Ernest Baldini started out as a bullied kid in Detroit, and he could have easily slipped into a life of mediocrity. Instead, he chose a different path--making careful decisions and working hard to eventually become a rocket scientist. Along the way, he survived World War II and learned that money is not the key to fulfilling dreams; instead, it's only another tool to use in building dreams.

Over the course of eighty years and a series of carefully considered choices, he set the bar high in a bid to reach the heavens. Although he rubbed elbows and collaborated with some of the century's greatest scientists and engineers, his life parallels the lives of millions of other Americans whose years have been clouded by wars, disasters, booms, and busts.

Take a trip through history, enjoy modest adventures, and relish the tales of a man with a romantic heart whose love for life never wavered in A Twentieth-Century Argonaut.

Walter Gautschi has written extensively on topics ranging from special functions, quadrature and orthogonal polynomials to difference and differential equations, software implementations, and the history of mathematics. He is world renowned for his pioneering work in numerical analysis and constructive orthogonal polynomials, including a definitive textbook in the former, and a monograph in the latter area. This three-volume set, Walter Gautschi: Selected Works with Commentaries, is a compilation of Gautschi s most influential papers and includes commentaries by leading experts. The work begins with a detailed biographical section and ends with a section commemorating Walter s prematurely deceased twin brother. This title will appeal to graduate students and researchers in numerical analysis, as well as to historians of science. Selected Works with Commentaries, Vol. 1 Numerical Conditioning Special Functions Interpolation and Approximation Selected Works with Commentaries, Vol. 2 Orthogonal Polynomials on the Real Line Orthogonal Polynomials on the Semicircle Chebyshev Quadrature Kronrod and Other Quadratures Gauss-type Quadrature Selected Works with Commentaries, Vol. 3 Linear Difference Equations Ordinary Differential Equations Software History and Biography Miscellanea Works of Werner Gautschi Numerical Conditioning Special Functions Interpolation and Approximation Selected Works with Commentaries, Vol. 2 Orthogonal Polynomials on the Real Line Orthogonal Polynomials on the Semicircle Chebyshev Quadrature Kronrod and Other Quadratures Gauss-type Quadrature Selected Works with Commentaries, Vol. 3 Linear Difference Equations Ordinary Differential Equations Software History and Biography Miscellanea Works of Werner Gautschi

The book that finally gives a physician's inside story of the evacuation of Memorial Medical Center following Katrina - a gripping tale of abandonment and survival.

A toxic stew of floodwaters surrounded Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans after Katrina when the levees broke. Over two thousand people were trapped in the squalid conditions without security as the death toll steadily rose inside. Bodies stacked up in the chapel as the temperature soared in the overcrowded hospital and the situation became increasingly desperate. Doctors, nurses, and staff worked around the clock, caring for those inside and trying to evacuate the facility, also known as Baptist Hospital. Allegations of euthanasia would later make headlines across the country and be investigated by state and local officials.

"Code Blue: A Katrina Physician's Memoir" finally tells the inside story of the hellish nightmare those who struggled to survive the ordeal were cast into. Dr. Richard Deichmann, the hospital's chief of medicine and one of the leaders of the evacuation, gives his compelling account of the rapidly deteriorating state of affairs at the hospital. He takes us through the daily horrors and numbing disappointments. This gripping tale of survival, despite betrayal and abandonment by the authorities, may change forever the way you view the threat of a mass disaster.

What Others are Saying about "Code Blue: A Katrina Physician's Memoir"

As a physician who has been on hurricane duty for prior storms, I thought I could imagine what it would be like if we were hit by a severe storm. I was wrong. This book should serve as a warning about what can happen when basic modern conveniences such as power, running water, communications and safety are taken away. - Karen Blessey, MD

With a scalpel's precision, Dr. Deichmann takes us into the faltering heart of a huge New Orleans hospital - his hospital - as Hurricane Katrina chokes off its vital functions, one by one, and patients begin to die.
- Jed Horne, author of "Breach of Faith, Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City." (Random House 2006)

This memoir recalls a physician's life in several cultures, East and West, and the challenges and blessings of marriages into two Indian communities. The author describes remarkable personalities that influenced his life, as well as the conflicts and successes of scientific and clinical projects in academia and the World Health Organization. He lived adventures, great and small, in travels, in angling around the world, and in sailing. An adventure of a different sort is the discovery of new paths of creative and spiritual fulfillment in later life.

