Injuries Books

The Paperback version of this book was given to me free when I was a medical student in 1985. I practice rheumatology and am an athlete myself. Whenever a question comes up regarding an athletic injury, if I am not immediately familiar with the disorder or can't find information from other sources, I dust off this book. I can't recall a time when this book failed me or the patient. Its conservative approach with a big measure of wisdom makes it the best sports medicine book I have ever seen. With regard to non surgical treatments, it never seems to get out of date. For this reason it is probably the only textbook I still own dating back to my medical school years. The reason I accessed this site was to see if a revised edition exists, which sadly doesn't seem to be the case. This book is not only the best I have seen for a physicians use, but for a therapist or sophisticated athlete as well. I would welcome any information on a possible successor to this edition.

We have owned this book for many years and reference it regularly. It has been loaned to a number of friends and colleagues many of whom purchased their own copies after reading it. The descriptions of injuries are excellent, and, although is was published a number of years ago, the the advice is still sound. I highly recommend it to anyone who plays sports or exercises or has family members who do so. It is also a great reference to have at gyms and company libraries. I highly recommend it.

We have owned this book for many years and reference it regularly. It has been loaned to a number of friends and colleagues many of whom purchased their own copies after reading it. The descriptions of injuries are excellent, and, although is was published a number of years ago, the the advice is still sound. I highly recommend it to anyone who plays sports or exercises or has family members who do so. It is also a great reference to have at gyms and company libraries. I highly recommend it.

I have played just about every sport known to man in my 43 years of life. I bought this book in 1985 after a softball injury kept me from going to a national tournament. IT IS TIMELESS. It is organized by body section, which makes it an easy reference manual for the non-medical folks like me. Leg injury, find it in the leg section, back injury, back section, etc. I came here because I hurt my back this weekend while loading moving boxes into storage and one of the MANY boxes contains my "sports injury bible" (obviously this book). I frantically searched through as many boxes as I could to find it without hurting my back further, but it is KILLING me that I can't find it (killing me MORE than the injury!). It has become a trusted friend over the years and I came here thinking I wouldn't mind having a backup for now. Mine has been leant out MANY times over the years to teammates and other friends, and saved me TONS OF MONEY by replacing doctor and hospital visits. If you are an athlete and endure the typical weekend sportsman's injuries, and HATE going to the doctor only to hear: "Take two of these and call me Monday", find this book and hang on to it! It shows you how to rehabilitate AND strengthen injured muscles, ligaments, etc. My softball injury was a second degree tear of the rotator cuff muscle (I found that out from reading the book and WITHOUT going to a doctor ONE!). The book told me how to figure out what was wrong, how to fix it, when I could go back to playing (both conservative AND agressive estimates), AND THEN how to strengthen the muscle and surrounding muscles so that there would be MINIMAL scar tissue. Within months my throwing arm was even STRONGER than before the injury. Dr. Southmayd has many interesting stories of helping pro and amateur athletes with their rehabilitation intermingled with the why this works and that doesn't. He writes from an understanding of the perspective of the athlete (when can I get back to playing?!?). I consider myself lucky that I have one of these, bought ignorantly as an alternative to seeing a doctor in 1985. Get one if you can, I can't wait to unload these boxes and find mine!

Dr. Horrigan and "Doc" Kreis have done a great job with this book. It contains an abundance of information that anyone interested in enhancing sport performance will benefit from reviewing and reading. This text has enough "meat" in it that the strength training professional will benefit by having it on their reference list and the teaching approach is clear and so well illustrated so the athlete can use the materials also.

I just started playing hockey two years ago and was looking for a book to help me become a better player. This book is very detailed and easy to use for a beginner such as me. I have seen immediate results in my strength and conditioning since buying this book.

This is one of the finest and most comprehensive books ever written on sports conditioning. It is not only for the hockey player, but for all athletes in all sports looking to gain an edge. It gives great detail and clarity on ways to improve speed, strength, and overall conditioning. This book will make the average coach look like a genius.

This book is one of the finest and most compehensive books ever written on sports conditioning. It can stand on its own for training not only hockey, but any sport. As a strength and conditioning coach for 14 years, it is the most organized and a highly practical tool for writing and executing programs for the improvement of speed, strength and overall conditioning of every athlete. It can turn an average coach into a genius.

