Yale Press Log

MotherTalk calls The Working Woman's Pregnancy Book "an invaluable resource"

In the wake of Mother's Day last Sunday, women who plan to continue working during pregnancy will benefit from reading Marjorie Greenfield's The Working Woman's Pregnancy Book, writes MotherTalk.com. The website quotes one of its reviewers as saying: "until now I have not found a comprehensive, easy to read, enjoyable book on the subject....There are more questions answered on this subject in the book than I honestly thought possible." And Mindy Rhiger, reviewing the book for Library Journal, calls the book a "unique, practical resource for working women during their pregnancy." You can read the full review here.

And The Wall Street Journal's blog The Juggle quotes the The Working Woman's Pregnancy Book on the issue of getting parental leave from a company and the different policies various companies adopt concerning leave. You can read the post here. But it is not just for future moms that this book will be useful. Newsweek magazine's Tip Sheet section recently covered the challenge women face when they want to hold a part-time job after having a baby. Dr. Greenfield, an authority on life and work balance for pregnant women and mothers, advises "working whole days—but fewer of them. With half days, “the work drags into the afternoon, and you never get out,” she says." The article is available on this link.

Recently Dr. Greenfield appeared on Cleveland's WCPO (ABC) News, where she was interviewed by Alicia Booth on her book. ABC News Now’s Tim Johnson also did a live interview with Dr. Greenfield, which you can watch here.

The only authoritative guide specifically for pregnant working women, The Working Woman's Pregnancy Book addresses all the subjects one expects to find in a comprehensive book on pregnancy plus issues of special concern to wage-earning women. Is my workplace safe for my developing baby? When should I tell my employer that I am expecting? What laws protect me if I must take medical leave? Answers to all these and more. Make sure you also visit Dr. Greenfield's blog, which was ranked among the top academic medical and health blogs by Online Nursing Degree Directory.

Korobokin on Balkinization

Jack Balkin, the professor and author behind the popular blog Balkinization, invited Yale author Russell Korobkin to write a guest post and talk about his new book Stem Cell Century: Law and Policy for a Breakthrough Technology:

A couple of weeks back, Jack invited me to guest blog about my new book, Stem Cell Century: Law and Policy for a Breakthrough Technology, just out from Yale University Press. The book examines a broad range of legal and policy issues raised by stem cell research, starting with the issues that garner significant media attention, such as President Bush’s restrictive federal funding policy, but going substantially beyond to consider issues concerning cloning research, the patenting of stem cells, innovation policy as related to stem cells, issues of research subject protection and tissue donor compensation, and questions of regulation by the FDA and the tort system.

Korobkin's post, which continues here, has sparked a lot of discussion in the comments section. Read an excerpt from Stem Cell Century, or view the table of contents.

Lane op-ed in the Washington Post

Christopher Lane, author of Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness, wrote an op-ed for the November 6 edition of the Washington Post. The piece, titled "Shy? Or Something More Serious?," has generated strong responses online. Here is an excerpt from "Shy? Or Something More Serious?":

If anyone in my parents' generation had argued that shyness and other run-of-the-mill behaviors might one day be called mental disorders, most people would probably have laughed or stared in disbelief. At the time, wallflowers were often admired as modest and geeks considered bookish. Those who were shy might sometimes have been thought awkward -- my musically gifted mother certainly was -- but their reticence fell within the range of normal behavior. When their discomfort was pronounced, the American Psychiatric Association called it "anxiety neurosis," a psychoanalytic term that encouraged talk-related treatment.

Click here to keep reading "Shy? Or Something More Serious?"

Lane also wrote an op-ed, "Shy on Drugs," for the College section of the New York Times this past September. You can read that piece here.

Christopher Lane is Herman and Beulah Pearce Miller Research Professor, Northwestern University, and the recent recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship to study psychopharmacology and ethics. He is the author of many essays and several books on psychoanalysis, psychiatry, and culture, including Hatred and Civility: The Antisocial Life in Victorian England.

October is...

Breast Cancer Awareness Month. According to National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM), breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States. For information about NBCAM events this month, click here.

To educate yourself about breast cancer in general, check out The Breast Cancer Book: What You Need to Know to Make Informed Decisions by Ruth H. Grobstein, M.D.

A diagnosis of breast cancer is among the most frightening moments in a person’s life—so frightening that even to formulate questions for the doctor may seem impossible. This helpful book is written as a guide for women and men facing breast cancer and for their caring families and friends. It is also written for women who have not been diagnosed with breast cancer but are concerned that they may be.

Drawing on her many years of experience with breast cancer patients, Dr. Ruth H. Grobstein provides exactly the information they want and need in order to make the best health decisions. Her jargon-free book deals with general issues of interest to all women—mammography, hormone replacement therapy, risk factors for breast cancer, and more—as well as the numerous issues that patients diagnosed with breast cancer confront. Her book will be an indispensable companion, providing reliable information for patients on the journey through a sometimes confusing and impersonal medical system.

