5 comments about Becoming a Doctor: A Journey of Initiation in Medical School.

1. As someone who's had 2 serious operations in just 6 months, I am now obsessed with all things medical/surgical. I did like this book for its "behind the scenes" look at what a doctor's training is like. However, if I had never had an operation at a great hospital with a great surgeon, with great results, I'd be afraid to go to the hospital, the way some of Konner's peers are described. Obviously, it takes all kinds, but I agree with the reviewers who felt that the more negative personalities received emphasis. But hey, we all have bills to pay, so who am I to argue?
   
   While many people criticized Konner for being arrogant and pompous, I was very surprised that no one noticed something that, to me, was disturbingly obvious; and that was his salacious descriptions of VERY young women. There is a passage in the Pediatrics chapter, I believe, where he describes, with great zeal, how attractive he found a 15 year old girl. You can almost hear him drooling as you read it. There is another spot in the book where he talks about listening to a teenage girl's chest with a stethoscope, and while he does say he feels awkward, you can't also help but sense he was diggin' it. Hope the old boy was able to wipe down the keyboard when he was done writing.
   
   There were some informative things in this book, but I'm glad I had a positive surgical experience BEFORE I read this book. I am a much bigger fan of "Complications" by Atul Gawande.



2. Although I did enjoy portions of this book, I was also particularly annoyed at his constant misogynistic tone -- women, be they patients or fellow physicians -- are often first described physically, with particular note paid to their attractiveness. It seems that Konner clearly believes he is superior to many of his co-workers, as he repeatedly interrupts the medical narrative to mention his status in the anthropological field. This isn't a terrible book, but it certainly isn't a book I'd recommend to very many people.



3. Konner's "Becoming A Doctor" chronicles the experiences, perceptions, & problems he had as a third-year medical student. Konner repeatedly remarks that he was much older than most of his peers as well as many of the residents, but what he doesn't explicitly articulate is his different perspective on patient care and, well, his compassion. He seems more idealistic than most of the other characters in his narrative -- I suspect this may be a consequence of his age & life experiences. Nevertheless, I enjoyed and appreciated the experiences he shared, especially since they are told from the perspective of a man in a different phase of life. There are several books that chronicle life as a medical student --- this is just one --- and this book ought to be regarded as one that deserves a peek for what it is: medical school as experienced from a well-educated man on the verge of middle-age.



4. This was an interesting book and I feel that I learned a number of things about medical school education. However, I must agree with the other reviewers that Mr. Konner is a bit of a narcissist and a little too pessimistic. If you can ignore his self-aggrandizing tone and slight pessimism, this can be a fairly interesting and informative read. As far as the literature on medical education, I can't say this book really stands out. I recommend reading "Intern Blues" first.



5. This book is not east to read and Konner make it worse but stuffing it with his psychiatric diagnosis.
   However: if you are a physician you would relive a lot of the nostalgia through this book. He also does portray what goes on the surgical floor and medical floors. Surgical residents are a conceited lot and they eventually learn their lessons in the real world. I was surprised that he was so miserable on the medicine floors so early on, that usually takes a few weeks. and that makes me wonedr if he is one of the 'touchy feely ' doctors who's medical knowledge is 'on the ventilator' but make for it by holding everyone's hand through 'the harrowing times'.
   suffice to say, people in the medical field may like it, I'm not so sure with the laymen.

5 comments about She Went to War: The Rhonda Cornum Story.

1. I pinched COL Cornum's book from my boyfriend, curious to find out more about his boss. She jogs by my workplace almost daily, she seems frail and full of girlish energy. Recently,I met her at a LRMC function and she IS full of girlish energy. As she's a former POW, I was unsure what to expect. Since then, I've been even more curious about the woman my old mentor COL Ron Blanck described as "a woman to watch". That was back in '91 - we'd been following her release on AFN-TV from FARMC HQs during Morning Report. I was hungover but jolted out of my stupor by the respect in his voice. He later made it 4-star and respect was never something he's doled out like party favors.
   I've just finished her book (coincidently on the anniversary of her release thirteen years ago). It was staunchly pro-military and pro-American without resorting to gush-mode. It made me laugh unexpectedly, it made me run to my PC and download Lee Greenwood, it made me understand my former mentor. I took it to bed, I took it to breakfast and finally, I took it in the tub with me where I cried so hard at the reunion passage that I dropped it in the water. It was the autographed copy which she'd recently presented to my boyfriend on his birthday. I hope her sense of humour has rubbed off on him. If not, I'm in big trouble. Buy this book. Buy your own copy and buy some for your family. Then buy some for your neighbors. I need the karma points.



