Anatomy of an Epidemic Selected at Saint Michael’s College for Abnormal Psychology course

In Anatomy of an Epidemic award-winning science and history writer Robert Whitaker investigates, in the first book of its kind, the merits of psychiatric medications through the prism of long-term results, asking the question: Why has the number of disabled mentally ill in the United States tripled over the past two decades?

During the past fifty years, when investigators looked at how psychiatric drugs affected long-term outcomes, studies on various psychiatric drugs—including those used to treat depression, bipolar disorder and ADHD—have consistently found that these medications, for some paradoxical reason, increase the likelihood that people will become chronically ill, less able to function well, more prone to physical illness.

Having given this shocking analysis of these findings, Whitaker then asks why the results from these long-term studies been kept from the public? He concludes with personal stories of children and adults swept up in this epidemic, and reports on innovative programs of psychiatric care in Europe and the United States that are producing good long-term outcomes.

St. Michael’s College’s Psychology Dept. has chosen it for course use in Abnormal Psychology this Fall.

“Why are so many more people disabled by mental illness than ever before?  Why are those so diagnosed dying 10-25 years earlier than others?  In Anatomy of an Epidemic investigative reporter Robert Whitaker cuts through flawed science, greed and outright lies to reveal that the drugs hailed as the cure for mental disorders instead worsen them over the long term.  But Whitaker’s investigation also offers hope for the future: solid science backs nature’s way of healing our mental ills through time and human relationships.  Whitaker tenderly interviews children and adults who bear witness to the ravages of mental illness, and testify to their newly found “aliveness” when freed from the prison of mind-numbing drugs.”—Daniel Dorman, M.D., Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, UCLA School of Medicine and author of Dante’s Cure: A Journey Out of Madness

“This is the most alarming book I’ve read in years.  The approach is neither polemical nor ideologically slanted. Relying on medical evidence and historical documentation, Whitaker builds his case like a prosecuting attorney.”—Carl Elliott, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Center for Bioethics, University of Minnesota and author of Better than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream

To read an excerpt, click here.

To order an examination copy, click here.

 

In Pursuit of Elegance is the Common Summer Reader at Columbus College of Art & Design

Written in the tradition of The Tipping Point, Made to Stick, and The Black Swan, In Pursuit of Elegance will change the way you and your students think about the world. 

In this thought-provoking exploration of why certain events, products, and people capture our attention and imaginations, Matthew E. May examines the elusive element behind so many innovative breakthroughs in fields ranging from physics and marketing to design and popular culture. Combining unusual simplicity and surprising power, elegance is characterized by four key elements—seduction, subtraction, symmetry, and sustainability. In a compelling, story-driven narrative that sheds light on the need for elegance in design, engineering, art, urban planning, sports, and work, May offers surprising evidence that what’s “not there” often trumps what is.

The Columbus College of Art and Design’s Foundation Studies program has selected In Pursuit of Elegance for its Freshman Summer Reading for 2010. 

To read an excerpt, click here.

To order an examination copy, click here.

Take Students to Great Heights! Make the Impossible Possible Selected as Common Reader at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Voorhees College, and Winthrop University

Bill Strickland’s Make the Impossible Possible: One Man’s Crusade to Inspire Others to Dream Bigger and Achieve the Extraordinary has been adopted for common reading at several colleges and universities, including Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Frank Phillips College, Voorhees College, and Winthrop University.  At IUP, the book was selected by a panel of faculty and staff.  To qualify for adoption in the program, a book must be relevant to today’s students, offer interdisciplinary appeal, and provide opportunities for additional and diverse programming.

To view the author’s presentation at the recent 2010 First-Year Experience conference please click here. Later this month Strickland will be conferred with honorary degrees from Babson College and Marywood University. A full listing of his honorary degrees can be found here.

From the ghetto to Harvard Business School, Make the Impossible Possible is Strickland’s personal story. It has been positively reviewed by many publications, including Publishers Weekly, which says: “It’s the American dream with a twist: for Strickland, it was never about shedding his past and getting ahead but about following his bliss and making a difference.”

Strickland is president and CEO, Manchester Bidwell Corporation and its subsidiaries, Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, and Bidwell Training Center.

Award-winning journalist María Hinojosa recently interviewed Bill Strickland. For video, click here.