Read an excerpt.

View the table of contents.

August is...

The first of August brings several memorable events and many new releases from Yale University Press.

Did you know....August is National Immunization Awareness Month?

According to the CDC, National Immunization Awareness Month was recognized to "increase awareness about immunizations across the life span, from infants to the elderly. August is the perfect time to remind family, friends, co-workers, and those in the community to catch up on their vaccinations. Parents are enrolling their children in school, students are entering college, and healthcare workers are preparing for the upcoming flu season." For more information visit the CDC site.

Vaccines have saved more lives than any other single medical advance. Yet today only four companies make vaccines, and there is a growing crisis in vaccine availability. Why has this happened?

New in paperback, The Cutter Incident recounts recounts for the first time a devastating episode in 1955 at Cutter Laboratories in Berkeley, California, that has led many pharmaceutical companies to abandon vaccine manufacture.

Drawing on interviews with public health officials, pharmaceutical company executives, attorneys, Cutter employees, and victims of the vaccine, as well as on previously unavailable archives, Dr. Paul Offit offers a full account of the Cutter disaster. He describes the nation’s relief when the polio vaccine was developed by Jonas Salk in 1955, the production of the vaccine at industrial facilities such as the one operated by Cutter, and the tragedy that occurred when 200,000 people were inadvertently injected with live virulent polio virus: 70,000 became ill, 200 were permanently paralyzed, and 10 died. Dr. Offit also explores how, as a consequence of the tragedy, one jury’s verdict set in motion events that eventually suppressed the production of vaccines already licensed and deterred the development of new vaccines that hold the promise of preventing other fatal diseases.

Click here to read an excerpt of The Cutter Incident.

Yale University Press author voted one of NY's Best Doctors by New York Magazine

Dr. Arthur W. Perry, author of Straight Talk about Cosmetic Surgery, has been selected as one of New York's top plastic surgeons in a list recently published by New York Magazine. "Our tenth annual Best Doctors list—1,439 names in 61 specialties in all five boroughs and several surrounding counties—is a fine place to start."

Click here for the full article and complete listings.

In his upcoming book Straight Talk about Cosmetic Surgery, Dr. Perry, a practicing plastic surgeon for more than two decades, examines in close detail each of today’s surgical and nonsurgical procedures. In everyday language, aided by more than a hundred illustrations, he assesses the benefits and potential complications of legitimate treatments.  He also identifies and frankly discusses ineffective treatments. Dr. Perry’s empowering book guides you through the seductive and somewhat slick world of cosmetic surgery.  He offers criteria for selecting good doctors and facilities. In short, he has written an essential book for anyone who is contemplating cosmetic surgery or other skin-care procedures

Show Notes for the June 2007 Episode of the Yale Press Podcast

Posted by Chris Gondek, Producer/Host of the Yale Press Podcast.

It must be summer. I've spent the better part of an hour trying to figure out how to start these show notes, but I find my attention being drawn out my window and towards the early evening midsummer sunlight. lamenting the fact that my Giants just got swept by Boston and are sitting in the cellar in the National League West. If you are now waiting breathlessly seeing how I can link the underperforming San Francisco nine to Soviet machinations during the Six-Day War, Professor Etzioni's third way of organizing foreign policy, or the history of allergies and the American landscape, you have a greater faith in my writing prowess than I do. The best I've got is that the Giants' bats have seemed to be allergic to Rawlings baseballs during this month.

This was the first show that was not engineered by that master of sound, Steven Kray. Steven is fine, but the studio isn't; it is currently being gutted and rebuilt, so I handled the engineering for this show at my home studio. Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez were at their home in Israel, and before the interview, I asked Gideon how good Israeli phones were, since some of the interviews I have done with guests who were outside of North America have been of spotty sound quality. Gideon assured me that the phones were great and he wasn't kidding. They might have the best phone system I've ever heard.

June is Vision Research Month

The first of June ushers in Vision Research Month which recognizes the accomplishments of vision research and recognizing the ongoing challenges and significant progress in discovering cures for many ocular diseases and disorders.

One common eye ailment that has been receiving recent attention from the medical community is dry eye.  In a recent Wall Street Journal article, it is noted that "25% of eye-doctor visits are for dry eye...and many complaints are linked to the popularity of vision correction surgery." The article cites the rising demographic of sufferers are women over 40. This rise in complaints has led a handful of physicians to specialize in this field. "Doctors say the treatment doesn't work for everyone and more options are needed."