While the name "Synergetics" will not roll off the tongue easily- it sounds like something I would have failed at in high school- I love this book. The bookstores are littered with countless fitness programs that promise a low impact workout that you can fit into your lifestyle but somehow we never do, do we? Synergetics on the other hand hooked me when I came across it the early 1990's.

Authors Taylor and Joanna Hay (she is the pretty-in-pink woman on the cover) come off not as obnoxious gym rats but everyday people like you and me who just so happened to have discovered a fountain of youth. Incorporating such elements as Tai Chi, Synergetics rhythmic twisting and turning at just two 12 minute intervals a day gave my abused bag of bones a tingle it had not felt in a long time. Taylor claims that this idea came to him in a dream and I have no doubts since the movements seem natural and graceful. The body here is its own exercise machine. A machine that we can use anytime, anywhere. What a concept!

I would love the Hay's to update this book (along with their new handy tool, the Pocket Gym). Their "fabulous faces" alone-exercises to give you face a youthful appearance without surgery- is a nifty concept that will always have customers.

I first encountered this book about sixteen years ago when losing weight was not an issue for me. I did want to be in better shape, though, and in three months of using the Synergetics program, I lost seven pounds and a dress size and got compliments from friends.

Somewhere I heard that, in order to get into a smaller dress size, you have to lose twelve pounds, so my assumption is that I gained some lean muscle (muscle weighs more than fat) in the process.

After all that, what did I do? Why, I stopped using the Synergetics program because I wanted to go on and prove that I could get super-fit by lifting, pushing, struggling, and toughing it out like a good brainwashed fitness enthusiast.

Sixteen years and numerous strains and sprains later, I have started over again with Synergetics because the ensuing years have brought stress, bad health habits, and eighty pounds that I absolutely need to get rid of.

I have been doing it again for only a week, and the anecdotal evidence is that I am sleeping better, moving faster and more gracefully, and walking with much better balance. After only one week. I have every confidence that, three months from now, I won't have any super-wow stories of dramatic weight loss and transformation into Michelle Pfeiffer's twin, but I will be a different, healthier person.

Synergetics is, as far as I am concerned, not at all for those who have anything to "prove" about their fitness. It's definitely for those who want simply to do something good for themselves and get a good result.

I have been doing these exercises for about a month and absolutely feel great. I also have the video and was wondering if there were any additional videos with more advanced moves. I never thought that these simple moves could make me feel so much better and give me increased energy.

The exercises are truely amazing and I am speaking here from my own experience. I started the exercises half heartedly - but was pleasantly surprised to see and feel the results in only a couple of weeks. The exercises look so simple but yet gives the benefits of aerobics , stretching and weight training - all in one package and in only about 12 minutes. I have tried yoga etc earlier but this stuff is the best I yet got.

This book has so much vitually important information for the employee going through a worker's comp situation. It covers all from the begining to the end. THIS BOOK WILL GIVE YOU THE KNOWLEDGE NEEDED TO FIGHT FOR YOUR LAWFUL RIGHTS -- DO NOT GIVE IN OR GIVE UP -- WITH THIS BOOK YOU WILL UNDERSTAND AND REALIZE THAT THE FIGHTERS ARE THE ONES THAT RECEIVE WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY/LAWFULLY INTITLED TO THEN.

KEEP FIGHTING AND BELIEVING THAT 'JUSTIFICATION FOR EMPLOYEER'S WRONG DOING CAN BE ACHIEVED.

READ THIS BOOK AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND!!!

As a Workers' Compensation practitioner, this is the book that I recommend to all the aquaintances that ask for free advice. I also tend to recommend it to large companies that operate in CA and other states, because it gives the law and requirements in terms that a high school graduate can understand.

There is more emphasis in this book on answers and "by the number" processes than legal precedent or analysis, which I find easier to follow for the lay person. Chris Ball also has a number of forms included with simple completion directions.

If someone is looking for an overview with more legal justification or reference to statutes, the California Workers' Compensation Handbook is an excellent choice. This book by Stanford Herlick is updated every year, and has shorter sections with less hand-holding.

I think that the Herlick paperback is the reference source of choice for the attorney or paralegal to carry in the car or briefcase for quick review of issues and solutions.

