Adenosine Receptors in Neurodegenerative Diseases covers the role of adenosine receptors in brain function, also focusing on related methodologies and perspectives in therapeutics. The book provides an up-to-date overview by the best specialists in the field, helping readers consider the importance of adenosine and expand the global impact and visibility of adenosine research in the CNS field. Chapters include adenosine biology and signaling, gene regulation, control of motor function, and novel adenosine-based therapies in the CNS. It is an ideal resource for researchers, advanced graduate students, clinicians, and industry scientists working in the fields of clinical neuroscience and molecular and cellular neuroscience.

Cancer Cachexia is a concise, fully illustrated handbook written with the aim of increasing awareness of cancer cachexia and highlighting best practice diagnosis, treatment, and management options for this devastating disorder. This is another title in the ongoing Springer Healthcare Cancer Supportive Care Series.

An insider's view of the most successful show in the history of TV, 60 Minutes.

The most popular TV show in America isn't American Idol, and it's not Survivor. Month in, month out, the most-watched program in America is 60 Minutes, drawing a staggering 25 million viewers in an average week.

For its entire 34-year history, 60 Minutes was the brainchild (and personal fiefdom) of Don Hewitt, the take-no-prisoners visionary who hustled the show into being and kept it afloat with a mixture of chutzpah, tough talk, scheming, and journalistic savvy. But now that Hewitt is 80 and grudgingly considering retirement, the show's direction is increasingly up for grabs, and the transition will surely be marked by some serious fireworks.

As author David Blum provides a fly-on-the-wall perspective on the show's upheavals, he'll also trace its past; although the show has aired some 5,000 pieces and has made household names of Mike Wallace, Ed Bradley, Leslie Stahl, and Morley Safer, much of the backstage story--the passionate pursuit of stories, the behind-the-scenes wrangling, and the stars' prima donnish behavior--has gone untold. With full access to the producers, stars, and executives, Blum will give readers an unprecedented view of the personalities and events that have shaped 60 Minutes - and a new perspective on how current events become news.

"Finally back in print, "Flash in the Pan" is the original--and still the best--reportage on the life and death of an American restaurant, a ground level view of every phase of its life. From the early, hope filled planning stages to the last, humiliating moments, it's a tragi-comic epic of hubris and human folly. Painfully hilarious and even more painfully true. This is a welcome reissue of a restaurant classic that should be read by every culinary and food service student in America and sit comfortably next to Orwell's "Down and Out" on every shelf."
--Anthony Bourdain, author of "Kitchen Confidential"
In 1990, journalist David Blum got backstage access to the life and death of The Falls, a downtown Manhattan restaurant that captured the 1980s in all its extravagant excess. Its owners--a tanned, Brahmin barkeep and a handsome Irish firefighter from Queens--partnered with movie star pal Matt Dillon to cater to New York's most glamorous models, actors, and writers. "Flash in the Pan" captured in hilarious detail the quick decline and disastrous fall of The Falls, and has become a classic cautionary tale for anyone who might harbor the fantasy of opening a restaurant.
David Blum is the editor of Kindle Singles, the storefront for high quality longform writing on Kindle. He was previously the editor in chief of "The Village Voice" and has written for "New York" magazine, "Esquire," "Vanity Fair," "The New Yorker," and "The New York Times Magazine." "Flash in the Pan," first published in 1992, was his first book.

Quintet presents compelling portraits of five artists known and loved by aficionados of classical music: the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the conductor Jeffrey Tate, the violinist Josef Gingold, the pianist Richard Goode, and the opera singer Birgit Nilsson. This gracefully written book offers a deeply personal look at the lives of these immensely talented and hard-working performers. The essays grew out of conversations the musicians had with the late David Blum, who was himself distinguished both as a conductor and as an author of books and articles on musical subjects.Certain to delight music enthusiasts, Quintet is a perfect holiday gift.

How do four instrumentalists with strong individual tastes and temperaments manage to forge a distinctive approach to the music they play? This extraordinary book ushers readers into the workshop of one of the world's most accomplished string quartets. In rich and probing conversations with their longtime friend and musicologist and conductor David Blum, the members of the Guarneri String Quartet, both individually as a group, tell what it is like to play together.

'This is an immensely valuable book and one which is clearly designed to appeal to all musicians - not just string players...Mr. Blum has captured in great detail the little things that so often make a great teacher. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the Art of Interpretation' - "Music Teacher". 'The volume belongs to an exceptional class of literature: it is to be welcomed as a significant contribution. In his Forward, Antony Hopkins in a most eloquent way makes us fully aware of our possible great loss had the subject material forming this book not been preserved for posterity...throughout the book one remains not only an absorbed reader, but very much an active participant' - "Violoncello Society Newsletter". 'Now we have an authoritative guide to this great artist's approach to interpretation...a book which should be compulsory reading for every player, conductor and teacher' - "Music Journal of the Incorporated Society of Musicians". 'Blum has elegantly combined precise music terminology with meticulous music examples to present lucid and revealing details of interpretation that can be quickly and easily grasped. Only superlatives apply to this book, and all serious musicians would find immense pleasure and musical profit from reading this work. Highly recommended at all levels' - "Choice".