Memorable Books

This is one of the most memorable, colorful and interesting covers I have seen on a book of this nature. The book is authored by Carin L. Cunningham & Gerard A. Banez.

I have helped many authors through the years, but the book that stands out as most precious to me is Pediatric Gastrointestinal Disorders: Biopsychosocial Assessment and Treatment by Carin L. Cunningham & Gerard A. Banez. I learned much from this book that sits as comfortable on a general physician's book shelf as on my shelf at home.

This concise book, appropriate for families and medical professionals, is easy to understand and of great value to the fields of pediatrics, gastrointestinal disorders, and psychology. Pediatric Gastrointestinal Disorders: Biopsychosocial Assessment and Treatment, in my opinion, is appropriate for the general public, students, and medical professionals.

I was trained and worked in the sciences, yet until I read this book authored by Carin L. Cunningham & Gerard A. Banez, I had no idea that serotonin (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin) was manufactured in the human gut rather than exclusively in the human brain, as I had thought for years. Why did I not know this? What had I missed? What was I reading? This is just one small piece of data that I learned from reading this book that changed my understanding.

When I told my sister that serotonin was made in the human gastrointestinal system she said, of course it is. She is a Professor of English, a journalist, creative writer, and superb teacher. She had a premature child with severe gastrointestinal distress. I would have loved to purchase such a reasonable text for my sleep deprived sister and the rest of our very upset family to read 15 years ago when my nephew was born. To our surprise, my nephew turned out to have multiple food allergies. My sweet nephew, now 15 years old, continues to have 30 food allergies, is fine, and will be playing violin at Lincoln Center of the Performing Arts in NYC this Spring.

I did not know what I did not know, until I read and reread this wonderful book. I started wondering how others feel about the book and if they agree with me regarding the importance of this book to a home, public or medical library? I checked if it was included in databases and searched for reviews. Since the book is timeless, reviews and success stories continue to be published. If you have a story, enjoyed reading this book, or found it helpful in understanding the gastrointestinal system, please share your story with us and feel welcome to add to this Blog.

I have known the first author's name, Carin Cunningham, since I first saw it in 1987. I had not actually met her at the time, but knew that she read much and loves libraries.

In 2004, I finally met Dr. Carin Cunningham. She is a most dedicated, caring professional that devoted much time to write a book that would be appropriate for all of us to read to help us understand ourselves, and anyone with a gastrointestinal issue.

I would like to suggest that you obtain a copy of the book via purchase, suggest it to your librarian, try to borrow it from someone or read a chapter on line. Find out for yourself what you don't know and forward a review to a group you belong to, a newsletter to your organization, a local newspaper, your favorite book review source, to this blog, to Carin Cunningham via her email at Carin.Cunningham@case.edu or to me at rosaraskin@hotmail.com