Author: Biz India

Author: Richard L. Reece Publisher:  Greenbranch Publishing –  290 pages Book Review by: Nano Khilnani Although this book is on a very serious subject that causes much financial pain to millions of companies, families and individuals, the author injects humor into it at many places to help readers enjoy it. The cover itself makes you chuckle. It depicts a complex, colorful, detailed drawing of a maze with large, medium and small circles, different sizes of squares in different colors, and various sizes and colors of rectangles as well. There is a cross, a hexagon, a triangle, and even a seven-sided star. All the shaped objects have labels on it, perhaps names of government agencies or titles of government bureaucrats and functionaries. Amidst this distressing maze are lines drawn within, signifying random relationships among the entities involved. The most laughable characteristic of this maze representing the “Obama Care” system created by the health care bill passed by our Congress a few years ago is that while there a large entrance to “Your New Health Care System,” there is no exit from it! The author of this book – Richard L. Reece, MD – has written 11 books on the U.S. health care system. He comments on patient concerns, physicians’ mindsets and our culture on the one hand, versus the complexities of the health care arena in America today, with the...

Author: D.R. SarDesai Publisher: Westview – A Member of the Perseus Books Group – 486 pages Book Review by:  Paiso Jamakar India is the world’s largest democracy, whereas the United States is known to be the world’s oldest. There live in India today roughly 1.2 billion people, comprising about one-sixth of the planet’s 7 billion inhabitants, living on about 1.2 million square miles of land. It is next only to China in population size. Measured by purchasing power parity, India’s gross domestic product of $1.846 trillion in 2011 was third largest in the world. India has 29 states and six territories in its political union. Roughly 72 percent of Indians live in villages, which number over 500,000, and are dependent on agriculture for their living. About 285 million people live in cities and towns. This number is over nine-tenths of the current U.S. population of 313 million. This book is not just a history of India – although quite comprehensive in coverage of that subject – from one scholar’s point of view. Nor is it just a chronology of events like most other books on Indian history. It is much more. This work by the award-winning author D.R. SarDesai of the University of California at Los Angeles describes India’s present-day economics and politics, its climate and geography, its population and languages, its food and fashion, its religious background and...

Author: Khalil Samhan, MD Publisher:  AuthorHouse – 397 pages Book Review by:  Nano Khilnani The author of this book – Khalil Ahmad Samhan – has two other published works, both in Spanish, to his credit :  Diccionario Medico de Terminos Urogenitales and Medicina Sexual Masculina. This book is meant primarily for medical students in general, those aspiring to be urologists and practicing urologists. Its approach in teaching this medical specialty is presenting numerous radiagnostic images of the genitor-urinary tract, including those that show anomalies and diseased areas, with a view to correct diagnosis and treatment. This a very practical book because in it are collected images of the anomalies, diseases, and medical problems of patients that Dr. Samhan has treated over the course of his 35 years of professional life in urology. The images are presented in chapters that pertain to many areas of urology, including but not limited to: adrenal tumors, hydro-nephrosis, anomalies, injuries and tumors in the urinary tract; nephropathies; problems in the prostate gland, seminal vesicles and the urethra. The are chapters that present problems and images in the urinary bladder, including the presence of “stones” (calcified formations); renal cysts, renal and upper urinary tract tumors; retroperitoneal pathology; scrotal diseases; urinary fistulates, and vesico-ureteral reflux. The chapters are organized with an introduction, etiology, clinical manifestations and different imaging studies. But it is the images that take...

Author: Paul Thagard Publisher: Princeton University Press – 274 pages Book Review by:  Paiso Jamakar The unusual title of this book relating something physical – the brain – to something philosophical – the meaning of life – immediately got my attention. I asked myself: has someone finally discovered a connection between science and spirituality? Let me take a look. But first, what is the author’s background and what makes him qualified to write on such a new subject of trying to bridge the brain with the mind, a task that has yielded unsatisfactory results so far, for centuries? Paul Thagard is indeed someone with a unique set of qualifications. He is director of the cognitive science program, a professor of computer science and psychology, as well as a professor of philosophy at the University of Waterloo in Canada. He has a Master of Science degree from the University of Michigan and a PhD from the University of Toronto. He is the author of 12 books including one with an intriguing title: Philosophy of Psychology and Cognitive Science.  He states flatly that minds are brains and reality is what science can discover. He defends the superiority of evidence-based reasoning over religious faith and experiments in philosophical thought. In this book, he reveals how our cognitive and emotional abilities allow us to understand reality, decide effectively, act morally and pursue what...