2. I'd heard that there was a female soldier captured during the first Gulf War, but I didn't know anything about her until I read this book. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Rhonda Cornum's strong personality comes through the pages of this book. Just her description of how she coped with her untreated injuries is impressive, and I second the person who admired how she kept her spirits up by singing in her prison cell. I hope if I ever found myself in as adverse a situation as she did, that I would be able to remain as courageous and confident throughout. Her description of the struggles she faced as a woman in the military is blunt without sinking into self-pity. An interesting and impressive slice of the first Gulf War, and a courageous role model and heroine.



3. I express my deep respect, admiration and gratitude for Colonel Rhonda Cornum's service to our country and the medical profession. She is a soldier's soldier. Her book is as entertaining and as inspirational as her career. Read it and it will change your life forever.



4. I thought I'd let readers know that now Col. Rhonda Cornum was nominated for promotion to Brigadier General today.



5. I got this book after the First Gulf War. Rhonda Cornum's courage as a POW is inspirational, especially under the circumstances in shich she found herself. It is well-known how the Ba'athists rotinely employed torture (real torture, not redefined torture) in order to get airmen to make statements critical of the Coalition war effort. In fact, the enemy we were fighting against at the time were barbarians who had no scruples when it came to the men and women who fell into their hands.
   
   An awesome book about an awesome Soldier.

5 comments about More, Now, Again: A Memoir of Addiction.

1. I love the way Elizabeth Wurtzel writes in this book. It's a style that's cocky and self-assured while simultaneously vulnerable and unrelentingly honest about self. I think it details the confliction those of us who tackle the task of learning about our true selves, and how to cope with our behaviors, all go through.



2. First of all, Wurtzel is an excellent writer. More, Now, Again is a memoir of her addiction. So like most memoirs, if you haven't actually lived through similar experiences, you are only getting the story while "attempting" to understand the feelings. Addiction is a very complicated thing, and most likely if you are not an addict yourself, you will not ID with Wurtzel. Now, for those in recovery, this book is a MUST read! It dives into the true desperation and and denial of addiction, and you can feel her pain every step of the way.
   
   I've read many memoirs, especially those of people in recovery. More, Now, Again is top notch, and provides strengh and hope to those who have lived through the dark shadows of drug addiction.
   
   Once again, if you're not an addict and are bashing this book in any way, it's simply because you just cannot understand something as deep as this without living it. Sorry to all you normal people! =D



3. Okay, so at least this was better than "Prozac Nation", but seriously Miss Wurtzel, can we put away the ego and inferiority complex for one minute?
   
   The recount of her slip into addiction was interesting, not Wurtzel's story, but the process of her transitioning into a full-blown addict. The sad part is that once she got clean, I couldn't stand her.
   
   I would recommend borrowing this from the library, but not buying it. It was just okay.



4. I have read this book about twenty times and love it as much each new read as I did the first time. Elizabeth is a phenominal writer and takes a person to the depths of addiction, through her dispair, and pain, and brings you back to her normalicy which is only normal in the way an addicts life can be. You feel her misery and hold your breath with each twist her story brings. I'm too tired to write a longer review or I would. Just read it and you'll understand what an addicted woman goes though when she's in the trenches and how hard it is to get sober no matter what you have. I'm a recovering addict and she told my story minus the Harvard education. Elizabeth is great and so is her book. It's entertaining as hell even if you could care less about addiction.



