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Category: Reviews

Learning From Experiences of Chronic Illness: A Book Review of The Room Sinatra Died In and Other Medically Adjacent Stories

Ted Meyer & Priyanka Bhakta, SPT March 4, 2025

In this book review, author Ted Meyers reflects on his own writing process and how it has impacted his perspective on his life and chronic illness. “Writing is my way of preserving … moments,” he notes. In her commentary that follows, Priyanka Bhakta highlights the role of the caregiver in family-centered care as presented in Meyers’ book: “The stories convey the unavoidable impact of health on one’s relationships…” Teaching Tools at the end of the article suggest two of Meyers’ stories for healthcare students, with Discussion Points.

Defining What ‘Care’ Means: A Book Review of The Soul of Care: The Moral Education of a Husband and a Doctor

Bruce H. Greenfield, PT, PhD, FNAP October 15, 2021

Arthur Kleinman’s new book takes a hard look at what ‘care’ means by taking the reader on his own personal journey – one that led to the challenge of caring for his wife. In this insightful summary, Bruce Greenfield highlights Kleinman’s call to “move beyond a narrow definition of caring as technical excellence to caring based on a continuous healing relationship …”

The Science of Successful Learning: Applications to Physical Therapy Education

Leda C. McDaniel, PT, DPT & Mark A. McDaniel, PhD November 17, 2020

Co-author of the book Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, Mark McDaniel offers his insights into the importance of questioning the “erroneous intuitions and common practices” within contemporary education. The book highlights the faulty ways people often go about learning, and explains the research supporting how learning and memory actually work and can be optimized. In applying these concepts to physical therapy education, Leda McDaniel, Mark McDaniel’s daughter, presents three key learning techniques from Make It Stick. Having successfully employed these techniques over the years, Leda notes how they can help students “overcome challenges in acquiring the foundational knowledge and skills needed for physical therapy practice.

Learning Sciences in Curricula: Making Excellence in Physical Therapist Education Stick

Steven B. Ambler, PT, DPT, PhD, MPH November 17, 2020

This companion piece to the McDaniels article builds on their arguments for improved learning and applies them to physical therapy education. Steven Ambler advocates for the integration of Learning Sciences in physical therapy curricula. “Curricula that position the student, faculty, and profession as learner, and consider the plurality of learning theories, can help us all reach a deeper sense of what it means to be a physical therapist serving society,” he notes.

Social Context and Ambivalence in Medicine: A Book Review of “Doctors at War: Life and Death in a Field Hospital”

Sean Halpin, MA & Mariano Dossou Kpanou November 17, 2020

In their insightful review of Doctors at War, Sean Halpin and Mariano Dossou Kpanou highlight the importance of the book’s account of how a medical team operated on the front lines of war in Afghanistan in 2011. “Few studies examine how teams work together in extreme and challenging environments,” they note. But this short and intense book “provides a unique glimpse into how these teams function in real time.” Reading it may help prepare healthcare professionals “for unprecedented situations, such as the COVID-19 health crisis of 2020,” they conclude.

Book Review of Jim Linnell’s “Take It Lying Down: Finding My Feet After a Spinal Cord Injury”

Jamie Fleshman, SPT November 17, 2020

Jamie Fleshman reviews Jim Linnell’s book, “Take It Lying Down: Finding My Feet After a Spinal Cord Injury,” Linnell’s lively and moving account of his first two years of rehabilitation after a catastrophic accident. Fleshman also presents her interview with Linnell, including his advice for patients and clinicians during those first two critical years.

Exploring Excellence: Author Reflections on Educating Physical Therapists

Elizabeth Mostrom, PhD, PT, FAPTA & Dr. Laurita M. Hack & Gail M. Jensen, PT, PhD, FAPTA & Terrence Nordstrom, PT, EdD, FAPTA & Jan Gwyer, PT, PhD November 14, 2019

In this issue’s Book Review, the authors of Educating Physical Therapists describe their “10-year journey” of discovery that produced the first definitive report on the state of American PT education in a half-century. They highlight aspects of their findings of particular interest to readers of JHR—for example, their recommendations for “integration of the humanities across the curriculum.”

Returning Back to Oneself: Cultivating Vulnerability in the Health Professions

Nicole Piemonte, PhD April 15, 2019

In her essay featured in this issue, “Returning Back to Oneself: Cultivating Vulnerability in the Health Professions,” Nicole Piemonte, PhD reflects on her book, Afflicted: How Vulnerability Can Heal Medical Education and Practice. Using philosophers such as Nietzsche and Kierkegaard as guides, Piemonte seeks to explore why many clinicians experience a “crisis of meaning” in their work. With the primary focus of healthcare education on biologic intervention, topics of vulnerability and the lived experience of suffering are largely minimized, if not absent. Piemonte calls for us to create a learning environment that recognizes vulnerability as a means to cultivate the courage to authentically engage with human suffering.

Bringing Therapy Home: Book Review of One Hundred Names for Love

Julie A. Hengst PhD, CCC-SLP April 30, 2018

Professor Julie Hengst, PhD, reviews One Hundred Names for Love: A Stroke, a Marriage, and the Language of Healing, by Diane Ackerman. The book chronicles how Ackerman responded to her husband’s aphasia by turning their home into an enriched rehabilitative environment that challenged his cognitive functions daily, and achieved inspiring results.

Toward a New Veteranology

Susan Smith (Independent Scholar) October 17, 2017

Independent scholar Sue Smith reviews John M. Kinder’s Paying with Their Bodies: American War and the Problem of the Disabled Veteran. In the book, Kinder calls for a radical transformation of rehabilitation from a medical model to a social model of disability.

