Environmental-Health Books

Terry Osborne's coming-of-self narrative is brave, honest, and poignant. I have recently left New England after seven years, and Osborne's careful and tactile descriptions truly stirred me. But even for anyone who's unattached to a Vermont landscape, there's an important lesson here. Osborne shares with us his very personal journey to the discovery of how deeply our environment can inform our sense of self - in Osborne's case, how the complex "mosaic" of land, water, and air reflects the contours of his struggle with depression. Even now, living so far from all the swamp-and-peaks nature of Osborne's journeys (I'm a Paris resident), Sightlines has inspired me to explore my surroundings with a renewed energy and curiosity - to understand how much self-discovery can unfold through such an investigation. For that - and for his pure, graceful prose - I thank him!

Every so often a book reminds us of why we seek out the woods for solitude and comfort. "Sightlines" accomplishes that considerable feat with resounding success.

But it doesn't stop there. This elegant and deeply human narrative about the contours of landscapes (both inner and outer) lets us walk several paces behind the author and view his journey through years of depression even as we pause to lean against a nearby birch tree and admire the surrounding beauty of his rugged New England. The book is a remarkable achievement for combining these two storylines--and very often it is downright mesmerizing.

Osborne's writing--understated and controlled, what you'd expect from a Vermonter--soars to its greatest heights when framing the smallest things: a seemingly uprooted tree, a dark swamp, a river sand bar. Those images, and many others, stay vibrant long after the book is done.

Terry Osborne writes a fascinating, powerful and touching account of his travels through the Upper River Valley and the travails of his own battle with depression. Candid, personal and touching, we join the author as he explores the natural phenomena of the Vermont landscape, while at the same time he struggles courageously against his inner demons.

If you have suffered from depression, if someone dear to you suffers from depression, or if you merely wish to be inspired by the battle of one person to overcome depression, Terry Osborne's perceptive and insightful book will give you strength and solace.

Terrapsychology is an emerging field that looks at the relationship between psyche and place. It is a natural outgrowth of tranpersonal psychology, ecology, systems theory and to some extent quantum theory.

This field basically looks at the relationship between the psyche and a place. This is not something we are used to thinking about, but did you ever notice how you feel differently or more yourself in certain environments? How being in nature can have an effect on you? How their can be correspondences between internal events and the outside world? This book examines these questions and more from the perspective of depth psychology and deep ecology.

The idea that there is relatioship between psyche and land is not a new one. Jung talked about this and the phenomenon was often explained in terms of our projection of our psyche on to the land. In contrast, indigenous shamanistic cultures tend to believe a place is somehow alive. The theory put forth in this book falls somewhere in the middle, honoring the fact that we are somehow deeply connected to the land and have complex interrelationships and interdependencies with various places that can be interpreted symbolically.

This is NOT new age hype and Dr. Chalquist is a serious scholar who explores this territory from an objective and scholarly viewpoint. If you are completely unfamiliar with this field you can do a web search online for more information. However, you will be fascinated and captivated by this extremely provocative book whether you are psychologist, interested in psychology or just a layperson who find this area interest. It is certainly a must read for anyone interested in native cultures, shaminism and the future welfare of our planet.

Dr. Chalquist is an erudite scholar with a broad and deep knowledge of world history and prehistory, anthropology, indigenous cultures, shamanism and other ancient religions, the Goddess, Jungian and depth psychology, health, neurology, quantum physics, ecology and myth (I'm certain I forgot some field he is an expert in...) as well as a lyrical and passionate writer on the topic of "terrapschology". That is, how the Earth and our human psyche are interrelated, and how we humans need Nature and the Earth in its undeveloped form and all its beings to thrive psychically and physically. I love his work, love his writing, love this book. It is urgent that we humans take the ideas of terrapsychology to heart.
By Lesley Thomas, author of Flight of the Goose

For too long we have forgotten that the human relationship to nature and to place is at the core of our psychology! Craig Chalquist's excellent book reminds us that our planet isn't just "dead" matter but a living being in whom we dwell. He helps us understand Terra's psychology -- and our own psyches as well. Everyone who is interested in the growing fields of ecopsychology and ecotherapy will love this book.

