Book Reviews

Book Reviews

Practical Manual of Laser Applications in Dermatology

“What a perfect opportunity to learn how lasers work in Dermatology! Nobody but a world expert in this continuously evolving, fascinating field of light technology could have done it. Ashraf Badawi was able to transform theoretically difficult concepts into simple and easily understandable explanations, without “losing definition”. All is clear and details are sharp! This is not another laser book to store on your shelf. We are talking about an extremely innovative learning experience which will be fun to read and consult. Practical tips on “how to” and “why to” will virtually transfer the reader in an advanced laser practice where all secrets are revealed. No more “clouds on the horizon” but a fantastic view on the very promising world of modern laser Dermatology. It is a “must have” for any Dermatologists and physicians who enjoy working with lasers. They will like working with light technology even more after reading this book.” – Leonardo Marini, M.D., FEADV, FAAD, Medical and Scientific Director, SDC – The Skin Doctors’ Center – Trieste, Italy. Founder President ESLD, Chair EADV Task Force for Laser Dermatology

“It is with great pleasure that I highly recommend this reference book. It clearly, concisely, and yet comprehensively presents the latest in the cutting edge field of cosmetic laser technology. Ashraf Badawi brings his expertise to a thorough and practically-oriented handbook. His passion towards lasers is evidenced through his teachings, and is as perceptible in this book as it is when he lectures on the topic in person. He is truly gifted in making even the most complex concepts clearly accessible to novices and experts alike. I believe this handbook should become required reading for anyone wishing to become well versed in laser applications.” – Nada Soueidan, MD, Consultant Dermatologist, Lebanon

“Ashraf Badawi’s Manual of Lasers is probably the most engaging, thoughtful and useful of any of the world’s major laser textbooks. Badawi’s writing is easy to read, easy to understand and, most importantly, it is easy to retain. The chapters on laser physics are magisterial in the beauty of their simplicity and the clarity of their presentation. No other explanation of laser physics have I found to be more accessible. No one has a better gift than he does for explaining the physics of lasers. The chapters on the practical applications of lasers include countless helpful practical tips, eloquent illustrations and illuminating before and after photographs. This authoritative and comprehensive book is fascinating and informative and it will be enormously useful to dermatologists, plastic surgeons and all professionals who work in the laser field. If you buy only one laser book, it should be this one.” – Dr. Christopher Rowland Payne, Past President of the European Society for Cosmetic & Aesthetic Dermatology, Founding Editor in Chief of the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, Consultant Dermatologist to The London Clinic, London

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Poverty: Global Challenges, Role of Inequality and Reduction Strategies

“This volume, edited by leading Nigeria poverty researcher Chukwuma Agu, brings together a range of disciplines and perspectives to look at poverty and the role growth and other factors may play in reducing it. It comprises both conceptual chapters and country case studies; it focuses mostly on Africa but draws complementary insights from studies of indigenous populations in Australia and of a US programme seeking to minimise the impact of poverty on education achievement. Among other things it seeks to understand why growth is sometimes more and less effective at reducing poverty; it examines spatial patterns of poverty, inequality or polarisation; and it seeks to introduce psychological dimensions to the understanding of poverty and poverty reduction.” – Andy Mckay, Professor of Development Economics, University of Sussex

Poverty: Global Challenges, Role of Inequality and Reduction Strategies is intended to make a significant contribution to the debate on economic growth and its relationship with poverty alleviation. This volume, written by seasoned scholars of development, contains an extremely rigorous and informative analysis of the growth-poverty nexus, and makes critical suggestions for policies to deal effectively and fully with poverty, not only in Africa but also among indigenous groups in Australia. One important lesson that can be drawn from these contributors’ skillful analyses is that public programs to deal with poverty that do not take into consideration the specificities of each community are not likely to produce the desired results. For example, poverty reduction programs developed to deal with the urban poor cannot simply be applied to the country’s rural sectors-a significant level of policy-tailoring is critical. Hence, a participatory and inclusive approach to the design and implementation of anti-poverty programs is recommended. Professor Agu and his fellow contributors present a compelling and credible story for making effective poverty reduction the center of a country’s development policy. This is a refreshing, rigorous, informative and multidisciplinary analysis of poverty reduction, with special emphasis on Africa. Students of development studies in general, African political economy, in particular, as well as policymakers, and anyone interested in the plight of the poor, should find this study especially useful. – John Mukum Mbaku, Professor of Economics, Weber State University, Utah, USA

