Ball State Univ., Muncie, IN. Introductory textbook for students in community health. Combines electronic technology, via the Internet, with the traditional textbook. Each chapter includes: objectives, content, side bar notes, review questions, and web activities. Halftone illustrations. Previous edition: c1997. Softcover.
has some gaps that I find serious and the writing style is too heavy on conveying facts and not heavy enough on knitting them together to a compelling story of public health. Still, it's a useful book -- I appreciate the emphasis on community and the colorful design.
Typical academic textbook; lots of numbers, cheesy anecdotal stories, and a lack of an overall flow towards a central point because they know students will merely memorize what is needed for the individual chapter tests and promptly forget its content in a whirlwind of irrelevence minutes after the semester ends. Some interesting numbers in here though. Which should not be a surprise considering how many statistics they throw at you. If you can't find something of interest, you just don't give a damn about community health topics whatsoever. Interesting categorizations of race considering they mentioned that race was a social and cultural construct, and that most health issues that are typically related to a specific race disappear once social class, education, income, and geography are accounted for. Race was a predominant topic throughout regardless. Seems these discussions are socially required, yet merely obstacles to rectifying the cause (usually poverty). Time to remove the concept of race from our society altogether.