The latest crop of health and wellness titles promises to help readers cope with chronic illness, prevent memory loss and lower their cholesterol.

        Check out these new titles for clues and tips to what ails you:

        • Alzheimer's Disease: A Guide for Families and Caregivers, by psychotherapist Lenore Powell (Perseus Publishing; $18), includes medical fact and helpful advice for caregivers whose loved ones are battling the devastating disease. Now in its third edition, the book focuses on understanding medications, coping with challenging behaviors, choosing a nursing home or health plan, self-care and warning signs and risk factors for Alzheimer's disease.

        • The Chronic Illness Workbook: Strategies and Solutions for Taking Back Your Life, by Patricia Fennell (New Harbinger; $16.95), offers a four-phase plan for living with ailments like chronic fatigue syndrome, Parkinson's disease and fibromyalgia. Topics include advice on assembling a health-care team, communicating with medical professionals, coping with symptoms and learning to accept physical and lifestyle changes imposed by the disease.

        • Heart Attack: Advice by Patients for Patients,by Kathleen Berra, Gerald W. Friedland and Francis H. Koch (Yale University Press; $14.95), makes the case for cardiac rehabilitation and giving patients a voice in their own recovery from heart attack.

        • The Johns Hopkins Consumer Guide to Medical Tests, edited by Dr. Simeon Margolis (Rebus; $39.95),, explains the whys and wherefores of lab testing, diagnostic imaging, genetic screening, screening for disease and home test kits, along with tips on how to prepare for the tests and how to interpret the results. It's the latest in the Johns Hopkins “Health After 50” series.

        • Living with Hepatitis C: Everything You Need to Know, by Dr. Jenny Heathcote, et. al. (Firefly; $14.95) , is a primer on the liver disease, which is estimated to affect one in 100 people in North America. The book includes information on how hepatitis C affects the liver, diagnosis and symptoms, medications and side effects, complementary therapies, lifestyle and liver transplantation.

        • The New 8-Week Cholesterol Cure, by Robert E. Kowalski(HarperCollins; $25.95), is an all-new edition of Mr. Kowalski's 1987 classic, which made oat bran the cure du jour for heart disease. This new edition focuses on lipid profile testing, exercise, supplements and nutrition. Recipes are included.

        • Nature's Cancer-Fighting Foods, by Verne Varona (Reward Books; $14), advises adding fruits, vegetables and whole grains to the daily diet and working to wipe out cravings for salt, fat and sugar to reduce the risks of many types of cancer. Recipes are included.

        • Teach Yourself to Meditate in 10 Simple Lessons, by Eric Harrison (Ulysses Press; $12.95), focuses on the core practices of achieving inner peace: breathing, body awareness, posture, visualization, mantras and detachment.

        • Total Memory Workout: 8 Easy Steps to Maximum Memory Fitness, by Dr. Cynthia R. Green (Bantam; $13.95), features fun and effective techniques for remembering names and faces, where the car is parked and important data, as well as how lifestyle, diet and medications affect memory function.

        • What Are You Hungry For: Women, Food and Spirituality, by Lynn Ginsburg and Mary Taylor (St. Martin's Press; $23.95), looks at how some women use food and obsessive dieting to fill spiritual and emotional voids in their lives.

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