Spring 2008 Bookshelf

Susan Linn
The Case for Make Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World
The New Press
Susan Linn, HMS instructor in psychiatry at Judge Baker Children’s Center, likens her feelings about play to the urgency environmentalists feel about the rain forest—unfettered, imaginative play is in danger of extinction. DVDs, electronic games, and dolls with computer chips are marketed as being interactive; however, Linn argues, they are anything but. Instead, the real interactive toys are the dolls, blocks, and other toys that can be used in any way a child can imagine. But because of their limitless possibilities, these kinds of toys are not profitable, writes Linn, and instead toy companies aggressively market products with a shorter shelf life. As a ventriloquist and puppet therapist, Linn has witnessed how make-believe can help a child cope with every day stressors and significant events. She makes a case for play as a vital part of a child’s development.

Blaise Aguirre
Biographies of Disease: Depression
Greenwood Press
One in a series of disease biographies, this book combines history, scientific data, and personal narratives to tell the story of depression since it was first documented in 1500 BC. Author Blaise Aguirre, HMS clinical instructor in psychiatry at McLean Hospital, borrows from classic literature and popular culture to illustrate the ways depression manifests itself and how thinkers in all disciplines have defined it. The book is also sprinkled with personal stories from public figures and those drawn from his patients’ experiences. He depicts how depression is viewed in different cultures, describes the many treatments that have been tried over the centuries, and devotes a chapter to the complications of depression, including the impact on the economy, family, and physical health.

Peter Doubilet and Carol Benson
Your Developing Baby
McGraw Hill
In the preface, authors Peter Doubilet and Carol Benson, both professors of radiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, describe the book as a visual travel guide through pregnancy. Illustrated with images from every stage of pregnancy, taken with every ultrasound technology available, the book guides expectant parents in learning to recognize the developing baby’s arms, legs, hands, feet, and organs, so the parents can monitor and understand the baby’s growth. The authors also include ultrasound images of multiples and diagrams showing what happens as the mother’s body prepares for birth, an explanation of different ultrasound technologies, and a discussion on how ultrasounds can be used to detect problems and inform treatment.

Harold Bursztajn, Michael Perlin, Kris Gledhill, and Eva Szel
Psychiatric Ethics and the Rights of Persons with Mental Disabilities
in Institutions and the Community
UNESCO
Laws concerning the rights of people with mental disabilities in institutions were nonexistent just 35 years ago. Over the past several decades notions like informed consent have evolved from a pro forma practice to a legal requirement. Despite this “revolution,” ethical issues still arise for which there are no prescribed courses of action on either the law or the medical front. This book, co-authored by Harold Bursztajn, HMS associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, provides case studies and various perspectives on the cases from law and medical professionals. The authors do not recommend one particular solution, but rather provide different ways of approaching each case. HMS student Omar Sultan Haque was a contributing editor.

Norman Daniels and James Sabin
Setting Limits Fairly: Learning to Share Resources for Health, 2nd Edition
Oxford University Press
There is no consensus on principles for allocating resources for health care. In the absence of such agreement, societies and health plans must rely on an ethical decision-making process for setting limits on health care. Norman Daniels, the Mary B. Saltonstall professor of population ethics and professor of ethics and population health at HSPH, and James Sabin, HMS clinical professor of psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, identify key elements of this process in a range of settings where decisions are made about insurance coverage for new technologies, pharmacy benefit management, physician incentives, and public sector mental health services. The second edition adds new chapters on topics including application of the book’s framework in developing countries, the global campaign to contain the AIDS epidemic, and efforts to eliminate health disparities.

Frank Hu
Obesity Epidemiology
Oxford University Press
Along with the rise in obesity has come a rise in epidemiologic obesity research. While this increase in data has been useful in understanding the consequences and causes of obesity, the research has inherent limitations; for instance, nutrition and exercise are hard to quantify. Frank Hu, HMS associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an HSPH associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology, provides in-depth descriptions of research, measurement, and analysis methods, considering the strengths and weaknesses of each and their applicability to obesity research. He also reviews evidence gleaned from a selection of epidemiologic studies of the consequences and determinants of obesity, presenting a complete picture of where obesity research is today. In the final section, Hu discusses recent developments and future directions of the field.

Frederick Lovejoy Jr. and Robert Haggerty
Charles A. Janeway: Pediatrician to the World’s Children
Harvard University Press
This biography of Charles Janeway, former chief of medicine at Children’s Hospital Boston, is a close examination of the physician’s life and work by two pediatricians who trained under him. Frederick Lovejoy Jr., the William Berenberg professor of pediatrics at Children’s, and Robert Haggerty, a pediatrician at the University of Rochester Medical Center, gathered Janeway’s papers and conducted interviews with family, friends, and colleagues to write an admiring tribute to a doctor who pioneered the development of the modern pediatric hospital and who traveled all over the world to teach pediatric medicine in developing countries. Despite an obvious reverence for Janeway, the authors make an effort to be balanced and include criticisms in addition to praise for Janeway’s work.

George Vaillant
Spiritual Evolution: A Scientific Defense of Faith
Broadway Books
Spirituality can be a nebulous concept, used to refer to anything from taro cards and crystal balls to faith healers and the occult. George Vaillant, HMS professor of psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, attempts to define the concept from a scientific perspective. He argues that spirituality is another way of describing positive emotions such as love, hope, joy, forgiveness, and compassion, which are inherent in humans. Furthermore, he asserts that the capacity to feel these emotions is selected for by evolution and is critical for survival. Vaillant employs a mix of neurology, psychology, history, and theology to explore the origins of spirituality and how it has served humans, as a group and individually.

Anthony Fauci, Dennis Kasper, Dan Longo, Eugene Braunwald, Stephen Hauser, J. Larry Jameson, and Joseph Loscalzo, Editors
Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, 17th Edition
McGraw Hill Medical
The 17th edition of the venerable textbook features new and rewritten chapters, additional and revised illustrations, and a companion DVD with additional “eChapters” and another 800 images. Some of the revisions reflect an increasing awareness of globalization; included in many sections are discussions on how certain diseases are distributed, diagnosed, and treated in different parts of the world. Other updates take into account advances in research and technology that are changing the way some conditions are diagnosed and treated. Editors include Dennis Kasper, the William Ellery Channing professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Eugene Braunwald, the distinguished professor of the theory and practice of physic at BWH; and Joseph Loscalzo, the Hersey professor of the theory and practice of physic at BWH.

Stephanie Eisenstat, David Nathan (editor), and Ellen Barlow
Every Woman’s Guide to Diabetes
Harvard University Press
When Stephanie Eisenstat, HMS assistant professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, was diagnosed with diabetes, she quickly realized how overwhelming it can be to have to make sudden, and sometimes drastic, lifestyle changes in order to manage the disease. With the perspective of both a physician and a patient, she addresses the complex management issues that come with the disease along with the unique societal, family, and emotional pressures that women face. Eisenstat also discusses the risks, considerations, and complications that are particular to women, such as diabetes during pregnancy and menopause. The book also includes appendices with resources such as a comparison chart for choosing a glucose meter. David Nathan, HMS professor of medicine at MGH, served as consulting editor.