Free-delivery Books

This book is logic, well-reasoned, and has lots of footnotes pointing to research studies and reliable sources of data. Even if you disagree with their prescription for how to fix the problem, you will get a lot from this book by following along with their diagnosis of the problems facing our health care system.

The book's greatest strengths may also be it's greatest weakness. This book is "wonkish" -- filled with hard data and logic. If you're looking for entertaining anecdotes or emotional arguments, this is not the book for you.

...but only in the title. A well written book both describing (in surprisingly concise writing) the problem, as well as laying out a path towards fixing it. I can't say I fully agree with his proposals, but I am much better informed, and my views have been altered as a result of this book. In my mind, that is a terrific outcome for any book of substance.

Intellect with humility is hard to come by. Cannon and Tanner define a clear path for all Americans to have health insurance and they have the humility to believe in Americans as wise consumers. Different than politicians who 'know what's best for you,' they trust you to make prudent decisions for yourself. Free markets are healthy and they provide an excellent outline for cost savings and a healthier 'you' by putting you in charge of your own well being. I want to thank Cannon and Tanner for being Americans and loving freedom, especially in the face of fear mongering socialists. God Bless America!

"Healthy Competition" by Michael F. Cannon and Michael D. Tanner of the Cato Institute is a critically important book for both those interested in health care policy as well as for every American as we all eventually consume health care services.

Cannon and Tanner's book starts with a foreword by the Hon. George P. Shultz: "We begin with a riddle. What country's health care system offers the best health services in the world, is consistently criticized for not being accessible enough, and yet is so accessible that overutilization is leading to runaway costs?" The answer is, of course, America.

The following 147 pages offers a detailed analysis of what's wrong with American health care (government and insurance industry policies that lead to overuse of medical services) and what's right (the strong remnants of a free market system that encourages innovation, high quality, at an often lower cost). Both detailed and heavily footnoted, but also very readable at the same time, "Healthy Competition" strikes the right balance between a dense academic paper and a clarion call for action.

In concluding the book, Cannon and Tanner write:

"Despite its marvels, America's health care sector continues to present troubling symptoms: excessive costs, uneven quality, a lack of useful information for patients and providers, extraordinary waste, and enormous burdens for future taxpayers. An accurate diagnosis points to too much government influence and too little choice and competition. Proposals to increase the role of government would aggravate these symptoms. More subsidies or controls would drain from the medical marketplace even more of the dynamics that drive other sectors of the economy toward lower prices and higher quality. The only sure remedy is to restore those dynamics to the health care sector.

"Although there are dark clouds on the horizon, we are heartened by the creation and steady growth of health savings accounts. HSAs have already begun to change private-sector health care from within, and will enable a reexamination of the role of government in health care."

The last citation in "Healthy Competition" comes from a June 1, 2004 Harvard Business Review article by Michael Porter and Elizabeth Teisberg. It deals with the oft-heard argument that we somehow should not apply free market principles to the health care sector:

"It is often argued that health care is different because it is complex; because consumers have limited information; and because services are highly customized. Health care undoubtedly has these characteristics, but so do other industries where competition works well. For example, the business of providing customized software and technical services to corporations is highly complex, yet, when adjusted for quality, the cost of enterprise computing has fallen dramatically over the past decade."

Cannon and Tanner accept this argument while also embracing the argument of many of the proponents of government control of health care because it is special and distinct from other parts of the economy - they just come to the opposite conclusion, concluding in their last paragraph, "...Unlike software, wireless communications, or banking, health care involves very emotional decisions, which often entail matters of human dignity, life, and death. However, we do not see the gravity of these matters as a reason to divert power away from individuals and toward government. Rather, we see the special nature of health care as all the more reason to increase each consumer's sphere of autonomy. The special nature of health care makes it all the more important that we use the competitive process to make health care available to more consumers - and makes it all the more important to get started now."

Two side notes of a personal nature: on February 1, 2007, I introduced AB 245, a bill that would allow the tax deductibility of contributions to HSAs (California is one of only four states that do not treat HSAs as tax deductible); and author Michael Cannon is someone I have grown to respect from our first meeting in 2004 as Lincoln Fellows of the Claremont Institute. I suspect we will be hearing quite a bit from Mr. Cannon over the next few decades - and, if policymakers are smart, they will listen carefully to what he has to say.

