Reconsidering Medicine

This is an original book on the philosophy of medicine. It considers philosophy of medicine as a subdiscipline of philosophy of science. This volume is grounded on an epistemological bottom-up account that arises from the clinical situation, the epidemiologic, and the resulting public health account. It is not a review of the literature, and it is not intended to frame the debates, or to analyze and compare the various number of viewpoints.

Medicine is the human activity, which begins by a linguistic act that identifies the negative norms of health: it begins with a first distinction that splits biological processes into three conventional parts, normal, abnormal and pathologic. Neither of them is a natural kind. Being abnormal is intrinsically bad and admits of degrees, while being pathologic is dichotomous. Being normal is factitious and counterfactual much the same as frictionless planes in physics. Leaving apart the ethical aspects, this book endeavors to uncover the implicit conceptual network, the chief junctures of medicine, should they be found, and their articulations with clinical and community medicine. It results that medicine is pervaded with dichotomous concepts such as scientific vs pragmatic discourse, function and malfunction, abnormal and pathologic, needs and wants, causation and explanation, clinical vs community-oriented care, physical vs psychiatric diseases, mental illness vs deviancy, and so on. Medical thinking has two dimensions intrinsically interweaved, namely a constant amalgam and admixture of biological and normative aspects, so that this essential hybrid nature of the grammar of medicine endorses opposite approaches, naturalistic or normativist, biological or value-laden, realist or instrumental, reductionist or holistic, phenomenological or analytic.

Redemption

Everett’s impossible choice sets off a chain reaction that alters everything. She has unwittingly provoked malevolent forces intent on exploiting human frailties, launching a bold assault on her family, her future, and the fate of humanity itself.

Sandra Steele cannot accept that her daughter has succumbed to a retributive protocol. Her suspicions are confirmed when she uncovers Everett’s link to Jacob Domanso and confronts his parents. Maureen Domanso, a top aide to Dr. Draeger – the notorious leader of the new administration – claims Everett’s death was due to the virus, just as her own son’s disappearance remains a mystery. Maureen is certain Draeger is behind it all, but how and why? United by the mysterious losses of their children, Sandra and Maureen join forces to take Draeger down.

In a frantic race against time, Everett saves Jake’s life, only to realize her return to the beginning is permanent. She grapples with the fallout of her decision as a volcanic eruption decimates the garden. From one crisis to another, it becomes clear that these events are far from natural, pushing them to the limits of their endurance.

The pair receives a glimmer of hope when Everett is sent back to rescue Pedro Ramon from Dr. Draeger’s clutches. Together, the three stand against the beast threatening to obliterate the beginning, while their families struggle to keep the Biodome intact under Draeger’s oppressive regime.

The power of love and hope are put to the ultimate test in this monumental clash between good and evil.

Refrigerator Door

Refrigerator Door!

How one household item became the epicenter for cherished memories.

The refrigerator door – that communal billboard found in every home. Covered in photos, mementos, report cards, and takeout menus, this humble appliance takes on far greater meaning. It becomes a tapestry of everything important to a family.

In Refrigerator Door, author and father Thom reminisces on the refrigerator door of his childhood. This mosaic of fading photos and fridge magnets shaped his upbringing and brought his family together. Now Thom passes along the tradition to his own children, reminding them that even an ordinary door can be transformed into something extraordinary with the memories we choose to display.

Join Thom on this heartwarming journey that reveals how a refrigerator door quietly yet profoundly chronicles the story of a family. More than just a surface for sticking homework assignments and takeout menus, it is a celebration of all that gives our fast-paced lives meaning.

Remembering John Noel Dempsey: A Man Who Did Good

At a time when governors have been sent to jail, presidents have been impeached, and legislatures seem dedicated to gridlock, and adherence to blind partisanship trumps all else, it’s not hard to fathom why American people have become skeptical about politicians and cynical about the entire political process and downright disgusted at what is seen to be governmental shenanigans. It may come, then, as comfort to some and dubious to others to read about a politician who has been dubbed “the genuine article,” a man who personified the adage “what you see is what you get,” a person who believed that life was about giving and not about getting. That's the kind of man I grew up knowing, the kind of politician, who would no longer fit the current mold, the person I am honored to call “my father.”

Retrieving Love: The Subtleness of a Napkin

Caring, friendly, kind and lovely – these are all attributes that describe Julie. Yet, so are the words desperate, grieving, lonely and purposeless.

Coming to a crossroad in her life faster than expected, Julie relies on her faith for the strength to make it through. Dealing with the passing of her husband, she finds her daily existence swallowed by grief and doesn’t feel ready to embrace life again. However, God seems to have a different plan. He is able to use unexpected people in unusual ways to intervene in Julie’s life, reminding her that she is not alone. Will Julie choose to let others in and learn how to cope with the loss of a loved one? Or will she stay trapped in her grief, watching her days pass by?

Revenant

Alastair Seiver, wielder of fire, has vanished, leaving his father and his friends Caelyn and Mydia behind. In the wake of Tenebrae’s attack, the city of Lyrias is left shaken. Whispers of war are on the horizon, creeping ever closer.

Caelyn is summoned home, back to the restrictive life she had been so desperate to escape. With the help of Doctor Seiver, and a little determination, she makes a startling discovery in the place she least expected.

