Book Reviews
“This book will be of great interest to a range of practitioners and students working with children, adolescents and their families. This includes those working in medical, psychology, social work and educational settings. It addresses a much under recognised condition: Neurodevelopmental Disorder Prenatal Alcohol Exposure (NDPAE), that is only now being given the attention it deserves. NDPAE may impact on the lives of so many young people who have learning difficulties, behaviour issues and problems in school and residential settings, yet it is often not thought about or considered. Dr. O’Malley has updated his earlier work to include the latest thinking and research on NDPAE. He has vast experience internationally in diagnosing and treating the condition. He is one of the foremost practitioners and thinkers in the field. He promotes a “systems of care” approach which involves parents and a multidisciplinary range of professionals which is very practical and helpful. As a forensic psychologist specialising in working with children and adolescents in the child care systems of Ireland and the UK I have found his work most illuminating and his advice invaluable. I warmly recommend this up-dated edition and believe it is a “must read” for anyone who wishes to learn about NDPAE.” – Dr. Bill Lockhart, PhD, OBE, Forensic Psychologist
“This impressive overview covers much that is presently understood about the deleterious impact a pregnant mother’s alcohol consumption has on her developing fetus. An updated and expanded survey, this is much broader in scope than the original text…O’Malley’s offering is a rich trove of information and insight about an urgent public health, economic and societal crisis… READ MORE>>” – Joe Martin, co-founder of both the homeless rescue Downtown Emergency Service Center and the Pike Market Medical Clinic, Seattle, Washington, USA
“‘Quality of Education’ is the buzz word that one keeps hearing across the globe. One can never undermine the fact that the quality of education can be enhanced only when we gain knowledge of the underlying skills that help children to be literate. Even today, education of children has been viewed within the framework of the school curriculum which is neither true nor fair. Pratham, a non-governmental organization has proved beyond doubt that children begin to learn literacy skills much before formal schooling. Pratham’s preschool package for 3 to 5 year- old is based on themes from the child’s immediate environment. The program also has the end goal of preparing children with enough school readiness skills so that the transition to schools will be a smooth and easy experience. In my opinion, the Monograph on Emergent Literacy Spectrum of Bilingual Children in India is the right piece of work at the most appropriate time. The Monograph opens up a vista of thoughts, research questions, ideas, and activities for educational practice in both monolingual and bilingual contexts. Since bilingual children are facilitated in their cognitive development, the thrust given by the author to the spectrum of skills should be taken into cognizance by the educational authorities, teachers, professionals, and parents. I wish there would be more books in the future to gear up our focus on Quality of Education, RPwD Act, and NEP, 2020.”
Padmini, T. Ph.D., (Former) Emeritus Professor of Education, Department of Studies in Education, University of Mysore, Mysore, India
“Significant development across the globe is a matter of pride for all human beings. It is beyond doubt that for all these developments, the crucial factor is literacy. It is my conviction that literacy enhancement in children lays a strong foundation for a productive world. My service for nearly four decades as Itinerant Speech Therapist liaising between institutional-based professionals as well as community-level functionaries left me in a lurch for want of an introductory book on emergent literacy. I had shared my thoughts with Dr. Prema Rao, who judiciously considered writing a Monograph on emergent literacy. The Monograph, in addition to the description of different phases of emergent literacy, brings out the spectrum of skills that emerge in bilingual children drawing support from research. The reader-friendly writing style, sections focused on specific themes augmented with relevant diagrams hold the attention of readers. I sincerely hope and wish that the readers make the best use of information and resources available in the Monograph to facilitate literacy development in children.”
Ms. Indira Nair, Graduate in Speech and Hearing, (Former) Itinerant Speech Therapist, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Manasagangothri, Mysore, India
“When COVID-19 related hospital admissions rise in many states throughout the nation it presents an extraordinary ongoing challenge to the healthcare system. It is in this setting, as heroes at the frontlines of critical care, that Dr. Sujanthy Rajaram with her co-editors and authors created COVID by Cases: A Pandemic Review. Written over the last 6 months, this multidisciplinary and multi-institutional effort contains contemporary pragmatic advice derived from the firsthand experiences of its authors and the available literature. The book begins with a historical and pathophysiological review of COVID-19 infection followed by 26 more chapters covering the respiratory, cardiovascular, renal, gastrointestinal, neurological, cytopathological, coagulopathic and thrombotic manifestations of COVID-19 infection. Included are chapters on the unique clinical aspects of COVID infection in airway management, oxygen therapy, ventilation, sedation and analgesia, pharmacotherapy, CPR, pregnancy, and ECMO. Additional chapters discuss personal protective equipment, vaccines, comorbidities, morbidity and mortality, and COVID in children. Nursing perspectives are given in the chapter “Reflections and Experiences” and international perspectives in “The Global Response to COVID-19”. Topics in rehabilitation and long-term care, and difficult issues in ethics and palliative care are discussed. Although the book is comprehensive in scope, the chapters use cases as platforms for discussion and are concise and easy to read. COVID by Cases is a worthwhile resource for practitioners and students caring for COVID patients in acute care settings including the emergency department and hospital wards, in addition to the ICU.”
