Friday, April 5th 6pm-8pm ages 21+ only: Space Prom, more
info here: https://emmetoneal.libnet.info/event/9881603
Saturday, April 13th 9am-noon: Crafterday, more info here: https://emmetoneal.libnet.info/event/10365557
Tuesday, April 30th 6:30-7:30pm Books & Beyond: Novels
Set in Alabama, more info here: https://emmetoneal.libnet.info/event/8810334
For reading suggestions of novels set in Alabama, scroll down to the
Books & Beyond row on our Shelf Care page: https://oneallibrary.org/adults---reading-recommendations
Last night, Books & Beyond met to discuss medicine,
health, etc. Here’s a recap of our
discussion! (book descriptions from Amazon, film descriptions from Rotten
Tomatoes)
The Asylum Confession Files series by Jack Steen
My name is Jack Steen, and for those who arrive on my
'death' ward at the Asylum, I'm the last face many will see before they die. I
am the night nurse at an Asylum for the Criminally Insane, and most of my
patients know me as their Angel of Death. I know them as mass murderers,
rapists, and serial killers - among other things. Here's what happens: they
come on my floor, they give me their deathbed confession, and I help to make
their death less painful. There's a catch, though: I want the real story, the one
they haven't told anyone else. The majority of these killers are expert
manipulators. They could be playing their final game with me by messing with my
head. Now, maybe they're messing with yours too.
The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder by Charles Graeber
Cullen's murderous career in the world's most trusted
profession spanned sixteen years and nine hospitals. Time and again he was
fired or allowed to resign. But Cullen continued to work and kill, shielded by
a hospital system that, by accident or design, successfully protected the
institution while failing to protect patients. The Good Nurse is a searing
indictment of a crushing and dehumanizing for-profit medical system, and an
inspiring human story of the previously unknown individuals who chose to risk their
jobs and lives to do the right thing. Mesmerizing and irresistibly paced, this
book will make you look at hospitals and the people who work in them in an
entirely different way.
The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine by Janice P. Nimura
Elizabeth Blackwell believed from an early age that she was
destined for a mission beyond the scope of "ordinary" womanhood.
Though the world at first recoiled at the notion of a woman studying medicine,
her intelligence and intensity ultimately won her the acceptance of the male
medical establishment. In 1849, she became the first woman in America to
receive an M.D. She was soon joined in her iconic achievement by her younger
sister, Emily, who was actually the more brilliant physician. Exploring the
sisters’ allies, enemies, and enduring partnership, Janice P. Nimura presents a
story of trial and triumph.
The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Filled with writing so vivid, lucid, and suspenseful that
complex science becomes thrilling, The Song of the Cell tells the
story of how scientists discovered cells, began to understand them, and are now
using that knowledge to create new humans. Told in six parts, and laced with
Mukherjee’s own experience as a researcher, a doctor, and a prolific reader, The
Song of the Cell is both panoramic and intimate—a masterpiece on what it
means to be human.
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach
In Gulp we meet scientists who tackle the questions no one else thinks of―or has the courage to ask. We go on location to a pet-food taste-test lab, a fecal transplant, and into a live stomach to observe the fate of a meal. With Roach at our side, we travel the world, meeting murderers and mad scientists, Eskimos and exorcists (who have occasionally administered holy water rectally), rabbis and terrorists―who, it turns out, for practical reasons do not conceal bombs in their digestive tracts. Like all of Roach’s books, Gulp is as much about human beings as it is about human bodies.
The Prince of Medicine: Galen in the Roman Empire by Susan
P. Mattern
Galen of Pergamum (A.D. 129 - ca. 216) began his remarkable
career tending to wounded gladiators in provincial Asia Minor. Later in life he
achieved great distinction as one of a small circle of court physicians to the
family of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, at the very heart of Roman society. Susan
Mattern's The Prince of Medicine offers the first authoritative
biography in English of this brilliant, audacious, and profoundly influential
figure.