The diagnosis is one no one wants. It is a wretched, horrible illness and carries with it a stigma. No one wants that either. However, I have that disease, always have had mental illness, although my bipolar diagnosis was not handed to me until the age of forty. I hate it, loathe it, want to bury it or throw it into the depths of the sea, but I can't. You see, it is part of who I am.

It started in childhood and carried on throughout all my adult years. This is my story. It includes the teeter-totter ups and downs as well as the psychotic times and paranoia, hallucinations, and feelings of grandeur. My whole life is illuminated for you to read.

From a childhood exposed to public health to his career as a doctor, the author follows a wandering path from internal medicine to infectious diseases, preventive medicine, outpatient clinics, and public health. Along the way he encounters patients with rare or unusual twists, earns scars from the War against Poverty, and has memorable experiences with medical students. In addition, he helped establish the Emory School of Public Health at Emory University, where he was the Chairman of Preventive Medicine until his retirement in 1990. Few, if any of these experiences were planned. He found that many were accidental, some were unwelcome, but all were rewarding in the end.

In "What's Up, Doc?," Dr. Sellers shares the ups and downs of his forty-four year career in medicine.

Albert Einstein is an icon of the twentieth century. Born in Ulm, Germany, in 1879, he is most famous for his theory of relativity, which is considered the founding principle of modern physics. He also made enormous contributions to quantum mechanics and cosmology, and for his work he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921. A self-pronounced pacifist, humanist, and, late in his life, democratic socialist, Einstein was also deeply concerned with the social impact of his discoveries. Much of Einstein's life is shrouded in legend. From popular images and advertisements to various works of theater and fiction, he has come to signify so many things: the quintessential absent-minded professor; the gentle eccentric; the pacifist; the super-human genius. In Einstein: A Biography, Jurgen Neffe presents a clear and probing portrait of the man behind the myth. He recounts Einstein's life with detail and accuracy, presenting a comprehensive account of the educational, religious, psychological and historical conditions that enabled Einstein to become the ber-physicist of all time. Unearthing new documents, including a series of previously unknown letters from Einstein to his sons, which shed a new light on his role as a father, Neffe also paints a rich portrait of the tumultuous years in which Einstein lived and worked. With a background in the sciences, Neffe describes and contextualizes Einstein's enormous contributions to our scientific legacy. He leads his readers through today's institutes and laboratories worldwide, where Einstein's work continues to thrill researchers and scholars. A bestseller in Germany, Einstein is sure to be a classic biography of the man and proverbial genius who has been called the brain of the [twentieth] century.

Life doesn't always follow the path that one expects it to. In this memoir, author David Marty narrates the story of his life's path and the challenges he overcame on the journey. "Living Beyond Rainbows" presents a candid view of what it's like to be a gay professional. It tells the emotional story of a gay man who confronts the realities of his parents' death, his mid-life crisis, self-employment, diabetes, sexual addiction, and his HIV diagnosis in 2006. Through his narrative, Marty communicates the importance of self-esteem and the need for strong role models, providing personal examples of his enduring relationship and bond with Esther, a remarkable older woman who helps him make sense of his own destiny.Marty's story puts a real face on AIDS and sexual addiction, demystifies HIV, and replaces fear and ignorance with honesty and information. "Living Beyond Rainbows" conveys the many lessons Marty has learned on his journey, but most importantly-that life is a gift.

A surgeons view of the war in Iberia
Charles Boutflower was the son of a Yorkshire vicar born in 1782. He studied surgery at the University of Edinburgh and joined the 40th Regiment of Foot-then a Somerset regiment-in 1801 as an assistant surgeon. He served with that regiment in the West Indies, South America and thereafter during the Peninsular War against Napoleon's invading French armies. It is from his time in Spain that his Journal is particularly drawn. Although Boutflower was a medical man his writings are well rounded and comprehensive giving the reader much insight into the campaigns he experienced, scenes of the battlefield and his own perspective on the course of the war in general. Boutflower was promoted to surgeon in 1812 and took his place on Sir Rowland Hill's staff. This is a valuable contribution the our understanding of the war Wellington's Army fought and will be much appreciated by students and casual readers alike.