Linda Buzzell-Saltzman, M.A, M.F.T.
Founder
International Association for Ecotherapy
[...]

The book was received in flawless condition, and service was prompt. I wish everything I'd invest in is this good.

This year's "State of the World" by Worldwatch Institute focuses on the global urban environment: water and sanitation, transportation, agriculture and farming, energy, natural hazard risks, pulic health, economics, and environmental justice. Each chapter lays out trends and statistics demonstrating some of the hazards the world might be facing with the current trends towards urbanization.

However, the book has a largely positive and constructive tone, with extensive use of examples and case studies of locales using innovative methods for protecting the environment and even attempting to reducing pollutants that might be global in their impacts. Case studies span the world - from Los Angeles to Timbuktu. The "city" provides a structure for problem-solving.

The book overall is comprehensive, with excellent writing and editing - some chapters are replete with data while others are written in a sweeping "big picture" context with long-term recommendations for future directions. This is a great resource for researchers, policy-makers, students, and anyone interested in understanding the risks and opportunities for the urban landscape.

Especially when the issues are surveyed in Worldwatch's annual review.

I agree with the previous reviewer's writeup of this book. It is full of very useful information.

I bought my copy when it came out almost ten years ago, and I am dismayed to find that the authors have not been encouraged to create several more-current editions during all these years.

Bob Hall and Mary Lee Kerr have done an exceptional job compiling useful information in this volume. The book includes the topics of air- and water quality, use and abuse of energy - including automobiles, toxic and hazardous waste, chemicals and other factors that affect us in our homes and workplaces, and governmental policies in place to help clean up our act. It also includes information and statistics on state parks and forest, fishing and hunting, water-front activities, and other leisure-time topics.

The information is laid out in an easy-to-read format with maps, charts, and statistics in each section. Every subject has a separate scale by which the states are ranked as well as an over-all ranking. Another section listing the best and worst environmental aspects of each state is also included. If you are wanting one or two quick facts about the environmental health of a certain state, these maps and ranking charts are a terrific way to find them. Quick and painless.

A list of indicators is given for each topic (i.e. air sickness lists 18 indicators and sources), as well. These "indicators" are the different types of pollution/problems that exist and their sources. In addition to the maps, charts, statistics, and rankings, is a very informative narrative further explaining the research findings. For those of you wanting a little more information, you'll find it here.

This book is a good resource for anyone, whether you're looking for the healthiest place to live or curious about the environmental health of your current home. I'd recommend it to anyone concerned about the air they breath or the water they drink. Be warned, however, the truth can sometimes be painful (and frightening). Perhaps more of us need to be aware of these statistics.

The authors have done a great service by putting this book out. My only wish is that there were a more current index. Well, Bob Hall and Mary Lee Kerr, when can we expect it?

Advances in Neurobehavioral Toxicology : Applications in Environmental and Occupational Health

Applications in Environmental and Occupational Health. Applications of the WHO Neurobehavioral core test battery and other neurobehavioral screening methods

This piece of literature tells all, from the use of simple one gas instruments to undertanding Mass Spect readings. If you thought you knew about air monitoring read the book, I gaurantee you will find some excellent information.

As a CIH, I've often wanted a resource that would explain the pros and cons of different air sampling equipment. This book is just that. It embodies the authors' many years of knowledge in the safety field, and is extremely practical.

Curious about whether a 10.6ev or 11.7ev PID is the way to go? This book tells you how to find out! Need to know how accurate and reliable passive sorption tubes are? This book covers that too? Want to know how to use an Hnu or OVA? Check out this book.

This book has been extremely useful for me in real-life settings. I highly recommend it. -Andy Hilliard, PE, CSP Vice President, SCA Environmental ahilliard@sca-enviro.com

While a lot of the material in this book is necessarily duplicated from other books published by D'Adamo in case the reader starts with this book, the real medical assistance offered has been very helpful to me - teaching me to manage my allergies proactively!