I bought this book when I was first injured after getting so frustrated at not being able to get answers to my questions anywhere else. I searched the internet, talked to people, but I just kept going in circles. Then I discovered this book. It saved me. I have since hired a lawyer, however, you will feel more empowered and in control if you understand the process and the terminology. Plus, insurance companies try to "get away" with some things, assuming the average person won't know their workers comp rights. This book has saved me several times in that instance. (For example, they made doctor's appointments for me, sent me the info on their legal letterhead saying I was required to go to that particular doctor. Since I knew my rights from reading the book, I challenged them and didn't have to go to their doctor. Basically, I think they try these tactics just because most people aren't informed, and will just do what they say) It's so important to understand what is happening with your case, and what your rights are. I've been injured for four years, and find I research something in this book at least once a week. If you have a workers comp injury, you shouldn't be without this book! (Also, Nolo puts out a great book on filing for social security disability too) Best of luck to you!

The average consumer has no idea of the laws and the rights he has when faced with an on the job injury.

This book is easy to read and understand. I am a nurse case manager for workers comp injuries and found this book extremely helpful. I encourage all my clients to obtain this book even if they have a lawyer. It gives them a solid knowledge base when the docs, attorneys and insurance people are throwing terms around.

It is well organized and follows a normal sequence of events. It was written by an attorney who handles workers comp cases.

I highly recommend this book.

Words like "spellbinding" are thrown around too often, but I truly could not put this book down. It is a rare chance to visit inside the experience of a person with a brain injury, and inside the experience of rehab. Fortunately for the reader, the writer is a man of rare courage and humor, and the trip, while painful, is ...well, spellbinding.

The writing is a little bit uneven, but don't let that stop you. The story is the thing, and he tells it well.

The Totem Pole is an heroic tale of the human spirit in overcoming horrific trauma, told with complete candor, considerable insight, and an ultimate triumphal joy. The Totem Pole is highly recommended, inspiring reading.

This is the story of a man who was at the pinnacle of his career in the morning, and in the afternoon was lapsing in and out of consciousness, fighting for his life on a sea-swept ledge on a remote Tasmanian sea stack. The account follows the events of that Friday 13th an subsequent memories of the Tasmanian hospital, journey home, and painful experiences during rehabilitation in Clatterbridge.

The whole story ebbs and flows wildly with emotion, and you can only wonder at Pritchard's strength of character, and marvel at his ability to tell his story in such a clear manner.

See also (...)for further details of Pritchard's experiences.

Although it follows his award-winning work, Deep Play, it cannot be described as a sequel. The Totem Pole is an account of a singular event in the author's life: a climbing accident in Australia that resulted in brain damage and partial paralysis. His rehabilitation is marked by the frightening uncertainty of how much (or how little) progress he will make. Climbing had been the essence of his life, and now no one can tell him if and when he will ever climb again.For an early dropout from school (at his father's urging), Pritchard has an amazing writing talent. "Deep Play" showed signs of his ability, but "The Totem Pole" brings Pritchard's talent to full flower.The only disappointment in the book is the middle section, where he switches from his narrative to a transcription of a taped diary made during his rehabilitation. The transcripts are a noticeable dropoff in the writing, but help reveal the inspired level with which the book begins and ends.A standout in the genre of climbing books, Joe Simpson fans will not be disappointed.

Most orthopaedic surgeons are aware of Hoppenfeld's Anatomical Exposures text...this is the other one, which is just as important and helpful for the general or specialist orthopod. For residents who often are in a quandary regarding routine followup and rehabilitation goals with regards to patients, this paperback proves invaluable. Chief residents who often run clinics will find this as an excellent tool for evaluating the progress of their patients postop. Another excellent text with self explanatory illustrations and photographs.

An excellent,a great work by professor Hoppenfeld and his team. The best book worldwidelly on his field as offer advices and protocols on rehabilitation of fractures day by day,week by week,both for Orthopedic surgeons and for Physical therapists they work together.Me,i'm a Physical therapist for over 22years and i'm working in the Physical Therapy Department of Social Security Institute (I.K.A) of Greece in the city of Thessaloniki. This book is "a diamond" for every medical library.I really feel very lucky to have this book in my hands.

Most orthopaedic surgeons are aware of Hoppenfeld's Anatomical Exposures text...this is the other one, which is just as important and helpful for the general or specialist orthopod. For residents who often are in a quandary regarding routine followup and rehabilitation goals with regards to patients, this paperback proves invaluable. Chief residents who often run clinics will find this as an excellent tool for evaluating the progress of their patients postop. Another excellent text with self explanatory illustrations and photographs.

