We all engage in the process of reasoning, but we don't always pay attention to whether we are doing it well. This book offers the opportunity to practise reasoning in a clear-headed and critical way, with the aims of developing an awareness of the importance of reasoning well and of improving the reader's skill in analyzing and evaluating arguments.

In this third edition, Anne Thomson has updated and revised the book to include fresh and topical examples which will guide students through the processes of critical reasoning in a clear and engaging way. In addition, two new chapters on evaluating the credibility of evidence and decision making and dilemmas will fully equip students to reason well. By the end of the book students should be able to:

• identify flaws in arguments
• analyze the reasoning in newspaper articles, books and speeches
• assess the credibilty of evidence and authorities
• make sound decisions and solve dilemmas
• approach any topic with the ability to reason and think critically.

We all engage in the process of reasoning, but we don't always pay attention to whether we are doing it well. This book offers the opportunity to practise reasoning in a clear-headed and critical way, with the aims of developing an awareness of the importance of reasoning well and of improving the reader's skill in analyzing and evaluating arguments. In this third edition, Anne Thomson has updated and revised the book to include fresh and topical examples which will guide students through the processes of critical reasoning in a clear and engaging way. In addition, two new chapters on evaluating the credibility of evidence and decision making and dilemmas will fully equip students to reason well. By the end of the book students should be able to: identify flaws in arguments analyze the reasoning in newspaper articles, books and speeches assess the credibilty of evidence and authorities make sound decisions and solve dilemmas approach any topic with the ability to reason and think critically.

Critical Reasoning in Ethics is an accessible introduction that will enable students, through practical exercises, to develop their own skills in reasoning about ethical issues such as:
* analysing and evaluating arguments used in discussions of ethical issues
* analysing and evaluating ethical concepts, such as utilitarianism
* making decisions on ethical issues
* learning how to approach ethical issues in a fair minded way
Ethical issues discussed include the arguments about abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, animal rights, the environment and war.
The book will be essential reading for philosophy, health, social work and nursing courses.

Examining the development of a secular, purely material conception of human beings in the early Enlightenment, Bodies of Thought provides a fresh perspective on the intellectual culture of this period, and challenges certain influential interpretations of irreligious thought and the 'Radical Enlightenment'. Beginning with the debate on the soul in England, in which political and religious concerns were intertwined, and ending with the eruption of materialism onto the public stage in mid-eighteenth-century France, Ann Thomson looks at attempts to explain how the material brain thinks without the need for an immaterial and immortal soul. She shows how this current of thinking fed into the later eighteenth-century 'Natural History of Man', the earlier roots of which have been overlooked by many scholars. Although much attention has been paid to the atheistic French materialists, their link to the preceding period has been studied only partially, and the current interest in what is called the 'Radical Enlightenment' has served to obscure rather than enlighten this history. By bringing out the importance of both Protestant theological debates and medical thinking in England, and by following the different debates on the soul in Holland and France, this book shows that attempts to find a single coherent strand of radical irreligious thought running through the early Enlightenment, coming to fruition in the second half of the eighteenth century, ignore the multiple channels which composed Enlightenment thinking.

Critical Reasoning in Ethics is an accessible introduction that will enable students, through practical exercises, to develop their own skills in reasoning about ethical issues such as:
* analysing and evaluating arguments used in discussions of ethical issues
* analysing and evaluating ethical concepts, such as utilitarianism
* making decisions on ethical issues
* learning how to approach ethical issues in a fair minded way
Ethical issues discussed include the arguments about abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, animal rights, the environment and war.
The book will be essential reading for philosophy, health, social work and nursing courses.

Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709-51), author of Man a Machine (1747), was the most uncompromising of the materialists of the eighteenth century, and the provocative title of his work ensured it a succès de scandale in his own time. This fully annotated edition presents a new English translation of the text together with the most important of La Mettrie's other philosophical works, translated into English for the first time. Ann Thomson's introduction examines his aims and the scandalous moral consequences which he drew from his materialism.

Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709-51), author of Man a Machine (1747), was the most uncompromising of the materialists of the eighteenth century, and the provocative title of his work ensured it a succès de scandale in his own time. This fully annotated edition presents a new English translation of the text together with the most important of La Mettrie's other philosophical works, translated into English for the first time. Ann Thomson's introduction examines his aims and the scandalous moral consequences which he drew from his materialism.

Paediatric Respiratory Medicine Second edition remains the first point of reference for those faced with treating acute or chronic respiratory problems. The handbook discusses the approach to clinical problems, specific conditions, supportive care and practical procedures, and includes vital appendices covering specific tests and statistics. Designed as a practical guide, it serves general and specialist paediatricians at both consultant and trainee level. The book is divided into five parts. Part I provides a practical approach to acute and non-acute clinical problems. Part II provides detailed information about common and more rare clinical conditions. Part III provides useful information on supportive care, including for example, use of non-invasive ventilation and the care of a child with a tracheotomy. Part IV gives details on how to perform several practical procedures, such as ciliary brush biopsy, flexible bronchoscopy, and inserting a chest drain. The appendices provide information on lung function testing and tables of age-corrected normal values for several respiratory parameters. Written by three consultants in paediatric respiratory medicine, their expertise in the subject provides all levels of paediatricians with practical guide on a subject that is increasingly relevant in paediatrics.

Cystic Fibrosis: The Facts provides a much needed simple and understandable source book about this disease. It is aimed at those living with Cystic Fibrosis (CF), either themselves or members of their families or their friends.
The book explains clearly what is happening to the body in CF, what causes it and what treatment options are available for the different aspects of the disease. There are more detailed chapters for those wanting to find out about the genetics of the disease and specific aspects such as how it affects life choices and employment. It looks to the future in terms of potential new therapies for CF and provides useful information on organizations that can provide help and further information across those areas of the world where the disease is prevalent.

Runner-up for the Vancity 2005 Book Prize
In 1970, the Abortion Caravan travelled from Vancouver to Ottawa to demand legalization of "A Women's Right to Choose.' Nearly 500 women from across Canada joined them in dramatic actions on Mother's Day weekend - causing the House of Commons to abruptly adjourn in the midst of debate. However, the abortion law remained in the Criminal Code for nearly two more decades. BC feminists returned home and fought for repeal of the law, and to defeat anti-abortion take-overs of public hospitals. It was illegal to perform abortions in free-standing clinics.
When Dr. Henry Morgentaler won his case before the Canadian Supreme Court in 1988, and abortion became fully legal, it took Vancouver feminists only months to open BC's first abortion clinic. 'Everywoman's Health Centre' has survived against the odds -blockades, break-ins, death threats, financial problems, and a relentless anti-abortion court case. The whole social and political structure of the province was put on tilt. The reactions of government, hospitals, doctors, community organizations, political parties, the labour movement, and above all, women, are the stuff of this book. Winning Choice on Abortion tells all the stories, from the personal to the political, from the'Abortion Caravan' through the first year of 'Everywoman's Health Centre.'