure in I Died for Beauty. This biography provides a coherent biographical narration, a detailed account of the cyclol controversy, and a personal memoir of the author's relationship with Wrinch. Senechal presents a sympathetic portrait of the life and science of a luminous but tragically flawed character.

In Inside Sodom, there are several actors; "real-life" actors. Nnedi is a tantalizing black beauty, artist per excellence, prodigy but born into abysmal poverty. She survived serial childhood sexual abuse, teenage motherhood, and unmitigated deprivations during her college years to a life of triumph Her natural endowments contributed in no small way to her ordeals; an object of intense temptations and pressures from the high and mighty. She rose above all odds to be crowned a beauty queen. Eleanor is a living angel; a rich pink rose but planted in an infested garden. Circumstances and fate played their turns early in her childhood, and she found herself in a missionary orphanage. But fate wasn't done yet with her blows; her stepmom was to be the next victim of death's cruelty. All the ropes that bound El to sanity and civility got snapped. She was released to an old beckoning orchestra, and having been commandeered by the mysterious, she became a whore of no mean repute. But then fate began singing an awkward tune. When it reached a crescendo, she came home to motherhood. Her husband was no other but a mogul in the corporate world, son of a preacher of no mean repute. The pages are garnished, foremost with passionate poetry and above all with pidgin English-the "lingua franca" of Sote. With the former, the inner recesses of the actors' and actor-writer's minds were well captured, whereas with the latter garnishing, the grassroots; the flavor of Sote was not left out this real-life drama. The reader is encouraged to imbibe some pidgin verses with which to explore the riches and absurdities of Sote as an emerging tourist destination.

Uncle Tungsten radiates all the delight and wonder of a boy's adventures, and is an unforgettable portrait of an extraordinary young mind. Oliver Sacks evokes, with warmth and wit, his upbringing in wartime England. He tells of the large science-steeped family who fostered his early fascination with chemistry. There follow his years at boarding school where, though unhappy, he developed the intellectual curiosity that would shape his later life. And we hear of his return to London, an emotionally bereft ten-year-old who found solace in his passion for learning. 'If you did not think that gallium and iridium could move you, this superb book will change your mind' - The Times

My caregiver training started early in life, extended through the 44 years after Eileen was diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis, and did not end until her death in 2001. At home, I provided full care to her, planned and thought ahead, but always was willing to sacrifice my personal freedom, and to suffer frequent heartbreak. As a caregiver I received a lifetime of gratitude from Eileen, to give me satisfaction of having successfully met her daily MS demands. The early training I received in childhood coincided with the years of the Great Depression, from the late 1920's, through the 1930's, and the first years of the 1940's. During that time I had the least possible financial assistance from anybody, yet I became an unpaid electrician, plumber, carpenter, auto repairer...a Mr. Fixit for the entire Fenley family. The four years I served in the US Army were very pleasant, advancing from private to major, in an endless procession of challenging but interesting extra duties, in addition to my regular ones. These I describe as my lucky Army breaks. I have bared my soul. Happy reading

Until the age of four, Irene Snow lived happily with her mother and gentle, doting grandparents. The return of her father, a rough and tough soldier, at the close of World War II set the stage for rebellion and dissention in her young life. He was a strict disciplinarian, and she resented his authority from the outset. What's more his arrival introduced her to the baser emotions of jealousy and hatred, which were previously beyond her ken as the reigning princess in Grandma's house.

As she grew older, her life became a search to regain the pedestal she lost, no matter what it took. As a young woman, she fell in love with a married German and had his child out of wedlock. Aware of her father's deep and abiding enmity for "the enemy," she reveled in his displeasure; he in turn vowed to disown his grandchild. Irene's seven-year love affair ended with her marriage to a Canadian widower, but her wedding was closely followed by a tragedy that ignited her darker emotions and eventually brought her to a nervous breakdown, psychosis, and utter darkness.

She turned to the field of psychology in the hope it might shed light on her self-defeating behavior. While her studies provided many answers, they did not lead to peace. Finally, she embarked upon a spiritual journey that led her to "A Course in Miracles." Once she began to reach out with love, her life changed dramatically.

For all who have found the Bible difficult to read and science hard to understand, this author did too Wouldn't it be wonderful if someone would take the time to study things such as difficult verses? Also, would it be helpful if somebody wrote it in a book?
Have we really found real truth to Noah's flood? Does anyone know the physics that could cause such a global occurrence? Someone has now researched for most of a lifetime, plus three extra years of intensive study.
The answers are not always easy, the solutions not always simple. Modern Science finds more evidence almost daily that there once was a flood of such proportions.
Author, Harris F. Allen has spent countless hours attempting to answer his own questions. He has a few tools including much science and Bible in his college studies. Always an active overachiever, Allen has become deaf and partially disabled. That left far more time and greater opportunity than he could ever imagine.
Having a history of regular church attendance from his early youth, the author received a reasonable background, but always had some unanswered questions. So, in pharmacy school in a Baptist college, he excelled in New and Old Testament studies. Chemistry and science of various sorts were the main topics of study, and by adding Bible, that is an ideal mix for this discussion.
Allen will present his findings from both a scientific view and a Biblical understanding. He will explain what he found about difficult verses and some parts of the Bible that seem at times to be in conflict.
He will also discuss the physics, biochemistry and other dynamics that could be involved in such a worldwide flood. Regardless of science or Biblical belief, the flood did occur at about the time the Bible said it did.