For more information on the book or author, including an author video, click here.

To read a book excerpt, click here.

To order an examination copy, click here.

University of Michigan Students are Reading The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How

In The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How, bestselling author Daniel Coyle reveals the simple yet powerful mechanisms through which human beings acquire skill–the kinds of practice, motivation, and coaching that grow myelin, a substance in our brains–the fastest. Through visits to the world’s best soccer players, bank robbers, violinists, fighter pilots, artists, and skateboarders, and to the labs where myelin is being investigated. This compelling and instructive book will transform the way we view talent and enable all of us to develop our full potential and is recommended for courses on education, business, psychology, and sociology. 

This Fall 2010, University of Michigan’s Principles of Macroeconomics course will be using The Talent Code.

“This book is not only quite convincing about the role of hard work in gaining skills, but gives insight into the ‘type’ of hard work that pays off. In line with the experimental evidence for educational gains from convincing students that diligent study can rewire the brain, I am assigning the book as a recommended reading to improve the performance of my college students in a class covering unrelated topics. In other words, I view this as a book for ‘learning how to learn.’” –Miles Kimball, Professor of Economics, University of Michigan 

Click here to read an excerpt.

To order an examination copy, click here.

Switch to Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

This just in!  Whitworth University in Washington has selected Switch by Chip and Dan Heath for their Introductory Psychology course this Fall 2010.  From the authors of the acclaimed Made to Stick, Switch combines theory and case studies from Psychology, Sociology, and Business Management, to shed new light on how we can effect transformative change. Switch shows that successful changes follow a pattern—one we can use to make the changes that matter most to us. 

Here’s what Professor Peter Lorenzi has to say about Switch:

“Switch offers practical leadership lessons to direct the rider, to motivate the elephant, and to shape the path in all of us, to effect social change. Blending a solid basis of academic research and common sense successes, Heath and Heath provide an interesting and instructive manual for moving mountains by understanding the importance of mole hills.”–Peter Lorenzi, Professor, Loyola University Maryland (Executive MBA Students will be reading Switch) 

CHIP HEATH is a professor of organizational behavior in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. DAN HEATH, a former researcher at Harvard Business School, is now a Senior Fellow at Duke University’s CASE Center, which supports social entrepreneurs.

Click here to read an excerpt.

For a limited time, we are offering a FREE review copy to professors. Simply email us and mention this blog.

Visit the authors’ websites at: www.madetostick.com or www.madetostick.com/blog/

Daniel Goleman’s Ecological Intelligence – Essential Book at Antioch University McGregor and Virginia Tech

The bestselling author of Emotional Intelligence and Primal Leadership now brings us revealing the hidden environmental consequences of what we make and buy, and how with that knowledge we can drive the essential changes we all must make to save our planet and ourselves.

“Drawing on his capacious intelligence Daniel Goleman dissects the issues involved in the attainment of long term sustainability and details promising and intriguing solutions. Once again, he has written an essential book.”– Howard Gardner, author and Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education

Virginia Tech has selected Ecological Intelligence for its 2009-2010 Common Book Project as well as Antioch University McGregor’s Graduate Management Program for its Fall course on Environmental Management.

Official Website: www.danielgoleman.info/

For more information on the book or author, click here.

Order an examination copy here.

Students Are Reading Dr. Philip Zimbardo’s The Lucifer Effect, The Full Story Behind The Stanford Prison Experiment, the Now-Classic Prison Study He Conducted in 1971

Winner, the William James Book Award of the Society for General Psychology (Division 1 of the American Psychological Association)

In The Lucifer Effect , renowned social psychologist Philip Zimbardo explains how–and the myriad reasons why–we are all susceptible to the lure of “the dark side.” Drawing on examples from history as well as his own trailblazing research, Zimbardo details how situational forces and group dynamics can work in concert to make monsters out of decent men and women.

Another two colleges join the growing list of adoptions for The Lucifer Effect! The University of Nevada, Reno’s Gender, Race and Identity Dept has chosen the book for its fall course and Notre Dame de Namur University has selected it for a Political Psychology course.

For a story about Prof. Zimbardo’s Sicilian experience and educational foundation, click here.

For more information on the book and author, click here.

For Official Website, click here.

To rder an examination copy click here.