Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives: The Stories of Nurses, by Carolyn Hope Smeltzer and Francis R. Vlasses, Ind, Sigma Theta Tau International, 2003. 226 pages, hardcover.

There are 98 contributors to this text. It is arranged in 5 parts: (1) nurses respecting each other's stories, (2) families knowing that their nurse's story is special, (3) friends listening to nurse's stories, (4) nurse defining themselves through patient stories, and (5) nurses reflecting on their stories.

The format is designed for nurses to gain a deeper insight into nursing and career development. Each episode is different and individualized. The sum total of episodes gives a greater insight to the reader of the vast potential of having a satisfying and self-fulfilling career instead of routine employment. Each separate episode comments on how stimulation and devotion to an innovative career in the profession is very feasible if the nurse is willing to depart from the status quo and create new approaches to nursing care.

The reader may be stimulated to go for innovative career development by the large series of career incidents that fascinated each nurse and created an incentive for more sophisticated levels of service and development. It should stimulate all readers to reassess their routine and make an innovative approach to advancement and satisfaction and thus help them rise above the bland routine.