While We Were Sleeping: Success Stories in Injury and Violence Prevention
Posted by admin | Posted in Injury | Posted on 19-08-2010
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Product Description
Public health has made our lives safer–but it often works behind the scenes, without our knowledge, that is, “while we are sleeping.” This book powerfully illuminates how public health works with more than sixty success stories drawn from the area of injury and violence prevention. It also profiles dozens of individuals who have made important contributions to safety and health in a range of social arenas. Highlighting examples from the United States as well as from other countries, While We Were Sleeping will inform a wide audience of readers about what public health actually does and at the same time inspire a new generation to make the world a safer place.
While We Were Sleeping: Success Stories in Injury and Violence Prevention
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My daily commute sometimes includes driving behind a car with this bumper sticker: Make Good Choices.
David Hemenway’s book shows how creating a safer world requires just that. The catch is that those good choices don’t come without a fight.
This book tells the story of those successful fights and the fascinating and brave people who had a great idea and then just. didn’t. give. up. I learned why the Metro stations in Washington, DC, have always seemed so peaceful, and I got a new perspective on how revolutionary the seat belts in my family’s 1965 Volvo station wagon were.
This book is fun to read. It will make you see the world in a new light. You will start to see injury prevention interventions everywhere you look. And as a consequence you will imagine the faces of the people saved by the foresight and hard work of the creative hearty people that David Hemenway salutes.
Feel helpless about the oil spill? Wondering if we’re on the road to ruin? Read this book.
Rating: 5 / 5
David Hemenway’s book is informative, entertaining, and inspiring. Written by one of our nation’s leading injury prevention advocates, this book achieves achieves two important aims: it provides concrete examples of many universal public health concepts; and it illuminates ways in which non-public-health-professionals can effect big changes. (Think “Erin Brockovich,” but with drunk driving and violence-prevention instead of nasty chemicals!)
I think “While We Were Sleeping” would make a great introductory read for students in public health classes. It would also be a quick, and interesting, read for a lay-person with a passion to improve the world, or with a curiosity about why part of our society work the way they do (why do we have seatbelt laws? who created the first women’s shelter? etc.). And I think it is essential reading for anyone working in the field of injury prevention.
It is well-organized, well-written, and well-referenced. Although, as other reviewers have noted, it is not a comprehensive description of injury prevention initiatives, that is not what it aimed to be. Rather, it is an easily accessible, fascinating overview of many of the biggest successes in the field. Those readers whose interest is piqued by the stories Dr Hemenway shares can easily find other resources that allow a more in-depth understanding of the issues described.
Rating: 5 / 5
David Hemenway has written a gem! As a public health professor specializing in injury prevention, I LOVED this book — for multiple reasons. First, depsite more than 20 years in the field, I learned a lot. Second, though it might seem that this is just a book for injury professionals, it is much much more than that. It is a wonderful primer on the principles of public health that every public health student and professional should read — as should anyone interested in understanding the approach of public health to problem solving. Third, this is also an important and excellent introduction to the problems and progress in injury control — a grossly under-recognized and poorly understood aspect of public health. Students of injury control should read this to gain greater familiarity with many of the accomplishments that have been made over the years through incremental changes developed via multiple innovative and determined people addressing a wide range of issues. Fourth, the book is incredibly inspirational in demonstrating how seemingly small or unrelated discoveries can create major change. Fifth, Hemenway’s writing is clear, sharp and engaging. As a result, the book is very accessible and suitable to all readers, regardless of their scientific backgrounds or familiarity with public health, yet the messages contained within it are far from simplistic. Finally, it is one of the most inspirational books I have read in a long time and will take a place on my shelf with another of my favorites — How to Change the World. I have recommended this book to all my colleagues and plan to use it as a teaching tool.
Rating: 5 / 5
While We Were Sleeping is an interesting book full of information that everyone should be aware of. Before reading this book, I was completely unaware of all the changes that had been made in products, roads, work places, homes, medical care practices, athletics, subway stations and more that have made our lives so much safer. Like another book that Hemenway wrote (Prices and Choices), this book examines so many different areas and gives so many varied examples of success in injury prevention that it should be appealing to anyone. From the few that we may know about to the many that we do not, Hemenway provides numerous examples of how our lives have been made safer. Each chapter provides specific examples of changes that have made us safer that we rarely think about (e.g., reducing the number of tap water burns in homes, reducing numbers and severity of injuries in football, lowering the odds of dying while anesthetized). He closes each chapter by discussing the people who have made the world safer — those whose changes we benefit from daily but have never thought about let alone given credit for.
This book is fascinating from the perspective of a lay person yet would be an excellent teaching tool, as well. In addition to highlighting all the changes that have kept us safer, it also provides models that can be studied and used as a basis for future change in a variety of fields. This interesting look at injury prevention effectively exemplifies the very goals of public health as a whole — prevention at a population level. Fascinating and hopeful, While We Were Sleeping is a well written book with widespread appeal.
Rating: 5 / 5
While We Were Sleeping is a thoroughly enjoyable read that highlights the successes and impact of injury prevention efforts over a broad spectrum of time and places. It will be inspiring and motivating to anyone in public health, and hopefully to those considering a career in the field of injury prevention or public health in general. It is a particularly unique work in that the stories provide solid examples of the often-immeasurable impact of prevention efforts. For those of us in the field who are experiencing increasing pressure to find ways to describe and substantiate the impact of injury prevention research and practice efforts, this book reinforces the value and reward of doing so; and in knowing we are making a difference.
Rating: 5 / 5