“Chukwuma Agu’s book on Poverty: Global Challenges, Role of Inequality and Reduction Strategies provides a detailed analysis of current growth and poverty trends in Africa. The book has a number of strong messages. The good news is that African countries are growing. The bad news is that high levels of poverty persist in many countries. Agu and co-authors provide compelling new evidence based on cross-country and case studies. If you want to find out how to create more prosperous and equitable societies in Africa, read this book!” – Anke Hoeffler

“This book brings together a fascinating set of perspectives on the dynamics of economic growth and poverty reduction. Its primary geographic focus is the major economies of West Africa – Nigeria and Cameroon – and its dominant methodological approach is economics. But what makes this a particularly interesting collection, and what serves to highlight the multi-dimensional and highly non-linear relationship between economic growth and poverty, is how the editor has combined insights from mainstream economics with those from the fields of psychology, health economics and education.” – Christopher Adam, Professor of Development Economics, University of Oxford, UK

“This book is an admirable collection of high quality works by experienced scholars and researchers who have examined the vexing issue of growth, poverty, inequality nexus from different perspectives. The first section of the book focusing on theoretical and empirical issues of growth poverty nexus should be of interest to scholars and students of development economics. The second section presenting country case studies of Nigeria, Cameroon, Australia and United States offers a rich analysis of various dimensions of the growth, poverty and inequality nexus at national, sub-national, rural and urban levels should be of interest to development policy analysis, practitioners and development community. I, therefore, recommend the book to a wide range of audience who are interested in understanding the vexing issue of growth, poverty and inequality paradox at theoretical and practical levels.” – Olu Ajakaiye, Executive Chairman, African Centre for Shared Development, Capacity Building, Ibadan, Nigeria, and President Nigerian Economic Society

“This book is courageous enough to tackle complex and seemingly impossible problems of poverty, growth and inequality. It offers a varied range of chapters touching on certain facets of these complex problems. The book not only gives evidence, and arguments as to why these problems persist but also offers some suggestions for a way forward. The contributions come from well known names in this field. This textbook is a must read for all academic and practitioners concerned with the problems of economic development and welfare issues.What is appealing about this book is that it combines theory and applications, some in the form of case studies, in the same text. This makes it applicable to a wide range of audience from practitioners to academics. It will also serve as a reference text for students interested in this area of economics.” – Margaret Chitiga

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Post-Acute and Long Term Geriatric Care Clinical Advisor. Volume I

“The subject of post acute care is very important and is the subject that makes geriatric care its special impact in medicine. This book contains the most important subjects in Post-Acute and Long Term Geriatric Care and serves as an excellent clinical advisor to the clinician. It covers the most common problems and subjects with many references and is written in a practical way to the reader by using the “Do” parts. The book also gives the approach to the subject through the long experience in acute care; as well as post acute care of clinician with excellent capacities in clinical education. Therefore, I think that this book can contribute to the daily work of many clinicians in an open field.” – Professor Yitshal N.Berner, Head, Geriatric Medicine, Meir Medical Center, Kfar Saba

“The subject of post acute care is very important and is the subject that makes geriatric care its special impact in medicine. This book contains the most important subjects in Post-Acute and Long Term Geriatric Care and serves as an excellent clinical advisor to the clinician. It covers the most common problems and subjects with many references and is written in a practical way to the reader by using the “Do” parts. The book also gives the approach to the subject through the long experience in acute care; as well as post acute care of clinician with excellent capacities in clinical education. Therefore, I think that this book can contribute to the daily work of many clinicians in an open field.” – Professor Yitshal N.Berner, Head, Geriatric Medicine, Meir Medical Center, Kfar Saba

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Origins and Evolution of Plants on the Earth and the Descendants of ANITA

“The concepts in the book have been described so precisely especially in regard with angiosperms. The readers will surely enjoy reading the evolution of life on earth over the 4 billion years. His intellectual ideas while writing the book will definitely leave an impact on readers.” – Dr. Miss Preeti V. Phate,HOD & Assistant Professor, Department of Botany, J.S.M. College, Alibag, Indi

