Joseph Carey Merrick, born in England on August 5, 1952, is better known as The Elephant Man. Through horrible physical deformities which were almost impossible to describe, he spent much of his life exhibited as a fairground freak until even nineteenth-century sensibilities could take no more. Hounded, persecuted and starving, he ended up at London's Liverpool Street Station where he was rescued, housed and fed by the distinguished surgeon Frederick Treves. To Treves' surprise, he discovered during the course of their friendship that lurking beneath the mass of Merrick's corrupting flesh lived a spirit that was as courageous as it had been tortured, and a nature as gentle and dignified as it had been deprived and tormented. The subject of several books, a Broadway hit, and a film, Joseph Merrick has become part of popular mythology. Here, in this fully revised edition containing new details, are the true and unromantic facts of his life. This is an extraordinary and moving story, set among the brutal realities of the Victorian world, telling of a tragic individual and his survival against overwhelming odds.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is found on many reading lists. Now students can read this classic while at the same time improving both their reading speed and comprehension. M. J. Howell has adapted his 'S is for Speed Reading' program with this book to enable students to get a solid grasp of Huckleberry Finn while at the same time doubling or even tripling their reading speeds and improving their memory of what is being read. If you are feeling overwhelmed by the amount of reading you have to do, this book is for you.

Young people need protection from technology. Creating a more human future is a fertile, not futile exercise. We can decide what the world should be like.

Are whales more intelligent than man? During their long evolutionary path they lived on land and chose to return to the sea. This book explores a strange yet familiar world in which whales once ruled like humans and the choices they made - both good and

The Matthean Beatitudes in Their Jewish Origins: A Literary and Speech Act Analysis examines how Matthew used Jewish concepts as paradigmatic utterances for the Matthean community. In fact, the Gospel of Matthew was the most Jewish of the Synoptic Gospels, and Matthew's paradigm was the needed transition for understanding the role of the new community post-70 AD. The importance and role of Jewish concepts is evident in Matthew's work. More specifically, the literary nature of the Beatitudes demonstrates a composition that evolved from oral origins. Speech act theory is utilized to point out the oral features of the text as well as to reveal what Jesus did in his sayings. Moreover, a speech act model is presented and applied to the Beatitudes' pericope. Their significance lies in the authoritative utterances of Jesus. By employing speech act theory on the Beatitudes, the sayings of Jesus are investigated to illustrate the force of his eloquence on the Christian community.

A new title in the acclaimed Understanding series that focuses on the science of healthcare delivery Over the past decade, the subject of Systems Science has skyrocketed in importance in the healthcare field. With its engaging, clinically relevant style, Understanding Healthcare Delivery Science is the perfect introduction to this timely topic. It covers every aspect of what actually constitutes "best care" and how it can be most efficiently delivered from an operational standpoint. The book is exceptional for two other reasons: numerous case vignettes put the content in a clinically relevant framework, and its comprehensive coverage spans everything from quality and safety to data and policy. Readers will find a valuable opening section that delivers an outstanding introductory discussion of Healthcare Delivery Science Co-author Dr. Michael Howell is a nationally recognized expert on healthcare quality, whose research has been covered by The New York Times, CNN, and Consumer Reports. He has served on national quality- and safety-related national advisory panels for the CDC, Society of Critical Care Medicine, CMS, and others. An active healthcare delivery scientist, Dr. Howell has published more than 90 research articles, editorials, and book chapters on topics related to quality, safety, patient-centeredness, and critical care.