Media Reviews

Selected Annotated Bibliography ofPhenomenological Sources, SeacoleResearch Paper no. 3by Frances L. Maggs-Rapport.2001, 36 pages, £5.00, ISBN 0 95397972 5.Copies of this pamphlet can be orderedfrom the Mary Seacole Research Centre,De Montfort University, Charles FrearsCampus, 266 London Road, LeicesterLE2 1RQ, UK.

The purpose of this little volume isto offer the reader a selected annota-ted bibliography of phenomenologicalresources. It offers brief definitions ofseveral major schools of phenomenol-ogy, namely the philosophical, descrip-tive and interpretive approaches, andpoints to major texts that interestedreaders may find useful. It is most likelyto be of value to postgraduate studentsin nursing and allied disciplines who arelooking for a way in to the complexliterature of the philosophy of phenom-enology and hermeneutics and seekingguidance on associated methodologicalprinciples.

I must confess to feeling a littleambivalent about this book. Any stu-dent who wants to do justice to phe-nomenology and hermeneutics mustengage directly with the primary litera-ture of Husserl, Heidegger and Gad-amer. By definition this is a difficulttask, and it is not therefore surprisingthat it is sometimes neglected. As such,the author is to be applauded fordirecting the reader to these works.Equally, however, the author’s attemptto summarize Heidegger’s Being andTime in eight paragraphs, though eleg-antly done, must inevitably fail to dojustice to Heidegger, and may tempt thereader to take short cuts.

In addition to summarizing the pri-mary literature the author presents avery useful annotated bibliography ofpapers on various aspects of phenom-enology and hermeneutics, publishedby scholars from nursing, psychologyand other scholarly disciplines. Onbalance this booklet is a useful sign-

post to major references in this field,and will be particularly helpful to PhDstudents.

Peter DraperUniversity of Hull, UK

A Guide to Medical Publishing andWriting, a Hospital Medicine Mono-graphedited by Peter Richardson.Quay Books, Mark Allen Publishing,Salisbury, 160 pages, £10Æ99,ISBN 1 856 42222 4.

This volume consists of chapters basedon articles originally published in Hospi-tal Medicine, published here as a Mono-graph. Each chapter is written either by amedical doctor, an academic, or a pub-lisher (and sometimes by someone who isall three). The chapters cover the topicsof: searching the Internet for informa-tion; how to write various types of paper/article (comprising the main group ofchapters); how to get a paper published;how to be an editor; electronic publish-ing; multimedia publishing.

The chapters do not seem to bepresented in any particular order,although they can be classified underthe above headings. Of the 15 chapters,eight are about different types of prod-uct: letters, CVs, review articles,research articles, articles to entertainand inform, case reports and books.Each chapter is written by someone whohas been successful at that aspect ofwriting or of publication. However, thelist of contributors omits Robin Fox,who from the information in his/herchapter might be the editor of theJournal of the Royal Society of Medi-cine. Presumably the reader (assumed tobe a member of the medical profession)is expected to know who he/she is. Thechapter is ‘Writing a case report; aneditor’s eye view’. Each chapter is gen-erally succinct, supported by referencesand shaded boxes summarizing the keypoints. However, there is no index. Thechapters dealing with the Internet andelectronic publishing are particularlyuseful, containing many sources of

information and addresses of websites.Issues of copyright and the Internet aredealt with. The relationship betweenpaper journals and electronic publica-tions is also covered. All in all, andalthough aimed at medical doctors,other healthcare professionals can gleanmuch of value from this relatively cheapand handy pocket-sized book.

Bryn D. DavisEditor, Journal of Psychiatric andMental Health Nursing

Advanced Research Methods inPsychologyby David C. Giles.Routledge, London, 2002, 351 pages,£44.95, ISBN 0 415 22771 2.

This is an astonishingly good book: it iswell written and covers an incrediblerange of material in a relatively shortspace. It is helped by the fact that it startswith analysis of covariance and does notcover any bivariate tests. However, thisshould not deter the novice as it also dealswith some fundamental issues such asquestionnaire design and null hypothesistesting. The relevance to nurses comesfrom the fact that many of the researchmethods we use are applied by psychol-ogists, and this includes such things asgrounded theory, which is covered in thisbook. Unlike many descriptions ofgrounded theory, this book actually tellsyou how to carry it out.

The 23 chapters are relatively shortand very much to the point. Neverthe-less, they do contain some workedexamples, which are very helpful. Thebook is divided into six parts and thefinal part considers writing for publica-tion and writing research grant propos-als. Psychologists have a ‘can do’mentality towards research design andstatistics: rather than looking for barri-ers to prevent studies (an approach sadlyfavoured by many statisticians) theytend to explain how far a techniquecan be taken and to describe how it canbe applied. This is certainly theapproach taken in this book, but it isnot cavalier.

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There are some real gems in thistext, most of which I will leave thereader to unearth. However, the factthat the author tells us he has neverseen a single meta-analysis publishedin psychological journal, after descri-bing the method, demonstrates a dif-ferent ‘world view’ from medicine, forexample. There is one small error inthe text: in chapter 21, where effectsizes are being referred to: the reader isreferred to chapter 17 for some exam-ples. However, the examples actuallyappear in chapter 18. Reference toSPSS, which is constantly being upda-ted, may date the text rapidly. Thisdoes not detract from this excellentbook, which ought to run to severaleditions.

Roger WatsonUniversity of Hull, UK

Campbell’s Physiology Notes for Nursesby John Campbell.Whurr, London, 2003, 292 pages,£16.34, ISBN 1 86156 345 0.

I have only once before opened a bookfor review and, within a few minutes

had the overwhelming desire to havewritten it myself – and it has happenedagain with this book. My impressioncomes both because it is brilliant butalso because it will significantly reducemy own income from texts aimed atthe same market. John Campbell isclearly a man with a passion forteaching physiology to nursing stu-dents, he understands how essential itis that they have a grounding in thissubject and how often they struggle tomaster it.

This book is based on Campbell’sown lectures and, as such, it is a series ofnotes on essential features of physiol-ogy. It is organized systemically and isaccompanied by the most naive yetenchanting hand-drawn sketches whichserve to reduce anxiety yet conveyimportant concepts. This is not a text-book. However, I can see many studentsturning to this book in favour of themany hard bound glossy North Ameri-can texts which put an end to thecuriosity of so many students. As aseries of notes the book is not com-pletely inclusive: the basics of chemistry

are skipped over and some difficultconcepts such as the countercurrentmechanism in the kidneys are not reallycovered. In this light, the only criticism Ican level is that the book could haveincluded a list of further reading to othertexts where some of us have tried to putacross these concepts in ways that nur-sing students can understand. If JohnCampbell’s teaching lives up to theexpectations that this book brings thenhis students are very lucky.

Roger WatsonUniversity of Hull, UK

Media Reviews

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