John M. Oropello, MD, FACP, FCCP, FCCM, Professor of Surgery & Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Director, Transplant ICU, Program Director, Critical Care Medicine, Institute for Critical Care Medicine, New York City, NY USA
“The editors and co-authors have written a very relevant book at this time and place. Since they are themselves health care providers treating COVID-19 patients, they are in a unique position to provide us with this important information. The book is well written and an excellent case-based review of the pandemic with 27 chapters. Congratulations for writing such a book during the pandemic while at the same time caring for patients!”
Arthur S. Walters, M.D., Professor of Neurology, Division of Sleep Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
“The authors in compiling, organizing, and dissecting the existing medical knowledge have provided a wonderful service to the medical community. Having up-to-date, state-of-the-art information that can be trusted about COVID-19 is critical to our patient care. The book traverses a broad array of topics from critical care management and palliation to vaccination and pharmacotherapy with a balanced and even-handed approach. It delves into issues that impact all clinicians and simultaneously appeals to the specialists. While universally appealing topics like treatment are well-presented, other important areas such as quality and safety are not given short shrift. There are even discussions of things I have never considered such as how to prone an intubated pregnant patient. Such practical, evidence-based guidance is exactly what clinicians need in this moment. In a structured, easily readable text that covers a wide range of COVID-related issues, the book serves as a comprehensive resource to review and digest the many faceted and ever evolving COVID story.”
Elizabeth Cerceo, MD, FACP, FHM, Associate Professor Medicine, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Associate Program Director and Hospitalist, Cooper University Hospital, Advocacy Chair, American College of Physicians, New Jersey, USA
“Drs. Brugge and Fuller have produced a timely collection of the critical research on the health effects of exposure to ultrafine particles. The book captures the collective wisdom and knowledge of some of the major contributors to this area of research and makes a compelling case for the cause-effect relationship between exposure to ultrafine particles, resulting from combustion of fossil fuels, and various adverse health outcomes. They have weaved together an outstanding body of science to tell an exciting story of scientific discovery.”
Kenneth Olden, Ph.D.
Former Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
National Institutes of Health
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
“Finally, we have an authoritative book that serves as a compendium on ultrafine particle pollution in our air. Unlike particles of dust we see floating in a shaft of light or cigarette smoke, ultrafine particles are present in copious numbers and yet, are unseen. Consider every quiet breath we take is 200-300 cubic centimeters, so over the course of day we can easily inhale billons of UFPs. Ambient Combustion Ultrafine Particles and Health is pertinent not just to air pollution epidemiologists, but other professionals needing to know sources of UFP to inform design of appliances, ventilation systems and product formulations. Read this book for a new perspective on what we are all breathing.”
John D. Spengler, PhD
Akira Yamaguchi Professor of Environmental Health and Human Habitation
Department of Environmental Health
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
“Perspectives on Consciousness is an excellent set of essays on the nature of consciousness in relationship to profound questions regarding its spiritual presence, and also on education. This is a resource book for all universities and especially graduate libraries, as well as anyone deeply interested in these topics. It is a valuable contribution to the field of consciousness studies.”
Professor Allan Combs, Ph.D.;
Author of Consciousness Explained Better; The Radiance of Being; The Postconventional Personality
“A valuable and sophisticated contribution to interdisciplinary consciousness studies. It is intellectually challenging…”
David Livingstone Smith, Professor of Philosophy, University of New England;
Author of Less than Human, and The Most Dangerous Animal
“Poetic, profound and insightful, and replete with many jewels! Really made me think, stretching my own boundaries. That makes it dangerously good.”
Harris L. Friedman, PhD, Visiting Scholar, History of Science, Harvard University;
Author of Transcultural Competence and A Fractal Epistomology for a Scientific Psychology
“In the time of COVID-19, when many countries are realizing the particular vulnerability of the older population, this book puts the problem of caring for this group in a broad context across a spectrum of low, middle and high-income countries. It presents a variety of approaches to long-term care and shows the need for more information in order to find appropriate ways to address the health and economic needs of both the people with needs and those who care for them. This book is a must-read for policymakers and academics interested in how to approach long-term care policies but it is also useful for those who will benefit from better ways to provide care.”
