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Pandemic Planet: How diseases impact our world (and what you can do to help stop their spread)
by Anna ClaybournePandemic Planet gives young readers a clear, insightful, non-alarmist introduction to viruses and pandemics.Covid-19 has changed our world almost beyond recognition, but viruses and pandemics have always been with us. Pandemic Planet explores how we define pandemics, describes pandemics through the ages, from the Black Death to SARS, and assesses how we can arm ourselves against them, both at an individual and a global level.The matter-of-fact, clear and non-alarmist approach will reassure anxious readers. The book also looks at how we can learn from pandemics, as well as revealing some unexpectedly positive outcomes.Following on from Plastic Planet and Hot Planet, Pandemic Planet will feature the same blend of illustrations and photos and a striking cover, and is written by the award-winning science author Anna Claybourne.Aimed at readers aged 9 plusContents:1: Worldwide crisis2: What does 'pandemic' mean?3: Germs and diseases4: Pandemics of the past5: CASE STUDY: The Black Death 6: Immunity7: The early stages8: Out of control9: CASE STUDY: The 1918-19 flu pandemic10: Lockdown!11: Pandemic problems12: CASE STUDY: Covid-1913: Finding a solution14: Back to normal15: Preventing and preparing16: What can you do?17: Antibiotics alert!18: CASE STUDY: Antibiotic-resistant TB19: Pandemic planet?20: The positives21: Glossary22: Further reading23: Index
Pandemic Protection: Safe, Natural Ways to Prepare Your Immune System BEFORE You Need It
by M.D. Don ColbertFrom New York Times Best Selling Author Dr. Don ColbertPrepare your immune system before you need it. Many believe the pandemic crisis of 2020 is only a foretaste of things to come. If so, it serves as a wake-up call to remind us of the urgency of protecting our health. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the entire world has had to rethink the way we do health. With this new paradigm backed by the latest scientific research, Don Colbert, MD, brings you cutting-edge medical advice and tells you everything you need to know to optimize your body&’s immune system, avoid exposure, detect the early warning signs, and treat and recover from illness during pandemics like COVID-19. You&’ll learn: What the Bible and past pandemics can teach us about outbreaksHow telemedicine and technology are changing the way we do healthcareHow the key to a strong immune system is a healthy gutWays to protect your health through diet, natural supplements, and the latest breakthrough medical treatments We don&’t have to live in fear. The good news is that we can learn from this pandemic as well as those in the past, and we can arm ourselves with the tools we need to be prepared for pandemic outbreaks both now and in the future.After reading this book, you will know what to do to optimize your health, protect your family, and detect the early warning signs of disease outbreaks.
Pandemic Survival: It's Why You're Alive
by Jane Drake Ann Love Bill SlavinThe Black Death. Yellow Fever. Smallpox. History is full of gruesome pandemics, and surviving those pandemics has shaped our society and way of life. Every person today is alive because of an ancestor who survived--and surviving our current and future pandemics, like SARS, AIDS, bird flu or a new and unknown disease, will determine our future. Pandemic Survival presents in-depth information about past and current illnesses; the evolution of medicine and its pioneers; cures and treatments; strange rituals and superstitions; and what we're doing to prevent future pandemics. Full of delightfully gross details about symptoms and fascinating facts about bizarre superstitious behaviors, Pandemic Survival is sure to interest even the most squeamish of readers.
Pandemic: How Climate, the Environment, and Superbugs Increase the Risk
by Connie GoldsmithThroughout history, several deadly pandemics brought humanity to its knees, killing millions, and recent outbreaks of Ebola and Zika took coordinated international efforts to prevent them from spreading. Learn about factors that contribute to the spread of disease by examining past pandemics and epidemics, including the Bubonic Plague, smallpox Ebola, HIV/AIDS, and Zika. Examine case studies of potential pandemic diseases, like SARS and cholera, and find out how pathogens and antibiotics work. See how human activities such as global air travel and the disruption of animal habitats contribute to the risk of a new pandemic. And discover how scientists are striving to contain and control the spread of disease, both locally and globally.