5. If a book can be written in "real time," this one was. There isn't really any direction: It is simply a download written in whatever order things happened to occur. Actually, I liked this book; I thought Elizabeth Wurtzel had something to say, and she did a good job of getting her thoughts down in writing. However, I would be slow to recommend More, Now, Again to anybody else. I do not think it is a book that would appeal very much to the majority of people.

1 comments about Traveling Light: Walking the Cancer Path.

1. Traveling Light by William Ward
   
   Reviewed by Neill Reilly
   
   William Ward has written a personal account of his encounter with brain cancer. By the skill of his craft, he has turned the personal into the universal. Since William has spent nearly thirty years as a Waldorf teacher at the Hawthorne Valley School in Harlemville, New York, he approaches cancer as a teacher would. As a teacher, he is open to learning vital life lessons from cancer. William also battles cancer, as a warrior would defend himself against an enemy that is trying to kill him. His out-of-body experience during surgery included a spiritual epiphany. That experience is the essence of William's journey and survival. After his brain surgery he retained an indelible mark on his soul--he had been saved for a reason. William received the grace to live and tell his story. All his readers are the beneficiaries of that graceful year he had to write his story.
   
   Sixty to eighty percent of cancer patients with William's type of brain cancer die within a year. A sobering reality, from which he fully understood that life, each second of it, is truly precious--precious not in a delicate manner, but precious as in the lifeblood that streams from our hearts to maintain life in all our cells. His many questions revolve around the following perspective. How can I learn from this tragic situation? What distinguishes William is his commonsensical spiritual approach, his childlike wonder, and his boundless good humor. He has stared death in the face and has been scared and reborn.
   
   This experience is not just for William. It is for all of us and is centered on how we view ourselves. Are we just materialistic beings or is a human being more then a conglomerate of cells, atoms, wishes, and needs? William experienced spiritual fullness in his surgery. In this epiphany, William also encountered what he calls The Children of the Future. These children desperately want to be born and educated in Waldorf schools so that they can add their gifts and love to a very needy earth. In a certain sense, we are all Children of the Future--incarnated spiritual beings who came to Earth to share love.
   
   When you read how William relates his journey, you realize you are in the midst of a master storyteller. William puts the reader in media res, but the place he puts you in is the middle of his consciousness. From this vantage point, you meet Andy, his lovely dedicated wife, his daughters, and dozens of human angelic beings who bear his cross with him. William is not alone; in fact, the cancer has surrounded him with love! He is in a cocoon of faith healers who refuse to let him go gently into the night; instead, he goes gently into the light.
   
   This book has many levels and perspectives from the serious to the comic. At its heart, it is a Michaelic book. How do I encounter the Christ through cancer? How do I learn from my mortal enemy? How do I transform evil into good? Cancer can be seen as another instance of materialism gone amuck--endless, meaningless growth. This is the modern encounter with Ahriman. Cancer could be seen as ahrimanic materialism. Cancer can break the spirit. How William brings meaning to meaninglessness is beyond art. It is in the acquired balance of a spiritual life filled with reverence and joy. In William's words depicting his life, you can sense his deep connection with Rudolf Steiner's path of reverence from How to Know Higher Worlds. You can feel the importance of spiritual activity from The Philosophy of Freedom. William has fought the good fight; he has run his race; he has kept the faith.
   
   Teachers, mothers, fathers, doctors, nurses, those who are ill, and those who support the sick should read this book. In other words, everyone should take this journey with William. It is a cathartic experience that will transform the reader by witnessing William's rebirth. By reading Traveling Light, the reader will be filled with Love, Light, and Life!

5 comments about Single in Saudi.

1. I loved "Single in Saudi" in its many perspectives.
   
   At one level it's a sexy romp through high-walled compounds inhabited by some of the world's richest men. At another it's full of sad insights into the degradation thrust on Saudi women by their countrymen.
   
   Genia writes a unique and illuminating book about herself as a blonde, blue-eyed American woman living in Saudi under a veil and obaya, the long, hooded, black robes that Saudi women are required to wear in public.
   