Reviewer: Chuck DeVore is a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010, a California State Assemblyman, he served as a Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs in the Department of Defense from 1986 to 1988, retired from the Army National Guard as a lieutenant colonel, and is the co-author of "China Attacks."

I enjoyed the book and found it presented a well organized argument for why it is so critical to allow the markets and consumers to experiment with new methods of controlling health care costs and improving access. I also appreciated the author's acknowledgement that health care is a special service that is critically important in our lives. That is what makes reforming the system so challenging.

The book makes clear that market based proposals to reform health care are designed to lower the cost of care and increase coverage. These are proposals that are critical to all Americans.

Conceptually, the answer to many of health care's challenges lie in the use of new information technologies. Knowing this is the case and making it happen are two very different entities. This book ably bridges these two entities. The devil, as always, is in the details and the authors deftly elaborate the problems and provide solutions. I recommend this book to practitioners, administrators, managers and policy makers who are energetic and enthusiastic about the future direction of health care. Errol L. Biggs, Ph.D., Director - Programs in Health Administration, University of Colorado

Telemedicine and Telehealth is a timely and useful book. As a Physician and Consultant, Teleheath provides a soup to nuts discussion about the issues relating to telehealth.
The first chapter details basic definitions of the field. The next five chapters deals with the patient, physicans, Healthcare in general, and lastly specific telemedicine services. The authors suggest the formula for telehealth success as improved quality and access to care at a lower cost and without raising professional objestions.
I found the chapters developing the business case for Telemedicine and telehealth services most compelling. These markets are still in their infancy and are still struggling to develop their potential. The authors share with us their strategy for selling Telehealth services (page 157).
Telemedice and Telehealth, also provides a cautionary note. The authors indicate that to date they were not aware of studies demonstrating a viable telehealth model with the current legislation and reimbursement structure. Further issues such as licensure, quality assurance and backup systems remain to be clearly defined.
This book is an excellent read. Concise, articulate and timely. I would recommend this book to any one intersted in Telemedicine or Telehealth.

As a software developer and member of the American Telemedicine Association, I found this book to be a very valuable reference. Our company is developing software solutions to allow patients and health care providers easy, secure access to medical information. This book has helped us understand how telemedicine is developing and how it will be used, so that we can see the developing niches for our products. This book provides the larger view of this developing field and gives readers inspiration to enter the exciting field.

Review of: Telemedicine and Telehealth by Adam W. Darkins and Margaret A. Cary

This important book begins the necessary critical conversation of defining the fundamental of concepts and terms, as well as those areas of current and future applications, involved in the merging of health care delivery and high technology systems. The authors wisely suggest using the term Telehealth to address the broad range of health applications which high technology, the Internet in particular, can greatly impact.

These concerns are set in the context of both a historical view of health care and society, particularly in the more technologically developed societies of the U.S. Western Europe and Japan, and these societiesÕ current and future trends toward change of lifestyle driven by their adaptation of new technologies. These are vital concerns, both within health care delivery in particular, as well as within the economic and social evolution of these societies in general.

Their book focuses on the patientÕs experience of health care service as facilitated by this new technology rather than being yet another discussion of the fascinating innovations within the technology itself, a very important distinction.

Being physicians themselves, authors Darkins and Cary have professionally grown up through the very cusp of change they are defining for us; they know the pre-high technology delivery of health care and have been witness to, and advocates for, the introduction of high technology to the health care systems in which each have worked, both in the U.S. and England.

Their book is both comprehensive in its discussion of the issues involved as well as being detailed in its coverage of those particulars necessary to see the overall picture clearly.

Because of the timeliness of this merging of high technology and healthcare delivery, one wishes this book could be made more available to a wider reading public through a greater promotional effort by the publisher.

As a practicing physician with a keen interest in information technologies and their applications in healthcare, I always approach books like this with some bemusement. In turn, I was pleasantly surprised by my delight with this book. To succeed in the charge to bridge the digital divide and to eliminate health disparities, we physicians and managers will have to arm ourselves with timely solutions which are informed by experience and science. Coupled with the practical and the "how to" make "Telemedicine and Telehealth" a valuable resource for anyone interested in creating the future healthcare system. It connects and transcends the important elements and issues rather than just regurgitating the problems we've heard over and over again. If you believe, as I do, that the future of healthcare will be greatly enhanced by the new information technologies, this book helps to put the present and future in perspective. Darkins and Cary absolutely succeed!

