As a practicing physician, I understand the temptation to skip the medical literature. A sick patient comes in and we're so focused on the things that might help him, as what we'd been taught in medical school, that we don't think of looking at anything else. Except those maxims portrayed as the golden rule by our senior.

The sicker the patient, the greater the temptation to skip the reality check. It's a temptation that can sometimes prove wrong. My classmate's dad

I was drawn to Gratitude the minute I came across the book at an airport bookstore in New Zealand.

That's a small collection of essays published shortly before the death of Dr. Oliver Sacks. The first time I read his writing was long ago (when my senior neurologist bought me The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat ). Nearly twenty years passed, and finally Dr Sacks told his readers the melanoma in his right eye had metastasized and occupied a third of his liver. Then his brain. And

Tidying up my higgledy-piggledy desk has given me the athlete's satisfaction of breaking a world record at the Olympic games. Now, if you ask me, what has been going on in my mind is that I secretly wish to receive a pat on the back from my wife.

Which I'll admit can be as natural as a firefighter who expects appreciation after cleaning the tons of wreckage at the World Trade Center (and yes, my desk wasn't that much better).

I'm not

Gretchen Rubin starts with a confession about her closet in her book The Happiness Project . "I've never been very good at folding, so messy, lopsided towers of shirts and sweaters jammed the shelves," says the author of self-help bestseller. "I had to muscle my way into a mass of wool and cotton to pull anything out."

The Happiness Project , for the not-so-happy readers, is a monthly action plan guide to change the life. And to those who feel happy

Summer is still with us but my daughter's summer holiday is over. Her school starts today.

To get ready for her new school term, Jasmine was excited to prepare her box of sharpened pencils, buy glue sticks and file folders. I didn't do much but thought it's a good idea to borrow The Funniest Back to School Joke Book Ever from the public library.

With a few laugh-out-loud jokes up my sleeves, I can make the trip to school bus station more fun

What to Expect the First Year is one of the most helpful baby guides. After my friend's giving birth last month, I tried to buy one, but no dice, until I found the third edition on the last day of my New Zealand trip.

I knew I couldn't tell the difference between the second and third editions. I picked up the six-hundred-something-page book, rummaging through the chapters, and reminded myself the days when my daughter didn't sleep through the night

Imagine bringing your children to possibly the world's most scenically diverse island, with stunning lake views and lovely lodgings. Everything is perfect until your kid starts to worry and whisper, "Mum and dad, when will we have to check out?"

Unfortunately, neither kids nor grown-ups are immune to the end-of-the-holiday worries. My daughter just asked me the same question last night.

For those of you who have children and when it's close to the end of summer holiday

Before I'd mastered the skill of mediation, I tried my luck with meditation during my summer family trip to New Zealand. Wow. I wished to learn mindfulness after bringing the book Search Inside Yourself by Google engineer Chade-Meng Tan.

Meng didn't ask for practicing Zen with butt on cushion for one hour a day, legs crossed and chin tucked. Just one breath a day. Breathe in, with focus, and breathe out, mindfully. His analogy is a baby learning to walk. Mine is

I went to university campus for a meeting the other day, and happened to find a book Because I Said So!

It's hard to find a better mythbuster of old wives' tales than this book written by Ken Jennings. He quotes us countless old-timey examples of parental wisdom confidently passed down generations - and only found to be lies ("The car won't run unless your seat belts are on!") or dead wrong ("Don't sit on cold surfaces, or they'

It isn't that common to find someone studying English literature at Harvard and medicine at John Hopkins.

I came to learn about Dr. Kevin B. Jones who did so. His book, entitled What Doctors Cannot Tell You , gives me good chance to think about uncertainties in medicine.

I feel more like a gambler than a physician after hearing his stories about the prognosis estimation made by doctors. I don't mean to criticize our prognostic skill. Doctors make a lot of attempts at defining good and bad prognosis