5 comments about Adhd: An Autobiography of Survival.

1. I must heartedly disagree with MJPoston, Dr. Kuendig's book is FAR superior to "The Little Monster." Although both are autobiographical, ADHD: An Autobiography of Survival, is about the experience of ADHD and not just a bunch of stories about living with ADHD as is The Little monster. Regarding her statement that there are no treatment recommendations, MJPoston obviously did not read the book, because if he/she had it would have been woefully obvious that the entire book is about treatment. No, the treatment talked about in this book is not entirely clinical, but it is not meant to be. ADHD: An Autobiography of Survival is a wonderful book of experience...experience on a deep level, felt from within the heart of a person suffering from ADHD. Besides the fact that The Little Monster is almost double the price and delivers half the insight as ADHD: An Autobiography of Survival one must bear in mind that the purpose of Dr. Kuendig's book as stated in the intro, is to help those who live with ADHD undertand the INNER experience of ADHD and learn to modify THEIR behavior as much as if not MORE than the ADHD sufferer.
   PLease read this book first and save yourself some money and time, this book is clearly the best book, in my opinion, about the life of an individual with ADHD! I love this book and will continue to buy copies for my sons teachers every year!!!



2. It's been almost a yr to the day since I first read Dr. Kuendig's touching autobiography. After the second semester of this school year I found myself dusting off my copy (gives me a sense of comfort to read this book) and becoming my sons advocate at parent/teacher conferences. Once again I purchased multiple copies and distributed them thru the high school in hopes of "opening their eyes". After reading another review I decided to also purchase Little Monster....unfortunately it wasn't what I had hoped for- AT ALL! Again, Dr.Kuendigs book is a MUST READ FOR ANYONE, odds are that ADHD/ADD affects someone in your life...it will open your eyes and your heart!



3. A must read for any parent or spouse of an ADHD person!! Not only was this informative & truly helpful, but it was incredibly touching! Dr. Kuendig took a personal approach adding in the trials and tribulations that so many of us (and our children) face. I found myself both, crying & laughing thru the entire book! I gave copies to my son & the school guidance counselor.



4. Dr Kuendig's book is just what it states in the title - the story of his lifetime struggles with ADHD. His perspective is very personal and reflective as well as professional sound, as he is now a psychologist treating patients with ADHD.

   It's a wonderful story of one man's journey that you can use to get a perspective on living with ADHD. One warning: I was inclined to give it to my son to read; the story would be very comforting and encouraging to him. There are some discussions of a lifestyle of drugs and sex that may make it inappropriate for younger ages. Read it yourself first. It is well worth it.




5. First-hand experience from a professional and successful adult with ADHD. Touching, truthful, emotional. Allows reader, both with ADHD and without, to relate to the characteristics of the disease.

5 comments about Walking Out on the Boys.

1. Men groping women. Men coming on to women, and making incredible jackasses of themselves in the process. Men getting drunk and acting like barbarians. Men with one thing in mind. Men whose compulsion to talk about sex is so strong that they do it at highly inappropriate times in public. Men who think that pressuring women is their God-given right. If you think that what I just described is a high school football team on an overdose of steroids, you're wrong. These sexual antics weren't perpetrated by adolescents with testosterone bubbling out their ears, they were committed by male doctors at Stanford University. Not being stupid, these demigods put two and two together and realized that they could use their power to pressure women. One of these men made a fatal mistake, though: he pressured Dr. Frances Conley, a topnotch neurosurgeon and renowned researcher at Stanford. Bad move, fella. I suppose that guy never learned that if you're going to pick a fight, you don't provoke someone who can whack you back so hard you just might rethink whether it's wise to be a bully.

   As publicity spread about Dr. Conley's fight, more and more women came forward to reveal their stories. This was certainly an eye-opening book. Before reading it, I'd never given much thought about the sexual harassment of women in medicine and allied healthcare fields. Perhaps we're more civilized here in Michigan, because I've never seen or heard of any such hanky-panky. Well, let me revise that last statement: I have witnessed a lot of sexual inducement, but what I saw was women chasing men not the other way around. But everyone knows that those California folks are trendsetters.

   Dr. Conley never envisioned herself as a trendsetter, though. For years, she passively participated in the abuse until a concatenation of events convinced her that it was time to draw a line in the sand. To make a long story short, the men didn't believe she'd put up much of a fight, but she did, and they lost. Big time.

