40 Likely to Die Before 40


Book Description

"Those who are creating the modern composition authentically are naturally only of importance when they are dead because by that time the modern composition having become past is classified and the description of it is classical." --Gertrude Stein "One hundred years from now everyone in this anthology will be dead. According to Stein that means Alt Lit will finally be considered 'classic.'" --Christopher Higgs Featuring work by Sam Pink (1.), Chelsea Martin (2.), Megan Boyle (3.), Beach Sloth (4.), Diana Salier (5.), Guillaume Morissette (6.), Jordan Castro (7.), Gabby Bess (8.), Alexander J Allison (9.), Janey Smith (10.), Michael Heald (11.), Juliet Escoria (12.), Jereme Dean (13.), Noah Cicero (14.), Mike Bushnell (15.), Tara Wray (16.), Spencer Madsen (17.), Laura Marie Marciano (18.), Jackson Nieuwland (19.), Carolyn DeCarlo (20.), Heiko Julien (21.), Stephen Tully Dierks (22.), Lucy Tiven (23.), Timothy Willis Sanders (24.), Ana Carrete (25.), Chris Dankland (26.), Oscar Schwartz (27.), Steve Roggenbuck (28.), Luna Miguel (29.), Crispin Best (30.), Lucy K Shaw (31.), Andrew Duncan Worthington (32.), Frank Hinton (33.), Sarah Jean Alexander (34.), Willis Plummer (35.), Keegan Crawford (36.), Richard Chiem (37.), Tao Lin (38.), Mira Gonzalez (39.), and Scott McClanahan (40.) Also included--"Poetry and the Image Macro" by Michael Hessel-Miel and an Afterword by Christopher Higgs.




Menopause Before 40


Book Description

Every woman will eventually make the journey through menopause. For most, menopause occurs around around age 50. Those women are lucky, because they can access the plethora of books that will help guide them through every phase of menopause. But for at least 1 in 100 women, menopause can occur as early as age 35, sometimes younger. And thousands more women will experience premature ovarian failure due to other medical conditions and treatments, such as cancer treatment. Whatever the cause of early menopause, women going through it are left in a vacuum, where finding a healthcare practitioner experienced enough to treat them is difficult, let alone finding suitable information. Until now. With Menopause Before 40: Coping with Premature Ovarian Failure, Karin Banerd adds an important voice to menopause literature, addressing the distinct needs of the woman in premature menopause, as they are quite different from those of natural menopause. Banerd's personal experience and knowledge of premature menopause offers a unique perspective, as she shares her intimate, treacherous and painful journey that started at age 35. In the book, Banerd describes the warning signs of hormonal decline and the havoc these unexpected changes wreaked on her life. She also highlights the unique context of premature menopause, how it necessitates a different set of responses from doctors, and what she feels those responses should be. She goes on to explain exactly what premature menopause is and how it differs from natural menopause. And finally, she details various strategies for maintaining optimum health during the menopausal years. The last section, in particular, demonstrates how premature menopause can be a wake-up call for making nutritional and lifestyle choices that have far-reaching effects into the senior years.




Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries


Book Description

During the last 25 years, life expectancy at age 50 in the United States has been rising, but at a slower pace than in many other high-income countries, such as Japan and Australia. This difference is particularly notable given that the United States spends more on health care than any other nation. Concerned about this divergence, the National Institute on Aging asked the National Research Council to examine evidence on its possible causes. According to Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries, the nation's history of heavy smoking is a major reason why lifespans in the United States fall short of those in many other high-income nations. Evidence suggests that current obesity levels play a substantial part as well. The book reports that lack of universal access to health care in the U.S. also has increased mortality and reduced life expectancy, though this is a less significant factor for those over age 65 because of Medicare access. For the main causes of death at older ages-cancer and cardiovascular disease-available indicators do not suggest that the U.S. health care system is failing to prevent deaths that would be averted elsewhere. In fact, cancer detection and survival appear to be better in the U.S. than in most other high-income nations, and survival rates following a heart attack also are favorable. Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries identifies many gaps in research. For instance, while lung cancer deaths are a reliable marker of the damage from smoking, no clear-cut marker exists for obesity, physical inactivity, social integration, or other risks considered in this book. Moreover, evaluation of these risk factors is based on observational studies, which-unlike randomized controlled trials-are subject to many biases.




