This book provides a broad introduction to the important topic of concussive brain injury that considers historical, medical, research-based, and legal and ethical perspectives. The devastating long-term effects of concussions and the apparent mismanagement of concussion treatment among college and professional athletes have received major media attention in recent years. Do athletes-especially young ones-and their parents understand the physical risks and potential lifelong costs involved with playing their sport? Are injuries handled properly, or are players' careers and teams' successes put ahead of health and safety? Written by a Harvard-educated doctor who conducts clinical and scientific research in the area of sports injuries and concussive brain injuries, this book provides readers with honest and authoritative information about concussions. The book's chapters address the subject from all angles and shed light on current debates related to concussions caused by sports injuries and accidents. Examines the topic of concussions from historical and legal/ethical perspectives as well as medical perspectives and provides insights into current issues and controversies Includes excerpts from primary source documents that provide additional information and bolster students' critical thinking skills Provides a full complement of research tools for students: a timeline, glossary, index, and sources for additional information

Over the course of several decades, scientific fact has overtaken science fiction as humankind's understanding of the universe has expanded. Mirroring this development, the cinematic depictions of space exploration over the last century have evolved from whimsical sci-fi fantasies to more fact-based portrayals. This book chronologically examines 75 films that depict voyages into outer space and offers the historical, cultural, and scientific context of each. These films range from Georges Melies' fantastical A Trip to the Moon to speculative science fiction works such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Solaris, and Contact, and fact-based accounts of actual space missions as depicted in The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, Salyut 7 and First Man. Each film is analyzed not only in terms of its direction, screenplay, and other cinematic aspects but also its scientific and historical accuracy. The works of acclaimed directors, including Fritz Lang, George Pal, Stanley Kubrick, Andrei Tarkovsky, Robert Wise, Ron Howard, Robert Zemeckis, Ridley Scott, and Christopher Nolan, are accorded special attention for their memorable contributions to this vital and evolving subgenre of science fiction film.

A popular phenomenon since antiquity, the image of the haunted house is one that has translated elegantly into the modern medium of film. The haunted house transcends genre, appearing in mysteries, gothic romances, comedies and horror films. This book is the first comprehensive historical and critical study of themes surrounding haunted houses in film. Covering over 100 films, this reference work spans from the Mystery House thrillers of the silent era to the high-tech, big budget productions of the 21st Century. Included are the works of acclaimed directors such as D.W. Griffith, Robert Wise, Mario Bava, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Tim Burton and Guillermo Del Toro. The book also covers the real-life haunted house phenomenon and movies based on paranormal case files, including those featured in films like the Conjuring series.

This examination of the history of vampires within the science fiction realm also analyses the role of science and pseudo-science from the 18th century to modern times. The vampire's connection with science fiction is traced to its literary origins during the Victorian Era in seminal works by Bram Stoker, H.G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle and other writers of the period and later refined by modern SF writers such as Richard Matheson, Whitley Strieber and Brian Aldiss. The history of the science fiction vampire in the cinema, from the silent era to the 21st century is given in detail. More than 60 films are discussed, including works by such acclaimed directors as Roger Corman, Mario Bava, David Cronenberg, Guillermo Del Toro and Steven Spielberg. The book treats of time-travelling vampires, spacefaring vampires, future-noir hemophages, giant mutant bats, vampiric plants, blood-drinking mad scientists, cyber-vamps, half-human hybrid dhampirs and bloodsucking extraterrestrials - the ever-popular children of the night.

Cinema is ideally suited to render the fantastic world of ESP and other psychic or paranormal abilities tangible to an audience. A technique as simple as a voice-over can simulate mental telepathy, while unusual lighting, set design, or creative digital manipulation can conjure clairvoyant visions, precognition, or even psychokinesis. This book explores the depiction of paranormal powers in fiction films, examining how popular films like ""Star Wars"", ""Independence Day"", ""The Green Mile"", and dozens of others both reflect and influence the way modern society perceives the notion of psychic abilities. The psychic theme is explored in nearly 100 films from a variety of genres including drama, comedy, horror, science fiction, crime melodrama, and children's films, providing a concise review of the history and concepts of mainstream cinematic parapsychology.