   As Americans we can learn much from "Single," because at some point the American-led coalition will have to decide whether fighting the war, or insurgency, or keeping the peace, or whatever we may be doing in Iraq, is worth expending our blood and treasure for a nation of ingrates and incompetents and worse.
   
   And that decision will in part be based on our view of those who people the nations of the Middle East, including the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a regime of hypocrites that Genia indulged without apology.
   
   I commend the book to you.



2. It's a self-published book, first of all. So don't expect ANY copy-editing at all. The prose is poor, the spelling just awful, but the story is kind of entertaining on a superficial level, though I do have to say I find the constant undercurrent of bigotry hard to take. She has no problem going from bed to bed with all these men, using them as much as they're using her, all the while saying bad things about them and their culture. She puts on airs as though she's such a sophisticated jet-setter and it comes off as phony. It's too bad, because somewhere in this mess of a narrative is a good story.



3. This book was a self-serving account of one woman's journey to The Kingdom. I was hoping to get more of an account of healthcare and cultural aspects of Saudi. Instead the author (who obviously thinks very highly of herself) goes on and on about how every guy she meets falls in love with her and how she can't resist the temptation to sleep with them. All the men are handsome to her and all of them are "passionate" lovers. By 2/3 of the way into the book, I found it difficult to keep track of who she was sleeping with in whatever chapter I was reading. I found it hilarious how she judged the character Johnnie for her lifestyle when the author had revealed she has little moral fiber of her own.



4. Really great. Took me back to the Kingdom of the 1970s and 1980s before the money got tight and before the Gulf War. It's a different place today, but those of you who were there in those days will enjoy it. When the Kingdom was a place of parties and bed-hopping for any ex-pat who was willing.



5. I was VERY disapointed with this book.
   I expected interesting facts about Saudi Arabia and life there, and all I got was what and when the author smoked and drank, and who she slept with. Even these facts aren't written in an interesting or funny style, more like a list of men and places she went to.
   I'm very sorry that Amazon sells (and even can recommend) such a book.

5 comments about That's How the Light Gets In: Memoir of a Psychiatrist.

1. This insightful chronicle of one woman's journey from childhood to a mature psychiatrist is a must-read for every woman seeking to find her own path through life by understanding her strengths and limitations. The author artfully weaves together rich descriptive details of the defining moments in her life over the past sixty-plus years with clever interpretive commmentary. This book offers a refreshing glimpse into the core of what all women struggle with...finding fulfilling, sustaining relationships with peers, parents, surrogate parents and how to use them as fuel for the healing of both self and others.



2. This book left me befuddled. What was the point? I was expecting thoughtful essays about the meaning of life, as filtered through the experiences of the author, a psychiatrist. Instead, the book had little more depth than a sixth grader's "What I did On My Summer Vacation" essay. I was amazed when Rako spent more time on watching her granddaughter feed birds than she did on the breakup of either of her marrriages.
   
   It's a disappointment because Rako's life seems to be a full and vivid one, but little of that wholeness and color made it onto the page. I finished knowing more about her mentor than I did about her.



3. As I was engrossed in reading That's How the Light Gets In, I tried to think of the one world that would describe it, and I think that word is elegant. One expects all kinds of "dishy" stuff in memoirs, but in this instance the author artfully circumvented this hazard without skimping on any of her feelings or struggles. I say, Bravo ! I identified in so many places, which made reading this book that much more pleasurable and validating for me. It is a fine piece of literary work.



4. Although this book is a biography on the life of psychiatrist Susan Rako, I found the most moving content to be in the insights and advice of her mentor Dr. Semrad that Susan shares during the last third of the book. Susan's life story does have its interesting moments, but, I have to admit that the details of her childhood days, life choices, and failed marriages were not nearly as compelling as the insights she passed on from her mentor. For me, these hand-me-down perspectives were the light that got in (the book).



5. overall not what I expected, and not interesting to me. agree with PW in that "the narrative's natural flow is often stopped up with word jams, bumpy prose and sometimes grueling therapeutic jargon"

5 comments about Daughter of the Queen of Sheba: A Memoir.

