Book Reviews

Book Reviews

The Quest for Health Equity

“Many of us yearn for a future in which health is seen more as a basic human right to be protected than as an earned commodity to be marketed. “The Quest for Health Equity” lights the pathway between here and there. Science is needed to move us forward on that path over time, but passion is needed to get us onto that path in the first place. Much like its author, Angela Sauaia, this book is a blend of science and passion. “The Quest for Health Equity” will therefore probably become a very popular textbook for students who want to learn about this topic. For those of us who are more seasoned, this book will be a useful reminder to get back onto the path toward equity, and a useful guide for how we might move forward toward a better future.” – Tim Byers, MD, MPH; Associate Dean for Public Health Practice, Colorado School of Public Health Associate Director for Cancer Prevention and Control, University of Colorado Cancer Center.

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Salmon: Biology, Ecological Impacts and Economic Importance

“The new book published by NOVA Publishers, USA, “Salmon: Biology, Ecological Impacts and Economic Importance” is a collection of scientific reviews in diverse fields of salmonid ecology, morphology, genetics, fisheries, aquaculture, and economic importance of salmon. Twenty-eight authors from seven “salmon-dependent” (a word from Chapter 14 that caught my fancy) countries represent 15 chapters filled with both well-known and new information on considered issues.” READ MORE…Vladimir I. Radchenko, Executive director, North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission

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Cleaved Amplified Polymorphic Sequences (CAPS) Markers in Plant Biology

Biologia Plantarum Reviewed by – Andreas Börner, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben, Germany and Elena K. Khlestkina, Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Novosibirsk, Russia

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A Contribution to the Critique of Contemporary Capitalism: Theoretical and International Perspectives

“Raju Das’ book is a joyful scream of defiance, but it is also a call to study. His searchlight is a Marxism that is critical of everything, including itself. Whether the focus is on the theory of the state, unfree labor, social class in rural India, pharmaceutical fraud in the USA, the nature of protest politics, or Marxist class theory itself, Das will make you want to join in his boundless sense of struggle and possibility. You will almost feel invited to think critically, even about his specific interventions, because only thus will you and he be truly part of the international movement to build the world-beyond-capitalism that we all so desperately need. Don’t just read this book; put it to good use!” – David Laibman, Editor, Science & Society, Professor (Emeritus), Economics, City University of New York

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Quantum Mechanics: Principles, New Perspectives, Extensions and Interpretation

“Rather than ordinary axiomatic approach, this textbook proves 52 theorems and 12 corollaries, and thus establishes the quantum mechanics upon demonstrations. Based on the proved theorem of watershed between classical and quantum physics, this textbook solves with confidence the contradiction between quantum mechanics and general theory of relativity. This contradiction is thought as a 21 century difficult problem in physics.” READ MORE…Chongyu Wang, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

“I think that “Quantum Mechanics upon Theorem” makes quantum mechanics at the first time to go from postulates to demonstrations. Although the history of quantum physics is more than 100 years, it is a big regret that until now all its basic concepts and pictures, such as uncertainty relation, wave-particle duality, operator representation, still stop at stage of postulates, and thus the basis of quantum mechanics is not very firm.” READ MORE…Wei-xin Zhang, Professor, Academician of Chinese Engineering Academy

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Science of Sport, Exercise and Physical Activity in the Tropics

“The book is comprised of a series of good quality and interesting peer reviewed submissions arising from presentations made at a conference held at James Cook University, Cairns, Australia in November 2013. The major contributing disciplines are human physiology, psychology, nutrition and aspects of clinical medicine.” READ MORE…Ron J. Butterly, Ph.D

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Evidence Based Treatments for Eating Disorders: Children, Adolescents and Adults. Second Edition

“Spurred by shifts in the field of eating disorders occurring since the publication of the inaugural edition of this text, not the least of which is the DSM-5, Drs. Dancyger and Fornari once again assemble an international case of leading experts to provide and updated edition of Evidence Based Treatments for Eating Disorders: Children, Adolescents and Adults. Second Edition. READ MORE…Reviewed by Blake A. Phillips, MD, NYU Child Study Center, Bellevue Hospital Center, NY USA. Published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

“Medicine’s evidence-base moves inexorably forward, sometimes in small steps and sometimes in major jumps, and medical editors constantly face questions regarding when to justify publishing new editions. Since publication of the first volume of Evidence Based Treatments for Eating Disorders: Children, Adolescents and Adults in 2009 several significant shifts have occurred in the eating disorders field that merit an updated presentation of findings to help inform clinical decision-making.” READ MORE…Joel Yager, M.D., Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine

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Meeting Mental Health Needs: Service Delivery in Israel

“In the period of mental health reform and the transfer of mental health care to the community this book is a valuable and practical contribution to the literature that will benefit health care providers, medical administrators, social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists and families of individuals with special needs in mental health domains. The book is essential for all professionals in the field of community mental health.” – Moshe Kotler, MD, President, Israel Psychiatric Association and Director Beer Yaakov-Ness Ziona Mental Health Center, Israel

“This book is an important contribution to the understanding of the patients with severe mental illness and the mental health services in Israel. The field of mental health has been neglected for many years. In July 2015 the responsibility for mental health care will be transferred to the health funds, which are already in the process of establishing the service. It is the right time now to focus on fulfilling the needs of the patients and to consider these needs in their planning. The book is based on studies done in Israel and as such may be very useful to policymakers and mental health professionals. Congratulations to the authors for their contribution to improve mental health services in Israel and worldwide.” – Professor Zvi Zemishlany, Director, Geha Mental Health Center, Israel, Past President of the Israel Psychiatric Association, Board Member of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA)

“The book Meeting Mental Health Needs presents broadly for the first time and academically in an in-depth fashion, mental health services in the State of Israel from the combined perspective of health needs and the organization of services by the Israeli system.” READ MORE…Shifra Shvarts, PHD, Professor

“Patients with mental disorders have more unmet needs than healthy individuals, though; the frequency of unmet needs varies substantially across need domains. There is a major gap between a need for help and the actual help received from mental health services.” READ MORE…Professor Eliezer Shalev, MD, Dean, Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Professor, Minnie and Ruben Finkelstein Academic Chair Technion-Israel Institute of Technology

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Posture: Types, Exercises and Health Effects

“This is an evidence based book on the biomechanics, function, and rehabilitation in posture. This includes descriptions of pathologies and rehabilitation in sports medicine, with clinical examples in rowing, gymnastics, soccer, basketball, dance, cycling, and therapeutic yoga. The PURPOSE of this text was to present a collection of work on the various aspects of posture including its evolutionary trend of knowledge, and its rehabilitation.” READ MORE…F. Buck Willis, PhD, FACSM (Galveston Clinical Research Foundation)

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The Infinite History of NOW: A Timeless Background for Contemporary Physics

“In their book The Infinite History of Now, the authors Davide Fiscaletti and Amrit Srecko Sorli present a revolutionary concept of our understanding of time. I remember a discussion with my colleagues about the question if time, as a physical quantity, can be completely removed from physics (in principle, of course). In a mechanical concept, time is a measure of change, for example, a change of position of an object.” READ MORE…Dr. Lubos Neslusan, Astronomical Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences

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