Arranged as a twenty-four week retreat in four phases, this edition is a guide to The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. It incorporates "centering" exercises of awareness patterned on Eastern or Buddhist meditation practices and devotional exercises similar to or drawn from those found in Sadhana, by the late Anthony de Mello, SJ. Poems and prayers by Rainer Maria Rilke, Rabindranath Tagore, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Edith Sitwell, and others are also included, as well as materials from Teilhard de Chardin's Divine Milieu.

In 2020, an invisible germ—a virus—wholly upended our lives. We’re most familiar with the viruses that give us colds or Covid-19. But viruses also cause a vast range of other diseases, including one disorder that makes people sprout branch-like growths as if they were trees. Viruses have been a part of our lives for so long that we are actually part virus: the human genome contains more DNA from viruses than our own genes. Meanwhile, scientists are discovering viruses everywhere they look: in the soil, in the ocean, even in deep caves miles underground.
 
Fully revised and updated, with new illustrations and a new chapter about coronaviruses and the spread of Covid-19, this third edition of Carl Zimmer’s A Planet of Viruses pulls back the veil on this hidden world. It presents the latest research on how viruses hold sway over our lives and our biosphere, how viruses helped give rise to the first life-forms, how viruses are producing new diseases, how we can harness viruses for our own ends, and how viruses will continue to control our fate as long as life endures.

Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings presents a far-reaching reassessment of the classical Persian epic known as the Shahnama or “Book of Kings,” composed by the poet Ferdowsi in the early eleventh century ce. Combining comparative perspectives with a close reading of the internal evidence provided by the text of this epic, Olga M. Davidson argues that the poet of the Shahnama is actually a character in the epic, coexisting with ancient Iranian heroes and kings whose deeds are celebrated by the poetry. The poet can have the role of a character because his poetry comes to life in performance. Whenever the Shahnama was performed by the poet or by later practitioners of his poetry, the performer could interact with his grand characters by re-engaging with their stories, as if for the first time. After documenting the oral poetic performance traditions underlying the text of the Shahnama in all its variations, Davidson argues that the heroic tradition of this epic is deeply ancient, stemming from Indo-European poetic traditions. A primary example is the great warrior Rostam, who upholds Iranian kingship while at the same time posing a threat to kings who prove unworthy of the crown.

For nearly fifteen years Practical Decision Making in Health Care Ethics has offered scholars and students a highly accessible and teachable alternative to the dominant principle-based theories in the field. Devettere’s approach is not based on an ethics of abstract obligations and duties, but, following Aristotle, on how to live a fulfilled and happy life—in short, an ethics of personal well-being grounded in prudence, the virtue of ethical decision making.

This third edition is revised and updated and includes discussions of several landmark cases, including the tragic stories of Terri Schiavo and Jesse Gelsinger (the first death caused by genetic research). Devettere addresses new topics such as partial-birth abortion law, embryonic stem cell research, infant euthanasia in The Netherlands, recent Vatican statements on feeding tubes, organ donation after cardiac death, new developments in artificial hearts, clinical trials developed by pharmaceutical companies to market new drugs, ghostwritten scientific articles published in major medical journals, and controversial HIV/AIDS research in Africa. This edition also includes a new chapter on the latest social and political issues in American health care.

Devettere’s engaging text relies on commonsense moral concepts and avoids academic jargon. It includes a glossary of legal, medical, and ethical terms; an index of cases; and thoroughly updated bibliographic essays at the end of each chapter that offer resources for further reading. It is a true classic, brilliantly conceived and executed, and is now even more valuable to undergraduates and graduate students, medical students, health care professionals, hospital ethics committees and institutional review boards, and general readers interested in philosophy, medicine, and the rapidly changing field of health care ethics.

In recent years, issues of infection prevention and control, patient safety, and quality-of-care have become increasingly prominent in healthcare facilities. Practical Healthcare Epidemiology takes a practical, hands-on approach to these issues, addressing all aspects of infection surveillance and prevention in clear, straightforward terms. This fully revised third edition brings together the expertise of more than fifty leaders in healthcare epidemiology who provide clear, sound guidance on infection prevention and control for the full range of patients in all types of healthcare facilities, including those in settings with limited resources. A powerful resource for practitioners in any branch of medicine or public health who are involved in infection prevention and control, whether they are experienced in healthcare epidemiology or new to the field.

“A handy desk reference and an up-to-date primer for trainees and experts alike” —The Journal of the American Medical Association

“An essential for anyone in the field.”—Thomas R. Talbot, Chief Hospital Epidemiologist, Vanderbilt University Medical Center