Healing Bodies with Diverse Minds

Laura Otis, Ph.D. May 2, 2017

In her book, Rethinking Thought, Laura Otis, PhD, explores how differently people receive information and applies these lessons to create strategies for improving patient centered care and maximizing learning.

The Intouchables, A Reflection on Disability and Caregiving: Who Helps Whom?

Sarah Caston, PT, DPT November 30, 2016

The Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano film “The Intouchables” poignantly challenges traditional perceptions of disability by asking viewers to contemplate what it truly means to live a full life. The film has served as a powerful educational tool for Sarah Caston, Assistant Professor in the Wingate University Department of Physical Therapy.

The Genius of Marian – A Family’s View of Alzheimer’s Disease

Emilly Munguía Marshall, SPT July 8, 2015

In this film review by Emilly Munguía Marshall, she explore the documentary Genius of Marian by Banker White, where we see a stirring and elegant portrayal of one family’s story dealing with the repercussions of Alzheimer’s disease. In the interview with the director, he poignantly shares an often unspoken feeling among family caregivers – the difficulty of loving someone who has been changed by disease, the challenge to “not have [that love] look and feel like it used to.”

Wit — A Film Review, Analysis and Interview with Playwright Margaret Edson

S.A. Larson July 7, 2015

In this compelling film review by S.A. Larson, she explores the masterful writing of award-winning playwright Margaret Edson in her Pulitzer Prize masterpiece, Wit. Included in this review is an interview with Margaret Edson in which she communicates her passionate belief that by incorporating theatre and playwriting into rehabilitation education, students can grow as clinicians, learn to confront their own mistakes and gain a deeper understanding of their patients and themselves.

Reflections on Writing Patient Poets: Illness from Inside Out

Marilyn McEntyre, Ph.D. February 1, 2015

Dr. Marilyn McEntyre further expands on the impact of poetry for patients in her book, “Patient Poets: Illness from the Inside Out.” She gently encourages us to explore the valuable information we can learn from patient poems not gleaned from our typical clinical evaluation. 

Murderball — Beyond the Documentary

Katherine Voorhorst, SPT February 1, 2015

Katherine Voorhorst’s media review of Murderball, including a special interview with the film’s director, gives us a sense of the film’s impact on the public’s awareness of wheelchair sports and provides insights into the use of the film as a tool for teaching. 

Learning From Experiences of Chronic Illness: A Book Review of The Room Sinatra Died In and Other Medically Adjacent Stories

In this book review, author Ted Meyers reflects on his own writing process and how it has impacted his perspective on his life and chronic illness. “Writing is my way of preserving … moments,” he notes. In her commentary that follows, Priyanka Bhakta highlights the role of the caregiver in family-centered care as presented in Meyers’ book: “The stories convey the unavoidable impact of health on one’s relationships…” Teaching Tools at the end of the article suggest two of Meyers’ stories for healthcare students, with Discussion Points.

Ted Meyer & Priyanka Bhakta, SPT March 4, 2025

Defining What ‘Care’ Means: A Book Review of The Soul of Care: The Moral Education of a Husband and a Doctor

Arthur Kleinman’s new book takes a hard look at what ‘care’ means by taking the reader on his own personal journey – one that led to the challenge of caring for his wife. In this insightful summary, Bruce Greenfield highlights Kleinman’s call to “move beyond a narrow definition of caring as technical excellence to caring based on a continuous healing relationship …”

Bruce H. Greenfield, PT, PhD, FNAP October 15, 2021

The Science of Successful Learning: Applications to Physical Therapy Education

Co-author of the book Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, Mark McDaniel offers his insights into the importance of questioning the “erroneous intuitions and common practices” within contemporary education. The book highlights the faulty ways people often go about learning, and explains the research supporting how learning and memory actually work and can be optimized. In applying these concepts to physical therapy education, Leda McDaniel, Mark McDaniel’s daughter, presents three key learning techniques from Make It Stick. Having successfully employed these techniques over the years, Leda notes how they can help students “overcome challenges in acquiring the foundational knowledge and skills needed for physical therapy practice.

Leda C. McDaniel, PT, DPT & Mark A. McDaniel, PhD November 17, 2020

Learning Sciences in Curricula: Making Excellence in Physical Therapist Education Stick

This companion piece to the McDaniels article builds on their arguments for improved learning and applies them to physical therapy education. Steven Ambler advocates for the integration of Learning Sciences in physical therapy curricula. “Curricula that position the student, faculty, and profession as learner, and consider the plurality of learning theories, can help us all reach a deeper sense of what it means to be a physical therapist serving society,” he notes.

Steven B. Ambler, PT, DPT, PhD, MPH November 17, 2020

Social Context and Ambivalence in Medicine: A Book Review of “Doctors at War: Life and Death in a Field Hospital”

In their insightful review of Doctors at War, Sean Halpin and Mariano Dossou Kpanou highlight the importance of the book’s account of how a medical team operated on the front lines of war in Afghanistan in 2011. “Few studies examine how teams work together in extreme and challenging environments,” they note. But this short and intense book “provides a unique glimpse into how these teams function in real time.” Reading it may help prepare healthcare professionals “for unprecedented situations, such as the COVID-19 health crisis of 2020,” they conclude.

Sean Halpin, MA & Mariano Dossou Kpanou November 17, 2020

Book Review of Jim Linnell’s “Take It Lying Down: Finding My Feet After a Spinal Cord Injury”

Jamie Fleshman reviews Jim Linnell’s book, “Take It Lying Down: Finding My Feet After a Spinal Cord Injury,” Linnell’s lively and moving account of his first two years of rehabilitation after a catastrophic accident. Fleshman also presents her interview with Linnell, including his advice for patients and clinicians during those first two critical years.

Jamie Fleshman, SPT November 17, 2020