1 comments about Snowshoe and Lancet: Memoirs of a Frontier Newfoundland Doctor.

1. Dr. Ecke's accounts are told with a bit of sterility, but he certainly enjoys his time in Newfoundland. It was a time when medical cures were limited, and the rural diet was a "made do" affair, but the people's spirit is contrasted against the stark landscape. Recommended read, especially for those familiar with the area or with ties to Notre Dame Bay, NF

No comments about Reassessing Foucault: Power, Medicine and the Body (Studies in the Social History of Medicine).

3 comments about A Measure of My Days: The Journal of a Country Doctor.

1. I had some spare time and was browsing through Amazon when I ran across this book. I have owned the hardcopy book for several years, I had purchased it after reading an article in "Life" magazine about Dr. Loxtercamp in which this book had been noted. I found the book most interesting and found myself walking through the area of Maine he practices as he went about journalling his days and his times & thoughts of his personal family time.

   I found the man and his story most inspiring. Alot of people in today's medicine either are in the field for the money or find themselves disallusioned with the field because of all the insurance buracracy. I find those people who are in their field because that is where they truly want to be and for the want of helping others to be a rare find.

   I could also follow along Dr. Loxtercamp's views and journeys of a small town doctor from working in the medical area. He tells his story compassionately and the reader can feel his humanity for others.

   Over the past couple of years, I had looked forward for another publication and writing for Dr. Loxtercamp but sadly never ran across progression of this book. I found myself wanting to know more about how his journey has progressed along in the small town medical practice.

   A highly suggested read.




2. I enjoyed this book a good deal, particularly Loxterkamp's attention to God and faith and the notion of ministering. I admire Loxterkamp's bravery for so much soul-searching over a year of his practice. This is a book to savor for those interested in rural medicine or family medicine. I give it 4 stars instead of 5 because I found his writing a bit labored. It's slow-going reading. It's also very much about him, him, him. A good contrast is to read Verghese's In My Own Country. Loxterkamp lacks Verghese's fluid style and attention to others. Despite his efforts to humanize, Loxterkamp presents fairly 2-dimensional portraits of his patients. This book is really more of an interior meditation, albeit a very good one.



3. This is the first book in a long time that I read with care. Usually I skim through pretty rapidly. I liked his candor and insight into his patients' lives. It was interesting how he managed to intertwine his professional life with his family. I enjoyed his constant concern about the effect of religion on his life and others. His questions about death and dying were good. It has to be of concern for all of us eventually. I recommended this book to our local librarian!

3 comments about When Bull Elephants Fight: an American Surgeon's Chronicle of Congo.

1. Roger Youmans is a man who puts action to his convictions. From being the first white college student to join a black fraternity in the 1950's to his several mission trips to Congo, Youmans acted upon his understanding, compassion and faith. When approached about the mission trip to Congo, he says the question in his mind changed from "Why would any American doctor want to go to Congo and get into that mess?" to "How would we go about doing it?" Totally unprepared in his own eyes, he found a way. He departed for Congo on his first missionary trip before the end of his internship. He and his wife, Winkie, launched an adventure with little preparation, little knowledge of the language and with two very young daughters. The story of the family's life in a very different cuture, his own frustration with the deficiencies of the Congo medical system and the perseverance of the Youmans family cause one to assess one's own faith. It is a challenge to compare the sacrifice of the Youmans' and the poverty of the people of Congo with our own comfort and affluence. It raises the questions, "Where is the 'grass being trampled (the people suffering) within my reach?" and "How shall I respond?"



2. This is a beautiful story that should be read by everyone who loves Africa. It tells of a young couple's willingness to sacrifice a comfortable life in America to bring quality medical care and loving service in a remote, primitive setting. It will challenge you to examine your own values in a demanding secular world.



3. I loved this book! Although it was a memoir of events beginning 50 years ago, the personal, humane writing style made it all seem so very current. After all, racism in this country and horribly ignored problems in Africa are all too current today. Roger Youmans' good heart, medical talents and progressive attitudes are heroic, but he relates the events humbly and simply, but never condescendingly. That it was written by a missionary at first worried me that the book would be "preachy." Absolutely not. Faith and religion are on the sidelines of this family's bravery and struggles, nevertheless guiding them and providing them with what it takes to immerse themselves into a very foreign culture and embrace its problems and needs with open, trusting hearts. Read this book to not only learn about Africa, but how a human being lives in the world honestly, confronting racism personally--not politically.

2 comments about On My Own Terms.

1. This is a compelling story of a woman's life and her struggle with various kinds of adversity. I loved that instead of focussing on the pain and the horror of the events in her life, D. Barriere used them to speak about her personal growth and the triumph of her human spirit after much struggle. She was successful in making me think, making me sad, making me joyful for her successes and a book that is able to draw those emotions from me is a rare and treasured thing.