Pandemics and Apocalypse in World Literature: The Hope for Planetary Salvation (Routledge Focus on Literature)
by William FrankePandemics and Apocalypse rereads classical narratives of plague from the Bible (Exodus) and classical antiquity, both Greek (Homer, Thucydides, Sophocles) and Roman (Lucretius, Virgil, Ovid), through the Middle Ages (Dante, Boccaccio) and Modernity (Defoe, Manzoni, Artaud, Camus) as a basis for contemplating the significance of the recent Covid-19 pandemic. It concerns how we are to confront future pandemics and other inextricably related crises, notably those of an ecological nature. Responses to Covid-19 typically set everything on defeating this “enemy,” but actually we cannot eliminate viruses without eliminating ourselves. We need to see the pandemic as revealing us to ourselves in our inherently vulnerable condition as a first step to admitting the infinite openness to one another and to our Ground—physical and metaphysical—that alone can save our world by engendering a different attitude, open and engaged, to one another and to the Earth as sources of our collective life.
Pandemics and Global Health
by Barry YoungermanInfectious agents have been prime movers of whole populations, economies, and societies, and our age is not exempt just because it arrives on a plane rather than a ship. Author Youngerman helps those who wish to inform themselves and others about pandemics, starting by looking at examples of mass infection in the US and elsewhere. He explains the primary sources available for study, gives advice on how to conduct research, provides some relevant facts and figures and describes key players. He closes with information on organizations and agencies that can supply information for research and an annotated bibliography. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Pandemics, Public Health, and the Regulation of Borders: Lessons from COVID-19
by Colleen M. Flood Sam Halabi Sophie Thériault Raywat Deonandan Y.Y. Brandon ChenThis book examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has engendered a new and challenging environment in which borders drawn around people, places, and social structures have hardened and new ones have emerged.Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, borders closed or became unwelcoming at the international, national, sub-national, and local levels. Debate persists as to whether those countries and territories that tightly managed their borders, like New Zealand, Australia, or Hong Kong, got it ‘right’ compared to those that did not. Without doubt, a majority of those who suffered and died throughout the pandemic have been those from vulnerable populations. Yet on the other hand, efforts taken to manage the spread of the disease, such as through border management, have also disproportionately affected those who are most vulnerable. How then is the right balance to be struck, acknowledging, too, the economic and other imperatives that may dissuade governments from taking public health steps? This book considers how international organizations, countries, and institutions within those countries should conceive of, and manage, borders as the world continues to struggle with COVID-19 and prepares for the next pandemic. Engaging a range of international, and sub-national, examples, the book thematizes the main issues at stake in the control and management of borders in the interests of public health.This book will be of considerable interest to academics in the fields of health law, anthropology, economics, history, medicine, public health, and political science, as well as policymakers and public health planners at national and sub-national levels.
Pandora's Box
by Cindy PanThings that you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask your girlfriends. And definitely not your mother. Dr Cindy Pan discusses a wide range of subjects relevant to today's women-body image; pornography; sexually transmitted diseases; alcohol; rape; drugs; pregnancy and more.
Pandora's Gamble: Lab Leaks, Pandemics, and a World at Risk
by Alison YoungNamed to Kirkus Reviews&’ Best Books of 2023 A &‘remarkable book.&’ – The New York TimesThis fearless, deeply reported book about laboratory accidents asks the haunting question some elite scientists don&’t want the public to entertain: Did the COVID-19 pandemic start with a lab leak in Wuhan, China? This is an obvious question. Yet there&’s been an extraordinary effort by government officials in China, as well as leading scientific experts in the United States and around the world, to shut down any investigation or discussion of the lab leak theory. In private, however, some of the world&’s elite scientists have seen a lab accident as a very real and horrifying possibility. They know what the public doesn&’t. Lab accidents happen with shocking frequency. Even at the world&’s best-run labs. That&’s among the revelations from Alison Young, the award-winning investigative reporter who has spent nearly 15 years uncovering shocking safety breaches at prestigious U.S. laboratories for USA Today and other respected news outlets. In Pandora&’s Gamble, Young goes deep into the troubling history -- and enormous risks -- of leaks and accidents at scientific labs. She takes readers on a riveting journey around the world to some of the worst lab mishaps in history, including the largely unknown stories of the lab workers at the U.S. Army&’s Camp Detrick who suffered devastating infections at alarming rates during World War II. And her groundbreaking reporting exposes for the first time disturbing new details about recent accidents at prestigious laboratories – and the alarming gaps in government oversight that put all of us at risk. Sourced through meticulous reporting and exclusive interviews with key players including Dr. Anthony Fauci, former CDC Director Tom Frieden and others, Young&’s examination reveals that the only thing rare about lab accidents is the public rarely finds out about them. Because when accidents happen, powerful people and institutions often work hard to keep the information secret.
Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong
by Paul A. OffitWhat happens when ideas presented as science lead us in the wrong direction? History is filled with brilliant ideas that gave rise to disaster, and this book explores the most fascinating—and significant—missteps: from opium's heyday as the pain reliever of choice to recognition of opioids as a major cause of death in the U.S.; from the rise of trans fats as the golden ingredient for tastier, cheaper food to the heart disease epidemic that followed; and from the cries to ban DDT for the sake of the environment to an epidemic-level rise in world malaria. These are today's sins of science—as deplorable as mistaken past ideas about advocating racial purity or using lobotomies as a cure for mental illness. These unwitting errors add up to seven lessons both cautionary and profound, narrated by renowned author and speaker Paul A. Offit. Offit uses these lessons to investigate how we can separate good science from bad, using some of today's most controversial creations—e-cigarettes, GMOs, drug treatments for ADHD—as case studies. For every "Aha!" moment that should have been an "Oh no," this book is an engrossing account of how science has been misused disastrously—and how we can learn to use its power for good.
Pandora's Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal
by Melanie WarnerIn the tradition of Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore's Dilemma a fascinating and cutting-edge look at the scary truth about what really goes into our food. If a piece of individually wrapped cheese retains its shape, color, and texture for years, what does it say about the food we eat and feed our children? Former New York Times business reporter and mother Melanie Warner decided to explore that question when she observed the phenomenon of the indestructible cheese. She began an investigative journey that takes her to research labs, food science departments, and factories around the country. What she discovered provides a rare, eye-opening--and sometimes disturbing--account of what we're really eating. Warner looks at how decades of food science have resulted in the cheapest, most abundant, most addictive, and most nutritionally devastating food in the world, and she uncovers startling evidence about the profound health implications of the packaged and fast foods that we eat on a daily basis.From breakfast cereal to chicken subs to nutrition bars, processed foods account for roughly 70 percent of our nation's calories. Despite the growing presence of farmers' markets and organic produce, strange food additives are nearly impossible to avoid. Combining meticulous research, vivid writing, and cultural analysis, Warner blows the lid off the largely undocumented--and lightly regulated--world of chemically treated and processed foods and lays bare the potential price we may pay for consuming even so-called "healthy" foods.
Pane Senza Glutine
by María José Casañ Marc AlierUN OPERA GENIALE, RIGOROSA, PARTICOLARE E INCREDIBILMENTE CHIARIFICATRICE...OFFRE GLI SPUNTI PER CAPIRE COME FARE IL PANE, MA OFFRE ANCHE MOLTI ALTRI CONSIGLI …” “Un giorno scopri che devi eliminare il glutine dalla tua dieta o da quella di qualcuno che conosci … Ed allora ti chiedi: Cos’è il glutine?, Dove si trova, come lo evito?Come posso fare il pane, panini, pizza, cocas, crepes, maddalene, torte e dolci senza glutine in casa? Che ingredienti posso utilizzare? Come? E’ nutritivo allo stesso modo un pane con glutine che un pane senza glutine? Devo utilizzare miscele panificabili o posso crearne delle mie? Queste domande sono le stesse che si sono fatte gli autori di “Pane senza glutine” e il libro offre le risposte. Il libro si divide in due parti. Nella prima si affronta il problema del glutine nella dieta, dove si trova, come evitarlo e soprattutto quali sono i prodotti alternativi al glutine e le loro proprietà. Si identificano e analizzano dal punto di vista nutrizionale gli ingredienti (tipi di farine, additivi, lieviti e gassificanti) con i quali fare pane e dolci senza glutine. Come agiscono sul risultato, come si può combinare e in quali proporzioni. La seconda parte si centra sulla cucina: vengono presentate le tecniche e trucchi per cucinare senza glutine e vengono proposte 15 ricette di pane, pizza, crepes, empanadillas, cocas, torte, maddalene (cupcakes) e dolci senza glutine. Offre alternative alle ricette, processi e strumenti (macchine per fare il pane, per ammassare o per impastare a mano) i tipi di farine affinché uno possa applicare le proprie variazioni su queste ricette senza glutine.
