Random House New Releases - Social Science - Disease & Health Issues - Between May 21, 2012 and June 20, 2013.

Second Suns by David Oliver Relin

2013-06-18T00:30:00-05:00

Second Suns Two Doctors and Their Amazing Quest to Restore Sight and Save Lives
Written by David Oliver Relin

From the co-author of Three Cups of Tea comes the inspiring story of two very different doctors—one from the United States, the other from Nepal—united in a common mission: to rid the world of preventable blindness.

In this transporting book, David Oliver Relin shines a light on the work of Geoffrey Tabin and Sanduk Ruit, gifted ophthalmologists who have dedicated their lives to restoring sight to some of the world’s most isolated, impoverished people through the Himalayan Cataract Project, an organization they founded in 1995. Tabin was the high-achieving bad boy of Harvard Medical School, an accomplished mountain climber and adrenaline junkie as brilliant as he was unconventional. Ruit grew up in a remote Nepalese village, where he became intimately acquainted with the human costs of inadequate access to health care. Together they found their life’s calling: tending to the afflicted people of the Himalayas, a vast mountainous region with an alarmingly high incidence of cataract blindness.

Second Suns takes us from improvised plywood operating tables in villages without electricity or plumbing to state-of-the-art surgical centers at major American universities where these two driven men are restoring sight—and hope—to patients from around the world. With their revolutionary, inexpensive style of surgery, Tabin and Ruit have been able to cure tens of thousands—all for about twenty dollars per operation. David Oliver Relin brings the doctors’ work to vivid life through poignant portraits of patients helped by the surgery, from old men who cannot walk treacherous mountain trails unaided to cataract-stricken children who have not seen their mothers’ faces for years. With the dexterity of a master storyteller, Relin shows the profound emotional and practical impact that these operations have had on patients’ lives.

Second Suns is the moving, unforgettable story of how two men with a shared dream are changing the world, one pair of eyes at a time.

Second Suns by David Oliver Relin

2013-06-18T00:30:00-05:00

Second Suns Two Doctors and Their Amazing Quest to Restore Sight and Save Lives
Written by David Oliver Relin

Second Suns by Rob Shapiro

2013-06-18T00:30:00-05:00

Second Suns Two Doctors and Their Amazing Quest to Restore Sight and Save Lives
Written by David Oliver Relin
Read by Rob Shapiro

Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen

2013-06-04T00:30:00-05:00

Full Body Burden Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats
Written by Kristen Iversen

Full Body Burden is Kristen Iversen's story of growing up in a small Colorado town close to Rocky Flats, a secret nuclear weapons plant. It's also a book about the destructive power of secrets—both family secrets and government secrets. Her father's hidden liquor bottles, the strange cancers in children in the neighborhood, the truth about what they made at Rocky Flats—best not to inquire too deeply into any of it. But as Iversen grew older, she began to ask questions and discovered some disturbing realities.
As this memoir unfolds, it reveals itself as a brilliant work of investigative journalism—a shocking account of the government's sustained attempt to conceal the effects of the toxic and radioactive waste released by Rocky Flats, and of local residents' vain attempts to seek justice in court. Based on extensive interviews, FBI and EPA documents, and class-action testimony, this taut, beautifully written book promises to have a very long half-life.

Now with Extra Libris material, including a reader’s guide and bonus content

The Autism Puzzle by Caroline Cox

2013-04-30T00:30:00-05:00

The Autism Puzzle Connecting the Dots Between Environmental Toxins and Rising Autism Rates
Written by Brita Belli
Foreword by Caroline Cox

"The Autism Puzzle unlocks many alarming truths about this worldwide epidemic and raises the deeper question: What are you going to do about it?”
—Dr. Bob Sears, author of The Autism Book (Sears Parenting Library)

With 1 in 88 American children now affected by autism, The Autism Puzzle is the first book to move beyond the distractions of the vaccine debate to address compelling new evidence that autism may be the result of the pairing of environmental exposures with genetic susceptibilities that together impact the brain development of children.

Journalist Brita Belli brings us into the lives of three families with autistic children, each with different ideas about autism, as she explores the possible causes. She interprets for readers compelling evidence that environmental toxins—including common exposures from chemicals mounting in our everyday lives—may be sparking this disorder in vulnerable children. Belli calls for an end to the use of hazardous materials—like toxic flame retardants used in electronics and furniture—insisting that we cannot afford to experiment with our children. The Autism Puzzle puts a human face on the families caught in between the debates and offers a refreshingly balanced perspective.