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans", John Lennon. Or, if you prefer, "Since the house is on fire, let us warm ourselves", Italian proverb.

This is an excellent book that uses the "parabolic" method of crisis experiences as comparitive guideposts to deal with life's contingencies. As it has been said the first casualty of war is the plan. Paul provides some rather calm and sage advises on how to handle the inevitable often shocking circumstances that present opportunities in life and business. You can't change what happens to complicate one's life, but with the proper actions taken, one can correct the course with an eye to the future.

Drawing from extensive experience in the emergency room and in the boardroom, the author identifies lessons he learned while practicing good medicine that can be applied in corporate management. At a time when corporate America is faced with a crisis of consciousness concerning effective and perhaps even ethical management practices (Enron, Imclone, Supreme Specialties, Steve Madden) it's helpful to be reminded how simple lessons can lead to successful management.

Thankfully, the author doesn't provide a checklist or formula but identifiable lessons by way of entertaining examples. The book is written in a casual narrative form, which makes it a quick (I finished it in 3 hours) and entertaining read. After putting the book down, I was left with a handful of insightful lessons, which I am confident I can apply to my work.

As an Executive Coach who works often with emergency room physicians, I approached this new management advice book with great enthusiasm. Organized as a series of management prescriptions drawing from the field of emergency medicine, Management Lessons From the E.R., is a quick and enjoyable read chock full of healthy vitamins that can help revitalize the managerial heart and mind. I will highlight just a few of the many metaphorical tonics served up in the book.

The author, Paul Auerbach, a practicing physician and successful businessman, draws upon real-life experiences in the E.R. to instruct the reader as to how he or she might approach various management issues. In the introduction, Auerbach states that nothing is more revealing than letting your customers and employees tell you what they think and that if you set up a way to periodically endure unfiltered comments it can become the best stethoscope into the heart of your business. This insightful statement hit home for me, as it is the foundation of my coaching philosophy. I suspect it will ring true for you too.

The author shows us how the field of applied medicine can inform management. For example, just as most physicians possess a knowledge base that can be difficult to translate effectively into lay language for patients, so too do business leaders need to cut through their technical jargon in order to communicate effectively with their employees and customers. Whether in clinical medicine or a consumer electronics company, the leader must make information accessible to his or her followers.

I recommend this book to all organizational leaders - not only to those in the medical profession - without hesitation. For much less than the cost of a visit to your local hospital emergency room, Management Lessons From the E.R. is a valuable addition to your management toolbox.

Betty Till
Executive Coach...

Inciteful and amusing. Not just a mindless list of rules and formulas for addressing business issues. Dr. Auerbach's analogy of the descision process for diagnosing and curing critically ill patients and that of fixing critically ill businesses is right on.

From my 10 plus years senior management experience in building high performance product development organizations and helping business fix their product development problems, "Management Lessons from the E.R. : Prescriptions for Success in your Business" is just what the doctor ordered.

This is a very good book. Paul is the only person in the world that I would entrust my company and life to.

