Medical Selection of Life Risks has long been recognised as the reference book on insurance medicine. The fourth edition provides a comprehensive guide to life expectancy for underwriters and clinicians involved in the life insurance industry. Extensively revised and expanded the 4th edition of Medical Selection of Life Risks reflects developments in life and healthcare insurance as well as medicine. There are completely new chapters: on the underwriting of genetic diseases, disability underwriting, impaired lives annuities, musculoskeletal and soft tissue disorders. Several major chapters have been completely re-written, including respiratory, ischemic and congenital heart diseases and oncology. Part I - deals with the principles of life and disability insurance and the logistics of life underwriting. Part II - is devoted to a systematic clinical appraisal of underwriting problems, mainly relating to life insurance but also, where appropriate, to disability, critical illness and long term care insurance.

Nautilus Award Gold Medal Winner, Ecology & Environment In Matter and Desire, internationally renowned biologist and philosopher Andreas Weber rewrites ecology as a tender practice of forging relationships, of yearning for connections, and of expressing these desires through our bodies. Being alive is an erotic process-constantly transforming the self through contact with others, desiring ever more life. In clever and surprising ways, Weber recognizes that love-the impulse to establish connections, to intermingle, to weave our existence poetically together with that of other beings-is a foundational principle of reality. The fact that we disregard this principle lies at the core of a global crisis of meaning that plays out in the avalanche of species loss and in our belief that the world is a dead mechanism controlled through economic efficiency. Although rooted in scientific observation, Matter and Desire becomes a tender philosophy for the Anthropocene, a "poetic materialism," that closes the gap between mind and matter. Ultimately, Weber discovers, in order to save life on Earth-and our own meaningful existence as human beings-we must learn to love.

"I believe those of us with Asperger's are here for a reason, and we have much to offer. This book will help you bring out those gifts."
In his bestselling memoir, "Look Me in the Eye," John Elder Robison described growing up with Asperger's syndrome at a time when the diagnosis didn't exist. He was intelligent but socially isolated; his talents won him jobs with toy makers and rock bands but did little to endear him to authority figures and classmates, who were put off by his inclination to blurt out non sequiturs and avoid eye contact.
By the time he was diagnosed at age forty, John had already developed a myriad of coping strategies that helped him achieve a seemingly normal, even highly successful, life. In "Be Different," Robison shares a new batch of endearing stories
about his childhood, adolescence, and young adult years, giving the reader a rare window into the Aspergian mind.
In each story, he offers practical advice--for Aspergians and indeed for anyone who feels "different"--on how to improve the weak communication and social skills that keep so many people from taking full advantage of their often remarkable gifts. With his trademark honesty and unapologetic eccentricity, Robison addresses questions like:
- How to read others and follow their behaviors when in uncertain social situations
- Why manners matter
- How to harness your powers of concentration to master difficult skills
- How to deal with bullies
- When to make an effort to fit in, and when to embrace eccentricity
- How to identify special gifts and use them to your advantage
Every person, Aspergian or not, has something unique to offer the world, and every person has the capacity to create strong, loving bonds with their friends and family. "Be Different" will help readers and those they love find their path to success.

Imagine hearing the words of a song but not feeling the passion that lies within. Imagine living for years with someone in need and not being able to sense their sadness. Imagine your world turned upside down... Like so many others, John Elder Robison was born with Asperger's. Over the years, he misread others' emotions or missed them altogether. Yet he'd also married, raised a son and become a successful businessman, designing sound systems for rock bands, creating robot games for Milton Bradley and building a car business. Then, at the age of fifty, he became a participant in a major study that would use an experimental brain therapy in an effort to understand and address the issues at the heart of autism. Initially, the results are startling. John's world is shaken by a previously unknown level of emotional awareness. But over the weeks that follow he struggles with the very real possibility that choosing to diminish his 'disability' might also mean sacrificing his unique gifts and maybe even some of his closest relationships.

The North Woods tradition of making maple syrup serves as an illuminating backdrop for John Elder’s reflections on nature, literature, playfulness, and fatherhood, as he builds a sugaring house with his sons. The tail end of the sugaring season in New England is called the “frog run,� when pools of snowmelt teem with frogs and the last run of sap good for making syrup flows from the maple trees. For John Elder, a longtime resident of Vermont, a professor of English, and a man at midlife, this moment is a metaphor of loss and resurgence. In The Frog Run, Elder describes how he found a way to balance his passions for literature and for the outdoors by building a sugarhouse with his sons in the Vermont woods. For Elder, who also writes in this book about the resurgence of New England forests and about his life as a reader—moving from the game of Go to the Psalms and Bash�—the frog run is a time to savor and celebrate the fleeting beauties of his family’s place on earth. Moving and elegant, The Frog Run is a testimony to the value of embracing what seems lost.