A comprehensive summary of sport-related concussion for parents, coaches, and athletes that considers the physics behind the injury, identifies what can be done to reduce the risk of its occurrence, and describes how to respond to a suspected concussion. Concussion injury among athletes continues to be a subject of great concern. Increasing attention and research is focusing on the most vulnerable of athletes-children. What strategies can be taken to best protect young athletes in sports from grammar school football leagues to high school hockey and soccer teams from concussion? How do we treat youngsters who suffer head injuries in sports? What are the ethical considerations in allowing children to play such sports, given the risks to still-developing brains? In this updated and expanded guide, William Meehan, MD, explains simply and clearly how coaches, parents, and others who work with young athletes can recognize concussion; best help children and youths recover from concussion injuries; and take steps to become proactive to prevent concussion. Readers will learn what causes a sport-related concussion; what happens to brain cells during a concussion; and why concussion, which in the past was dismissed as a trivial injury, is taken so much more seriously now. The book explains how to decrease the risk of concussion; addresses the potential for cumulative effects from multiple concussions, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy; and discusses the ethical dimensions of deciding whether an athlete with multiple concussions should continue to participate in high-risk sports. Provides a detailed but easy-to-understand, jargon-free explanation of types of trauma and the forces that result in a concussion as well as what happens to brain cells when the brain suffers a concussion Presents the facts about sport-related concussion and the potential for cumulative effects of sport-related concussions, including a discussion about chronic traumatic encephalopathy Informs athletes, parents, and coaches about ways in which to prepare for a possible concussion, how to respond to a potential concussion, and steps to take to decrease the risk of a concussion injury

This critical study traces the common origins of film noir and science fiction films, identifying the many instances in which the two have merged to form a distinctive subgenre known as Tech-Noir. From the German Expressionist cinema of the late 1920s to the present-day cyberpunk movement, the book examines more than 100 films in which the common noir elements of crime, mystery, surrealism, and human perversity intersect with the high technology of science fiction. The author also details the hybrid subgenre's considerable influences on contemporary music, fashion, and culture.

For thousands of years and across many cultures, mankind has held folk beliefs about the existence of the doppelganger, a German word meaning ""double walker."" According to these beliefs, everyone is thought to have a double, an identical second self that is often the antithesis of one's original identity and is usually considered an omen of misfortune or death. The theme of the double has inspired works by E.T.A. Hoffmann, Poe, de Maupassant, Dostoevsky and others, and has been the basis for classic films in the genres of mystery, horror and science fiction. This theme is examined in film noir and neo-noir, with a special emphasis on the works of Alfred Hitchcock. In the realm of horror, films by Mario Bava, Roger Corman, David Crobnenberg, George Romero and other masters of the macabre are discussed. The theme also appears in many science fiction classics, from Fritz Lang's Metropolis to James Cameron's Avatar. Over one hundred films by acclaimed directors such as Robert Siodmak, Don Siegel, John Frankenheimer, Terry Gilliam, Brian De Palma, Roman Polanski and others are analyzed in this critical survey of one of the most enduring and mysterious motifs in cinema history.

The alien abduction phenomenon is one of the enduring enigmas of our time. While the reality of alien abductions is a hotly debated topic among UFO researchers, scientists, skeptics and true believers alike, the phenomenon indisputably exists as an artifact of popular culture. This book analyzes more than 75 films that draw their inspiration from allegedly fact-based accounts of alien contact, from 1951's The Man from Planet X to Contactee in 2021. These films are examined in terms of both their cinematic qualities and their exploration of thematic elements derived from abduction reports. Abduction motifs that appear in science fiction classics such as The Day the Earth Stood Still, 2001 and Close Encounters are analyzed, as well as those in lesser-known films like The Stranger Within, Starship Invasions, Dark Skies and Proximity. Special attention is given to movies based on the famed experiences of abductees Betty and Barney Hill, Whitley Strieber and Travis Walton. The book also addresses skeptical theories about the origins of the phenomenon in science fiction and examines an uncanny prescience that appears to anticipate these inexplicable occurrences.