Mydia resolves to pursue Alastair, searching for clues to where he might have gone. She seeks the wisdom of the only person who seems to have any answers: the sorceress who gave Alastair the enchanted ring. With her help, will Mydia be able to find him before their enemies do?

A darkness follows Alastair, he can sense it. His whole world has been turned on its head in a matter of months. Determined to figure out who he really is and where he came from, Alastair must learn to harness his power and unlock the secrets his father kept hidden. With the shadows looming closer, will the answers he finds be enough to guide him?

Rewind Ranch

What price would you pay to reclaim the vigor and allure of youth? Four spirited Southern seniors are about to find out. Tempted by the promise of Rewind Ranch, a paradise nestled in Hawaii’s enchanting Hana hills, they embark on a journey that promises unlimited cosmetic enhancements, captivating company, and indulgent escapades.

As the ladies dive into a world of luxury, laughter, and liaisons, they soon discover that the ranch offers more than just superficial pleasures. Beneath the veneer of hedonistic delights, a darker secret lurks. As doubts creep in and stakes rise, they realize their dream vacation might be a trap they need to escape to ensure their very survival.

Join these fearless women on a roller-coaster of suspense and camaraderie, where beauty is more than skin deep, and friendship is the ultimate savior.

Rooting Out Violence

Life and death are merged in the terror of unrelenting global violence. Rooting Out Violence describes a model, ‘Healthy Sensory-Emotional Integration,’ with the scope to help adults assess the human capacity for violence in themselves, in members of their communities, as well as, in leaders of their countries. The book provides a violence prevention model to mitigate trauma and human rights violations throughout our lifespans and throughout the world. Healthy Sensory-Emotional Integration is a public health model that is understandable and achievable globally.

The manuscript identifies how blind-sighted we have been historically by not emphasizing the number one variable in the capacity to commit a violent crime; for funding violence prevention in institutional siloes, such as, corrections and child protection programs, when the inner nature of each of us counts; and excluding comprehensive research on preventing trauma, not just funding treatment strategies.

Roots & the Remittance Man

In Roots & the Remittance Man, a captivating historical fiction, we follow a diverse family tree as its branches converge in the Carrot River Valley of the Northwest Territories in 1902. From Sweden, Muskoka, and Iowa, these intrepid settlers make their way to homestead near Melfort, Saskatchewan.

A Scottish family, burdened by loss from an epidemic, travels by wagon train, finding salvation in a Cree chief. In Sweden, tragedy strikes, and a widowed wife and her daughters board a cattle ship for Halifax. They arrive in Winnipeg, accept a cook position at a Melfort hotel, and embark on a grueling journey through forest and muskeg.

A young Norwegian man walks 700 miles to the United States-Canadian border, immerses himself in Indigenous history, and follows a freight swing to his homestead. Settlers and Indigenous peoples unite against prairie fires, forging bonds that transcend their differences.

Through decades, the family experiences joys and sorrows, weathering the storms of two World Wars, prohibition, swamp fever, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Great Depression. As technology advances, women gain the right to vote and become legally recognized as persons.

At the outset of World War II, a remittance man from Scotland enters the picture, his life becoming significantly entwined with the descendants of these resilient pioneers. Roots & the Remittance Man is a sweeping tale of perseverance, unity, and the indomitable human spirit that shaped the Canadian frontier.

Rory Stands Out

Rory is a different kind of goat, but some don’t like that.

In this first book of a series, Rory and Momma Butterscotch go on an adventure to find a new home and a herd that embraces them.

The sweet and adventurous characters introduce the importance of diversity and belonging.

This early reader book is perfect for first time readers and family sharing.

Running Stop Signs

Los Angeles super sleuth Natalie North is fed up with catching cheating husbands red-handed and reporting back to their wives, complete with incriminating photos. Quick-witted and sharp, Natalie yearns to use her investigative skills to solve real crimes, the grittier the better. When a dead body is discovered in the Brockstone Tire parking lot in San Pedro, Natalie puts her life on the line to find the killer, determined to outdo the LAPD.

While also investigating the tangled marriage of Melvin and Ramona Evanski, hoping to catch Ramona in a compromising position, Natalie’s resolve to crack the Brockstone Tire murder case overrides her common sense. Add in Natalie’s tumultuous love life, torn between prosecuting attorney Darren McAllister, LAPD Officer Vincent Sherburne, and the enigmatic taxi driver Alfonso Di Paolo, and discover what happens when betrayal, greed, passion, and murder collide.

Sacred Life and Demons

Is life sacred, and to whom? If our lives are sacred to each of us, should we be in control of how we are to die? Or should questions of life and death be answered only by those who believe and interpret the Bible as the will of a supernatural creator god? Does the Bible confirm the existence of a god who loves, and would never harm, an innocent child? Did this god create our reproductive processes such that the most unique human DNA ends in abortion? Or, are spontaneous abortions just the result of sin? How do we define a person, and when does a unique human DNA become a person? Is elective abortion murder? Do demons really exist? This nation is in serious conflict over the answers to these questions.

Dr. Tom Tanner, an oncologist in a Mississippi town, becomes entangled in all these questions and in the mystery of a boy thought by some to be of supernatural birth. Perhaps the boy is a demon.