Cancer in the Community by Martha Balshem

2013-04-09T00:30:00-05:00

Cancer in the Community Class and Medical Authority
Written by Martha Balshem

Focusing on deep conflicts between the medical establishment and the working class, Martha Balshem chronicles a health education project in “Tannerstown,” a pseudonym for a blue-collar neighborhood in northeast Philadelphia.

Toms River by Dan Fagin

2013-03-19T00:30:00-05:00

Toms River A Story of Science and Salvation
Written by Dan Fagin

“A thrilling journey through the twists and turns of cancer epidemiology, Toms River is essential reading for our times. Dan Fagin handles topics of great complexity with the dexterity of a scholar, the honesty of a journalist, and the dramatic skill of a novelist.”—Siddhartha Mukherjee, M.D., author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

The riveting true story of a small town ravaged by industrial pollution, Toms River melds hard-hitting investigative reporting, a fascinating scientific detective story, and an unforgettable cast of characters into a sweeping narrative in the tradition of A Civil Action, The Emperor of All Maladies, and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

One of New Jersey’s seemingly innumerable quiet seaside towns, Toms River became the unlikely setting for a decades-long drama that culminated in 2001 with one of the largest legal settlements in the annals of toxic dumping. A town that would rather have been known for its Little League World Series champions ended up making history for an entirely different reason: a notorious cluster of childhood cancers scientifically linked to local air and water pollution. For years, large chemical companies had been using Toms River as their private dumping ground, burying tens of thousands of leaky drums in open pits and discharging billions of gallons of acid-laced wastewater into the town’s namesake river.

In an astonishing feat of investigative reporting, prize-winning journalist Dan Fagin recounts the sixty-year saga of rampant pollution and inadequate oversight that made Toms River a cautionary example for fast-growing industrial towns from South Jersey to South China. He tells the stories of the pioneering scientists and physicians who first identified pollutants as a cause of cancer, and brings to life the everyday heroes in Toms River who struggled for justice: a young boy whose cherubic smile belied the fast-growing tumors that had decimated his body from birth; a nurse who fought to bring the alarming incidence of childhood cancers to the attention of authorities who didn’t want to listen; and a mother whose love for her stricken child transformed her into a tenacious advocate for change.

A gripping human drama rooted in a centuries-old scientific quest, Toms River is a tale of dumpers at midnight and deceptions in broad daylight, of corporate avarice and government neglect, and of a few brave individuals who refused to keep silent until the truth was exposed.

Praise for Toms River

“It’s high time a book did for epidemiology what Jon Krakauer’s best-selling Into Thin Air did for mountain climbing: transform a long sequence of painfully plodding steps and missteps into a narrative of such irresistible momentum that the reader not only understands what propels enthusiasts forward, but begins to strain forward as well, racing through the pages to get to the heady views at the end. And such is the power of Dan Fagin’s Toms River, surely a new classic of science reporting . . . a sober story of probability and compromise, laid out with the care and precision that characterizes both good science and great journalism.”—The New York Times

“Immaculate research . . . unstoppable reading . . . Fagin’s book may not endear him to Toms River’s real estate agents, but its exhaustive reporting and honest look at the cause, obstacles, and unraveling of a cancerous trail should be required environmental reading.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Absorbing and thoughtful.”—USA Today

Toms River by Dan Fagin

2013-03-19T00:30:00-05:00

Toms River A Story of Science and Salvation
Written by Dan Fagin

Toms River by Dan Woren

2013-03-19T00:30:00-05:00

Toms River A Story of Science and Salvation
Written by Dan Fagin
Read by Dan Woren

Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen

2012-06-05T00:30:00-05:00

Full Body Burden Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats
Written by Kristen Iversen

Full Body Burden is a haunting work of narrative nonfiction about a young woman, Kristen Iversen, growing up in a small Colorado town close to Rocky Flats, a secret nuclear weapons plant once designated "the most contaminated site in America." It's the story of a childhood and adolescence in the shadow of the Cold War, in a landscape at once startlingly beautiful and--unknown to those who lived there--tainted with invisible yet deadly particles of plutonium.

It's also a book about the destructive power of secrets--both family and government. Her father's hidden liquor bottles, the strange cancers in children in the neighborhood, the truth about what was made at Rocky Flats (cleaning supplies, her mother guessed)--best not to inquire too deeply into any of it.

