Book Information: c.2013, Atria Books; $28.00 / $32.00 Canada; 464 pages

You always hated taking tests.

Prepared or not, your hands sweated when faced with a test, and your stomach felt shaky. Whatever you’d learned, it flew from your head the second you sat down.

Today, it’s the same in the hospital as it was in high school: you hate taking tests. But what other way does your doctor have of knowing what’s wrong with you?  In the new book “One Doctor” by Brendan Reilly, M.D., you’ll see that moth-eaten methods may beat modern.

“New York doctors don’t work weekends.”

That’s what one of Brendan Reilly’s patients claimed, surprised to see Reilly at her bedside on an early Saturday morning at New York’s Presbyterian Hospital. He was there because he believes that the doctor who “knows you best” is the one who should assume the majority of the caregiving. That’s not the way most medical centers work these days, but it’s the way he prefers to practice medicine.  

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By Terri Schlichenmeyer

There’s not enough money in your wallet.

Actually, when you get right down to it, there never is. There’s always something else you want to buy, always another plan, idea or future desire to save for, or buy. The truth is, you just can’t get enough money.

But what do you know about those Benjamins in your bankbook?  Whatever your knowledge, learn more by reading “The Book of Money” by Daniel Conaghan & Dan Smith.

Nobody, of course, knows exactly when humans created currency, but historians believe that it happened in Mesopotamia “at least 5,000 years ago.” A king in the Middle East later minted coins, and the Greeks followed suit by making them from bronze nearly 2,500 years ago. That money had to go somewhere, so banks were eventually created – and since banks need funding, too, methods of credit were invented.
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Book Information: c.2013, Crown $27.00 / $32.00 Canada    558 pages

You know exactly what you’d do.

You’re prepared with a drill, if the house catches fire. In case of gunfire, you’ve got a plan in mind. You’ve watched TV coverage of crimes, disasters, and floods enough to have envisioned how you’d react to each of those.

You know what you’d do in a crisis – or do you?  Could you ignore your inner voice and do something wrongly right?  That’s what allegedly happens in the new book “Five Days at Memorial” by Sheri Fink: one of our country’s worst disasters may’ve led to one of medicine’s most questionable acts.
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Book Information: c.2013, Simon & Schuster; $25.00 U.S. & Canada; 199 pages

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Your last paycheck was gone before you got it.

A good chunk of it was earmarked for housing. You had to pay for your new car, and gas. Everybody’s favorite Uncle took his share, you have this nasty little habit called “eating,” and there you go: a few dollars left for fun, which is no fun at all.

But what if stretching your meager wealth also stretched your well-being?  In the new book “Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending” by Elizabeth Dunn & Michael Norton, you’ll find out how.

You have a love / hate relationship with money: you love getting it and hate when you don’t have it. But as Dunn & Norton point out, you can utilize discretionary lucre to give you a better life, thus making you happier. In their research, they discovered five main Principles of Happy Money.
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