Panic Attacks Workbook for Teens: Break Free of Anxiety and Overcome Fear
by Julia Englund Strait PhDConquer panic attacks with therapy-based strategies for teens Dealing with anxiety and panic attacks on top of school, friends, and thoughts of the future can make it hard to be a teenager. The Panic Attacks Workbook for Teens helps you better handle panic attacks with exercises and explanations that make it easier for you to face your fears and get back to the things you love. Interactive activities and prompts encourage you to experiment with different ways of responding to tough experiences. You'll explore how panic affects your brain and body, then practice mental and physical strategies—like controlling your breathing and identifying your panic triggers—that help you tackle panic head-on. The basics of panic attacks—Learn about what panic attacks are and why they happen, as well as how the tools in this workbook can help you understand, predict, and manage them. Answers to common questions—Explore questions from other teens about common scenarios where panic might arise, and get detailed responses that show you how to handle them. Real therapy techniques—Discover strategies taken from evidence-based recovery methods, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, mindfulness, and positive psychology. Get the practical tools you need to recognize and overcome panic attacks so you can live your life to the fullest.
Panic Attacks: A Practical Guide to Recognising and Dealing With Feelings of Panic
by Ms S BretonPanic attacks can ruin your life - but it lies within your power to overcome your fears and anxiety. Sue Breton - clinical psychologist, researcher into panic attacks and former sufferer - shows you how you can help yourself by understanding what type of task you have; taking short-term avoiding action to suit your personal needs; learning more about your own personality - which will give you power over panic for good. She includes breathing techniques and practical exercises to help you gain personal control, and provides advice for family and friends of panic attack sufferers.
Panic Free: The 10-Day Program to End Panic, Anxiety, and Claustrophobia
by Tom Bunn“HURRY, BUY THE BOOK AND TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE.” — Marla Friedman, PsyD, PC, board chairman, Badge of Life What if you could stop panic by tapping into a different part of your brain? Through natural stimulation of your vagus nerve, you can end panic and anxiety, and this book can show you how. After years of working to help sufferers of panic and anxiety, licensed therapist (and pilot) Tom Bunn discovered a highly effective solution that utilizes a part of the brain not affected by the stress hormones that bombard a person experiencing panic. This “unconscious procedural memory” can be programmed to control panic by preventing the release of stress hormones and activating the parasympathetic nervous system. This process, outlined in Panic Free, sounds complicated but is not, requiring just ten days and no drugs or doctors. Bunn includes specific instructions for dealing with common panic triggers, such as airplane travel, bridges, MRIs, and tunnels. Because panic is profoundly life-limiting, the program Bunn offers can be a real life-changer.
Panic and Joy: My Solo Path to Motherhood
by Emma BrockesAn explosive and hilarious memoir about the exceptional and life-changing decision to conceive a child on one's own via assisted reproduction When British journalist, memoirist, and New York-transplant Emma Brockes decides to become pregnant, she quickly realizes that, being single, thirty-seven, and in the early stages of a same-sex relationship, she's going to have to be untraditional about it. From the moment she decides to stop "futzing" around, have her eggs counted, and "get cracking"; through multiple rounds of IUI; to the births of her twins, which her girlfriend gamely documents with her iPhone and selfie stick, Brockes brings the reader every step of the way--all the while exploring the cultural circumstances and choices that have brought her to this point. With mordant wit and remarkable candor, Brockes shares the frustrations, embarrassments, surprises, and, finally, joys of her momentous and excellent choice.
Panic at Practice (Hoops Academy)
by J. B. DuncanSchool, homework, and basketball keep Tomás pretty busy. On top of everything, his dad is in the hospital, and it might be serious. It isn’t long before the pressure gets to be too much for Tomás and starts to affect his health. Will he be able to find a balance . . . and do it before his basketball season is in jeopardy?
Panic in Level 4: Cannibals, Killer Viruses, and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science
by Richard PrestonPanic in Level 4 is a grand tour through the eerie and unforgettable universe of Richard Preston, filled with incredible characters and mysteries that refuse to leave one's mind. Here are dramatic true stories from this acclaimed and award-winning author, including * the phenomenon of "self-cannibals," who suffer from a rare genetic condition caused by one wrong letter in their DNA that forces them to compulsively chew their own flesh--and why everyone may have a touch of this disease * the search for the unknown host of Ebola virus, an organism hidden somewhere in African rain forests, where the disease finds its way into the human species, causing outbreaks of unparalleled horror * the brilliant Russian brothers--"one mathematician divided between two bodies"--who built a supercomputer in their apartment from mail-order parts in an attempt to find hidden order in the number pi (π). In exhilarating detail, Preston portrays the frightening forces and constructive discoveries that are currently roiling and reordering our world, once again proving himself a master of the nonfiction narrative.