School nurses serve at the front lines of the everyday struggle for our children's health, yet they are often perceived as little more than glorified dispensers of bandages. This false perception, held by many parents, officials, and administrators, does a serious disservice to this dedicated group of health professionals. "Angels in Disguise" tells the history of school nursing through the eyes, ears, and hearts of school nurses serving throughout the United States. By sharing their personal experiences, these nurses illustrate their love and compassion and throw the doors wide open on this often-undervalued profession, enabling readers to see into their world and understand how much they truly care for the children they treat. This collection of heartwarming stories offers unique insight into the daily responsibilities and duties of school nurses and serves to raise public awareness of the dedication, leadership, and exemplary pediatric health care provided by the devoted women and men who care for America's schoolchildren. The sophisticated medical health care required in schools today can only be delivered by qualified professional school personnel, and that challenge is met by having a school nurse in every school facility.

An unsung heroine of the Crimean War
The flickering light that emanated from Florence Nightingale's lamp penetrated more darkness than she or anyone else of her time will have imagined. It illuminated the appalling deficiencies in the care of wounded and sick British servicemen on campaign during the Victorian era and it propelled 'the lady with the lamp' to well deserved fame in her own time and ever afterwards. It is therefore unfortunate that this same light blinded the public consciousness to many other extraordinary people who also worked tirelessly to assist neglected British soldiers and sailors in the middle of the 19th century. Florence Nightingale, despite her many virtues, was a woman not entirely divorced from the 'moral standards' of her time and this bore significantly on the subject of this book, Mary Seacole, because Nightingale rejected her as a nurse on her own staff. Mary Seacole was born in Jamaica in 1805 and was of mixed race. Her mother had cared for sick servicemen and Mary continued that humanitarian tradition in Panama before borrowing money to make the 4,000 mile journey to the war against the Russians being fought in the Crimea. There she treated the wounded of both sides of the conflict, both on the field of battle and in her own 'hotel.' This book is 'Mother Seacole's' (as she was known to the British soldiers) own account of her extraordinary life. It tells of a remarkable woman, who possessed astonishing determination and great humanity-which is all the more incredible since she was hampered by the bigotry and prejudice that were common against coloured people and women in general. At the end of hostilities she returned to England all but destitute and had to be assisted by those who remembered her great kindness during the war. This is a remarkable story and is highly recommended.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

In "Burt Russell Shurly; A Man of Conviction, A Life in Medicine and Education, 1871-1950," Robert Vanderzee continues the story of the Shurly family, focusing on a physician and educator who, with the help of his mentor, chose medicine over the military life his father had planned for him.

Vanderzee, the oldest grandson of Burt Shurly, relies on his extensive research into family archives, records, and scrapbooks to share memories of a man who married into the wealthy Palms family of Detroit, excelled in his career, and personally saved his alma mater from bankruptcy. Vanderzee chronicles Shurly's life and career, which included serving as a medical officer during the Spanish- American War, commanding a medical unit in France during World War I, and later leading the fight against diphtheria, typhoid, and tuberculosis while establishing the controversial Shurly Hospital.

Interweaving local history, family letters, newspaper articles, and personal anecdotes, Vanderzee provides an intriguing glimpse into the life of a remarkable man who was gifted with intellect, enormous personal energy, and a keen sense of humor-and used those attributes to earn success for himself, his family, and his community during an fascinating period in Detroit history.

This biography explores the life and career of the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, which is also the story of thirty years that transformed physics and forever changed our understanding of matter and the universe: nuclear physics and elementary particle physics were born, nuclear fission was discovered, the Manhattan Project was developed, the atomic bombs were dropped, and the era of "big science" began.It would be impossible to capture the full essence of this revolutionary period without first understanding Fermi, without whom it would not have been possible. Enrico Fermi: The Obedient Genius attempts to shed light on all aspects of Fermi's life - his work, motivation, influences, achievements, and personal thoughts - beginning with the publication of his first paper in 1921 through his death in 1954. During this time, Fermi demonstrated that he was indeed following in the footsteps of Galileo, excelling in his work both theoretically and experimentally by deepening our understanding of the Pauli exclusion principle, winning the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the fundamental properties of slow neutrons, developing the theory of beta decay, building the first nuclear reactor, and playing a central role in the development of the atomic bomb. Interwoven with this fascinating story, the book details the major developments in physics and provides the necessary background material to fully appreciate the dramatic changes that were taking place. Also included are appendices that provide a timeline of Fermi's life, several primary source documents from the period, and an extensive bibliography. This book will enlighten anyone interested in Fermi's work or the scientific events that led to the physics revolution of the first half of the twentieth century.