Welcome Authors
By Al | April 28, 2008
Majors welcomes all authors to make notes here to discuss their books with students, practitioners and others.
Topics: Author Notes | 1 Comment »
Good Medical References
By rtorres | April 25, 2008
Topics: Medicine | 2 Comments »
Texas Children’s Hospital International Colloquium
By rtorres | April 23, 2008
Topics: Community Outreach, Medicine | 1 Comment »
First Aid Works
By rtorres | April 23, 2008
Today a student customer at our Houston Bookstore was wondering which review was the best for the family medicine specialty boards. After discussing the options, she decided on First Aid for Family Medicine because she said, “First Aid absolutely saved me on the USMLE I & II. When I asked why they are so good, she said, “ The First Aid Reviews are very concise and to the point — just the thing to read for a final review — they help you focus and give you confidence!”
Topics: Student comments | 2 Comments »
Ask Azeb!!
By eddie | April 22, 2008
Topics: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, EMT/Paramedic, Medical History, Medicine, Nursing, OT/PT/Rehab, Personal Health & Wellness, Student comments | 2 Comments »
www.myspace.com/majorsbooks
By eddie | April 22, 2008
Majors Books is now on myspace.com
Topics: Student comments | 1 Comment »
Student Comments and Discussion
By Al | April 17, 2008
To all the students we serve in our bookstores and on-line, we invite you to make a quick comment to let us know what books are helpful and why or why not so we can better serve others. Also what services you like or what can be improved or added. Your opinions are necessary for us to know so we can maintain the highest possible level of service.
Thanks for your time.
Al McClendon and Jam Majors, Co-Presidents
Topics: Student comments | 2 Comments »
Noted Philadelphia Medical Publisher Dies
By Al | April 16, 2008
Barton Lippincott, 82, retired publisher
Barton Hirst Lippincott, 82, formerly of Chestnut Hill, retired chairman of J.B. Lippincott Co., died of pneumonia March 25 at Cathedral Village in Andorra.Mr. Lippincott was a great-grandson of Joshua Ballinger Lippincott, who established a publishing company in Philadelphia in 1836. He was also a great-grandson of Joseph Wharton, who founded the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
He graduated from William Penn Charter School. During World War II, he served in the Navy in the states and in the Canal Zone. After his discharge, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University.
In 1947, Mr. Lippincott joined his family’s publishing business as a copywriter in the mail-order department. During his 40-year career with Lippincott, he was an executive for the firm’s nursing publications division and helped establish Lippincott as a major medical publisher; founded a subsidiary, Ballinger Co., to publish books on public policy issues; and launched a non-print department to produce films, slides, tapes and discs.
In 1978, when the firm became a subsidiary of Harper & Row, he became Lippincott’s president. He was chairman when he retired in 1987.
In Toward a Third Century of Excellence, a history of the firm, Mr. Lippincott stated, “We will publish what we want to publish - you can buy it or not buy it, read it or not read it. We are the Lippincott Company and we will do what we think is right.”
He loved books, said his daughter, Elizabeth Rosen, especially biographies, non-fiction, Shakespeare and poetry.
An enthusiastic sailor, Mr. Lippincott participated in many Bermuda Races and loved the waters of Narragansett Bay, R.I., where he spent many summers.
He served on the board of Chestnut Hill Hospital and the Center for Literacy in West Philadelphia, and was a founding board member of William Jeanes Memorial Library in Whitemarsh. He helped assemble and install the outdoor sculpture garden at Morris Arboretum and donated one of the sculptures.
In addition to his daughter, Mr. Lippincott is survived by his wife of more than 35 years, Carol Helms Lippincott; daughters Louise, Deborah and Frances; stepchildren Frances Newbold, Elizabeth Miller, James Earle and Murray Earle; a brother; a sister; 15 grandchildren; and his former wife, Beatrice Garvan.
A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Greene Street Friends Meeting, 45 W. School House Lane.
Topics: Medical History | No Comments »
An Informal History of the W.B. Saunders Company
By Al | April 15, 2008
The W.B. Saunders Company history was written by John L. Dusseau and published in 1988. We think of their centenial celebration as Majors approaches it’s in 2009 centenial. Dusseau explains that Walter Burns Saunders founded his medical publishing venture in 1888 because ” the late nineteenth century witnessed great advances in medicine with the promise of other forward strides in the offing. Bernard’s elucidation of the mechanisms of blood supply; Ludwig’s invention of the kymograph; Virchow’s conception of the function of white blood corpuscles; Hertz’s demonstration of electromagnetic waves - the basis of today’s readio, radar and television - all of these and many others were making medical history, and the medical profession was seeking definitive knowledge of them and their uses in preventitive and curitive medicine. Saunders recognized this urgency…”
We think of Saunders now because it was Dr. Saunders that helped Dr. Majors get sterted in the medical book business. As Dusseau explained, “one of the early salesmen was Dr. J.A. Majors of Dallas, who had been a great football player at (the University Of nashville) and picked up a medical degree during his considerable stay there. in 1909 he founded the J.A. Majors Company in (Dallas), Houston and Atlanta. the business was capably carried on by his sons John and Bill and, until his untimely death, his son-in-law Jack McClendon. in the early part of this century Northern publishers were still reluctant to extend credit to doctors in the South because of financial problems associated with the Reconstruction. Dr. Majors solved the delimma incisively by guaranteeing all accounts serviced by his organization; he kept funds on deposit in Philadelphia to back up his guarantee.”
Saunders and Majors thrived through the next hundred years as medical advances created a need for an unending stream of new publications. Typical of the times today, The W.B Saunders compamy is now part of the dutch scientific publishing giant, Elsevier. Majors wholesale company was acquired in 2006 by Baker & Taylor but the retail bookstores are still family owned and run by third generation management.
Al McClendon
Topics: Medical History | No Comments »
Toward a Third Century of Excellence; J.B. Lippincott Company
By Al | April 10, 2008
J.B. Lippincott’s history by Stuart Freeman was publiahed in 1992. Since then it acquired Williams & Wilkens medical publishers and later was itself acquired by Wolters Kluwer. Back in 1992 Stuart said “Although we began when books were the only effective way to store information, in recent decades we have experienced such technological change that we must now recognize that the book as such is a means only and not an end, the end being the dissemination of medical information. We understand that our real business at Lippincott is not medical and nursing books or journals - the means - but it is the transfer of information from the originator, the author, to the consumer, the medical or nursing student or practitioner.”
Stuart also answers a frequently raised issue still relevant today, “Do books take too long to produce? Although books take up to a year to produce, essential changes can be made as late as the page-proof stage, only weeks before publication. Medicine changes too rapidly even for that? Books contain clinically sound information, not medical data. The former changes much less rapidly than the latter, and physicians know the difference between the two. They know instinctively when to rely upon peer consultation, their own experience, and journals, and when to rely on books.”
Watch this space for more historically significant dates and discussions.
Topics: Medical History | 2 Comments »
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