BOOKS BY AND FOR MEMBERS

by Ruth Winter

Scientists Go In Search of the Lost Cord by Luba Vikhanski (NASW), published by Joseph Henry Press.

Israeli freelance Luba Vikhanski profiles the rapidly developing field of spinal-cord injury research. She points out that a disease once thought to be a death sentence by ancient Egyptian physicians is now the research focus of hundreds of scientists around the world. One of the riveting aspects of this international effort is that each scientist, according to the author, is approaching the problem in a very different way. A Swiss scientist has managed to heal spinal cords in rats, restoring their ability to walk using proteins. A Rutgers University scientist is pursuing the emerging field of "neuroprotection" and pinning his research hopes on drug therapies that affect the chemistry of people with spinal injuries. A Swedish researcher, on the other hand, has constructed a bridge of slender nerve filaments to connect a once-severed spinal cord in rats. During the past three years, Vikhanski has traveled to eight countries to speak with paralysis victims and interview more than 150 researchers working in the field of spinal cord regeneration. Vikhanski, who is the head of the foreign press section in public affairs at the Weizmann Institute, can be reached at lub@attglobal.net or 972-3-602-2868. The publicist for the book, Robin Pinnel, can be reached at rpinnel@nas.edu or 202-334-1902.

Corpse: Nature, Forensics, and the Struggle to Pinpoint the Time of Death by Jessica Snyder Sachs (NASW), published by Perseus Publishing.

An Alpharetta, Ga., freelance, Snyder Sachs describes the array of new high-tech devices and tests forensic pathologists are doing to answer the question that has always plagued the justice system in the absence of credible witnesses-when did the victim die? Sachs reveals how the hot new science of "forensic ecology" is able to solve some crimes. She explains that insects populate the human corpse in predictable waves over the course of weeks, and by studying their chemical signals and development, scientists can virtually recreate a crime scene. Soil and plant samples around the corpse can also be probed to uncover the various stages of decay. In her book, Sachs presents the ecology of death as she follows a group of 12 forensic entomologists-the only ones in the world-on some of their most grisly and bizarre cases. She also takes us into the courtroom where forensic science as a whole is coming under fire and the new multidisciplinary art of forensic ecology is struggling to establish its credibility. Sachs can be reached at jsachs@nasw.org or 770-441-1203. The publicist for the book is Leigh Weiner, who can be reached at www.perseuspublishing.com or 617-252-5200.

Health Writer's Handbook by Barbara Gastel, M.D. (NASW), published by Iowa State University.

An associate professor of journalism at Texas A&M University, Barbara Gastel offers this guide for current and prospective health writers. She suggests ways of gathering and evaluating information and explains the mechanics of crafting a piece. She addresses questions about technique, genres, sensitivity and style as well as presents information on risk and ethical issues. Among the features included are: annotated examples of health writing, lists of Internet sites and toll-free numbers useful to health writers, career options, and awards and professional organizations for health writers. Gastel can be reached at b-gastel@tamu.edu or 979-845-6887. The Iowa State University Press can be found on the Web at www.isupress.com.

Physically Focused Hypnotherapy: A Practical Guide to Hypnosis in Everyday Medical Practice by William C. Breuer (NASW), published by SPRF Inc.

This book is aimed at hypnotherapy predominately for physical conditions. It is a practical, how-to guide for hypnotherapists who want to work with the general medical community and for healthcare practitioners who wish to incorporate hypnotherapy into their daily medical practices. William Breuer is director of one of the oldest integrative multidisciplinary medical centers. He has been practicing suggestive therapies/hypnosis for nearly 40 years. He emphasizes psychoneuroimmunology-harnessing the placebo effect to advantage. He describes the effectiveness of hypnosis for easing such conditions as blood-sugar disorders, allergy, epilepsy, high blood pressure, cancer, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, claustrophobia, headaches and immune system disorders. Breuer can be reached at billbreuer@juno.com or at 502-459-7431. The publicist is Margie Cook at multicentre@juno.com.

Medical Journalism: Exposing Fact, Fiction, Fraud by Dr. Ragnar Levi (NASW), published by Iowa State University Press.

This book explores the concept of critical medical reporting, explaining how to improve stories by asking sharper questions and tapping more informative sources. Dr. Ragnar Levi, who has a background in both medicine and journalism, has been the executive editor of Science & Practice since 1992. The book includes a foreword by Pulitzer Prize-winning NASW member, Deborah Blum, as well as interviews with other outstanding science and medical journalists. Levi advises readers how to avoid major pitfalls in the health and medical beat, important questions for interviews with medical experts and online resources. The Iowa State University Press can be found on the Web at www.isupress.com.