Iam a orthopedial surgeon with all most 25 years on my practice, and I 'd like every resident may read it, it is a critical review of the fractures that gives a line for the junior or senior surgeon, the autor is a rarelly formative teacher, that has help me and others to find easy the job, with his anterior books, and this new one is extremelly good,since I receipt it I readed it in two days, and now Iam checking my knowledge with it. Its is a new AMAZON SUCCESS and Dr. Hoppenfeld gift to the medicine...

"Truth is the daughter of time", a saying used by Alice Stewart, cannot come soon enough in this era.
Gayle Greene should be held in the highest esteem for the eloquent presentation of Alice Stewart's quest for truth. Her writing is crisp and unencumbered, and it hold the reader's interest into the life of this feisty, humorous, brilliant woman. Dr. Stewart, just by being of the female gender, found it hard to be taken seriously, and it was not until late in her life that she was honored for a life of accomplishment and dedication. A simple woman born to parents who were both doctors; doctors who put their patients ahead of money and power.
It was a tenet to be carried on by their daughter, Alice Stewart, who never gave up trying to educate the public about radiation proliferation. Thanks to her, thousands of babies were saved from the horrors of exposure to radiation when the medical profession listened to what she had to say about xraying during the first trimester.
Later Alice was funded to examine the effects of radiation on works who handled nuclear materials and weaponry. When her message was not what the AEC and others wanted to hear or receive, they tried to confiscate her work and cut her funding. Indeed, the funding was cut off, but she managed to secure her work and continue its research. Gayle Greene's writing abilities are able to give you the sense of Dr. Stewart's anguish and frustration.
The Woman Who Knew Too Much is a classic example of the control of information which the public direly needs, but which is buried and censored. This book, though written several years ago, is as pertinent as if it were published yesterday, and it should be read by all who are interested in the welfare of humanity. The inclusion in a science or social studies curriculum of the developing minds of students would be a well-deserved legacy for this wonderful woman who died in 2002 at the age of 96.

As Research Director of the Hanford Veterans Cancer Mortality Study I have worked closely with Dr. Alice Stewart. I have learned from her, laughed with her and admired her as the most extraordinary human being I have ever known. But, I never knew her well enough. You must read this book! It will give you a new understanding of the meaning of courage and integrity. More importantly - have your children, especially your daughters, read this book. Thank goodness Gayle Greene has written this eminently readable biography of Alice. It allows us to understand where her drive comes from and how Dr. Stewart can suffer the slings and arrows of the federal scientific pygmies who attack her work. The heart of the story, and a key to Dr. Stewart's personality, can be found in the juxtaposition of the the ending words of Chapter 13 where Professor Greene says "Alice is called in by...radiation victims, her investigations turn up cancer in excess ... the studies are handed over to official bodies...the official studies invoke the A-bomb data to discredit her finds....Time passes." `It's a long, slow business,' she (Dr. Stewart) says." Compare this with one of Dr. Stewart's favorite quotations, "truth is the daughter of time." She has waited, we will wait; but Dr. Helen Caldicott is right "her work may (I say `will') receive the recognition and thanks of the future." When one finishes reading this marvelous book one cannot help but think of George Sand saying "humanity is outraged in me and with me. We must not dissimulate nor try to forget this indignation; which is one of the most passionate forms of love." Thank the Good Lord for this stunning creature called Alice Stewart. And thank Gayle Greene for helping us to know her just a bit better.

Courage and Integrity in Science: A Precious Rarety

The Woman Who Knew Too Much: Alice Stewart and the Secrets of Radiation by Gayle Greene. Dr. Stewart is a British physician and epidemiologist (born in 1906 into a large family of physicians) who revolutionized the concept of radiation risk. In the 1950s, while surveying childhood mortalities in the British Isles, she finds that then quite common X-ray examinations during pregnancy doubled the risk for childhood cancer. Fueled by the wrath of radiologists, her work has been viciously derided among the medical establishment for more than two decades. In the 1970s, she finds that some workers at nuclear weapons production sites, such as Hanford, WA or Oakridge, TN are dying of radiation induced cancers, showing that presumed "safe" levels of occupational exposures put these workers at a twenty times higher risk than officially admitted. With that finding she places herself on the "enemy list" of an immensely powerful nuclear weapons establishment, including its scientific elite, and at the center of an international controversy over radiation risks. Stewart's fascinating story, a collaborative memoir told by herself and Greene with verve and humor, is one of a woman scientist's ingenuity, independence, perseverance, compassion, and integrity, a fascinating tale in the checkered history of a mostly male-dominated science. Rudi H. Nussbaum, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Physics and Environmental Science.

