Narrative Non-fiction / Self Help

Instruction Manual for Couples

Siri Dalsmo Berge

Did you know that a good relationship can strengthen your immune system, lower your blood pressure, and make wounds heal faster? On the other hand, relationship troubles can triple the risk of heart attacks, increase the risk of infection and can cause more buildup of plaque in the arteries. In this fascinating and entertaining book GP and researcher Siri Dalsmo Berge shows how your relationships and health are connected. Through stories from both her life as a doctor and her personal life, she offers specific and research-based tools for better relationships and increased quality of life. Instruction Manual for Couples – the road to a healthier relationship highlights the benefits for your health related to relationship issues in a whole new way. It’s all put together with warmth, a bit of cheek and a large dose of hope – which offers you belief that improving your lives together is possible.

Map of Loneliness

Hilde Østby

In March 2020 the world closed down and stayed completely or partly closed for two and a half years. Most arenas where humans go for companionship, such as offices and concerts, weddings and funerals, disappeared or were decimated overnight. It’s as if the whole world has taken part in a huge experiment in loneliness, according to author Hilde Østby. The result of this experiment is worth dwelling on, as it’s not an easy diagnosis to just brush off. Research shows that loneliness, if it is chronic, is more dangerous for our health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day. In Map of Loneliness Hilde Østby approaches the subject on a personal, philosophical and journalistic level in order to get to grips with loneliness – one of our most enigmatic and under-communicated public health challenges. She shows us what loneliness does to us and asks where it comes from. That is a question which can be answered both medically and existentially. Maybe the mechanisms which drive us apart could later bring us back together? In that case loneliness is something we must solve as a community, through community, and for the community.

Viruses on the Loose

Eystein Hellstrøm Hoddevik

What is a virus? Even experienced microbiologists need to stop and think before answering this simple question. Viruses are tiny. The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has a width of no more than one hundred nanometers. Ten thousand such viruses lined up after each other will barely have the width of a pinhead. But an invisible enemy like this can bring a whole world to its knees, just as it did in spring 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic. Through carefully selected stories, the author shows you what a virus is, what it consists of, how it is transmitted and how it produces disease. Viruses and humans have coexisted forever, so this journey covers biological evolution, our own bodies, historical events, diagnostics, global politics, genetic material, ethics and biological warfare. The book is also about vaccines, one of our most important weapons in the war against viruses. The making of vaccines is in itself a science which is based upon our knowledge of how viruses are constructed and cause disease. Viruses are bred to spread and don’t hesitate to set off on intercontinental journeys, like the travel-loving stowaways they are. In this book, you’ll get to know different kinds of viruses: some of the most common, some that are extremely cunning and some that are so dangerous their fatality rate is close to 100%. Viruses cause contagion by travelling, just as we do, but their journey doesn’t stop there. The way in which they produce disease inside us can also be viewed as a microscopic travelogue. We shall therefore follow some viruses as they travel through our bodies to reach the cells they both hijack and harm. If you are prepared to face what fear of viruses you might have, you’ll discover that knowledge of viruses is extremely helpful. In certain situations, it may help you survive and avoid diseases like warts, cold sores, shingles, blindness and even cancer.

Honestly

Kirsten Holtmon Resaland / Astrid Nylander Almaas

The ultimate young people’s guide to coping with life and mental health. Honestly is a thorough book that provides young people with knowledge and advice that can help ease their path through life. Read, among others, about identity, feelings and thoughts, self-image, body and sex, you and other people, when life gets tough and mental illnesses.Is there such a thing as dangerous thoughts? What makes You You, and what are your best qualities? Can falling in love change us? And what do you do if a friend is having troubled times? What is the difference between being afraid and having anxiety? What can you do about gossip, bad mouthing and general drama? What are sexual fantasies? How do we react when something really painful happens? Why do we believe in fake news? Is it normal to be grumpy for no reason? Everybody has stuff going on beneath the surface. There’s nothing wrong with that – it’s normal; and it’s what makes us humans different and exciting. This is a book that you do not have to read from cover to cover. You can simply look topics that you might be interested in - or have a need for. You can read about topics like Identity, Feelings and thoughts, Self-Image, Body and Sex. In Honestly you get thorough answers from a psychologist and a doctor, talking straight forwardly about being a human being. It is also a great reference book for anyone close to young people today; Parents, teachers and others, who want to know more and understand. Winner of RIKSMÅLSPRISEN 2020. Astrid Nylander Almaas (b. 1975) is Head Physician at the Ahus-hospital in Oslo, specialized in Paediatrics. She has a doctorate in how nutrition affects the development of the brain in Children. Since 2016 she has been part of the NRK TV-show "What is Wrong with You?".Kirsten Holtmon Resaland (b.1980) is a specialist in the psychiatry of children and young adults and has worked with the psychic health of youth for many years.The book is illustrated by Kristine A. Sand.