I cannot believe what a difference this book has made in my life. I did not realize how tired I was until I began following the guidance of this book in avoiding certain foods and including others in my diet. Within a week I was feeling better. I had no idea how tired and sluggish I had been--I have so much more energy now, particularly in the evenings when I was usually tired after coming home from work. I highly recommend that you try this book. It's easy to read and well worth the time and money.

An outstanding expose. Efron reveals the agenda of environmentalists: the destruction of industry, and with it human civilization. Efron demolishes the "one molecule theory" approach to chemical regulation. This approach holds that, since we cannot know precisely how much of a given chemical is likely to cause cancer, we should ban any chemical that test show to be a "potential carcinogen". Many "experts" testifying before Congress advocated just such an approach. The problem is that chemicals are not just by-products of industry. They are found naturally, in plants, water, the air, soil, etc. Efron demonstrates the prevalence of some of the chemicals on the EPA's list of "potentials" in nature. Efron also exposes the fraud behind the determination that a given chemical is a "potential" carcinogen. The EPA largely relies on high-dose animal tests. In some cases, the doses were so high that the animals died from poisoning, not cancer. Furthermore, with numerous examples, Efron details how some chemicals cause cancer in some animals, but not in others, and that there seems to be no real pattern. Nor does there seem to be any animal that is a good proxy for humans. Overall, this is an outstanding book for anyone who wants to understand the politics of environmentalism, and how public policy is shaped. While it was written in 1984, the same scenarios described in the book are played out today, with new names and new scares. Unfortunately, it is out of print, but perhaps it can someday be revived.

I'll second everything written in the previous review. Efron also exposes the fact that the 1970s laws explicitly favored any study that might blame a chemical for cancer over any study that might exonerate it--EVEN IF THE FIRST STUDY WAS DEEPLY FLAWED. In the cases of red dye #2, the study that "proved" the chemical's guilt was one in which the researchers abandoned the rats in their cages and came back later to find many of them starved and dead. With evidence rules like that, you could probably find that water causes cancer.

But the even more important finding in this book is the presence in our culture of an astonishing belief system, "an apocalyptic movement" as Efron calls it. It predicts the ending of the world as we know it (extreme predictions of a cancer epidemic) unless we all immediately and drastically change our ways. When you put a bright light on this belief system, it sounds downright medieval.

Efron focuses exclusively on the issue of cancer, but it's impossible to ignore the apocalyptic overtones of modern environmentalism as a whole.

I've read this book cover to cover twice and would love to see it updated. But even if that never happens, it stands as an important cultural document.

Considered by some to be THE overview reference book for bioaerosols, it covers their physical aspects, sampling, sample stability, instrument calibration, and multiple measurement approaches. It also describes problems specific to residential and industrial environments, including laboratories, hospitals, animal houses, and the particulars of pollen, fungi, molds, and bacteria.

I'm writing this review in 2005, and some of the material is a bit dated. The review of laser and optical measurement techniques gives some good background, but is no longer state of the art. Nevertheless, it is a very valuable reference for anyone studying bioaerosols for environmental or homeland security considerations.

The handbook deals with the subject of bioaerosols on a broad but in depth basis. It deals with the practicalities of sampling, calibration and sample assay methods without being too theoretical. It's style is both technical but easy to read and understand, being written by experts from around the world. Each chapter has its own approach giving a refreshingly different perspective of each aspect of bioaerosol analysis. It's really a bioaerosol bible for anyone interested in biological aerosols and $... isn't bad for 600+ pages with a limited circulation. By the way it's brief specifically excluded viruses, so they don't get a lot of text devoted to them compared to bacteria, fungi etc.