The book spans the lifetimes of Dr. Stewart and her parents. It offers a fascinating description of medicine in Britain in the late 19th century, the entry of women into the medical field, and the institutional resistance in the second half of the 20th century to the fact that low levels of radiation are dangerous. Given the recent announcements by the US Government concerning health risks in the nuclear arms industry, this is a timely and fascinating book. Well written and researched.

Being a disabled vet with a spinal cord injury, I have to be as educated as I can get on my condition or I'll either loss a limb, internal organ, or worse die. This book has got to be the "best" book I've found since the "Handbook on Peripheral Neuropathy" by Mark Bromberg. The cover says for Therapists and Nurses; but on the contrary, the material is very easy to understand and has many, many actual color pictures of patients with different levels of wound stages. It is very graphic. IF YOU HAVE PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY OR DIABETIC SYMPTOMS...BUY THIS! You do not want the information from pamphlets obtained at the doctor's office. This book will help you to save toes, feet, and legs. This book covers preventative care, early diagnosis, cleaning, bandaging, drainage, to severe loss stage. It was a definite WAKE-UP call to me to manage my neuropathy in my legs better. I was never told I was in stage 2 or to expect some of the things I saw in the book and I'm going very good doctors in a large city. I'd wish they'd scared me with the information I found in this book. This book provides very good information on how to manage ulcerations to prevent them from becoming something more severe. VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

As a Physical Therapist and head of a rural health consortium's wound management team, I found this to be an invaluable tool for assesment, planning, monitoring and reimbursement. I feel this is the best clinical resource currently available for PTs.

if you're looking for wound care decision pathways, protocols, documentation guidelines and how-to instructions on basic dressing change type wound care - then this is the book for you. the book's shortcomings are an almost complete lack of specificity on therapeutic interventions such as debridement techniques designed to activate certain tissue processes, and a wordy superficiality in most of the text. not a text for physicians or experienced clinicians looking for sophisticated interventions. a good comprehensive guide for beginners

This is a great reference for pressure ulcers, surgical wounds, vascular ulcers, and management of neuropathies. I found the title misleading because I expected it to cover all types of wounds including treatment of fresh lacerations and puncture wounds from accidents. If your looking for information on these last two subjects, this is not the book to use. However, if you care for people with pressure ulcer risk or wounds, diabetic risks, surgical incisions, or venous or arterial ulcers in long term care, rehab, home health, or are a wound care specialist, this reference is the definitive resource. As an RN who works in a multidisciplinary environment with PTs, I found the information on the PT role in wound management collaboration very informative. It actually has a section on managing wound healing with physical therapy technologies such as diathermy, ultrasound, and electrical stimulation to name a few. If you prefer to buy hard cover books for your reference library, don't let the "paperback" disuade you. This book is really a hardback similar in type to school textbooks.

Very good reference. Easy to understand. Guides you through most situations. Recommend VII as a companion. Looking forward to VIII.

Very good reference. Easy to understand. Guides you through most situations. Recommend VII as a companion. Looking forward to VIII.

This author really knows has stuff and takes a rather complicated technical subject and makes it easy to learn the various apsects on conducting an accident investigation.

Who knows what queasiness lurks in the hearts of tort lawyers? Kevin Mednick knows, and he tells all in this fast-paced, funny, knowing book about what lawyers do and how they do it. (Warning: As they say about politics and making sausage, some of it ain't pretty!) Mike Samuels may not want to be a lawyer, but by the end of "An Almost Life" most readers will want his phone number in case they slip and fall.

This is a laugh-out-loud and ultimately redemptive first novel about a self-deprecating personal injury lawyer from upstate New York. Who would have thought? A self-deprecating lawyer? But the novel has shades of Woody Allen, James Taylor, and Saul Bellow that make it all work.

Mike Samuels is just another middle-aged, middle class, divorced guy who feels he is slowly disappearing from life itself when he takes the case of Evelyn Walker. The former small town beauty has been scalped by a glue machine and by everything else in her life. When Mike realizes only he can right the terrible injustice to her, the burden of responsibility makes him want to fade away completely, but his sense of duty keeps him in the game for one last inning.

