Chasing Zebras

When Margaret Nowaczyk immigrated to Canada with her family from Poland she was determined to be Canadian, whatever that meant, and she was equally determined to be a doctor. Arriving as a teen with an English vocabulary deeply influenced by the few English books she had, including Somerset Maugham's The Painted Veil, Margaret made her way through medical school at the University of Toronto, followed by residencies at Toronto's SickKids until she settled in at McMaster University Hospital as a clinical geneticist. From leaving Communist Poland to enduring the demands of medical school, through living with a long undiagnosed mental illness to discovering the fascinating field of genetics, plunging into the pressures of prenatal diagnosis and finally finding the tools of writing and of narrative medicine, Margaret shares a journey that is both inspiring and harrowing. This is a story of constant effort, of growth, of tragedy and of triumph, and most of all, of the importance of openness. In the end, Dr. Nowaczyk invites us all to see that "life is precious and fragile and wondrous and full of mistakes." And to keep trying.

"I look for zebras because other doctors have ruled out all the horses."--Dr. Gregory House Medical students are taught that when they hear hoofbeats, they should think horses, not zebras, but Dr. House's unique talent of diagnosing unusual illnesses has made House, M.D. one of the most popular and fascinating series on television. In "Chasing Zebras: The Unofficial Guide to House," M.D., Barbara Barnett, widely considered a leading House expert, takes fans deep into the heart of the show's central character and his world, examining the way this medical Sherlock Holmes's

Renowned primatologist Robert Sapolsky offers a completely revised and updated edition of his most popular work, with over 225,000 copies in print Now in a third edition, Robert M. Sapolsky's acclaimed and successful Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers features new chapters on how stress affects sleep and addiction, as well as new insights into anxiety and personality disorder and the impact of spirituality on managing stress. As Sapolsky explains, most of us do not lie awake at night worrying about whether we have leprosy or malaria. Instead, the diseases we fear-and the ones that plague us now-are illnesses brought on by the slow accumulation of damage, such as heart disease and cancer. When we worry or experience stress, our body turns on the same physiological responses that an animal's does, but we do not resolve conflict in the same way-through fighting or fleeing. Over time, this activation of a stress response makes us literally sick. Combining cutting-edge research with a healthy dose of good humor and practical advice, Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers explains how prolonged stress causes or intensifies a range of physical and mental afflictions, including depression, ulcers, colitis, heart disease, and more. It also provides essential guidance to controlling our stress responses. This new edition promises to be the most comprehensive and engaging one yet.

Even the most competitive companies only close about 15 percent of the deals in their sales pipelines. That means that salespeople spend time with prospects who, 85 percent of the time, aren't going to buy. Wouldn't those salespeople rather spend more time pursuing prospects they knew they could close? Or spend time with their prospects where it matters most at an executive level? Readers who are ready for exceptional results for themselves and their companies need "Selling to Zebras". The Zebra way can help salespeople identify the perfect prospects for their companies--their Zebras--and develop a sales process that will help them close deals 90 percent of the time. The Zebra method of selling will: Increase close rates; Shorten sales cycles; Increase average deal size; Reduce discounting and increase margins; Make better use of scarce resources; Make customers happy, creating a stable of great references. Jeff and Chad Koser don't just offer theories and concepts. They give readers specific tools, models, and spreadsheets they can customise to make the Zebra way the best way for their companies to do business.

In Victorian London, the fates of physician Simon Bell and apothecary Gaelan Erceldoune entwine when Simon gives his wife an elixir created by Gaelan from an ancient manuscript. Meant to cure her cancer, it kills her. Suicidal, Simon swallows the remainder--only to find he cannot die. Five years later, hearing rumors of a Bedlam inmate with regenerative powers like his own, Simon is shocked to discover it's Gaelan. The two men conceal their immortality, but the only hope of reversing their condition rests with Gaelan's missing manuscript. When modern-day pharmaceutical company Transdiff Genomics unearths diaries describing the torture of Bedlam inmates, the company's scientists suspect a link between Gaelan and an unnamed inmate. Gaelan and Transdiff Genomics geneticist Anne Shawe are powerfully drawn to each other, and her family connection to his manuscript leads to a stunning revelation. Will it bring ruin or redemption? From the Trade Paperback edition.

In the catacombs of an ancient ruined monastery, a place hidden away in the Eildon Hills, a legendary land of myth, of mystery, and of magic—the place where he’d found sanctuary as a lad. The network of caves lead him to a steep, decaying staircase, where he discovers a journal, apparently written by Gaelan’s old friend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, describing his journey to the Otherworld, a land of fairy castles and magical, turquoise rivers and filigree trees hung with Spanish moss. Falling from the journal’s pages a small piece of glass, which Gaelan recognizes as a piece long missing from a stained glass panel he’d created a century earlier. When the opalescent glass piece seems to come alive in Gaelan’s hand, he is suddenly thrust into world far from the fantastical dreamscape Conan Doyle has described. Gaelan doubts his sanity, wondering whether he is caught in an elaborate, surreal nightmare. Is it possible he has traversed a portal into the future? But how? And why? The Alchemy of Glass weaves a tale magical as spun glass and terrifying as a shattered mirror, drawing upon cutting edge science and the most ancient of Celtic mythology, intertwining the magic of fairy lore and the harsh reality of difficult choices, returning us to the world of immortal apothecary Gaelan Erceldoune, as his past, present and future collide, in an attempt to prevent a catastrophic future.