Pantry to Plate: Kitchen Staples for Simple and Easy Cooking: 70 weeknight recipes using go-to ingredients
by Emily StephensonEliminate the what's-for-dinner dilemma!Pantry to Plate collects 50 staple ingredients in the cupboard, fridge, or freezer, and features 70 recipes that use only those ingredients. Recipes like Black Bean Burgers and Slaw, Chipotle Chicken Tacos, and Spicy Noodle Soup are just the beginning of the versatility and variety of this tasty and practical cookbook.• A trusty cookbook-meets-guide filled with flavorful and hearty recipes for meals• Includes a fully stocked shopping list for you to take to the store (yes, even the salt, pepper, and oil are included)• Staple ingredients range from Greek yogurt, olives, and lentils to coconut milk, bread crumbs, and fresh ginger.Readers will have everything they need to satisfy cravings and feed hungry mouths with little to no advance planning.With its streamlined message and organization, this book helps new cooks get started in the kitchen, and experienced home cooks get dinner on the table. • Encourages cooks to streamline their kitchen• Offers the tools needed to create simple, delicious, and healthy meals straight from the pantry• Perfect gift for new graduates, newlyweds and couples, young professionals looking to cook at home more, home cooks with limited time, busy parents of big families, and anyone seeking tips on how to stock their pantry and be healthy on a budget• You'll love this book if you love books like Sheet Pan Suppers: 120 Recipes For Simple, Surprising, Hands-Off Meals Straight From The Oven by Molly Gilbert; My Perfect Pantry: 150 Easy Recipes From 50 Essential Ingredients by Geoffrey Zakarian; and Keepers: Two Home Cooks Share Their Tried-And-True Weeknight Recipes and the Secrets to Happiness In The Kitchen: A Cookbook by Kathy Brennan.
Papal Magic: Occult Practices Within the Catholic Church
by SimonIt is acknowledged Church doctrine that sorcery is the specific domain of the Devil. Yet occult tales are liberally sprinkled throughout the Old and New Testaments, from the spirit-invoking Witch of Endor to the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Throughout its 2,000 year history, the Church has spawned numerous mystical religious orders, like the Knights Templar, that may have been engaged in supernatural pursuits, while no fewer than three popes were believed to be involved in occult practices.Christian scriptures tell us that the occult is real, while Catholic priests are thought to have spiritual power over ghosts and evil entities. But if a priest can cast out demons during the rites of exorcism, does it not imply he has the ability to summon them as well?In this eye-opening, provocative work, leading occult scholar Simon examines the Church's unspoken relationship with forbidden magic by exploring the infamous seventeenth-century document considered by some to be the most demonic of all occult texts—the Grimoire of Pope Honorius III—and illuminates the Vatican's darkest hidden corners.
Papillon Goes to the Vet (Papillon #2)
by A. N. KangPapillon, the kitty so fluffy he floats, is back! Only this time, he's grounded. Literally. Weighed down after swallowing a toy and beset with hiccups, Papillon is miserable! Miss Tilly takes him to the vet, but will he ever float again?
Para Onde Quer Que Vás, Aí Estarás
by Jon Kabat-ZinnUm livro fundamental para sintonizar a mente com o coração, da autoria da maior referência na ciência do mindfulness. «Seja o que for que lhe tenha acontecido, já aconteceu. E a pergunta importante é: como lidar com isso? Por outras palavras: “Então, e agora?”» Publicado originalmente há mais de vinte anos, este continua a ser um dos mais importantes livros sobre o coração da meditação budista: prestar atenção de uma forma especial e objetiva no momento presente e sem julgar. O Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn divide o livro em três partes: a conceptualização do mindfulness; a prática formal da meditação; e, finalmente, as aplicações na vida quotidiana.Nesta obra de referência são definidos mecanismos e exercícios de mindfulness que lhe permitirão gerir melhor comportamentos, pensamentos e emoções desafiantes no dia a dia. «Este livro brilha com uma requintada simplicidade e franqueza. Jon Kabat-Zinn é um dos melhores professores de mindfulness que alguma vez conhecerá.» Jack Kornfield, professor budista e autor bestseller internacional «Os historiadores do futuro podem bem concluir que a introdução da meditação no mundo ocidental é um dos acontecimentos mais importantes do século xx e que Jon Kabat-Zinn foi um dos seus mais eficazes apoiantes.» Roger Walsh, professor de Psiquiatria, Filosofia e Antropologia na Universidade da Califórnia em Irvine
Paracelsus: Selected Writings (Bollingen Series #680)
by ParacelsusThe enigmatic sixteenth-century Swiss physician and natural philosopher Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, called Paracelsus, is known for the almost superhuman energy with which he produced his innumerable writings, for his remarkable achievements in the development of science, and for his reputation as a visionary (not to mention sorcerer) and alchemist. Little is known of his biography beyond his legendary achievements, and the details of his life have been filled in over the centuries by his admirers. This richly illustrated anthology presents in modernized language a selection of the moral thought of a man who was not only a self-willed genius charged with the dynamism of an impetuous and turbulent age but also in many ways a humble seeker after truth, who deeply influenced C. G. Jung and his followers.
