If you have health questions, are looking for more in-depth information or just have curiosity about health topics in general, we’ve got a robust selection of new books for you to delve into on the subject of health. Take a look at these:
Delivered from distraction : getting the most out of life with attention deficit disorder / Hallowell, Edward M
“In 1994, Driven to Distraction sparked a revolution in our understanding of attention deficit disorder. Widely recognized as the classic in the field, the book has sold more than a million copies. Now a second revolution is under way in the approach to ADD, and the news is great. Drug therapies, our understanding of the role of diet and exercise, even the way we define the disorder – all are changing radically. And doctors are realizing that millions of adults suffer from this condition, though the vast majority of them remain undiagnosed and untreated.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Migraine / Sacks, Oliver W
“Migraine is an age-old — the first recorded instances date back over two thousand years — and often debilitating condition, affecting a ‘substantial minority’ of the population across the globe. In this book, Oliver Sacks offers at once a medical account of its occurrence and management; an exploration of its physical, physiological, and psychological underpinnings and consequences; and a meditation on the nature and experience of health and illness.” (Catalogue)
Box of birds : what New Zealand taught me about life and the practice of medicine / Stowers, Stephen
“In this fascinating memoir, cardiologist Stephen Stowers eloquently captures the various changes that he has lived through over a lifetime spent as a caring and ethical medical professional. He also shows how he found refuge in another country, where he was able to practice medicine in a more ethical fashion once again and explains to us the surprising truth that he discovered there: New Zealand has better patient outcomes yet spends less money on healthcare, compared with a country such as the US. Doctors, nurses, medical professionals of all kinds, and anybody who has been a patient and wondered what has gone wrong in American medicine and how to help put things right again should read this book.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
The definitive guide to the perimenopause & menopause / Newson, Louise
“Menopause affects 51% of the population. Yet despite increased awareness in recent years, so much of the menopause remains a mystery. Here, Dr Louise Newson, the UK’s leading menopause specialist, breaks remaining taboos with the definitive guide to menopause.” (Catalogue)
Insulin : a hundred-year history / Bradwel, Stuart
“In this revelatory history, Stuart Bradwel looks back on
one of medicine’s most celebrated innovations. Bradwel reminds us that the centenary of this apparent “wonder drug” should be no cause for celebration. Insulin often remains inaccessible to those who need it most: elusive prescriptions, uneven availability and sky-high prices result in rationing and desperate do-it-yourself research and development. There is a long way to go in the twenty-first century until insulin truly fulfils the extraordinary promises made by its discovery.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Back up : why back pain treatments aren’t working and the new science offering hope / Mannix, Liam
“Back pain is the one of the world’s greatest public health challenges. It is the leading reason we visit the doctor, the leading reason we take time off work, the biggest cause of disability worldwide. One in 10 people will develop chronic back pain. Liam Mannix is one of the many who experience back pain, and he takes this as a starting point for this compelling and urgent work of investigative journalism. A theory has emerged, born from cutting-edge neuroscience, that claims back pain often has little to do with the back or the discs or the spine. Instead, back pain is all about the brain. This new science offers new solutions, including, remarkably, evidence that just by teaching people this theory of pain we can reduce it.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Quick functional exercises for seniors : 50 exercises to optimize your health / Sipe, Cody
“It’s no secret that people are living longer lately, and setting up an appropriate exercise and nutrition plan is vital to maintaining this longevity. This book contains more than fifty exercises for seniors, with beautiful full-color step-by-step images to illustrate each.” (Catalogue)
Psychedelics : the revolutionary drugs that could change your life – a guide from the expert / Nutt, David J.
“Professor David Nutt, one of the world’s leading Neuropsychopharmacologists, has spent 15 years researching this field and it is his most significant body of work to date. In 2018, he co-founded the first academic psychedelic research centre – underpinned by his mission to provide evidence-based information for people everywhere. The results of this have been nothing short of ground-breaking for the future categorisation of drugs, but also for what we now know about brain mechanisms and our consciousness. At a time where there is an enormous amount of noise around the benefits of psychedelics, this book contains the knowledge you need to know about a drug that is about to go mainstream, free from the hot air, direct from the expert.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Gestational diabetes cookbook for the newly diagnosed : easy recipes and meal plans for a healthy pregnancy / Kirchner, Ranelle
“A gestational diabete mellitus (GDM) deagnosis can be worrying, but with a little guidance, you can learn how to take care of yourself and your baby. Packed full of information and easy recipes, this cookbook gives you the tools to manage blood sugar, prepare nourishing meals, and have a happy, healthy pregnancy.” (Catalogue)
Butts : a backstory / Radke, Heather
“Whether we love them or hate them, think they’re sexy, think they’re strange, consider them too big, too small, or anywhere in between, humans have a complicated relationship with butts. Spanning nearly two centuries, this cultural history takes us from the performance halls of 19th-century London to the aerobics studios of the 1980s, the music video set of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” and the mountains of Arizona, where every year humans and horses race in a feat of gluteal endurance. Part deep dive reportage, part personal journey, part cabinet of curiosities, Butts is an entertaining, illuminating, and thoughtful examination of why certain silhouettes come in and out of fashion–and how larger ideas about race, control, liberation, and power affect our most private feelings about ourselves and others.” (Adapted Catalogue)
For more new items in the collection, go to: What’s new / November 2023 (wcl.govt.nz)