1. I am saddened to find so many unfavorable reviews of this memoir. Reading it, I was reminded of "Angela's Ashes," "A Beautiful Mind" and "Growing Up." I found Lyden's prose both poetic and evocative. I thought she portrayed her own family and herself with remarkable journalistic perspective, but also with compassion. I am amazed at the extent of Lyden's success in her attempt to describe her mother's mania, as well as the author's candor about her own life. There's no self-indulgence in these pages, only a long and difficult distance bravely traveled and recounted for us, so we can see the terrain through her eyes. To the critical reviewers, I say, "Let us read your life," and to Ms. Lyden an unequivocal, "Bravo."



2. I bought this book after watching Ms. Lyden's appearance on Larry King Live, in which she spoke engagingly and eloquently about her childhood, her mother's illness, and the effects it had on the family. Sadly, she speaks more effectively than she writes.

   Big words taste and feel good in our mouths, and it's fun to string a bunch together (this I know from personal experience), but after reading that style through a couple of chapters it got tiresome. Ms. Lyden seemed more interested in demonstrating her command of the English language than in telling her story.

   I was also disappointed by too-frequent and too-lengthy sidetracks into other aspects of the family's life (for instance, the whole trip to Mexico story could have been told in a couple of pages). I had the impression Ms. Lyden was trying to flesh out the book.

   For those interested in the subject matter, this is worth a try if you can find it second-hand or in the library, but not worth full price.

   I do recommend watching Ms. Lyden if you ever get a chance to see her being interviewed - she is an excellent communicator...just not on paper.




3. I trudged through 40 pages and basically determined that this whole family must be nuts and we read this for book group and everyone agreed this was not an easy book or an enjoyable one



4. I basically just skimmed the last half of the book as she lost me early on. Too bad. A fascinating subject, just extremely badly written.



5. Daughter of the Queen of Sheba by Jacki Lyden October 2007 Amazon
   Heartbreaking, hilarious, lyrical, this memoir is a mother-daughter story of the most unique and dramatic kind, a testimony to obstinate devotion in the face of bewildering illness. Lyden recalls her calamitous childhood with a child's aching regret and an adult's keen wisdom. An abusive, rich doctor became her step-father for a time and she describes tragic physical and mental abuse. Lyden, an extremely descriptive and imaginative writer, is a foreign correspondent for National Public Radio and has spent much of her adult life on the frontlines of dangerous war zones in the world. Her childhood was a war zone of a different kind. Her mother suffered from mental illness and in the days when medical help for this was surreptitious, she was often labeled crazy. "By the time I was fourteen," Lyden writes, "religious epiphanies were occurring in our house fairly often, and not only to my mother. I loved Communion because I liked the idea of taking a bite out of Christ Jesus. ...I was armed by this tribal ritual, the fallen comrade who has died and given me his vital flesh to live. ... In church, we could all go a little crazy. ...My teen group was taken into Milwaukee to hear an evangelistic speaker, a Mr. David Wilkerson, who blessed us by touching our forehead if we came up on stage, as I did. He talked about all the juvenile delinquents in New York City and how he personally was saving them... You could read about his exploits in his book, The Cross and the Switchblade, available in the lobby." Lyden documents her travels, letters home, and the devotion to her mother.
   Trish New, author of The Thrill of Hope, South State Street Journal, and Memory Flatlined.

5 comments about The Hospital by the River: A Story of Hope.

1. I have been writing to publishers and book sellers for over a year begging them to publish this book in the U.S. Dr. Catherine Hamlin tells the story and illustrates how one intelligent, caring woman devoted her time on earth to easing the plight of young mothers in Africa. Don't live another week without reading this story! Also, sales of the book go toward keeping Dr. Hamlin's hospital and refuge open for young mothers in Africa who need reconstructive surgery following the birth of their babies.