Guy Kawasaki
CEO
Garage Technology Ventures

Cheri Register's book "Living With Chronic Illness" was both validating and helpful to me.
Eight years of living with chronic migraines has effected my faith, self-image, independence, relationships, work aspirations and what I consider my purpose in life.
At first I tried to minimize the migraines disabling effect but over time and with more acceptance I have, for the most part, found ways to accommodate and live with them.
Register describes many of the challenges of living with chronic illness. Sickness in our culture is seen as an enemy to be fought and defeated. These war images cast chronically ill people as victims, and it's sometimes seen as a character defect if we experience suffering, grief or fear. Instead of �battling� the illness we can accept it as something we live with that is our normal state of being. The realization that we can be happy and sick is a major lesson.
Our culture expects a person's disability to be a test of character or an opportunity for heroism. People effected with illness should not have to prove their value to others. We are not better or worse, no more heroic or cowardly, strong or weak than healthy people. We are people first not a disease.
Other hurdles for the chronically ill include: loss of autonomy, (self-reliance and being financially self-supporting carries the imprint of virtue). For the chronically ill not pulling your weight is compounded by the fear of becoming indigent and feeling different. Unemployment not only involves economic loss but the loss of identity, productivity, self worth and a sense of meaning. Register says it is important to separate our economic and identity issues from the quest of human worth. When we accept our illness we can stop looking for a cause to blame or a miracle cure.
Chronic Illness challenges our relationships. Adversity can bring couples closer but with chronic illness the adversity comes and goes on a regular basis. The crisis may even become the core of the relationship. Illness highlights and compounds the gender differences. Females are trained to show emotion and males to hide them. It is easier for women to "be there" for intimacy and shared vulnerability. Women often want simple consolation from their husbands, what they get instead is a rational solution. Seeing their mate sick leaves many men feeling powerless. When a relationship requires sustained expression of thoughts and feelings it may become burdensome for the mate.
Register illuminates patience as a way of life for the chronically ill. Acceptance means taking realistic control over how we live and being ready for chaos. The "one day at a time approach" helps. When pain grows intense it demands complete attention. It also helps to focus on the recovery instead of the traumas.
Most doctors are more comfortable caring for acute illness. When medications do not work the patient rather than the medication is often blamed. Few doctors are honest about the limits of medical knowledge and trust patients enough to be partners in care.
Register acknowledges that anger, fear and grief are healthy responses to physical suffering. The value of catharsis allows us to face the emotions head-on rather than avoid or dismiss them. It is reassuring to hear that having suicidal fantasies are a normal consequence of chronic illness and not evidence of losing hold. Since most people do not act on their suicidal thoughts, considering death as a way out of the pain often diffuses the suffering. Also, when we confront the suicidal fantasy head-on it looses its power. Register even came to regard her own suicidal fantasies as a treasured choice. Knowing that suicidal thoughts are a feature of the illness is empowering.
Instead of asking "why me?" the chronically ill are better served by the question "what now?" And for people of faith we might ask, "what do you want from me God?" which implies not penance but fulfillment of a mission. Instead of seeing chronic illness as a punishment for sin, an endurance test, a divine plan geared to your natural capacity or a random event Register recommends we see chronic illness and suffering as central to the human condition. It is our own share of life's condition - a way of life not an aberration. Register says, to live with passion allows us to live with the dynamics of contradiction in joy and sorrow, caring and indifference, in courage and fear, in friendship and alienation. Passion is a fully human and divine spark that burns with life.
To answer the question "what should I do?" Register says, "Just live your life, pain and all with attention and purpose." Lived fully, the experience of illness can free us from the curse of perfection. For people of faith learning to feel God's pain makes us more attuned to God's pleasure. Life is a beautiful tapestry being woven with our lives, it's pattern visible only to God.
Register redefines the disabled hero as one who demonstrates a capacity to come through multiple ordeals with their will intact. Instead of winners and losers, survivors have moments of courage, moments of cowardice, moments of determination and moments of despair, moments of glory and moments of humiliation. That many of us survive these ups and downs is a miracle that happens many times a day.
Register describes the ingredients of survival for the chronically ill: a sense of humor, tenacity, a will to live, discipline, inner strength, trusting ourselves, inner peace, acceptance, a support system, faith, skepticism, and a belief in a Higher Power and Purpose. Instead of saying, "There but for the grace of God go I" we might say, "Here, with the grace of God, I am." Our bodies are, after all, our medium for experiencing creation.

"Living With Chronic Illness" has probably been one of the most important books in my collection as I deal with chronic illness myself. I met the author in 1990 and heard her speak about the unique nature of rare and chronic diseases, and found myself nodding and smiling throughout her talk. If you are dealing with a chronic illness, you will re-read this book (or sections of it) for years as you experience different problems. Mine's marked up with yellow highlighter and underlined passages, a sign of how deeply and personally Cheri's writing touches my heart. I saw that she's revised and updated this book, so I would unhesitatingly recommend that one sight unseen too.

Register, who has a chronic illness herself, has interviewed other patients in Minnesota to get their views on subjects ranging from marriage to work. I found myself underlining so many sentences. The book has been a comfort to me since I first bought it in 1991. It has seen me through asthma and depression. One drawback, which Register acknowledges--all her interviewees are from Minnesota so there is no geographical diversity. Also, from their names and descriptions, they all seem to be African- or European-American--no Asians for example, and I didn't find any gay people. A more diverse sample would have made this a stronger book. Overall, I highly recommend it, and I hope she's still around to publish more! I really appreciated her sharing so much about her life.

