Nursing Illuminations, A Book of Days, by Patricia Van Betten and Melisa Moriarity. St. Louis, Mo, Mosby, 2004. 776 pages, hard-cover.

This thoughtfully designed book was written to stimulate nurses to think about ideas about how to improve the status of nurses. It is intended to give an insight as to how the status of the profession has been achieved over many years and to encourage nurses in general to provide their respective input. There are brief summaries of life's input, by a different nurse for each day of the year, so that nurses can spend a few minutes each day reading a short condensation of an active life. When all are added together, they help to give form and substance to steady professional progress as sophisticated insight grows and stimulates development.

Each summary can be read in a few minutes. The wide range of various approaches to each short summary of life's contribution can broaden the vision of helpful additions to the role of nurses. The text is an excellent means of gaining an insight about how to be innovative and more useful.