2. Seldom has a missionary painted such a compelling portrait of hope from darkest despair as Dr. Catherine Hamlin in her inspiring memoir, THE HOSPITAL BY THE RIVER. When she and her husband, Reg, embarked on their careers in gynecology in Australia, they never dreamed their work would eventually take them halfway across the globe to the third world country of Ethiopia to establish a teaching hospital.
   
   Ethiopia's insistence on child-brides and the poor obstetric care in that country is responsible for the high incidence of women who suffer from fistula, a childbirth injury that results in constantly running urine and terrible internal injuries. The personal stories of these women as told by Dr. Hamlin will break readers' hearts. Divorced by their husbands and rejected by their families, many of these injured women live out the remainder of their lives ostracized alone in dark rooms --- all for want of an operation costing only a few hundred dollars.
   
   A simple operation can alleviate their suffering, and most women are curable. (Hamlin takes payment in everything from live chickens to jewelry.) But although two million women suffer from fistula, less than 7,000 are treated each year. The challenges to create a hospital that serves these women --- and then maintain and finance operations --- are formidable.
   
   Hamlin's descriptions will move even the most jaded readers to tears --- and sometimes to a queasy stomach. In one gruesome anecdote, she tells of a woman mauled by a hyena while giving birth (the hyena ate her baby while she was helpless to protect it). However, Hamlin wants us to understand the depth of this despair so difficult to relate to --- the horrific conditions these women live in --- in order to arouse our deepest compassion for their suffering.
   
   In one memorable passage, she describes the life of one such outcast, discovered in a village by a medical worker:
   
   "...They reluctantly showed her a side room. Inside it was dark, and the smell was almost unbearable. In the far corner, against the wall was a raised platform. Peering through the gloom they made out a woman lying on her side with her legs drawn up in a flexed position. Her bladder and bowel contents were leaking into a pool underneath. Because she had been in this position for five years the joints had become stiff... and she could no longer walk...."
   
   This woman --- like more than 20,000 others --- was cured by Hamlin and her team.
   
   This is a book of contrasts, from the gatherings thrown by royalty to the extreme poverty that most of the people of Ethiopia experience. Although the reader has to mine a bit too much detailed memoir to get to the good storytelling, it is well worth the effort. Her tone throughout is one of gratitude. Hamlin is quick to offer copious amounts of praise for others, even those who have perhaps wronged her in some way. She is vulnerable about her own shortcomings, especially as a parent.
   
   Almost four decades after her work began, it's understandable why Hamlin has been called "The new Mother Teresa for our age" by the New York Times, and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. This fascinating account of Dr. Hamlin's work will break your heart --- and offer hope that even the worst circumstances can be changed if we care enough to help. Keep the Kleenex handy.
   
   (...)



3. This book tells a remarkable story. It is the autobiography of Dr. Catherine Hamlin and the work she and her husband have done to establish a hospital treating obstetric fistula in Ethiopia. What an amazing story. I had never heard of obstetric fistula till a few days ago. I did not know that so many young women (girls, really) in some parts of the world have child birth complications that cause holes in the vagina through which feces and urine leak constantly, leading to the women becoming abandoned pariahs. And the repair surgery costs only about $300 -- but this was essentially unavailable until the Hamlins came to Ethiopia in 1960. What wonderful work they have done, along with their wonderful, competent Ethiopian staff and colleagues. In addition to that basic theme, Hamlin tells an engrossing story about the overthrow of the emperor, the years of communist regime (many of her friends were murdered), and then the current improved situation. What a story! This book about her faith and her work is well worth reading. I hope many, many people enjoy this book and are inspired to donate to this hospital.



4. I and my friends who have read "Hospital by the River" have all liked
   it very much. It tells about an Australian couple
   trained in obstetrics who went to Ethiopia and established aa hospital
   to help woman in Ethiopia who had suffered the bad effects of early
   child bearing. I believe it shows how the Christian life should be lived.