It hasn't really dated that much either since 1995 (I am writing in 2006). Indeed even classic texts like 'The microbiology of the atmosphere' PH Gregory: Leonard Hill (1973) still pack in a lot of relevent data - I still love reading this book as well. By the way I wrote the chapter on Modern Microscopic Methods in the handbook - but I get no payment for sales or endorsement and I think the other twenty chapters are great. The pioneering UK image analysis manufacturers mentioned in this chapter are now long gone, so these days try the likes of MetaMorph, Leica QWin, Image pro Plus, Andora Technology and Openlabs image analysis software (they all work on the same basic principles anyway). Plus confocal microscopes, and other new types like TIRF, are now far more widespread in use.

Why not also try a library loan of :
1. Atmospheric Microbial Aerosols, B.Lighthart, A.J.Mohr, Chapman & Hall, 1994
2. The Aerobiological Pathway of Microorganisms, C.S.Cox, Wiley Press, 1987
3. Architectural Design and Indoor Microbial Pollution, R.B.Kundsin, Oxford University Press, 1988
Or check out the long reference lists in the Bioaerosol Handbook.

"Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic" is an extremely valuable book that provides a summary of the what is known about the prevention of cancer, and what actions should be taken, including political actions.

The present emphasis in the cancer industry is on collecting money from scared people who will die. For example, the book recommends you see the web site of Samuel S. Epstein M. D., who is quoted on page 62. According to Dr. Epstein, the American Cancer Society is the world's wealthiest "nonprofit" institution.

Quote from that chapter: "Priorities [of the Amercian Cancer Society] remain fixated on damage control -- screening, diagnosis, and treatment -- with indifference or even hostility to cancer prevention. -- Dr. Samuel Epstein" (The misspelling of "American" is in the book.)

In the United States, the present politics surrounding cancer is viciously corrupt. Sometimes drugs cost in the U.S. 5 times what they cost in Canada, for example. (See page 6.)

ERROR: The chapter that starts on page 84, "Minimizing Your Exposure to Radiation" is correct except for the sections titled "Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR)" and "Cellphones and Power Lines", which are partly nonsense. Apparently the authors of the book are not scientists themselves. Planck's constant expresses the intensity of interaction between EMR and matter. Planck's constant is a VERY small number. Remember that anything that is warmer than absolute zero radiates EMR. The Sun, for example, radiates EMR of all wavelengths longer than ultra-ultraviolet. Certainly you would not want to expose yourself for a long time to EMR from being very close to a radar or TV transmitter, for example. However, no one has been able to show any connection, or possible manner of connection, between cancer and the tiny amount of EMR from cell phones.

The researcher mentioned in the book who discusses a link between chemical change and EMR of cell phone wavelengths was apparently using enough energy to cause local heating. No one doubts that heating causes chemical changes. Be very careful of "scientific" studies that aren't scientific. Be very careful of good studies that are incorrectly interpreted.

The book says that cancer is more than 200 different kinds of diseases, all of which are characterized by out-of-control division of cells. (See page 8.) However, apparently the biochemistry of almost no cancers, or none, is completely understood. The book provides sensible advice for prevention, such as avoid extended exposure to chemicals and pollution. However, no one should take the advice as a complete understanding. For example, it is well known that smoking tobacco pre-disposes people to get cancer. However, some chain smokers die of other diseases than cancer, or die of what is called "old age". To use the book correctly, it is necessary to understand that a lot is not known.

Cancer comes in many forms and affects every population demographic. "Cancer: 101 Solutions To A Preventable Epidemic" is the collaborative work of Liz Armstrong (photographer and environmental activist), Guy Dauncey (author and founder of the Solutions Project), and Anne Wordsworth (writer and environmental researcher). The primary focus is upon those environmental poisons and other factors that have so substantially contributed to the growing numbers of cancer cases appearing in America and around the world. The focus is also upon possible solutions to avoiding, preventing, and ameliorating those environmental factors by community activists, healthcare workers, labor unions, city and county municipalities, businesses, state and federal government agencies. Of special note are the ten proposed and specific global solutions to the problems identified. "Cancer: 101 Solutions To A Preventable Epidemic" is very strongly recommended reading for medical professionals, governmental policy makers, environmental activists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in cancer and cancer prevention.