A History of Present Illness by Anna Deforest
This “brutal and brave” (Booklist) novel transmutes the
practice of medicine into a larger exploration of humanity, the meaning of
care, and the nature of annihilation—physical, spiritual, or both.
Hunger: An Unnatural History by Sharman Apt Russell
Every day, we wake up hungry. Every day, we break our
fast. Hunger explores the range of this primal experience. Sharman
Apt Russell, the highly acclaimed author of Anatomy of a Rose and An Obsession with Butterflies, here takes us on a tour of hunger, from eighteen
hours without food to thirty-six hours to seven days and beyond. What Russell
finds-both in our bodies and in cultures around the world-is extraordinary.
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
From the New York Times bestselling author comes a
gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha
Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system
and wrote herself into American history.
Broken Places & Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the
Unexpected by Nnedi Okorafor
A powerful journey from star athlete to sudden paralysis to
creative awakening, award-winning science fiction writer Nnedi Okorafor shows
that what we think are our limitations have the potential to become our
greatest strengths.
Bleeding Blue and Gray: Civil War Surgery and the Evolution of American Medicine by Ira Rutkow
A landmark chronicle of Civil War medicine, Bleeding Blue
and Gray is a major contribution to our understanding of America’s bloodiest
conflict. Indeed, eminent surgeon and medical historian Ira M. Rutkow argues
that it is impossible to grasp the harsh realities of the Civil War without an
awareness of the state of American medicine at the time.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
The Vagina Bible by Jen Gunter
So many important questions, so much convincing, confusing,
contradictory misinformation! In this age of click bait, pseudoscience,
and celebrity-endorsed products, it’s easy to be overwhelmed—whether it’s
websites, advice from well-meaning friends, uneducated partners, and even
healthcare providers. So how do you separate facts from fiction? OB-GYN Jen
Gunter, an expert on women’s health—and the internet’s most popular go-to doc—comes
to the rescue with a book that debunks the myths and educates and empowers
women. From reproductive health to the impact of antibiotics and probiotics,
and the latest trends, including vaginal steaming, vaginal marijuana products,
and jade eggs, Gunter takes us on a factual, fun-filled journey.
Murder by Lamplight by Patrice McDonough
For fans of Andrea Penrose and Deanna Raybourn, and anyone
who relishes riveting, well-researched historical fiction, this inventive and
enthralling debut mystery set in Victorian London pairs the unconventional,
trailblazing Dr. Julia Lewis with a traditional and skeptical police inspector,
as they try to stop a wily serial killer whose vengeance has turned personal.
Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha
Mukherjee
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a documentary from Ken
Burns on PBS, this New York Times bestseller is “an extraordinary
achievement” (The New Yorker)—a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of
cancer—from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the
epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it to a
radical new understanding of its essence.
The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
“Mukherjee expresses abstract intellectual ideas through emotional
stories…[and] swaddles his medical rigor with rhapsodic tenderness, surprising
vulnerability, and occasional flashes of pure poetry” (The Washington Post).
Throughout, the story of Mukherjee’s own family—with its tragic and bewildering
history of mental illness—reminds us of the questions that hang over our
ability to translate the science of genetics from the laboratory to the real
world. In riveting and dramatic prose, he describes the centuries of research
and experimentation—from Aristotle and Pythagoras to Mendel and Darwin, from
Boveri and Morgan to Crick, Watson and Franklin, all the way through the
revolutionary twenty-first century innovators who mapped the human genome.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as
HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her
slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the
most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in
culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than
sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered
secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to
important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and
have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains
virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave. Henrietta’s family did not
learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when
scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research
without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a
multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family
never saw any of the profits.