MUSIC AND THE BRAIN

Are Brean / Geir Olve Skeie

About the magic power of music and its amazing effect on the brainCreativity in music and the skills to play and appreciate music are uniquely human characteristics. All mammals seem to enjoy a tune but only human beings show true musicality and ability to communicate through music. The brain composes music to please itself: one can learn much about how the brain works by studying its responses to music and music-making.This book is written as three parts: The first part discusses what brain does with music, that is: how music is sensed and perceived, processes grouped together as the basis for "perception of music".The second part describes what music does to the brain: how it affects its functioning and enables it to change – effects known as manifestations of neuroplasticity. The authors then go on to analyse the characteristics of "the musician's brain" – the brains of musicians have shared features that set them apart from other people's brains.In the third part, the authors give an account of the ways in which the brain-changing effects of music can be used to aid recovery after blows to the head and to treat neurological and related disorders such as dementia, Parkinson's disease and mental illnesses. Music for the brain, not for the earsThe easy read, exciting and intriguing popular science book Music and the Brain is warmly recommended fro anyone who would like to learn more about the grey lump of water and fat that we carry between our ears.BALLADE Musically about the brainThis is a fascinating rendition of the power that music has over man. Music and the Brain is an engaging presentation of extremely advanced processes in the brain. The book is full of interesting facts and reflections around how we relate to music. It contains exciting and brand new research on the topic, well balanced and knowledgeable.AFTENPOSTEN

The Immune mystery

Jørgen Jelstad / Anita Kåss

This is the story of a young researcher who thought outside the box, and about the immune system's unsolved conundrum autoimmunity. On the day of her mother's funeral, 13-year-old Anita Kåss took an encyclopedia down from the bookshelf and for the first time read about arthritis. She wanted an answer to the question Did Mom get sick because I was born? and decided to find out everything about arthritis, and to find a treatment. It was the beginning of her life as a researcher. When she was 20 years old, she began to study medicine. 15 years later, her research lead to a possible hormonal breakthrough, and pharmaceutical companies fought over the rights to this new treatment. It resulted in the biggest licensing agreement in the Norwegian medical history. Her quest towards more knowledge of autoimmune diseases forms the framework for a popular-science journey, hunting for the solution to a mystery no one has managed to solve yet: the mystery of autoimmunity.FULL ENGLISH TRANSLATION AVAILABLE.

Everyday Emotions

Carina Carl / Rebekka Egeland

Many people suffer in today's highachievement society. Very many of us will experience depression and/or stress in the course of our lives. Everyday Emotions gives us answers and help us meet and cope with the challenges we face in life. The book is about how we can have fewer negative thoughts and less worry, and instead experience more joy and increase our self­confidence. The author combines theory and case studies in a practical and accessible way to show how we can appropriately and effectively deal with problems such as anxiety, depression, stress and low selfesteem. ‘This is important and well written! Recommended!’ TV2

Adventures in Memory

Ylva Berger / Hilde Østby

Take a plunge into the science of memory, together with sisters Hilde and Ylva Østby, in Diving for Seahorses.The writers explore the many facets of memory and how it influences our lives, both from a neuroscience perspective and through conversations with some of the most influential memory researchers of our time. They meet people with a special kind of memory – at both ends of the memory spectrum from mnemonists, actors and taxi drivers, to amnesiacs – and discover that most memories are transformed and some are best forgotten. In the middle of winter, they send divers deep into the Oslo fjord in search of where our memories are stored. They wonder if what lies at the heart of memory is what will change our future.Diving for Seahorses explains memory through personal and vivid tale telling, combining the best of two craftsmanships: Hilde is a novelist, and Ylva is a neuropsychologist.‘… readable and interesting. … Reading this book will leave you baffled about how complex memory is.’ FÆDRELANDSVENNEN‘Diving for seahorses is a unique book about memory … science and research presented with wit and energy.’ BOKSTAVER.NO

Harvest Outdoor Handbook

This book is about enjoying the outdoors with children and all the enjoyable, exciting and educational activities you can find there. It comes to us from the editors who publish the magazine Harvest on the internet: Torbjørn Ekelund, Simen Tveitereid, Kjetil Østli and Anders Aakre. Like many others, they have learned by experience that it is often better to be outdoors than in. All age-groups find that crossing the threshold is the longest mile, but once the bags are packed and the troops assembled and the whole family is trotting into the woods, along the shore or up into the mountains, a type of calm settles. Everybody suddenly feels content to be there, and it seems that the children have long forgotten that just a short time ago they were insisting on staying indoors. The aim of this book is to inspire families with small children to go out more – or at least give it a try.

A Road Back from Schizophrenia

Arnhild Lauveng

Arnhild Lauveng spent ten years in secure wards suffering from schizophrenia. She was deeply psychotic, self-destructive and broke glasses and plates to cut herself with the shards. In this book, the author takes the reader into a world of voices and hallucinations, where she is chased by hordes of rats and packs of wolves with yellow eyes and slavering jaws snap at her heels. We learn to understand that these illusions have their own logic and how they can be interpreted – and the author's interpretations are like solutions to small crime mysteries. This is the powerful story of her journey back to reality, assisted by a mother who refused to give up hope, a victory that only a handful believe is possible and that sadly is seldom achieved. Reviews: A Road Back from Schizophrenia is a unique book. About hope and identity [...] the fact that she also brings both humor and irony unto the book is all the more reason to recommend this book.'KRISTELIGT DAGBLAD, Denmark 'If it was up to me, A Road Back from Schizophrenia would be read and discussed in all psychiatric hospitals and institutions in this country. There is much to be gained, no matter what one does for a living.' POLITIKEN, Denmark