Autobiography: science, technology and medicine Books

Book SynopsisIn this clear eyed, gritty, and enthralling narrative, Dr. Vincent Di Maio and crime writer Ron Franscell guide us behind the morgue doors to tell a fascinating life story through the cases that have made Di Maio famous-from the exhumation of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald to the complex issues in the shooting of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.

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Book Synopsis“Nuila’s storytelling gifts place him alongside colleagues like Atul Gawande.” —Los Angeles Times This “compelling mixture of health care policy and gripping stories from the frontlines of medicine” (The Guardian) explores the question: where does an uninsured person go when turned away by hospitals, clinics, and doctors?Here, we follow the lives of five uninsured Houstonians as their struggle for survival leads them to a hospital that prioritizes people over profit. First, we meet Stephen, the restaurant franchise manager who signed up for his company’s lowest priced plan, only to find himself facing insurmountable costs after a cancer diagnosis. Then Christian—a young college student and retail worker who can’t seem to get an accurate diagnosis, let alone treatment, for his debilitating knee pain. Geronimo, thirty-six years old, has liver failure, but his meager disability check disquali

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Book Synopsis“An exciting insider’s look at Projects Mercury, Gemini and Apollo . . . NASA’s internal politics, disasters, glitches and close calls” by a pioneering astronaut (Publishers Weekly). Gordon “Gordo” Cooper was one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, pilot for Apollo X, head of flight crew operations for the United States’ first orbiting space station, and the last American to venture into space alone. Stretching from the dawning days of NASA to the far reaches of the unknown, Cooper’s distinguished career as a record-setting astronaut helped shape America’s space program and blazed a trail for generations to come. In this astonishing memoir—written with #1 New York Times bestseller Bruce Henderson—Cooper crosses paths with such aviation luminaries as Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post, and German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun; he shares his early days at Edwards Air Force Base and the endeavors that became the basis for The Right Stuff; he takes us inside NASA with candid accounts of his defeats and accomplishments; he reflects on the triumphs and tragedies of his heroic colleagues; and he finally reveals the reasons behind his belief in extraterrestrial intelligence, including the US military’s long-standing UFO cover-ups. Buckle yourself in for a breathtaking ride because in Leap of Faith, Gordon Cooper takes readers to places they’ve never been before. Trade Review“For ages, man had dreamed of traveling to the moon. In Leap of Faith, Gordon Cooper tells the remarkable and interesting story of how it was accomplished.” —Des Moines Register “[Cooper] draws on his background as an astronaut to bolster his persuasively argued position that, whatever UFO’s may actually be, a policy of cover-up and obfuscation isn’t going to help turn them into IFO’s—identified flying objects. Full of tasty nuggets for space and ufology buffs.” —Booklist Table of Contents Dedication Prologue 1 We Seven 2 Liftoff 3 Bringing Her Home 4 “Gordon Cooper’s UFOs” 5 Amelia, Pancho, and Dad 6 Back to Space 7 Cosmonauts and Deepest Africa 8 “Our Germans Are Better Than Their Germans” 9 “There’s a Fire in Here!” 10 Reaching the Moon and Losing Mars 11 Stumbling Across History 12 UFOs at the United Nations 13 Flying Saucers: Made in the USA 14 Help From the Cosmos? 15 The Space Shuttle Transmission 16 Tesla: Twentieth-Century Genius 17 Reservation for an Alien Saucer Ride 18 Windows in Time and Space Epilogue Farewell to a Buddy Image Gallery Index About the Authors

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Book SynopsisThe Next Pandemic is a gripping book that confronts the most urgent question facing our species: when, where, and how will the next major outbreak arrive?Some of history's biggest killers have been infectious diseases: The Black Death killed around 20 million in the 14th century; Spanish Flu killed 50 million in 1918; the AIDS pandemic has killed almost 40 million since 1981. There is no guarantee that we can prevent another such disaster, but whenever a new scare emerges, Dr. Ali Khan is sent to try.This book is Dr. Khan's story of 25 years of containing these near misses, in his long career at the Center for Disease Control. During the 1995 Ebola outbreak in Zaire, Khan worked among Red Cross workers digging mass graves, rescuing struggling patients from near-abandoned hospitals and ultimately finding Patient Zero. In 2001, he traveled to Washington, DC, summoned by a midnight phone call, to prevent anthrax spores from spreading through the Senate Office building's ventilation system. In 2002, he was called to Hong Kong to quarantine victims of SARS, a contagious disease with no cure and no vaccine. In each of these stories, Khan reconstructs the chaos of those first moments on the ground, making life-and-death decisions on limited and conflicting information, with local, federal, and international authorities fighting to contain both the virus and the panic.Through these and other stories, Khan breaks down the sources of the next pandemic: mutation; spillover from other species; lab accidents; bioterrorism; and natural disasters. He shows that the danger of an outbreak is more real than ever in a world of climate change and global commerce, but that we need not only live in fear. His career is a testament to the power of good information, habits, and poise under pressure, as we work to fight whatever exotic contagion comes next.The Next Pandemic is a vivid and necessary book about rampant and violent diseases, and disasters narrowly averted; and the tools we have to keep them at bay.

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