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
For two thousand years, cadavers – some willingly, some
unwittingly – have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest
undertakings. They’ve tested France’s first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space
Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of
the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every
new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender confirmation surgery,
cadavers have helped make history in their quiet way. “Delightful―though never
disrespectful” (Les Simpson, Time Out New York), Stiff investigates
the strange lives of our bodies postmortem and answers the question: What
should we do after we die?
The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator by
Tim Winegard
A pioneering and groundbreaking work of narrative nonfiction
that offers a dramatic new perspective on the history of humankind, showing how
through millennia, the mosquito has been the single most powerful force in
determining humanity’s fate.
Some of Tess Gerritsen’s early books:
For Dr. Abby DiMatteo, the long road to Boston’s Bayside
Hospital has been anything but easy. Now, immersed in the grinding fatigue of
her second year as a surgical resident, she’s elated when the hospital’s elite
cardiac transplant team taps her as a potential recruit. But Abby soon makes an
anguished, crucial decision that jeopardizes her entire career. A car crash
victim’s healthy heart is ready to be harvested; it is immediately
cross-matched to a wealthy private patient, Nina Voss. Abby hatches a bold plan
to make sure that the transplant goes instead to a dying seventeen-year-old boy
who is also a perfect match. The repercussions are powerful and swift and Abby
is shaken but unrepentant—until she meets the frail, tormented Nina. Then a new
heart for Nina Voss suddenly appears, her transplant is completed, and Abby
makes a terrible discovery: Nina’s heart has not come through the proper
channels.
When an elderly patient with a critical, viral infection of
the brain mysteriously vanishes from the emergency room, ER resident Toby
Harper finds her job and home life coming under intense scrutiny, while her
search for the missing patient uncovers a frightening epidemic and a
nightmarish conspiracy.
Gerritsen again weaves frighteningly realistic medical
detail into heart-stopping suspense, as a small-town doctor races to unravel
the roots of a violent epidemic -- before it destroys everything she loves.
A NASA doctor conducts a deadly race against time to destroy
a lethal microbe as it multiplies in the International Space Station.
Terminal Choice (film) (Not available in JCLC, view on Youtube here)
A pioneering and groundbreaking work of narrative nonfiction
that offers a dramatic new perspective on the history of humankind, show
ing how
through millennia, the mosquito has been the single most powerful force in
determining humanity’s fate.
Lorenzo’s Oil (film)
True-life drama of a father and mother who battled against
the odds to save their son's life. Augusto and Michaela Odone are dealt a cruel
blow by fate: five-year-old Lorenzo is diagnosed with a rare and incurable
disease, but the Odones' persistence and faith leads to the cure which saves
their boy and re-writes medical history.
Andromeda Strain (film)
Chilling tale about a US research satellite carrying a
deadly extraterrestrial microscopic organism that crashes into a small town in
Arizona. A group of top scientists are hurriedly assembled in a bid to identify
and contain the lethal stowaway. Based on the novel by Michael Crichton.
The Thick and the Lean by Chana Porter
In the quaint religious town of Seagate, abstaining from
food brings one closer to God. But
Beatrice Bolano is hungry. She craves the forbidden: butter, flambé, marzipan.
As Seagate takes increasingly extreme measures to regulate every calorie its
citizens consume, Beatrice must make a choice: give up her secret passion for
cooking or leave the only community she has known. Elsewhere, Reiko Rimando has
left her modest roots for a college tech scholarship in the big city. A
flawless student, she is set up for success...until her school pulls her
funding, leaving her to face either a mountain of debt or a humiliating return
home. But Reiko is done being at the mercy of the system. She forges a third
path—outside of the law. With the guidance of a mysterious cookbook written by
a kitchen maid centuries ago, Beatrice and Reiko each grasp for a life of
freedom—something more easily imagined than achieved in a world dominated by
catastrophic corporate greed. A startling fable of the entwined perils of
capitalism, body politics, and the stigmas women face for appetites of every
kind, Chana Porter’s profound new novel explores the reclamation of pleasure as
a revolutionary act.
Posts