Thomas J. Bossert
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
“This book is an important step in understanding and demystifying one of the most pressing issues in contemporary society the provision of long-term care in societies facing demographic changes…This book presents challenges, good practices, and solutions in diverse settings, providing important lessons for not just countries with similar conditions, but also in helping low and middle-income countries in finding their own way in dealing with the increase in long-term care needs.”
Enrique Vega
Pan American Health Organization
“This book provides a welcome clinical resource for clinicians caring for aging adults of African descent. It focuses on unique cultural features and common health concerns as well as the health care delivery challenges facing caring physicians. It is a valuable new clinical guide that provides the necessary details to give African adults over the age of 65 holistic care to maintain physical, cognitive and psychosocial functions.”
Mark E. Williams, MD, FACP
Ward K. Ensminger Distinguished Professor of Geriatric Medicine, Emeritus, UVA School of Medicine
“As Professor at the Universitas Pembangunan Jaya, with daily activities in lecturing, doing research, as well as water resources development planning, I really praise the Nova Science Publishers for publishing selected papers from ‘2020 International Conference on Urban Sustainability, Environment, and Engineering (CUSME 2020)’. Hence, this publication would be useful for professionals, reseachers, scholar, policymakers, and NGO. I believe that currently, many professionals would like to give more attention on development of sustainable urban. In addition, this publication could be used as reference for City authorities to make appropriate policy choices to protect the provision of equitable housing, health, and transportation services.”
Prof. Ir. Frederik Josep Putuhena M.Sc., Ph.D, Center for Urban Studies – Universitas Pembangunan Jaya
“Urban Development and Lifestyle are trend issues for the cities around the world. Learning from experiences is the most effective way to support the cities to be sustainable developed. This book offers the knowledge sharing among countries which covers variety of cities’ issues. It also provides the great lessons for researchers, officers and policy makers on coping with several urban problems.”
Associate Professor Sarintip Tantanee, Ph.D., Director, Center of Excellence on Energy Technology and Environment (CETE), Faculty of Engineering, Naresuan University, Thailand
“Arno Tausch is one of those intellectuals, rare in the modern age, who sees the big picture. He is also a polymath who combines insights from different disciplines in a theoretically rigorous manner, with the potential to contribute to wiser policy at the highest level and on a global scale, were the powers-that-be less short-sighted and (all too frequently) venal. His latest book, as is customary with his work, uses ambitious statistical models to draw correlations between a host of political, social, economic and cultural factors, on one hand, and ‘smart development’ which is environmentally sustainable, on the other. In a world rendered chronically unequal and economically fragile respectively by the underlying cause of naive capitalist globalization and the immediate disaster of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need thought and research of this nature more than ever.”
Calum Paton, Professor Emeritus of Health Policy, Keele University, United Kingdom. Calum Paton holds an MA (PPE) and D.Phil. in Politics from Oxford University and a MPP (Master’s in Public Policy) from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He has taught in Dundee and Oxford Universities and has been Assistant Secretary (Director) of the Nuffield Trust, London, before coming to Keele in 1986, becoming Professor of Health Policy in 1993 until his retirement in 2015.
“The topic of the book is of great importance, yet there is no comprehensive book of this nature now available for use in classrooms or for the general reader. The influence of secularization has grown dramatically and there are now many criticisms of religion from a secular perspective but there are very few, if any, responses from a responsible religious perspective. Yet there are billions of people who are adherents of the major religious traditions in our world. Professor Leightner’s book fills this gap very well. Even people fully committed to the practice of secular thinking and analysis will benefit greatly from Professor Leightner’s insights into the deepest meaning of their own traditions of thought. Professor Leightner’s book will be a major contribution to modern insight.”
Daniel Quinn Mills
Professor Emeritus, Harvard University School of Business Administration, USA
“Leightner argues that secular culture has mislead economists and society more broadly into conflating counterfeit values (evil) with the wisdom found in Jewish, Islamic, Christian, Hindu and Theravada sacred texts, causing severe personal and social harm. Those like Pol Pot (responsible for the Khmer Rouge’s crimes against humanity) persuade themselves and many others that their actions are virtuously motivated, when they are intrinsically evil. People need to step back and appreciate that evil may be contaminating their ethics. This is a message that many professionals do not want to hear, but needs a fair hearing.”
Steven Rosefielde
Professor of Economics at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA