PsTL 1135 Books

"Read a Book" Project

for PsTL 1135

Short movie of Murray reading a book.

PsTL 1135 students will read one of the following three books. You may read a different book if you wish, but you must tell me about it first.

When the Air Hits Your Brain – Frank Vertosick (By far the most popular book in PsTL 1135)

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers – Mary Roach

Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science - Atul Gawande
(This last one is more difficult to read than the others, but it is quite good. I highly recommend this to studetns who read 5 or more recreational books per year - you should be a good reader to take on this book.)

You can read other books related to anatomy and physiology (there are hundreds) – but see me first.

Book report requirements:
Book report requirements: For each chapter you read, write 1/3 to 1/2 page of handwritten notes. You are not required to write more than eight (8) one-sided pages of chapter notes. At the top of page one, write your name, test ID number, and the title of the book. The primary intent of this project is to read a book, and the chapter notes ensure that you actually read the book! Handwritten notes are required to guard against copying/pasting from the internet, which is not acceptable (also called plagiarism). Chapter notes will not be returned

(Note: you can find these in most libraries and bookstores. I had the U of M Bookstore order about 20 copies of each of the above 3 books. Last I looked they can be found in the "non-textbook" area of the bookstore (the West end of the store in basement of Coffman Union.)

Aging With Grace: What the Nun Study Teaches Us About Leading Longer, Healthier, and More Meaningful Lives by David Snowdon

Potatoes, Not Prozac - by Kathleen DesMaisons Ph. D. - nutrition and brain chemicals - this book contains "good science," but it reads like a self-help book. There are lots of worksheets and stuff that many people do not like -- only read this if you have a strong interest in nutrition, glucose dependancy, and addiction.

Living Terrors - Michael Osterholm and John Schwartz - Biological Weapons - Anthrax - Terrorism

The Malaria Capers – Robert S. Desowitz

"The Strange Case of the Walking Corpse" by Nancy Butcher. This book is a large collection of medical oddities. It's an "OK" book for GC 1135 - but "When the Air Hits Your Brain" is much better.

Ultimate Fitness: The Quest for Truth about Health and Exercise (Hardcover)
by Gina Kolata (Author)

Note: many of the following links are dead - you can easily find information on the following books by typing the title into a search engine. like Google

When the Air Hits Your Brain – Frank Vertosick
"Dramatic, moving, and utterly fascinating." —New York Times Book Review With poignant insight and humor, When the Air Hits Your Brain chronicles one man’s evolution from naïve and ambitious young intern to world-class neurosurgeon. In electrifying detail, Frank Vertosick Jr. describes some of the greatest challenges of his career, including a six-week-old infant with a tumor in her brain, a young man struck down in his prime by paraplegia, and a minister with a .22-caliber bullet lodged in his skull. Told through intimate portraits of Vertosick’s patients and unsparing yet fascinatingly detailed descriptions of surgical procedures.

Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine by Randolph M. Nesse, George C. Williams
"Why, in a body of such exquisite design, are there a thousand flaws and frailties that make us vulnerable to disease?" Through evidence and insights from evolutionary biology, the authors carefully give a detailed answer to this question, which might be summed up thus: The mechanism of evolution fits our bodies for reproduction, not for optimum health. Furthermore the mechanism is imperfect and subject to mutation. Additionally we are in competition with other organisms, e.g, viruses, bacteria, etc., that work toward their fitness, sometimes at our expense (the parasite-prey "arms race"). Noteworthy is the idea that natural selection cares little for the maintenance of the organism after the age of reproduction, and that sexual reproduction actually fosters mechanisms that increase the fitness of youth while neglecting the aged, leading to the phenomena of senescence and death.

Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss---and the Myths and Realities of Dieting
by Gina Kolata
When New York Times science writer Kolata took an unbiased look at society's war on fatness, she found that the spoils of the conflict fatten the pockets of a multibillion-dollar dieting industry, while most ever-hopeful yet hapless dieters lose only money. Why, then, do we still repeat a mantra--"eat less and exercise more"--that has failed dieters for 2,000 years? Why, in diet study after diet study, do chubby participants consistently fail to reach their target weights? And why do the majority of dieters end up regaining most of their hard-lost weight, or regaining and then exceeding it? Following up on participants in a two-year clinical weight-loss study comparing the overall efficacies of the Atkins diet and a highly regarded low-calorie, low-fat diet opened Kolata's eyes to the plight of millions who can't seem to measure down to today's weight ideals. The experience led her to examine the millennia-old history of humanity's battle against the bulge. She interviewed several credentialed authorities, and she cites sound scientific evidence that calls in question the productiveness of common weight-loss methods.

Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors by Nicholas Wade
Most importantly, geneticists can trace the movements of a little band of human ancestors, numbering perhaps no more than 150, who crossed the Red Sea from east Africa about 50,000 years ago. Within a few thousand years, their descendents, Homo sapiens, became masters of all they surveyed, the other humanoid species having become extinct. According to New York Times science reporter Wade, this DNA analysis shows that evolution isn't restricted to the distant past: Iceland has been settled for only 1,000 years, but the inhabitants have already developed distinctive genetic traits. Wade expands his survey to cover the development of language and the domestication of man's best friend. And while "race" is often a dirty word in science, one of the book's best chapters shows how racial differences can be marked genetically and why this is important, not least for the treatment of diseases. This is highly recommended for readers interested in how DNA analysis is rewriting the history of mankind.

Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, Third Edition by Robert M. Sapolsky
Why don't zebras get ulcers--or heart disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases--when people do? In a fascinating look at the science of stress, biologist Robert Sapolsky presents an intriguing case, that people develop such diseases partly because our bodies aren't designed for the constant stresses of a modern-day life--like sitting in daily traffic jams or growing up in poverty. Rather, they seem more built for the kind of short-term stress faced by a zebra--like outrunning a lion.

With wit, graceful writing, and a sprinkling of Far Side cartoons, Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers makes understanding the science of stress an adventure in discovery. "This book is a primer about stress, stress-related disease, and the mechanisms of coping with stress. How is it that our bodies can adapt to some stressful emergencies, while other ones make us sick? Why are some of us especially vulnerable to stress-related diseases, and what does that have to do with our personalities?" And Sapolsky concludes with a hopeful chapter, titled "Managing Stress."

Woman: An Intimate Geography, by Natalie Angier
Despite scientific evidence to the contrary, as far as the health care profession is concerned the standard operating design of the human body is male. So when a book comes along as beautifully written and endlessly informative as Natalie Angier's Woman: An Intimate Geography, it's a cause for major celebration. Written with whimsy and eloquence, her investigation into female physiology draws its inspiration not only from scientific and medical sources but also from mythology, history, art, and literature, layering biological factoids with her own personal encounters and arcane anecdotes from the history of science. Who knew, for example, that the clitoris--with 8,000 nerve fibers--packs double the pleasure of the penis; that the gene controlling cellular sensitivity to male androgens, ironically enough, resides on the X-chromosome; or that stress hormones like cortisol and corticosterone are the true precursors of friendship?