Barren Lands: An Epic Search for Diamonds in the North American Arctic by Kevin Krajick (NASW), published by Times Books.

Author Kevin Krajick relates the 20-year tale of two fanatic geologists who set out in the late 1970s to find the chimera of 16th-century explorers, Wild-West prospectors and the top modern scientific minds of the De Beers cartel: the great North American diamond mine. Following a trail of clues leading from backwoods Arkansas up to the high Rockies and into the northern Canadian tundra, Charles Fipke and Stewart Blusson risked death by ice, grizzlies and air crashes to make one of history's great mining discoveries. A window into the secret history of diamond seekers, Barren Lands is also an elegy to one of Earth's last wild places. "Adventure on the grand scale-at once scientific thriller, excursion into industrial espionage and page-turning paean to obsession," says Kathleen Burke of Smithsonian magazine. A New York City freelance, Krajick can be reached at 212-666-4824 or at krk4@columbia.edu. The publicist for the book, Elizabeth Shreve, can be reached at Elizabeth.shreve@holt.com.

Architectural Ironwork by Dona Z. Meilach (NASW), published by Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

This is Dona Meilach's 80th book, and her fourth on contemporary ironwork. This illustrated book showcases a vast array of ironwork commissioned for new commercial and residential building projects. Traditional styles in modern settings and designs that reach for new visual impact help to redefine ironwork's status in our current society. There are over 375 examples from more than 100 of today's top blacksmiths, supplemented with historical works from 15 countries-some derived from old French and English ironwork. The works include doors and hardware, staircases and railings, as well as gates and fences. Meilach hopes this book will inspire architects, builders, homeowners and artist-blacksmiths about the creative use of ironwork. She has followed the rise of artist-blacksmithing that resulted in the late 1970s fired by her first book on the subject, Decorative & Sculptural Ironwork, now out in a revised and updated edition. Contact Meilach by phone 760-436-4395, fax 760-436-1402 or e-mail DMeilach@msn.com.

For God, Country and Coca-Cola by Mark Pendergrast (NASW), published by Basic Books.

This is the updated, revised edition of Mark Pendergrast's history of Coca-Cola, a drink that began as a patent medicine containing a small amount of cocaine and a large amount of caffeine. The book contains 600 pages of research material, second only to his previous book, Uncommon Grounds (a history of coffee). In the Coke book, Pendergrast, a Vermont freelance, examines caffeine and its effects. He includes historical anecdotes such as one about an entomologist who consumed insects on the witness stand for Coca-Cola to show that even if bugs had gotten into the soft drink, the acid content rendered them harmless. In the new edition, Pendergrast includes an incident in Europe in 1999, when 39 students in Belgium, collecting bottle caps for a contest, complained of nausea and headaches and attributed it to their Cokes. Two days later, Belgian students in another city reported dizziness and stomachaches after drinking canned Cokes from a vending machine. As fears mounted, Coke officials voluntarily recalled affected bottles and began to seal off vending machines, but then more students fell ill after buying vended Cokes. The panicked Belgian government ordered a complete recall while banning all of the company's products. Word of the purportedly poisoned soft drinks spread rapidly, along with consumers claiming to have imbibed company products that made them ill, too. Eventually, some 250 European Coke-drinkers came down with the mysterious Coca-Cola bug. France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg also banned Coke products. Pendergrast can be reached at markp@nasw.org or 802-872-0847.

Big Shot: Passion, Politics and the Struggle for an AIDS Vaccine by Patricia Thomas (NASW), published by Public Affairs.

