Medicine Philosophy

Immerse yourself in the history of medicine - a colorful story of skill, serendipity, trial and error, moments of genius, and dogged determination.

In 2017, seven-year-old Ava in South Carolina wrote a letter to Tyshaun, an eight-year-old boy from Washington, DC. She asked him to be her pen pal; Ava thought they could help each other. The kids had a tragic connection - both were traumatized by gun violence. Ava’s best friend had been killed in a campus shooting at her elementary school, and Tyshaun’s father had been shot to death outside of the boy’s elementary school. Ava’s and Tyshaun’s stories are extraordinary, but not unique.

The West has taken to meditation with great enthusiasm. We contemplate. We concentrate. We embrace mindfulness techniques and a multitude of mantras. We have undertaken to “do” meditation. The Aspects of Meditation series is comprised of brief, precious texts in which Osho shows us the core of meditation is not about sitting silently or chanting a mantra. It is, instead, a question of understanding the subtle workings of the mind. In Book 4, Osho examines health and illness, disease and well-being as outgrowths of our sense of self and connection to our mind.

Pause...breathe...smile. Three small words, yet each contains a universe of wisdom. Let the title be your guide in this inspiring book on awakening to the full depths of mindful living. The Pause is about setting our intention before we think, speak, or act - the ethical dimension of mindfulness. When we Breathe, we unite mind, body, and spirit, making every moment an opportunity for meditation. With a Smile, we open to a wisdom beyond words. This simple trio will water your innate seeds of awakening to help you pave your own path to fulfillment and peace.

Few diseases are more gruesome than typhus. Transmitted by body lice, it afflicts the dispossessed - refugees, soldiers, and ghettoized peoples - causing hallucinations, terrible headaches, boiling fever, and often death. The disease plagued the German army on the Eastern Front and left the Reich desperate for a vaccine. For this they turned to the brilliant and eccentric Polish zoologist Rudolf Weigl.

In the face of continuing advances in medical research and treatment, bioethical questions remain at the heart of many of our society’s difficult moral problems. Since its original publication in 1996, Gilbert Meilaender’s Bioethics has proven itself an effective introduction into this arena, providing thoughtful guidance on today’s most relevant issues, including abortion, assisted reproduction, genetic research, euthanasia, human experimentation, and much more.

Between Hope and Fear tells the remarkable story of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases and their social and political implications. While detailing the history of vaccine invention, Michael Kinch reveals the ominous reality that our victories against vaccine-preventable diseases are not permanent - and could easily be undone. Between Hope and Fear relates the remarkable intersection of science, technology, and disease that has helped eradicate many of the deadliest plagues known to man.

Over the course of several years, I paraphrased the original English text (Long 1862) into a simplified and easy to absorb version I call Meditations Made Simple. The Narrator of this audiobook makes it a joy to listen to.

The power of Tarot goes beyond simple "fortune telling". The true power of Tarot is in its ability to speak to us of ourselves as we truly are. Every archetype of tarot is a piece of the puzzle of who we are. To put this puzzle together is to see a complete picture of ourselves, both as individuals and as a species. Tarot offers a blueprint of our soul and a road map of our spiritual journey.

Do animals have moral rights? If so, what does this mean? What sorts of mental lives do animals have, and how should we understand welfare? By presenting models for understanding animals' moral status and rights, and examining their mental lives and welfare, David DeGrazia explores the implications for how we should treat animals in connection with our diet, zoos, and research. Animal Rights distinguishes itself by combining intellectual rigor with accessibility, offering a distinct moral voice with a non-polemical tone.

Important and provocative, The Undead examines why even with the tools of advanced technology, what we think of as life and death, consciousness and nonconsciousness, is not exactly clear - and how this problem has been further complicated by the business of organ harvesting.

As late as the 1930s, virtually no drug intended for sickness did any good; doctors could set bones, deliver babies, and offer palliative care. That all changed in less than a generation with the discovery and development of a new category of medicine known as antibiotics. By 1955 the age-old evolutionary relationship between humans and microbes had been transformed, trivializing once-deadly infections.

Sit back, relax, meditate, and enjoy the ride. Yes, Stoicism is a philosophy. Better yet? One that can be easily be applied and can change your life forever. This audiobook contains a detailed explanation of the philosophy of Stoicism in an understandable and relatable manner. It will actively attempt to describe Stoicism in such real-life situations that the application of its ideologies will seem very achievable. This is because Stoicism is very easy in application.

In 1918, a world war raged, and a lethal strain of influenza circled the globe. In the midst of all this death, a bizarre disease appeared in Europe. Eventually known as encephalitis lethargica, or sleeping sickness, it spread worldwide, leaving millions dead or locked in institutions. Then, in 1927, it disappeared as suddenly as it had arrived. Asleep, set in 1920s and '30s New York, follows a group of neurologists through hospitals and asylums as they try to solve this epidemic and treat its victims - who learned the worst fate was not dying of it, but surviving it.

The natural limits of the human body make us vulnerable and therefore dependent, throughout our lives, on others. Yet American law and policy disregard these stubborn facts, with statutes and judicial decisions that presume people to be autonomous, defined by their capacity to choose. As legal scholar O. Carter Snead points out, this individualistic ideology captures important truths about human freedom, but it also means that we have no obligations to each other unless we actively, voluntarily embrace them.

We know science is awesome, as are its achievements. Yet so far, scientists have managed to sidestep the most awesome reality of all: the true nature of human life, the source of their own genius. How is it that in the overwhelming immensity of the cosmos, on microscopic Earth, human beings exist? We have not yet looked reality in the face and perceived the nobility and grandeur of who we are, each of us having a responsibility in the universe and being part of a vast and continuing process.

In 1900, the U.S. sent three doctors to Cuba to discover how yellow fever was spread. There, they launched one of history's most controversial human studies. Compelling and terrifying, The American Plague depicts the story of yellow fever and its reign in this country - and in Africa, where even today it strikes thousands every year. With "arresting tales of heroism," it is a story as much about the nature of human beings as it is about the nature of disease.

Imagine a life free from pain, sorrow, and negativity and infused with joy and tranquility. The ancient yogis called this state vishoka and insisted that we all can achieve it. The key is a precise set of meditative techniques designed to unite mind and breath and turn them inward, allowing us to heal and rejuvenate ourselves on every level of our being.

Few of us need convincing that the American health insurance system needs reform. But many of the existing proposals focus on expanding one relatively successful piece of the system or building in piecemeal additions. These proposals miss the point. As the Stanford health economist Liran Einav and the MIT economist and MacArthur Genius Amy Finkelstein argue, our health care system was never deliberately designed, but rather pieced together to deal with issues as they became politically relevant.

Medicine for the Heart is a guide to the extraordinary richness of Scripture seen through Kierkegaard's eyes. He wrote about Scripture as none other, a literature of surpassing artistry and rare moral power. Kierkegaard described a new believer who discovered that life was beautiful, that it was a new gloriousness of faith that no human being can give to another, but that every human being has what is highest, noblest, and most sacred in humankind. It is original in him, and every human being has it if he wants to have it.