5. It is said that in some parts of the world the foulest curse that can be uttered is "May you be born again as a woman!" and after reading this story, I now understand why. We in the developed world have no idea what it would be like to be an Ethiopian Woman: betrothed as a toddler, married at nine (the groom promises not to have sex with his bride until she is "old enough." - ha, ha.), pregnant at twelve and left for four or five days, utterly alone, to try and give birth unaided. As in the developed world, many babies are not in a position to be born easily, but unlike here, there is no sterile hospital and a doctor ready to perform a C-section. A girl has no option but to push and push and push until she gives birth to her baby (who has been dead for days by this time) or until she dies.
   
   Death would be the kinder route, once you learn about the mission of the Doctors Reg and Catherine Hamlin. As the poor undeveloped, undernourished girl pushes for days, the corpse of her child causes horrific injuries to the woman's body. She is left leaking urine and often, feces, with no control over her body whatsoever. In a land where water is scarce for drinking and nonexistent for bathing, and where a man wouldn't dream of trying to buy some rags for his wife to keep clean, life becomes a torment that a woman prays would end every day. She is no longer allowed indoors or near other people. Her husband, who has to have at least one son to secure his own future, abandons her and finds another child-bride. Her mother (if she hasn't died in childbirth herself) will probably allow her to return to her home village, but she will be banished to a ragged lean-to that she builds herself with castoffs. Speaking of castoffs, that is all she will be allowed to eat and wear. So she lies completely still, because of an old wives tale (even though there are few old wives) saying that a girl who lies still enough will eventually heal. She may lie this way for twenty years or more, and healing never comes.
   
   If a miracle happens, she hears about the Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa. Her injuries, which we now now are called Fistulas, will be healed and she will be able to return to her people and her village, ready to begin life again. The Doctors Hamlin, devout, old-world Christians, dedicated their lives to these poor, forgotten souls. Once Fistulas were as common in Europe, Australia and the US as they are in Africa today, but minimum marriage ages and proper care during childbirth have so solved this problem that the Hamlins had to develop methods of surgery to cure this condition. In the past sixty or so years, they operated upon and cured at least twenty thousand women, all while the world passed them by.
   
   Dr Catherine Hamlin describes a childhood in an Australia that is long gone, and a life that is as full of hardships as any western doctor has ever lived, but she speaks of her life with joy and a devotion to G-d and the women that have no voice, even in their own homes. Dr. Hamlin, devoted and saintly as she sometimes is, can drive you (me) batty with her old-fashioned ways. She and her husband had a motto: these women want what every woman wants -- a live baby in her arms. They were horrified by the 'free love' of the 1960's, and spoke with great reverence for the last Emperor of Ethiopia, before he was overthrown.
   
   I loved the book, and was moved to tears at the plight of these poor young women. I admired the dedication of the Hamlins, especially during their early years in Ethiopia, operating in the corner of another hospital, with thousands of injured young women coming to them, and their attempts to create a hospital of their own. I admired them even more during the years of war and revolution in Ethiopia, while they tried to get supplies and continue their work while under constant threat of death.
   
   If you want to be touched and discover once again how lucky you are (and if you can read this, you are darned lucky, I guarantee it), then this book will make you feel gratitude and compassion for your fellow human beings, no matter where they live. If you think that this is just some sob story, then read the book anyway -- you need to have your soul touched, and I guarantee that this is the book to do it.

5 comments about As I Live and Breathe: Notes of a Patient-Doctor.

