This week I read Nick Bilton’s new book, I Live in the Future and Here’s How it Works – Why Your World, Work and Brain are Being Creatively Disrupted. Bilton is the lead technology writer for the New York Times Blog, Bits. If you’ve ever read Bits you know that Bilton has real insight into the evolving role of technology in the way we live. In plain language I ... Continue Reading about Book Notes – I Live in the Future and Here’s How it Works
Booknotes: The Facebook Effect
I recently finished The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick. This is the most detailed account of the Facebook phenomenon thus far. I think it's worth a read if you want to understand precisely how Facebook evolved to its current form. The book offers a history of Mark Zuckerberg’s climb more than a compelling discussion of Facebook’s cultural impact or ... Continue Reading about Booknotes: The Facebook Effect
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
In 1951 a young black woman by the name of Henrietta Lacks came to Johns Hopkins with cervical cancer. Doctors took her cells, grew them in a dish, and created the famed HeLa cell line. It was HeLa cells that created the cornerstone of some of the 20th century’s greatest medical advances. One small detail: The treating physicians who took Henrietta’s cells never ... Continue Reading about The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
How Doctors Think – How Patients Think
If you want to see the difference between how doctors and patients think, read Jerome Groopman’s How Doctors Think and Thomas Goetz’s The Decision Tree. The contrast is striking. How Doctors Think, while offering a comprehensive review of the cognitive missteps made by physicians, is terminally physician-centric in its analysis of the relationship we share with ... Continue Reading about How Doctors Think – How Patients Think
The Decision Tree – An Early Roadmap to the Future of Personal Health
What’s amazing is that despite the vocal movement to empower patients, no one has put together a well-referenced, readable book to help patients understand how they should use personalized medicine to influence their health. Until now. Enter The Decision Tree – Taking Control of Your Health in the New Era of Personalized Medicine (Rodale 2010/affiliate link), ... Continue Reading about The Decision Tree – An Early Roadmap to the Future of Personal Health
Vaccine-Preventable Disease – The Forgotten Story
I’ve always suggested that when we publicly put a human face on the victims of vaccine-preventable disease we would begin to win the war against antivax propaganda. We’ve arrived. This month Texas Children’s Hospital published Vaccine-Preventable Disease – The Forgotten Story, a compilation of first hand stories told by the families of those touched by vaccine ... Continue Reading about Vaccine-Preventable Disease – The Forgotten Story