“Evolutionary biology may still be the complicated alley for many but in Origin and Evolution of Plants on the Earth and the descendants of ANITA the concept has been simplified with regard to Angiosperms. The book walks the readers through the pathway of a series of events resulting in evolution in different branches of life on earth over the last 4 billion years. The theory explains the green planet from the pre-existing “Dark Planet” to “Blue Planet” while touching areas like spatiotemporal changes, aqua life as well as organic and inorganic evolution. While the mystery of evolution has stirred all from the shape of a flower to sliding continents, the writer explains in elaboration his standpoint with relevance. This non-fictional piece of work changes perspective to life and leaves the readers with curiosity to wonder more. Dr Subir Ranjan Kundu has discussed multifaceted aspects of evolutionary characteric vis a vis physical process of earth and surrounding atmospheric condition at different span of earth history. I congratulate him for his effort to put forward compressive discussion on very complicated but important strategies of evolutionary features of plants and animals. The book will be useful to students, teachers and scientific colleagues of different universities, colleges, scientific institutes and other organizations.” – Prof. A. K. Srivastava, F.Pb.S., F.P.S., F. N. R.S., M.N.A.Sc, Former Scientist-G, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow & Former Professor and Head, Department of Biosciences, Integral University, Lucknow

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The Economic, Social and Political Impact of Mining on Akyem Abuakwa from the Pre-Colonial Era up to 1943

“In this volume, Emmanuel Ababio Ofosu-Mensah considers the history of the area associated with the Akyem Abuakwa Kingdom and presently, known Akyem Abuakwa state, in southeastern Ghana. While the kingdom was disadvantaged by its inland location, it benefited greatly from its mineral wealth-in both gold and diamonds. However, the ambiguous benefits of gold are well-known, as is told in the myth of King Midas and his greed for gold that almost led to the death of his beloved daughter. These aspects of gold were evident in Akyem Abuakwa as labor-intensive traditional gold mining was supported by the king and his sub-chiefs.

Through their division of the profits from gold nuggets, they amassed great wealth which enabled them to purchase European firearms and to display gold regalia during festivals, thus reinforcing their political power. Yet they were dependent on the labor of slaves and pawns, which ended in the Gold Coast Colony after 1880. With the British occupation of Asante in 1896, several European mining firms sought to obtain gold-mining concessions in Akyem Abuakwa. This situation, which led chiefs to essentially sell land to mining firms, resulted in much land lost to foreign control. However, the traditional ruler, Nana Ofori Atta I, sought to reign in concessions by initiating a new property rights system in kingdom. The author argues that the funds accrued through this new system controlled by the king were used to benefit the community through education and to address some of the social and health problems brought about by scientific goldmining in Akyem Abuakwa.

There is a proverb associated with the Akan gold weight (used to measure gold dust currency during the precolonial era) depicting a bird with its head turned back-known as Sankofa. The proverb, “pick it up if it falls behind you,” refers to the need to learn from past and to amend earlier mistakes. Ofosu-Mensah’s detailed study of the problems associated with gold, labor, and land and the political leadership that emerged to address them provides material with which to think about the present.” – Elisha P. Renne, Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology and the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, University of Michigan, USA

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Studies of Rhesus Monkeys and their Behaviors

“The Rhesus monkey is one of the most widely studied species by investigations at all levels. From the etiological, behavioral, physiological, pharmacological, and overall biomedical points of view, this species has been very important to generating knowledge. This book represents a great effort made by its editors and authors to gather information that is relevant to anyone interested in Rhesus monkeys, and primates in general. In addition to demonstrating the importance of the Rhesus monkey as a model for scientific study, it presents scientists with an overview of the principle physiological and behavioral characteristics to take into account any time this species is studied. A recommended read, this book maintains a balance between physiology and behavior. It treats the Rhesus monkey as both a biological entity with its own physiological characteristics, and as a social unit, demonstrating its complex social organization.” – Dra. Andrea Herrera-Solís, Investigador en Ciencias Médicas “C”, Hospital General Dr. Manuel Gea González, Subdirección de Investigación Biomédica, Therapeutic effects of cannabinoids

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