By addressing the enigma of the exceptional success of Hungarian emigrant scientists and telling their life stories, Brilliance in Exile combines scholarly analysis with fascinating portrayals of uncommon personalities. Istvan and Balazs Hargittai discuss the conditions that led to five different waves of emigration of scientists from the early twentieth century to the present. Although these exodes were driven by a broad variety of personal motivations, the attraction of an open society with inclusiveness, tolerance, and - needless to say - better circumstances for working and living, was the chief force drawing them abroad. While emigration from East to West is a general phenomenon, this book explains why and how the emigration of Hungarian scientists is distinctive. The high number of Nobel Prizes among this group is only one indicator. Multicultural tolerance, a quickly emerging, considerably Jewish, urban middle class, and a very effective secondary school system were positive legacies of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Multiple generations, shaped by these conditions, suffered from the increasingly exclusionist, intolerant, antisemitic, and economically stagnating environment, and chose to go elsewhere. "I would rather have roots than wings, but if I cannot have roots, I shall use wings," explained Leo Szilard, one of the fathers of the Atom Bomb.

Sophie Moen suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis and was in a wheelchair for ten years. Desperately seeking a solution, she called upon Dr. Ernie Pellegrino, who suggested joint replacement. After several surgeries, Sophie was able to walk again. This is just one of the medical success stories that author Ernie Pellegrino experienced in more than three decades of medical service. Narrated in a memoir format, "A Doctor's Path" includes emotionally touching examples of the selfless dedication a number of physicians demonstrate to patients. It marvels at patients who have endured incredible disabilities and their willingness to take the risks needed to improve their lives. Not all medical stories, however, have happy endings. Pellegrino gives rare insight into the people and events in his profession. His frank approach exposes some of the shameful individuals and activities that take place in patient care. He's not afraid to confront those he believes have violated the Hippocratic Oath-to practice medicine to the best of their ability and do no harm. Providing fourteen lessons, "A Doctor's Path" helps us understand the limitations of doctors and the medical practice, and demonstrates the will of doctors to nurture and serve humanity.

Who would ever believe that absentminded Nobel laureate professor Albert Einstein was a Soviet spy?Albert Einstein's political and humanitarian commitment was almost completely obscured from his popular image by the media since they portrayed him as a weird mathematical genius. J. Edgar Hoover obsessively accumulated 'derogatory information" on Albert Einstein since January 1933, the date of his arrival in California. But it was not until the beginning of the fifties that he set his international trap to 'get Einstein."

Dr. Giampiero Favato delves into this chilling story with his controversial historical narrative, "Einstein@Berlin." He attempts to answer numerous questions, including the following:

• Who was behind the public defaming of Einstein's humanitarian reputation?
• Why did Hoover wait for almost twenty years before challenging Einstein's loyalty to the United States?
• Were Einstein's alleged pro-Communist activities a real threat to the national security of the United States or a simple pretext to take him down as a Communist in front of the nation?Controversial and intriguing, "Einstein@Berlin" propels you to confront a truth long hidden in the shadows.

What's the number one nightmare for every loving parent?

Most would say "to outlive my child." One spring break, a middle-aged dad and mom suddenly face a 50/50 chance of survival prognosis for their twenty-two-year-old daughter. They quickly realize their intense parental desire to protect their child is thwarted. Their thoughts are full of penetrating questions they were too busy to consider earlier.

How do believers get through a terrifying crisis with their faith intact? It's something God immediately began to teach an entire family.

Our Ever-Present Help confidently boasts in God's magnificent assistance to those who decide to trust Him even in the worst of times. Discover how to... understand God's ways to speak, teach, and lavishly provide during a crisis; cry out to God and pray big; trust God fully-more than people or human abilities; gain assurance that God is working to accomplish His purposes even during suffering.

This memoir highlights parents pondering the unconditional surrender of their child's life back to God, their transforming Christian marriage, God's timing, how to overcome a season of ravaging fear, and much more.

The personal diaries of one of America's best-loved naturalists, revealing his difficult and inspiring path to finding his voice and becoming a writer Few writers are as renowned for their eloquence about the natural world, its power and fragility, as Sigurd F. Olson (1899-1982). Before he could give expression to The Singing Wilderness, however, he had to find his own voice. It is this struggle, the painstaking and often simply painful process of becoming the writer and conservationist now familiar to us, that Olson documented in the journal entries gathered here. Written mostly during the years from 1930 to 1941, Olson's journals describe the dreams and frustrations of an aspiring writer honing his skills, pursuing recognition, and facing doubt while following the academic career that allowed him to live and work even as it consumed so much of his time. But even as he speaks with immediacy and intensity about the conditions of his apprenticeship, Olson can be seen developing the singular way of observing and depicting the natural world that would bring him fame-and also, more significantly, alert others to the urgent need to understand and protect that world. Author of Olson's definitive biography, editor David Backes brings a deep knowledge of the writer to these journals, providing critical context, commentary, and insights along the way. When Olson wrote, in the spring of 1941, "What I am afraid of now is that the world will blow up just as I am getting it organized to suit me," he could hardly have known how right he would prove to be. It is propitious that at our present moment, when the world seems once more balanced on the precipice, we have the words of Sigurd F. Olson to remind us of what matters-and of the hard work and the wonder that such a reckoning requires.