2. On My Own Terms is a very powerful book! The author had me identifying with her. I was often in tears when I was reading this book. It addresses so many issues that deserve further thought. I truly recommend this book to anyone, as the author sheds a great deal of insight as to how a person is affected by abusive parents. This book left me with a feeling that we can all overcome obstacles, no matter what a person has endured. Darlene Barriere's book is truly inspirational.

No comments about Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan.

1 comments about Living with Prostate Cancer.

1. Audrey Currie Newton's "Living With Prostate Cancer" is a practical easily understood account exploring the nature of the cancer men fear most. The book is an integrated story examining both the medical as well as the intimate aspects of the disease.

   Today's increasing life span combined with advanced diagnosis has revealed prostate cancer as being the second leading cause of all cancer deaths in men. Each man and his loved ones will seek an emotional life-line, a sign of hope, when prostate cancer strikes.

   "Living With Prostate Cancer" would be very helpful to those men who contract the disease and to those that love them. The book is a fast paced emotional experience.

5 comments about Country Doctor: A Memoir.

1. This book is a gem. It is published by an obscure publisher, and is a diamond in the rough. The author must be a remarkable person. He ends up becoming a psychiatrist, and it shows: his memoir is written with compassion and insight. It is one of the best medical memoirs I've ever read (I read a lot!) The book was full of substance (sometimes these memoirs are very light, and can be read in a couple of hours. Not this book.) But I have to emphasize that I thought it was a page-turner and I could *not* put it down. I don't usually write reviews but took the time to do so for this book because I thought it was so extraordinary.



2. Country Doctor is a great read. It's fun, interesting, and fast reading. It tells about life in frigid Canada when times were tough (snow blowing in under the door!). Ben tells of himself and others in a way that comes across as truthful--the good and the bad. It's a bit like All Creatures Great and Small in a completely different setting and the multiple stories surround Ben's growing from a kid through adulthood in medical school and beyond.



3. Many people do not know that Dr Dlin in addition to his abilities as a doctor, veternarian, dentist etc. was perhaps an unwitting pioneer in the area of "Public Health Crisis Management". The complete story is detailed in the book about a health crisis that threateded to wipe out an amimal (instead of human) community. Dr. Dlin's intervention pre-saged the operations of the modern day M.A.S.H unit - or better, (I'm not sure of the exact name) National Health - Contageous Disease (CDC? - in Atlanta) Center's emergency protocols that have only been in existance for perhaps the last 30 years or so. To whit: Isolation and triage of the sick; team approach (in this case he drafted the local community); assembly line (lined up the animals in rows - each with a nurse/caretaker); got people to bring commercial oxygen cylinders from throughout the community (most farmers had oxygen tanks for welding); Dr.Dlin brought anitbiotics, face masks and other emergency materials in bulk from the local (clinic/hospital?). Then, training everyone in the necessary emergency procedures and building bonfires all around the "operating theatre" for both heat and light through the night (no electric lights then) brought the whole herd thru the crsis losing only the animals who were already dead before Dr. Dlin's intervention - quite simply, as remarkable a "generalship" as any war story I've ever read. There are many other lessons in the book which I feel every medical student in the country would do well to learn - plus these stories are fascinating to the laynan.



4. Ben Dlin's book gave me a real sense of what life would be like growing up in post-World War II rural Canada. His descriptions are so true to life that they run the gamut, from allowing you to smell the delicious scent of his mother's fresh pastries to visualizing the many primitive medical procedures he had to improvise. From the woman with the gigantic stomach tumor that turned out to be constipation caused by her ingesting glass, stones, and other materials which he had to remove manually, to the "ice pick" lobotomy for mental illness, which today could be simply treated by medication, Dlin's description is uncanny. He sets forth in a non-clinical way his struggles to be admitted and graduate from medical school with its highly limited admissions and the medical help he had to give against sub-zero temperatures with little or no medical supplies. He even relates the medical advice and remedies he learned from his mother as a child and utilized them into his practice.

   And it's not just people that Ben Dlin took care of but also animals with all kinds of different ailments from broken legs to pregnancy.

   The life of this country doctor and his warm, sometimes humorous, and always sincere relationship with his family, friends, co-workers, and patients provides a wonderful depiction of a rural country doctor's practice and the challenges he must meet on a day-to-day basis.




5. Whether you intend to become a doctor or have simply received medical attention you must read this book. It's a personal account of the author as a young man growing up in the country, becoming a doctor and learning through his experiences as a country doctor the very human side of medicine. This book is filled with the warmth and sensitivity of a truly caring doctor and should serve as an example to all doctors of a truly humanistic approach to medicine.

1 comments about Remembering Brad: On the Loss of a Son to AIDS.

1. A deeply religious Mormon family struggles with their son's homosexuality and subsequent death from Aids. The book traces the father's initial resistance to his ultimate acceptance, despite the conflict of organized religion. The book includes journals written by the son, reflecting his ambivalence and turmoil as his sexual orientation became more and more obvious. It is a sad book, as it would be in the tragic loss of a child, but in very important ways, it is a tribute to his life

No comments about Patients Don't Lie.