But as Iversen grew older, she began to ask questions. She learned about the infamous 1969 Mother's Day fire, in which a few scraps of plutonium spontaneously ignited and--despite the desperate efforts of firefighters--came perilously close to a "criticality," the deadly blue flash that signals a nuclear chain reaction. Intense heat and radiation almost melted the roof, which nearly resulted in an explosion that would have had devastating consequences for the entire Denver metro area. Yet the only mention of the fire was on page 28 of the Rocky Mountain News, underneath a photo of the Pet of the Week. In her early thirties, Iversen even worked at Rocky Flats for a time, typing up memos in which accidents were always called "incidents."

And as this memoir unfolds, it reveals itself as a brilliant work of investigative journalism--a detailed and shocking account of the government's sustained attempt to conceal the effects of the toxic and radioactive waste released by Rocky Flats, and of local residents' vain attempts to seek justice in court. Here, too, are vivid portraits of former Rocky Flats workers--from the healthy, who regard their work at the plant with pride and patriotism, to the ill or dying, who battle for compensation for cancers they got on the job.

Based on extensive interviews, FBI and EPA documents, and class-action testimony, this taut, beautifully written book promises to have a very long half-life.

Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen

2012-06-05T00:30:00-05:00

Full Body Burden Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats
Written by Kristen Iversen

Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen

2012-06-05T00:30:00-05:00

Full Body Burden Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats
Written by Kristen Iversen
Read by Kirsten Potter and Kristen Iversen

Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen

2012-06-05T00:30:00-05:00

Full Body Burden Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats
Written by Kristen Iversen
Read by Kirsten Potter and Kristen Iversen

Random House New Releases - Social Science - Disease & Health Issues - Between May 21, 2012 and June 20, 2013.

Second Suns by David Oliver Relin

Second Suns Two Doctors and Their Amazing Quest to Restore Sight and Save LivesWritten by David Oliver Relin

Second Suns by David Oliver Relin

Second Suns Two Doctors and Their Amazing Quest to Restore Sight and Save LivesWritten by David Oliver Relin

Second Suns by Rob Shapiro

Second Suns Two Doctors and Their Amazing Quest to Restore Sight and Save LivesWritten by David Oliver Relin Read by Rob Shapiro

Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen

Full Body Burden Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky FlatsWritten by Kristen Iversen

The Autism Puzzle by Caroline Cox

The Autism Puzzle Connecting the Dots Between Environmental Toxins and Rising Autism RatesWritten by Brita Belli Foreword by Caroline Cox

Cancer in the Community by Martha Balshem

Cancer in the Community Class and Medical AuthorityWritten by Martha Balshem

Toms River by Dan Fagin

Toms River A Story of Science and SalvationWritten by Dan Fagin

Toms River by Dan Fagin

Toms River A Story of Science and SalvationWritten by Dan Fagin

Toms River by Dan Woren

Toms River A Story of Science and SalvationWritten by Dan Fagin Read by Dan Woren

Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen

Full Body Burden Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky FlatsWritten by Kristen Iversen

Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen

Full Body Burden Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky FlatsWritten by Kristen Iversen

Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen

Full Body Burden Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky FlatsWritten by Kristen Iversen Read by Kirsten Potter and Kristen Iversen

Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen

Full Body Burden Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky FlatsWritten by Kristen Iversen Read by Kirsten Potter and Kristen Iversen

Second Suns Two Doctors and Their Amazing Quest to Restore Sight and Save Lives
Written by David Oliver Relin

Second Suns Two Doctors and Their Amazing Quest to Restore Sight and Save Lives
Written by David Oliver Relin

Second Suns Two Doctors and Their Amazing Quest to Restore Sight and Save Lives
Written by David Oliver Relin
Read by Rob Shapiro

Full Body Burden Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats
Written by Kristen Iversen

The Autism Puzzle Connecting the Dots Between Environmental Toxins and Rising Autism Rates
Written by Brita Belli
Foreword by Caroline Cox

Cancer in the Community Class and Medical Authority
Written by Martha Balshem

Toms River A Story of Science and Salvation
Written by Dan Fagin

Toms River A Story of Science and Salvation
Written by Dan Fagin

Toms River A Story of Science and Salvation
Written by Dan Fagin
Read by Dan Woren

Full Body Burden Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats
Written by Kristen Iversen

Full Body Burden Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats
Written by Kristen Iversen

Full Body Burden Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats
Written by Kristen Iversen
Read by Kirsten Potter and Kristen Iversen

Full Body Burden Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats
Written by Kristen Iversen
Read by Kirsten Potter and Kristen Iversen