"Living With Chronic Illness" has probably been one of the most important books in my collection as I deal with chronic illness myself. I met the author in 1990 and heard her speak about the unique nature of rare and chronic diseases, and found myself nodding and smiling throughout her talk. If you are dealing with a chronic illness, you will re-read this book (or sections of it) for years as you experience different problems. Mine's marked up with yellow highlighter and underlined passages, a sign of how deeply and personally Cheri's writing touches my heart. I saw that she's revised and updated this book, so I would unhesitatingly recommend that one sight unseen too.

"What kind of activities are there for the Alzheimer's patient?" is a question that comes up often. I always recommend this book. Carmel describes all kind of activities: music, exercise, food preparation, crafts, gardening, solo activities, family games, and reminiscence. I especially like the chapter on reminiscence--with the life collage, memory book, memory box, and more. Activities are very important, as is explained in this book's introdution: "The more involved patients remain with the world around them, the more resourceful they become at finding ways to keep that world for slipping away."

Thanks to this book, I have found dozens of creative ways to keep my mother (who is in the middle stages of Alzheimer's) involved and free from boredom. The activity ideas we found in this wonderful little book have improved my mother's quality of life tremendously and have made caring for her a lot easier and more enjoyable.

This excellent book provides dozens of ideas for keeping the person with Alzheimer's involved and stimulated. The focus is on using activities such as music, exercise and reminiscing to enhance quality of life. Family and professional caregivers can use these activities and many of the ideas outlined truly work wonders. This is undoubtedly the most useful book available on using activities with people with Alzheimer's.

I was planning a homebirth for my fourth child a year and a half ago. At 36 weeks we discovered my baby was breech. Despite all efforts to turn her, she persisted in the breech position. Wishing to avoid a c-section, and trusting my body to birth my baby, I began looking for information on delivering a breech baby vaginally. I found this book and only one other on the topic. This book was AMAZING! By far my favorite of the two. It was FULL of great research and gave me the confidence I needed, based on a thorough examination of the issue as well as my knowledge of my own body, to birth my baby at home. The illustrations were very clear and helpful and the text was clear, postitive, and encouraging, but not glossy. It was wonderful to have this resource to assit me in making a very important decision. My daughter was born in only an hour and fifteen minutes. She was a footling breech and completely healthy! I would recommend this book to a wide range of readers, including doctors, midwives, and parents.

Historians have given much too little attention to the role of the post office in the development of nationhood, both in Canada and the United States. This excellent book begins to correct this error for Canada. It describes the vital role the post office played in bringing the country togather. In fact, it would have been impossible to have a nation of any size without a postal service.

I'm an economist, and have read dozens of books on health care. This is the best book on how to improve our health care system ever written for the lay public.

This book is excellent in all aspects. Turkel provides excellent comparisons and information on both the medical and midwifery models of childbirth. This book is a must read for anyone having children in the future, childbirth educators, midwives, and just women in general. It is an amazing resource for those also desiring more information on birth centers. I highly reccomend this book.

Basic stuff that we should know but at times we don't do. It is a little story of how things should be done. Really nothing to jump about.

I have some experience dealing in the real estate market and have bought and sold several properties. This book put all of what I knew in perspective in an easy to read and intriguing format. However, it also portrayed numerous helpful hints and ideas that were new to me that I can and will certainly apply in any of my future real estate dealings. I have recommended this book to many of my friends and colleagues.

I read this book after it was given to me as a Christmas present. Such an easy read that you can finish it at your leasure. Around March I decided on a whim to look into buying my own house. Because of what I learned in the book I was able to use some of the tools I learned. If it wasn't for the book I would not be living in my house today that I secured way under market price. I have started my empire thanks to Rick Vazquez. Thank you so much.

Excellent Idea to teach the novice real estate investor all he needs in a clear simple and fun to read book.

I picked up Pizza Delivery Millioniare when the title caught my eye. What would a delivery man with pizza's be able to share. The story flow was light, simple but the undertone of the lessons aren't limited to real estate alone. In a consumption focused society this tale educates the readers to remember that things are not always what they seem. The journey from establishing a goal to achieving it is entertaining and enlightning. Thoroughly enjoyed the read and am looking forward to using the lessons in my own quest for financial security in my future.