Medical Selection of Life Risks has long been recognised as the reference book on insurance medicine. The fourth edition provides a comprehensive guide to life expectancy for underwriters and clinicians involved in the life insurance industry. Extensively revised and expanded the 4th edition of Medical Selection of Life Risks reflects developments in life and healthcare insurance as well as medicine. There are completely new chapters: on the underwriting of genetic diseases, disability underwriting, impaired lives annuities, musculoskeletal and soft tissue disorders. Several major chapters have been completely re-written, including respiratory, ischemic and congenital heart diseases and oncology. Part I - deals with the principles of life and disability insurance and the logistics of life underwriting. Part II - is devoted to a systematic clinical appraisal of underwriting problems, mainly relating to life insurance but also, where appropriate, to disability, critical illness and long term care insurance.

"New York Times" Bestseller

"As sweet and funny and sad and true and heartfelt a memoir as one could find."
--from the foreword by Augusten Burroughs

Ever since he was young, John Robison longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits--an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother, Augusten Burroughs, in them)--had earned him the label "social deviant." It was not until he was forty that he was diagnosed with a form of autism called Asperger's syndrome. That understanding transformed the way he saw himself--and the world. A born storyteller, Robison has written a moving, darkly funny memoir about a life that has taken him from developing exploding guitars for KISS to building a family of his own. It's a strange, sly, indelible account--sometimes alien yet always deeply human.

John Elder Robison wasn't a model child. He was awkward in school; he ran away from home; he threatened people with knives. As an adult, he learned he had Asperger's syndrome, which explained a lot, and his youthful shenanigans made for riotous stories. But it wasn't so funny when his son, Cubby, started having trouble in school and seemed like he might be headed the same way. This is an unforgettable memoir about a different boy being raised by a different father - and how they learn to cope with, and even celebrate, the difference.

Are you presenting a scientific research poster at an upcoming conference? Then this is the book for you You'll learn how to make a great research poster that gets noticed. It discusses technical aspects to making a poster, as well as marketing tactics to make your poster stand out It covers: - What software to use to create your poster - What size should your poster be - What font sizes should you use - What color schemes should you use - Should you use a template or design your own? - What file formats should you use for charts, graphs, and images - What is whitespace and what's it good for - Bold, Italics, Underlined text - what's appropriate and where - What are aspect ratios and why are they important - What should you expect to pay for a poster at different places - How to make your posters title stand out - How to make them stop walking and pay attention to your poster - And much much more. If you need to make a scientific research poster but don't know where to start, this is the book for you. It was written by John Elder and the good folks at MakeSigns.com and filled with tips, tricks, and online resources to help you make the best poster possible.

From the time he was three or four years old, John Elder Robison realised that he was different from other people. He was unable to make eye contact or connect with other children, and by the time he was a teenager his odd habits - an inclination to blurt out non-sequiturs, obsessively dismantle radios or dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother in them) - had earned him the label 'social deviant'. It didn't help that his mother conversed with light fixtures and his father spent evenings pickling himself in sherry. Look Me in the Eye is his story of growing up with Asperger's syndrome - a form of autism - at a time when the diagnosis simply didn't exist. Along the way it also tells the story of two brothers born eight years apart yet devoted to each other: the author and his younger brother Chris, who would grow up to become bestselling author Augusten Burroughs. This book is a rare fusion of inspiration, dark comedy and insight into the workings of the human mind. For someone who has struggled all his life to connect with other people, Robison proves to be an extraordinary storyteller.

A landmark work in the burgeoning field of literary ecology, Imagining the Earth explores the ways in which our attitudes toward nature are mirrored in and influenced by poetry. In the work of some of our most widely read poets, says John Elder, one can discern a resurgent vision of humanity in harmony with the rest of the natural order. To show us the power of poetry to identify, interpret, and celebrate a wide range of issues related to nature and our place in it, Elder uses numerous examples of works by Gary Snyder, Wendell Berry, A. R. Ammons, Denise Levertov, and William Everson. Elder places these poets within a cultural tradition flowing from William Wordsworth through Alfred North Whitehead, T. S. Eliot, and Robinson Jeffers, and uses their poems to illuminate the relationships between culture and wilderness, imagination and landscape, and science and poetry. Elder's commentaries are interlinked with two remarkable essays in which he describes his ow