Patricia Thomas is an Arlington, Mass., freelance, who as a young medical reporter wrote about AIDS as a fatal disease without treatment whose only hope was a preventive vaccine. More than 20 years later, she has written a 500-page book describing the perseverance, heroism and weaknesses of the scientists in search of an AIDS vaccine. Among the researchers she describes are two biologists who rescued precious virus cultures from destruction by a military biohazard team, and others who drove hundreds of miles during a heat wave to work in a safe containment lab. She also cites the heroic figure from Randy Shilt's And The Band Played On, who might win the vaccine marathon. Thomas shows how the scientists' youthful optimism is honed into gritty determination as they struggle with difficult research challenges, public condemnation of AIDS patients, cautious bureaucrats, conservative executives, hostile activists and a perennial shortage of money. She describes how the lives and complex motivations of the characters illustrate the triumphs and frustration of the quest for a vaccine. Thomas can be reached at pthomas@tiac.net or 781-641-3073. The publicist for the book is Gene Taft, 250 W. 57th St., Ste 1321, New York, N.Y. 10017. Note: Public Affairs is a new nonfiction publisher that involves three respected mentors of fine writing: I.F. Stone, proprietor of I.F. Stone's Weekly, Benjamin Bradlee, editorial star of The Washington Post and Robert L. Bernstein, former chief executive of Random House.

Mammoth: The Resurrection of an Ice Age Giant by Richard Stone (NASW), published by Perseus Publishing.

If you've ever wondered what it's like to be in a Siberian cave trying to defrost a long-extinct giant beast with a hair-dryer, Richard Stone, deputy news editor of Science magazine, describes it. You may have seen the Discovery Channel's shows on the quest to excavate, airlift, and thaw a woolly mammoth carcass known as "the Jarkov." Stone chronicles these efforts in all their icy glory and introduces readers to the intrepid explorer-scientists who have made the woolly mammoth their life's work. He also discusses efforts to secure the beast's DNA for cloning, the possible environmental ramifications of bringing to life an animal from another age, and the various theories as to what caused the extinction of the woolly mammoth. Stone visited the Jarkov mammoth in its Siberian cave and firmly believes that eventually woolly mammoths will once again walk the earth. Stone, who lives in England, can be reached at rstone@science-int.co.uk. You can find an online photo gallery at frozenmammoth.com. The publicist for the book is Adam Rifenberick, who can be reached at adam.rifenberick@perseusbooks.com.

Moi, Vladimir Oulianov Dit Lenine by Alexander Dorozynski (NASW), published by le cherche midi editeur.

The story of how this book came to be written is, in itself, intriguing. Dorozynski went to Russia on a first assignment to cover a genetics congress for Medical World News. He became intrigued with the story of physicist Lev Landau, the Nobel-Prize winner who was not allowed to travel to Stockholm. He wrote a book about Landau, The Man They Wouldn't Let Die, published by Macmillan Co. The book, which described the attitude of the government toward "bourgeois" science, caused him to be banned from the Soviet Union. He returned only after the regime's collapse and wrote this biography of Lenin. He says that he tried to take a science writer's approach to make the story accessible to readers. He wanted to show how and why Lenin, wealthy scion of hereditary nobility, brilliant student, accomplished athlete and international chess master, spent 20 years in voluntary exile and returned to Russia after the 1917 revolution. Dorozynski can be reached by e-mail at doro3@wanadoo.fr. If you read French, he will send you a copy. If not, perhaps an American publisher will publish the book in the future.

Preventing Arthritis: A Holistic Approach to Life Without Pain by Ronald Lawrence M.D., Ph.D., and Martin Zucker, published by G.P. Putnam & Sons.

Dr. Lawrence, a founding member of the International Association of the Study of Pain, reveals a holistic plan to head osteoarthritis off at the pass with a regimen of diet, supplements, non-traumatic exercise, and specific yoga and self-massage techniques. He identifies the kinds of daily habits that cause structural stresses in the body and even explains how sex can protect joints. The publicist for the book, Sadeqa Murray, can be reached at 212-366-2549.

American Heart Association Low-Salt Cookbook, second edition, edited by Ann Melugin Williams (NASW), published by Clarkson Potter.

The second edition of this book brings additional zest to low-salt meals. The 232 diverse recipes feature many foods that are difficult to buy in low-salt form, including bread, soups, condiments, and even pickles. Favorite dishes range from the comfort of meat loaf through the adventure of spicy chicken satay with peanut dipping sauce to buffalo baked in pumpkin. Each recipe has a nutrient analysis detailing the usual nutrients plus sodium, potassium, and calcium content to help control high blood pressure. For more information or a review copy, contact Holly Morgan at 214-706-1717 or holly.morgan@heart.org, or editor Ann Melugin Williams at 214-706-1231 or ann.williams@heart.org.

Send material about new books to Ruth Winter, 44 Holly Drive, Short Hills, NJ 07078, or e-mail ruthwrite@aol.com. Include the name of the publicist and appropriate contact information, as well as how you prefer members to get in touch with you.

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