Ashgate Publishing Co.

Safety at the sharp end; a guide to non-technical skills.

Flin (applied psychology, U. of Aberdeen) and her co-authors, a human factors researcher and a consulting psychologist, describe and analyze the cognitive and social skills required for efficient and safe operations in highly technical environments. They believe productivity goes up and accident rates and failures go down when industries apply Crew Resource Management (CRM) principles. These principles are the non-technical "people" part of complex operations, and include such elements of safety as situation awareness, decision-making, communication, working in teams, leadership, managing stress, and coping with fatigue. Especially valuable are the chapters on identifying necessary non-technical skills, training methods and assessment. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Therapeutic landscapes.

Williams (McMaster U., Canada) provides the first look at therapeutic landscapes in recent years, with a reflection of the progress made in use of the concept as well as novel applications. Contributors from North America, Europe, and New Zealand come from the fields of health and medical geographers and anthropologists; the book is split into five sections on traditional therapeutic landscapes of natural and built environments; therapeutic geographies for special populations; applications in health care sites; contemporary advances in contesting landscapes as therapeutic; and applications in the anthropology of health. This title is illustrated throughout with black-and-white photography. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)