Reversing Dry Eye Syndrome: Practical Ways to Improve Your Comfort, Vision, and Appearance, recently released by Yale University Press, combines detailed medical information with expert treatment advice for the estimated twenty million Americans who suffer from dry eye syndrome. Dr. Steven L. Maskin, an ophthalmologist who has been caring for dry eye patients for more than fifteen years, explains exactly what the syndrome is, why it occurs, and how it can best be managed and treated. He dispels the misunderstandings that surround dry eye syndrome and presents an easy-to-understand guide that may be read cover-to-cover or dipped into for specific topics of interest.

Dr. Maskin begins with an overview of dry eye syndrome, then explains the myriad ways it can develop (allergies, aging, contact-lens use, LASIK surgery, diabetes, and various other diseases). He discusses how it can be successfully diagnosed and treated, offers guidelines for choosing a doctor and appropriate medications, and describes useful home remedies. In a concise final chapter, the doctor provides welcome answers to frequently asked questions. For patients who want to understand their disease and to participate actively in its management, this book is an essential reference.

For the full WSJ article, click here. (Subscription needed)

For more information on June as Vision Awareness Month please visit http://www.preventblindness.org/.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

As a recent NPR report on new therapy for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder explains, PTSD is one of the most controversial and widely-reaching mental health conditions of the 21st century. PTSD is often thought to be confined to veterans, but it can arise from any traumatic experience, and it also affects twice as many women as men. In his book, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: Malady or Myth?, soon to be re-printed in paperback at the Yale University Press, Chris R. Brewin explores this complicated issue with an “adroitly balanced and comprehensive review that sparkles with scientific rigor, clinical wisdom, historical perspective, and a wry sense of humor,” according to Matthew J. Friedman M.D., Ph.D., National Center for PTSD & Dartmouth Medical School.

Heart Care for Life

February is American Heart Month, a time to promote awareness of the risks, causes and ways to reduce the chance of developing heart disease, which is currently the leading cause of death in the United States.

More than 70 million Americans have some form of heart disease. It is important for each person suffering from this deadly illness to obtain up-to-date information about the many treatment options to find which program can best meet their needs.

Yale University Press has recently released a paperback edition of Heart Care for Life, by cardiologist Dr. Barry L. Zaret and Genell Subak-Sharpe, which offers an innovative approach to the best currently available treatments and specific directions for establishing an individual heart care program.

"Dr. Zaret's ability to take his years of experience and provide the reader an easy to understand book on the prevention and treatment of heart disease is invaluable,” says Larry King, CNN Talk Show Host and Founder of the Larry King Cardiac Foundation. “Anyone concerned about their heart should read this today.”

Surviving Prostate Cancer

September is National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, a time for men and those who love them to get informed about prostate cancer and take action against it.

According to the National Prostate Cancer Coalition, prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed non-skin cancer in American men and is the second leading cause of cancer-related death among males, second only to lung cancer. In 2006 alone, approximately 234,460 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and approximately 27,350 will die as a result of the disease. With early detection and treatment, however, nearly 100% of those diagnosed with the disease survive.

Surviving Prostate Cancer, a new book by E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., is the most complete, reliable, and up-to-date guide available for those seeking to make informed decisions about prostate cancer. The book explains how to come to terms with the diagnosis of prostate cancer, evaluate the severity of the disease, and assess the variety of treatment options and their complications. The author, himself a prostate cancer survivor, mixes his personal experience with factual material, and he maintains a reassuring sense of humor. His advice is practical, with dozens of tips and lists including “Ten Steps to Sanity for Men Recently Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer.” With Dr. Torrey’s book in hand, readers can now tackle all the important decisions about prostate cancer, confident in having the most accurate and complete information available.

"Fiercely frank, yet compassionate and sensitive," says Dr. Stephen P. Hersh, "Surviving Prostate Cancer destigmatizes, demystifies and educates all who have the wisdom to read this book."

The Worst of Evils

“Pain is such an uncomfortable feeling that even a tiny amount of it is enough to ruin every enjoyment.”—Will Rogers

In a world where more and more people are voluntarily “going under the knife,” it is hard to imagine a time when anesthesia was frowned upon. In the late nineteenth century when ether and chloroform revolutionized surgery, childbirth, and the long struggle with pain, the medical establishment rose up in protest, according to the review of Thomas Dormandy’s The Worst of Evils (Yale University Press, 2006) in the San Diego Union - Tribune. The New York Journal of Medicine warned that “ether is not safe even when administered in the most skillful manner.” The president of the American Dental Association called anesthesia a “Satanic influence.”

“But that satanic influence banished forever the days when healthy patients died in surgery from the shock of unspeakable pain. Together with antisepsis, it meant survival for children with appendicitis, for women facing Caesarean section, and for wounded soldiers.

Until recently, pain was a constant companion to human existence …[P]ain has provoked a chorus of questions from the seekers and philosophers of every generation: What meaning has pain in our lives? Why does a loving Creator allow such suffering? How far can we mortals go in our quest for relief?