You Are the Snake


Book Description

From the celebrated author of Juliet the Maniac comes a collection of previously unpublished stories concerned with girlhood, family, and urge, reminiscent of Mary Gaitskill and Laura van den Berg In You Are the Snake, we peer into the life of a community college student, the life of an abusive grandmother is imagined, and a young woman takes up gardening. Escoria’s characters are trying their best, or they aren't, as they bump against the boundaries of society's expectations. Exploiting the form of the short story in a voice entirely her own, You Are the Snake resists easy moralizing by subverting our expectations of how narrative functions. While Escoria plumbs the depth of girlhood and new womanhood, she leaves room for oddness, impulse, and yearning. Each story contains its own world, be it the suburbs of California or the mountains of West Virginia, but taken as a whole, this collection is expanding and challenging, corrupting expectations about what women can be and what they can write. Juliet Escoria’s writing has been called “vivid,” “fantastic,” “sharp,” and “singularly honest,” and this collection delivers the “charged eloquence” of her previous work, in addition to the maturity and style of a new format—the short story—which is a dream fit for her “electricity that pulsates from within the prose.”




Approaching Death


Book Description

When the end of life makes its inevitable appearance, people should be able to expect reliable, humane, and effective caregiving. Yet too many dying people suffer unnecessarily. While an "overtreated" dying is feared, untreated pain or emotional abandonment are equally frightening. Approaching Death reflects a wide-ranging effort to understand what we know about care at the end of life, what we have yet to learn, and what we know but do not adequately apply. It seeks to build understanding of what constitutes good care for the dying and offers recommendations to decisionmakers that address specific barriers to achieving good care. This volume offers a profile of when, where, and how Americans die. It examines the dimensions of caring at the end of life: Determining diagnosis and prognosis and communicating these to patient and family. Establishing clinical and personal goals. Matching physical, psychological, spiritual, and practical care strategies to the patient's values and circumstances. Approaching Death considers the dying experience in hospitals, nursing homes, and other settings and the role of interdisciplinary teams and managed care. It offers perspectives on quality measurement and improvement, the role of practice guidelines, cost concerns, and legal issues such as assisted suicide. The book proposes how health professionals can become better prepared to care well for those who are dying and to understand that these are not patients for whom "nothing can be done."




When Children Die


Book Description

The death of a child is a special sorrow. No matter the circumstances, a child's death is a life-altering experience. Except for the child who dies suddenly and without forewarning, physicians, nurses, and other medical personnel usually play a central role in the lives of children who die and their families. At best, these professionals will exemplify "medicine with a heart." At worst, families' encounters with the health care system will leave them with enduring painful memories, anger, and regrets. When Children Die examines what we know about the needs of these children and their families, the extent to which such needs areâ€"and are notâ€"being met, and what can be done to provide more competent, compassionate, and consistent care. The book offers recommendations for involving child patients in treatment decisions, communicating with parents, strengthening the organization and delivery of services, developing support programs for bereaved families, improving public and private insurance, training health professionals, and more. It argues that taking these steps will improve the care of children who survive as well as those who do notâ€"and will likewise help all families who suffer with their seriously ill or injured child. Featuring illustrative case histories, the book discusses patterns of childhood death and explores the basic elements of physical, emotional, spiritual, and practical care for children and families experiencing a child's life-threatening illness or injury.








Book Description




Die Before You Die


Book Description

This book explores the significance of a saying of the Prophet Muhammad -- namely, "Die before you die" -- from the perspective of an individual who has been journeying along a path of discovery for more than 50 years. The contents of this book might be one of the most unique, intriguing, and challenging accounts of Islam and the Sufi path that has been published in North America. Just a little over a year ago, the author of this book died -- several times -- in the emergency room of a local hospital. This book starts with those events and, then, expands outward to talk about an array of experiences (including spiritual abuse) that has shaped his understanding of Islam, the Sufi path, life, ands himself. In addition, the book critically reflects on a series of issues that have relevance in today's world. These ideas range from: Sam Harris, to topics such as: Education, religion, mysticism, science, and shari'ah. While each of the book’s four sections has something to offer readers with respect to assisting a person to work toward developing a deeper understanding of Islam and its mystical dimension (as well as a number of other topics), the book's section on shari'ah might prove to be the most illuminating and thought-provoking facet of the book. More specifically, Dr. Whitehouse introduces readers to a way of engaging the topic of shari'ah that is quite different from what is normally thought of in conjunction with that term and, if God wishes, could serve as a way of helping to bring the Muslim world and the West closer together in a variety of constructive and harmonious ways.




Financial Literacy


Book Description

Financial Literacy is a carefully written, lively, and innovative text that introduces students to the mathematics of interest, annuities, and insurance. Requiring only a background in high school algebra, the book bridges the distance between a rigorous mathematical approach and a formulaic approach to the subject. Financial Literacy is notable for its innovative approach, tested over the years in the classroom, which makes some hard and cumbersome topics much easier to understand and apply. Included are hundreds of examples and solved problems, as well as several hundred exercises backed up by a solutions manual. As well as being ideal for an introductory course in the mathematics of finance, Financial Literacy is suitable for teaching quantitative reasoning by focusing on a particular area of study rather than presenting a smorgasbord of unrelated topics.