From The Oprah & Friends Radio Show with Dr. Mehmet Oz, 22 September 2009

Every Patient Tells a Story by Lisa Sanders

A riveting exploration of the most difficult and important part of what doctors do, by Yale School of Medicine physician Dr. Lisa Sanders, author of the monthly New York Times Magazine column “Diagnosis,” the inspiration for the hit Fox TV series House, M.D.

“The experience of being ill can be like waking up in a foreign country. Life, as you formerly knew it, is on hold while you travel through this other world as unknown as it is unexpected. When I see patients in the hospital or in my office who are suddenly, surprisingly ill, what they really want to know is, ‘What is wrong with me?’ They want a road map that will help them manage their new surroundings. The ability to give this unnerving and unfamiliar place a name, to know it – on some level – restores a measure of control, independent of whether or not that diagnosis comes attached to a cure. Because, even today, a diagnosis is frequently all a good doctor has to offer.”

A healthy young man suddenly loses his memory – making him unable to remember the events of each passing hour. Two patients diagnosed with Lyme disease improve after antibiotic treatment – only to have their symptoms mysteriously return. A young woman lies dying in the ICU – bleeding, jaundiced, incoherent – and none of her doctors know what is killing her. In Every Patient Tells a Story, Dr. Lisa Sanders takes us bedside to witness the process of solving these and other diagnostic dilemmas, providing a firsthand account of the expertise and intuition that lead a doctor to make the right diagnosis.

Never in human history have doctors had the knowledge, the tools, and the skills that they have today to diagnose illness and disease. And yet mistakes are made, diagnoses missed, symptoms or tests misunderstood. In this high-tech world of modern medicine, Sanders shows us that knowledge, while essential, is not sufficient to unravel the complexities of illness. She presents an unflinching look inside the detective story that marks nearly every illness -the diagnosis- revealing the combination of uncertainty and intrigue that doctors face when confronting patients who are sick or dying. Through dramatic stories of patients with baffling symptoms, Sanders portrays the absolute necessity and surprising difficulties of getting the patient’s story, the challenges of the physical exam, the pitfalls of doctor-to-doctor communication, the vagaries of tests, and the near calamity of diagnostic errors. In Every Patient Tells a Story, Dr. Sanders chronicles the real-life drama of doctors solving these difficult medical mysteries that not only illustrate the art and science of diagnosis, but often save the patients’ lives.

Readers’ Rating:

• Tim Sanders – Saving the World at Work: What Companies and Individuals Can Do to Go Beyond Making a Profit to Making a Difference
• Lisa Belkin – Life’s Work: Confessions of an Unbalanced Mom
• Timothy Greenfield-Sanders And Elvis Mitchell – The Black List

From The Oprah & Friends Radio Show with Dr. Mehmet Oz, 4 August 2009

Who’s Got Your Back: The Breakthrough Program to Build Deep, Trusting Relationships That Create Success–and Won’t Let You Fail by Keith Ferrazzi

Disregard the myth of the lone professional “superman” and the rest of our culture’s go-it alone mentality. The real path to success in your work and in your life is through creating an inner circle of “lifeline relationships” – deep, close relationships with a few key trusted individuals who will offer the encouragement, feedback, and generous mutual support every one of us needs to reach our full potential. Whether your dream is to lead a company, be a top producer in your field, overcome the self-destructive habits that hold you back, lose weight or make a difference in the larger world, Who’s Got Your Back will give you the roadmap you’ve been looking for to achieve the success you deserve.

Readers’ Rating:

• Keith Ferrazzi And Tahl Raz – Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
• John Gottman – The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships
• Robin Davis – Who’s Sitting on Your Nest Egg?: Why You Need a Financial Advisor and Ten Easy Tests for Finding the Best One

From The Oprah & Friends Radio Show with Dr. Mehmet Oz, 13 November 2009

Buyology: The Truth and Lies About What We Buy by Martin Lindstrom

How much do we know about why we buy? What truly influences our decisions in today’s message-cluttered world? An eye-grabbing advertisement, a catchy slogan, an infectious jingle? Or do our buying decisions take place below the surface, so deep within our subconscious minds, we’re barely aware of them?

In BUYOLOGY, Lindstrom, who was voted one of Time Magazine’s most influential people of 2009, presents the astonishing findings from his groundbreaking, three-year, seven-million-dollar neuromarketing study, a cutting-edge experiment that peered inside the brains of 2,000 volunteers from all around the world as they encountered various ads, logos, commercials, brands, and products. His startling results shatter much of what we have long believed about what seduces our interest and drives us to buy. Among the questions he explores:

Does sex actually sell? To what extent do people in skimpy clothing and suggestive poses persuade us to buy products? Despite government bans, does subliminal advertising still surround us – from bars to highway billboards to supermarket shelves? Can “Cool” brands, like iPods, trigger our mating instincts? Can other senses – smell, touch, and sound – be so powerful as to physically arouse us when we see a product? Do companies copy from the world of religion and create rituals – like drinking a Corona with a lime – to capture our hard-earned dollars?

Filled with entertaining inside stories about how we respond to such well-known brands as Marlboro, Nokia, Calvin Klein, Ford, and American Idol, BUYOLOGY is a fascinating and shocking journey into the mind of today’s consumer that will captivate anyone who’s been seduced – or turned off – by marketers’ relentless attempts to win our loyalty, our money, and our minds.

Readers’ Rating:

• Robin Smith – Lies At The Altar
• Dina Matos McGreevey – Silent Partner: A Memoir of My Marriage
• Lucy Kaylin – The Perfect Stranger: The Truth About Mothers and Nannies