After being given a five percent chance of surviving advanced-stage melanoma skin cancer, Sessler decided to take responsibility not only for his recovery but for his health as well. His riveting message of hope and healing is inspiring.

When my wife was about to enter the surgery room for open heart surgery, the surgeon met with me and told me that my wife was a very sick woman and for me and my family to not get our hopes up for a successful outcome. He told me that she has just a 5 percent chance for survival. I told him, aEURoeDoctor, with God and five percent, I will take those odds.aEUR Therefore, the name of the book, God and Five Percent.

Understanding risk -- Putting risk in perspective -- Risk charts : a way to get perspective -- Judging the benefit of a health intervention -- Not all benefits are equal : understand the outcome -- Consider the downsides -- Do the benefits outweight the downsides? -- Beware of exaggerated importance -- Beware of exaggerated certainty -- Who's behind the numbers?

The truth is, few people know the first thing about clinical research. The public reads about a medical research project that announces unbelievable results for a miraculous drug. Some years later, another investigation completely wipes out those initial favorable findings. Hormones Cut Women’s Risk of Heart Disease (San Francisco Chronicle, 1994) Hormones Don’t Protect Women from Heart Disease, Study Says (Washington Post, 2001) The people are confused because we do not understand the process behind these conflicting results. Our health, and in fact, our very lives are dependent on clinical trials, but we know little about them. This book explains the issues the public needs to be aware of when it comes to clinical research. It uncovers the problems in medical investigations that can not be overcome no matter how much care and diligence medical researchers bring to a research project. The basic premise that drives the writing is that it is impossible for medical researchers to guarantee that they can get all the right answers from a single study. No matter how good the investigators are, no matter how well a study is planned, no matter how carefully the plans are executed and no matter how conscientiously the results are analyzed and interpreted – the answer may still be wrong. The deck is stacked against medical researchers and the public – you – should be skeptical of the results no matter how impressive they seem on the surface.

Consumer Value is one of the few books that attempts to define and analyse exactly what consumers want. By setting down a new and innovative framework for the concept of 'value' it is as provocative as it is rigorous.

One in every twenty difficult conflicts ends up grinding to a halt. That's fully 5 percent of not just the diplomatic and political clashes we read about in the newspaper, but disputations and arguments from our everyday lives as well. Once we get pulled into these self-perpetuating conflicts it is nearly impossible to escape. The 5 percent rule us. So what can we do when we find ourselves ensnared? According to Dr. Peter T. Coleman, the solution is in seeing our conflict anew. Applying lessons from complexity theory to examples from both American domestic politics and international diplomacy -- from abortion debates to the enmity between Israelis and Palestinians -- Coleman provides innovative new strategies for dealing with intractable disputes. A timely, paradigm-shifting look at conflict, The Five Percent is an invaluable guide to preventing even the most fractious negotiations from foundering.

Do politicians listen to the public? When? How often? Or are the views of the public manipulated and used strategically by elites? In this text, leading scholars of American politics assess and debate the impact of public opinion on policy making. Central issues include the changing relationship between opinion and policy over time, how key actors use public opinion to formulate domestic and foriegn policy and how measurment techniques might improve our understanding of the results of polls and survey research.

Current Mood: Freaking out I am one of the coolest people you’ll ever meet. I love my Pinterest boards, tacos, and witty T-shirts. But perhaps the interesting thing about me is that I’m a zookeeper at one of the nation’s best zoos. A decidedly uncool thing about me is that I took an at home DNA test, hoping to find out more about my parents’ heritages, but instead found out that I have a genetic predisposition to developing cancer. While I’d like to ignore that elephant in the room, if I don’t do something soon, I’m going to miss out on my only chance to have a baby. There’s this one little thing … Up to this point, the only guy I’ve needed in my life to be hanging all over me and expecting me to take care of him is a sloth. I’m not saying that as a euphemism for a lazy, red-flag waving an, but an actual sloth named Barry. But as awesome as Barry is, he’s not really equipped to help me have a baby. Then, out of the blue, my work archnemesis, Xander Barnes, comes up with a solution to my problem. Except he’s the last person I’d ever accept any help from. But I’m running out of time, and Xander’s offer is making me wonder if a leopard can change his spots. This might be my last chance to get everything I’ve ever wanted. Plus tacos.