1. Dr. Weisman provides an insightful look into the unique life of a "patient-doctor" in As I Live and Breathe. She battles a chronic, severe immune system illness, at the same time juggling a medical career that is both rewarding and disheartening. The fight for life is sometimes won and sometimes lost, but she keeps a positive attitude through it all. This comes from the exceptional experience that she encounters everyday, through her disease. She uses the knowledge that she has gained from her own illness to create compassion and true sympathy for the patients that she treats. This is unique; this is where most doctors are lacking. She shows both the understanding and knowledge that is rare in the medical profession.
   This autobiography is not only about health and medical experience. It is about everything any human being encounters: marriage, childbearing, dealing with the loss of a loved one, and all the trials that comes with them. Dr. Weisman simply puts a spin on life, expressing it to the audience from a different point of view. She ponders on the unique perspectives of all the patients and families that she treats, and finds a positive force in all of them. She learns from her mistakes to help them better their lives. In a way, it is a sort of cycle, both parties feeding off the other.
   The power of family is important, she says; it provides an amazing support system for a patient that is much needed. She speaks fondly of her own family and the support that they provide, giving them credit for their undying courage and love. In wonder, she says, "I have never had to stand by and watch a loved one suffer the way my family has stood by me." She also admires her husband, saying, "[There was a] mix of joy I felt at asking another human being to share in the ambiguity of my life. I credit my husband with tremendous courage in loving me, someone whose future is from the start more fragile than others'." The relationship between family and patient is extraordinary, and Weisman does a wonderful job of depicting this with the sheer honesty that comes with an illness.
   This book is truly inspirational; the author takes the incredible situation that she is in, and turns it into a masterpiece of insight into the human mind. It expresses the core of the human spirit and everything it can endure. It shows the reader that one can overcome any obstacle and make light of a seemingly dark situation. It also proves that "bad days" are acceptable and "good days" are even better. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a good, honest read.



2. I feel lucky to have been able to read this absolutely exquisite, yet at times gut wrenching, personal memoir, by a very gifted author who, it should be noted, is over twenty years younger than me. As one who has a very limited real life knowledge of medical life and death, it was an eye opener to (what sometimes seems) a completely different world. This is not only a sublime course in medical history and ethics, but a harrowing landscape of how the body can go wrong in myriad ways, and how the medical profession works its genius. The author has been through it from both sides too, and does not flinch in the telling. Not to be missed! Having read thousands of great books in nearly all fields, this is among the all-time best!



3. After witnessing the painful treatment and deaths of my in-laws recently, I was most interested in the author's account of her unbearable pain when her face was infected, and the problem she had in obtaining relief. She was a doctor herself and the staff knew her--yet she still had to beg for hours for relief. When will the medical profession treat pain adequately? I am disappointed that after enduring so much pain that she does not recognize this need. Overall, her courage is admirable, and we need more doctors who have endured chronic illness to write accounts that enlighten the general public.



4. Jamie Weisman is an excellent writer and a brave woman. She has been willing to accept the health problems she has been dealt and yet she chooses to grab life by the horns and live it. She acknowledges she is surrounded by a loving strong support system in her family of origin and her husband, and by giving that acknowledgement she also shows grace and strength.
   
   The warning comes from Jamie's spelling out the human mistakes that happen in the practice of medicine, even when the patient and the family advocates are watching closely.
   
   This is an excellent memoir in and of itself but I would also recommend it to anyone trying to be advocate for an ill relative or friend.



5. This is the best book I have ever read. Dr Jamie Weisman is my Doctor and she is very dedicated to her patians. She has really done wonders for me. Everyone should read this book to see that they are not the only ones having problems

2 comments about The Doctor Wore Petticoats: Women Physicians of the Old West.

1. I picked this book up to read around 8pm in the evening. I didn't put it down
   until I was finished reading it at 2:15am. Although I am able to speed read
   this book was so interesting and entertaining that I couldn't miss a single
   word. This book is an absolute must for anyone interested in the Old West.
   It combined humor, struggle and determination to give a very insightful and
   educating book. The book gave a very vivid picture of female doctors in the
   Old West. As a bonus it has a wonderful collection of "Frontier Medicine"
   listed in the back of the book. Remedies such as carrying an onion in your
   pocket to prevent smallpox and owl broth to cure whooping cough are just
   a few. If you pick up this book...clear your schedule because you won't be
   able to put it down until you have read every single page.



2. After reading Hearts West and enjoying it so much, I looked into other books by this author and discovered this jewel. It was an incredibly informative and interesting read. Chris Enss is a gifted writer. She gives the reader insight to a world that was so vastly different from that of today. After reading each woman's story in the book, I longed for more. That is my only disappointment; that I can't know more about each of these women Ms. Enss writes about. I highly recommend it to anyone who is even remotely interested in what life was like for women in the Old West.