Medical Illuminations
Using Evidence, Visualization and Statistical Thinking to Improve Healthcare
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:10th Oct '13
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Is it sensible to screen for breast or prostate cancer? Should the locations of cancer clusters be made available to the general public? When a doctor wants to perform major surgery and there's no chance for a second opinion, do you agree? The answers to these questions are not as black and white as they may first appear. Medical Illuminations presents thirteen contemporary medical topics, from the diminishing value of mammograms to how to decide if a hip needs to be replaced, to understanding cancer maps. In each case it illustrates how modern tools of statistical thinking and statistical graphics can illuminate our understanding. The goals are to solve some vexing problems that seem perplexing, and to make both the problems and their solutions clear to a non-technical audience. The aim is to ignite in the reader an understanding of statistical thinking, which, though subtle, can be learned without going through arcane mathematics. And, moreover, that learning about how to think in this way provides a huge payoff in the deeper understanding of our complex world.
In science, information without understanding can be useless and even harmful. Science requires a depth of understanding. To assist this understanding, data must be accurate, lucid and comprehensible. Dr. Wainer has done an extraordinary job of explaining this reality. Medical Illuminations is well written, insightful and thought provoking. It is filled with evocative stories and examples that are memorable, forcing one to think critically. In addition to the book's important message and examples, I would also recommend this book because it is a pleasure to read. Medical Illuminations is an important work that puts the data used to explain much of medical science in a realistic and important context. In a word, this work is - brilliant! * Christopher W. Hansen, President of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network *
On the journey from factual knowledge to conceptual understanding, Howard Wainer is an able guide and a most amiable companion. * Joseph Bernstein, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Veterans' Hospital Philadelphia *
His sensitivities are well aligned with the huge upswing in interest in these topics, but once again he leads the way with fresh ideas, compelling examples, wise generalizations, and clever phrases. * Ben Schneiderman, Science *
ISBN: 9780199668793
Dimensions: 235mm x 169mm x 16mm
Weight: 476g
192 pages