Headache: Hope Through Research

Headache: Hope Through Research National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke 4/5	Published 1996 First Sentence "You’re sitting at your desk, working on a difficult task, when it suddenly feels as if a belt or vice is being tightened around the top of your head."
Publisher's Description: This pamphlet was written and published by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the United States’ leading supporter of research on disorders of the brain and nervous system, including headache. NINDS, one of the U.S. Government’s National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, is part of the Public Health Service within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Dear Reader, Bringing you a little something different today. This was a really great research journal about headaches. Pretty layman but did use all the scientific terms you'd expect. It doesn't read like a dense scientific textbook, which kept me interested. I also want to point out that it was published almost 20 years ago, so this information could be somewhat dated. However, here's a few interesting things I learned: -The Trigeminal nerve sends the brain information about touch, pain, temperature and vibration.  -Primary headache disorders are divided into four main groups: migraine, tension-type, trigeminal autonomic cephalgias (short-lasting but severe), and a miscellaneous group. -The most common type of headaches are tension-type. -Secondary headache disorders have underlying conditions such as brain tumors, hemorrhagic stroke and head injury.  -Headaches in children can be caused by emotional problems, weather changes, irregular eating and sleep and dehydration. -Genetics may contribute to a predisposition for migraines. Most migraine sufferers have a family member with the same. One of the most shocking fact I learned was that having a hysterectomy can cause headaches (mostly migraine related) but going through menopause normally usually eases or stops for those who suffer from them. Makes me think twice about ever selecting to have my ovaries removed! For anyone who is interested in reading this, you can find the PDF for free here. Happy Reading, AmberBug

The Killing Moon

The Killing Moon N. K. Jemisin 4/5	Published 2012 First Sentence "In the dark of waking, a soul has died."
Publisher's Description: In the ancient city-state of Gujaareh, peace is the only law. Upon its rooftops and amongst the shadows of its cobbled streets wait the Gatherers - the keepers of this peace. Priests of the dream-goddess, their duty is to harvest the magic of the sleeping mind and use it to heal, soothe . . . and kill those judged corrupt. But when a conspiracy blooms within Gujaareh's great temple, Ehiru - the most famous of the city's Gatherers - must question everything he knows. Someone, or something, is murdering dreamers in the goddess' name, stalking its prey both in Gujaareh's alleys and the realm of dreams. Ehiru must now protect the woman he was sent to kill - or watch the city be devoured by war and forbidden magic.
Dear Reader, This book was included in Book Riots Quarterly Box 3 (BK03), the theme was "Expand Your Reading Horizons". I love that they sent books to change reading habits up a bit. I do like fantasy and sci-fi so this particular book wasn't TOO far out of my comfort zone but I don't devour the genre like some. The Killing Moon is a great selection for those to expand their "reading horizons" because it's unlike any fantasy/sci-fi book I've ever read. It doesn't take place in Medieval times (thank dog), but in a world of it's own... one that the Author has developed on a grandiose scale. The beginning of the book is hard to get involved with, imagining and connecting with a entirely made up world can be daunting for a reader. Once you start feeling the flow, it was smooth sailing and hard to put the book down. Jemisin has a fantastic imagination, wheweee, one you clearly become engulfed in from the beauty and awe inspiring scenes she weaves. I feel this world truly exists, out there somewhere... and since this book is all about dreams, I'll go cliche and say I wish it existed outside of my reading dreams. I'd like to give you a great synopsis of the book but I think it would come out as mumbo jumbo due to the complicated world built around it. I can try though... feel free to laugh, I'm sure this will be funny. So... there's this group of people called the "Gatherers" who worship this idea of a goddess sun called "Hanajan" (I hope I got that right), and these "Gatherers" are kinda like priests. They gather magic dreams from corrupted people in their sleep, this stuff they gather is known as "dreamblood". Which they then store this "dreamblood" away for use to heal those injured citizens of Gujaareh. On the other side of this world (well maybe not that far) there lies a group of people who have detached themselves from the Gujaareh, believing that letting people live out their life and die naturally is better. The reader gets to follow both groups with their ideals and learn about some controversial topics that delve into life, death, pain, mercy. I enjoyed and could agree with both sides of the argument and found it really interesting that the Author was able to take this topic and bring it into her make believe world. So... that's a good enough background for you. I think many people could read this, even the ones who don't think fantasy is something they'd like... this is a good one to use as a test. The storyline, characters and world is completely out of the box and different, making this book hard to place into a specific genre. I'd love to hear what you think. I'd also like to thank Book Riot for expanding my horizons, I don't know if I would have picked up this book otherwise. Happy Reading, AmberBug

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