Thomas Dormandy's The Worst of Evils explores these questions and the answers proffered by a long parade of Western cultures. For the ancient Greeks and Romans, body and mind were inextricably linked; the Stoic school of philosophy taught that pain was a disruption of that harmonious link, to be suppressed through mental discipline for the glory of Reason. With Christianity, the body was seen as a mere earthly vessel for spirit, and pain was a manifestation of divine will to be humbly borne for the glory of God. As recently as 1990, when most Americans had come to regard even a hangnail as cause for complaint, Pope John Paul II proclaimed that ‘Pain is essential to the nature of Man ... an appeal to Man's moral greatness and spiritual maturity.’

Dormandy calls surgical anesthesia ‘the most important single advance in man's fight against pain.’ Of pre-anesthetic surgery he writes, ‘In terms of survival, men were safer on the battlefield of Waterloo than on admission to a surgical ward. ... Almost inevitably patients passed into a state of shock on the operating table. ... This imposed a universal imperative. Speed was essential.’

Under Dormandy's masterful hand, the story of surgical anesthesia unfolds like a Wagnerian opera, complete with convoluted plotline and tragic – or tragicomic – heroes. . . . Dormandy combines a scientist's passion for accuracy with a historian's delight in the quirky back-story.”

Mental Health Month

May is national Mental Health Month, a time when the mental health community encourages everyone to learn more about the warning signs of mental illness. It is estimated that nearly one in three individuals experience psychiatric symptoms every year, so it is important to recognize the significance of such signs and to make appropriate choices for treatment.

In the spirit of Mental Health Month, Yale University Press is pleased to announce the paperback release of the award-winning 50 Signs of Mental Illness. Written by Dr. James Whitney Hicks, a highly regarded psychiatrist with extensive clinical experience, the book presents fifty signs that may—or may not—signal mental illness. These signs include everything from antisocial behavior, anxiety, and appetite disturbances to depression, obsessions, and sexual preoccupations. The author explains how a specific sign can be caused by several different illnesses and may even be a normal response to stress, and he outlines available treatments as well as strategies for coping with each symptom.

Heart Care for Life

February is American Heart Month, making this a good time to come to grips with the facts about heart disease and to join the fight against it.

More than 70 million Americans suffer from some form of heart disease. For each of them, obtaining accurate information about the disease and the options for dealing with it can be empowering and lifesaving. Heart Care for Life: Developing the Program that Works Best for You, a new book published by Yale University Press, offers up-to-date facts about the best treatments available and an innovative approach that shows how treatment programs can be tailored to meet the unique needs of each patient. It is co-written by Dr. Barry L. Zaret, chief of cardiology at Yale from 1978 to 2004, who has been a pioneer in developing non-invasive diagnosis for cardiovascular disease, with an emphasis on nuclear cardiology.

In a recent review in the Baltimore Sun, the book is hailed as "well-organized and easy to read" and "a good primer" for those with no knowledge of cardiology. The authors "cover nearly every heart ailment imaginable. And they include a final section on new therapies, including the use of growth factors to stimulate new blood vessel development."

"[I]f you need good, serious information about your heart," the review concludes, "Heart Care for Life is a good option. You can read it cover-to-cover or use it as a reference to help guide medical decisions."

How America's First Polio Vaccine Led to the Growing Vaccine Crisis

According to a panel of experts who appeared on this weekend's edition of Meet the Press, we are critically under-prepared in the face of the impending, and some say inevitable, outbreak of an avian flu pandemic. Dr. Anthony Fauci of the NIH says that "we don't have the vaccine production capacity at this time to make enough vaccine for the people who might need it." Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt says that "we will not have the capacity to produce three hundred million doses of vaccine"--that is, enough to protect all Americans--"for three to five years."

What accounts for this growing crisis in vaccine availability? In his book The Cutter Incident, Paul A. Offit recounts for the first time a devastating episode in 1955 at Cutter Laboratories in Berkeley, California, that has led many pharmaceutical companies to abandon vaccine manufacture. After the tragedy that occurred when 200,000 people were inadvertently injected with live virulent polio virus--70,000 became ill, 200 were permanently paralyzed, and 10 died--one jury's verdict set in motion events that eventually suppressed the production of vaccines already licensed and deterred the development of new vaccines that hold the promise of preventing other fatal diseases.

In the latest issue of Science, Olin Kew, the man currently in charge of eliminating polio worldwide, writes, "Offit's book is a comprehensive and readily readable account that seamlessly moves from historical narrative through technical exposition, mystery thriller, courtroom drama, and legal review to social commentary."  A review of the book in this past Sunday's New York Post calls it "a compelling plea" and "a fascinating and highly readable account of the development of the polio vaccine."