Paradigms Lost: Fighting Stigma and the Lessons Learned
by Norman Sartorius Heather Stuart Julio Arboleda-FlorezThe book challenges key paradigms currently held about the prevention or reduction of stigma attached to mental illness using evidence and the experience the authors gathered during the many years of their work in this field. Each chapter examines one currently held paradigm and presents reasons why it should be replaced with a new perspective. <P><P>The book argues for enlightened opportunism (using every opportunity to fight stigma), rather than more time consuming planning, and emphasizes that the best way to approach anti-stigma work is to select targets jointly with those who are most concerned. The most radical change of paradigms concerns the evaluation of outcome for anti-stigma activities. Previously, changes in stigmatizing attitudes were used as the best indicator of success. Paradigms Lost and its authors argue that it is now necessary to measure changes in behaviors (both from the perspective of those stigmatized and those who stigmatize) to obtain a more valid measure of a program's success. Other myths to be challenged: providing knowledge about mental illness will reduce stigma; community care will de-stigmatize mental illness and psychiatry; people with a mental illness are less discriminated against in developing countries. <P><P>The book concludes by describing key elements in successful anti stigma work including the recommended duration of anti-stigma programmes, the involvement of those with mental illness in designing programmes, and the definition of programmes in accordance with local circumstances. A summary of weaknesses of currently held paradigms and corresponding lists of best practice principles to guide future anti-stigma action and research bring this insightful volume to an apt conclusion.
Paradise General: Riding the Surge at a Combat Hospital in Iraq
by Dave HnidaIN 2004, AT THE AGE OF FORTY-EIGHT, DR. DAVE HNIDA, a family physician from Littleton, Colorado, volunteered to be deployed to Iraq and spent a tour of duty as a battalion surgeon with a combat unit. In 2007, he went back--this time as a trauma chief at one of the busiest Combat Support Hospitals (CSH) during the Surge. In an environment that was nothing less than a modern-day M*A*S*H, the doctors' main objective was simple: Get 'em in, get 'em out. The only CSH staffed by reservists-- who tended to be older, more-experienced doctors disdainful of authority--the 399th soon became a medevac destination of choice because of its high survival rate, an astounding 98 percent. This was fast-food medicine at its best: working in a series of tents connected to the occasional run-down building, Dr. Hnida and his fellow doctors raced to keep the wounded alive until they could be airlifted out of Iraq for more extensive repairs. Here the Hippocratic Oath superseded that of the pledge to Uncle Sam; if you got the red-carpet helicopter ride, his team took care of you, no questions asked. On one stretcher there might be a critically injured American soldier while three feet away lay the insurgent, shot in the head, who planted the IED that inflicted those wounds. But there was levity amid the chaos. On call round-the-clock with an unrelenting caseload, the doctors' prescription for sanity included jokes, pranks, and misbehavior. Dr. Hnida's deployment was filled with colorful characters and gifted surgeons, a diverse group who became trusted friends as together they dealt with the psychological toll of seeing the casualties of war firsthand. In a conflict with no easy answers and even less good news, Paradise General gives us something that we can all believe in--the story of an ordinary citizen turned volunteer soldier trying to make a difference. With honesty and candor, and an off-the-wall, self-deprecating humor that sustained him and his battle buddies through their darkest hours, Dr. Hnida delivers a devastating and inspiring account of his CSH tour and an unparalleled look at medical care during an unscripted war.