His efficient, long-suffering secretary Alice keeps his practice afloat, even when, in the middle of a major trial, he forbids her to take messages, any messages, from anybody. His girlfriend Anne-Marie is supportive, calm, sexy, and witty. Mike dotes on his two teenagers, Adam and Esperanza, and it's requited. His best friend Dan, brilliant but blustery, gives him endless pep talks on women, life, and other stuff he may really know nothing about. And while it's apparent Mike has nothing to be ashamed of except his own lackluster connection to life itself, he spends his days idly longing for the nobility of "Casablanca," plagued by hypochondria and self-doubt, reliant on Xanax to get him through the 3 a.m. willies, bullied by the viciousness of opposing lawyers, almost hopeless in courtrooms filled by deficient judges, small-minded jurors, lying witnesses, and clients who get their idea of the law from tv.

Mednick gives us a great primer on the actual practice of personal injury law. In his hands it turns out to be, and I hate to admit this, intriguing. He has a wonderful sense of place, the deteriorating landscape of the rustbelt, the fade-to-grey North country, and yet he still finds promise in small town America. He loves his characters, not just the heroic judges and doctors and the hot stripper with a complaint about her breast implants ("Can I show you the scars?") but also his triumphant ex-wife, barbaric opposing attorneys, and venal clients.

The author makes some great wisecracking detours into hypochondria, the differences between how men and women prepare for a date, lawyer's tv ads ("Mad Dog Duggan"), anti-depressants ("How could one drug cause drowsiness and insomnia?") teenagers ("Kids are forgiving creatures. You don't even have to be good. You just have to try.") America ("Rural people identify with their bosses...If Karl Marx lived in upstate New York, the world would be a different place.") and country clubs (where folks join to "disapprove of all the things they can't disapprove of elsewhere.")

I found myself wishing for a real Hollywood ending, where the bad guys get beat up in a rousing courtroom trial and the hero rides off with the stunning stripper whose scars have healed, but it's a tribute to the book's honesty that it shows us how to weather the storms of life without a swelling sound-track or explosions in Act 3.

Mike Samuels is in his forties and unhappily divorced from Andrea, his wife of sixteen years. She has since remarried; her new husband, Tom, is ambitious and prosperous, everything that Mike is not. Mike's self-esteem has hit rock bottom. "An Almost Life," by Kevin Mednick, refers to the protagonist's lack of engagement with the world; he feels like a walking shadow, a person without substance: "I'd been fading away for quite a while by then, disappearing to an unknown locale." He has a decent enough practice as a personal injury lawyer and a pretty, bright, and witty girlfriend, Ann-Marie, who, Mike insists is "not crazy about me," and "I'm not sure I like her either." In addition, he has two great kids, fifteen year old Adam and thirteen-year-old Esperanza, whom he adores and who love him as well. With all he has going for him, Mike still claims that he is merely going through the motions.

How to get Mike out of his funk? An unusual new case, brought to him by a woman in her mid-forties from upstate New York, captures his attention. Evelyn Walker suffered severe injuries when her hair was caught in a spinning roller at the paper goods plant where she worked. The roller ripped away four inches of scalp. She is suing the owners of Borum Industries, whom she claims allowed their employees to use equipment they knew to be unsafe. Evelyn tells Mike, "I want a tough lawyer from out of town." He replies, "Will you settle for one out of two?"

Mike initially has doubts about the viability of Evelyn's case. As the trial approaches, his qualms increase, since there are still some serious issues that have yet to be resolved. Is the weakness and pain in Evelyn's right arm a direct result of the accident? If so, who is responsible--the owner, for not making sure that effective safety procedures were in place, or Evelyn, for behaving carelessly? The outcome of this dispute is far from certain and Mike cannot handle much doubt in his fragile state. When his opponents resort to dirty tricks, Mike finds his inner pit bull and decides to fight back with a vengeance.

"An Almost Life" is a humorous and breezy story about a man who is a much better lawyer than he gives himself credit for, as well as an extremely loving and devoted father. Even his ex-wife doesn't hate him. Still he cannot relax and go with the flow. Fortunately, as Mike gets more deeply invested in the Walker case, he snaps out of his torpor long enough to learn about the virtues of patience, courage, and faith from his determined client.

This is a feel-good story about a nice, average guy who is having a rough time accepting the fact that his wife dumped him and that he will never be a superstar in his profession. Mednick's prose style is effortless and understated and his wry humor is delightfully engaging. The author makes personal injury law fascinating (no mean feat) and although the ending is a bit too pat and sentimental, "An Almost Life" is a diverting debut novel.