   (...) Perhaps the most chilling message in this book is that some men in positions of power are willing to use that power to stifle the careers of women. So what is an attractive woman to assume? That if she goes into medicine her pulchritude will serve as a magnet for sexual harassment? Perhaps this abuse is, unbeknownst to me, more pervasive than I think. I suppose because most of my friends are women, I can't understand men who view women as being somehow inferior. However, you shouldn't necessarily construe from that statement that I think women physicians are as competent, on average, as male physicians. There's no doubt that some are, and there's no doubt that Dr. Conley is a superior physician, not just competent. (...) My only major criticism of the book is that it is too focused upon abuse of women by men. Since the core of this book is hinged upon some of the depredations that ensue when power is abused, I think she could have achieved a more balanced perspective by pointing out that powerful people often use their power against men, too � not just women. I've seen male docs fight one another with such a vehemence that it made the stories in Dr. Conley's book seem as pleasant as afternoon tea and cookies with a neighbor. Consequently, while I don't intend to trivialize the unfortunate reality of the abuse Dr. Conley documents, it's important to keep in mind that this abuse is but one aspect of a much larger problem. In defense of Dr. Conley, broadening the scope of this book to include other aspects of hospital politics would have diluted the message she wished to inculcate, and it would have made for a very unwieldy book. With that in mind, I suppose I'm on shaky ground by wishing that her book had a wider focus. Her book, her demeanor, her dedication, her resolve, and her competence are commendable. Dr. Conley is a great doctor and I am happy to have met her, however indirectly, by reading this book.

   Review by Kevin Pezzi, M.D.




2. As a minority faculty in the academics Frances Conley's book vividly portrays the reality of the ivory tower that, though pretentiously progressive in ideas, is way behind the iota of gender equality that exists outside the academe. I, sometimes, feel I am living in the medieval period when entering the academe.

   When I first came across this book I thought this must have been written in the seventies and I could share it with my students as a historical autobiography of sexism in an academic institution. I was horrified to find that it was written in the nineties about one of the most prestigious institution in California.

   I have always felt alone, alienated in the academe and of course disconnected from other women who were struggling too much to bother with the problems of their women peers. This book validated my experience and helped me understand where my alienation was coming from.

   I wish this book could be a standard read for all freshman students in all universities. Only when women who appear to be in power tell their stories of powerlessness and abuse can we act collectively to stop the misogyny that exists among our men and more particularly among our elite men.




3. I'm not an MD or a PhD; I don't work in a hospital or academia. Yet I too have experienced sexual harassment, and I too have consulted the EEO department that is supposed to get involved in handling these issues, and I found that they were disinterested, that they gave subtle and obvious messages that the problem was "my" problem and not the corporation's, and that they relied on my being too timid or unmotivated to initiate a lawsuit so the whole thing could be, well, ignored. Sexual harassment exists because the society permits men (even encourages men) to expect that it is their right to harass women. Not all men harass, and not all men admire harassers. In fact, it is quite the opposite, but those who possess the attitude that women who dare to compete must be put down through sexual threat or debasement will harass (they also enjoy and even need it, since these men have very real problems). Through her description of her own experiences, the author illuminates the social mechanism of harassment. She also brings to light the story that all we women know -- what it feels like to be the victim not just of a troubled person but of an organization that insists she accept the role of victim. When we are harassed, we women discover the battle we are in, not against one man but against all those societies which are founded on (this does sound harsh, I know) the hatred of women. This is a marvelous book -- hard to read at times if you've been there -- but it is important that women know what we are facing (especially our daughters, who like us may have been programmed to think that all men will be nice to us, will treat us fairly, and that if someone is abusive, it is our own fault, there is something wrong with me, etc.). Important too is having the author detail the steps she took to handle the harassment. This is a very supportive book for anyone enduring just such a situation (harassment as well as gender discrimination, which is a lot more rife and a lot less obvious). I'd recommend this to any woman who is willing to step outside of the traditional role, because we all need to know what we are up against, how the system is going to fail us, and especially all the steps we are entitled to take to combat this problem so that we change society's viewpoint and not just our own. I'd also recommend this to men, because there are many who are supportive of women in the workplace. Our husbands and boyfriends need to read this book to know how difficult it is for women, because in the end we can only effect a change if we all stand together.



4. Frances Conley offers a compelling indictment of gender discrimination at Stanford Medical School, past and present, focussing on her own recent experience. I started this book at midnight and could not put it down until finishing it at 4 a.m. Conley provides case after case of medical school professors given virtually absolute and unchecked power over their subordinates and their subordinates' careers, abusing that power, and the medical school administration covering up that abuse. While she never addresses the issues of solidarity in the face of sexual harassment, her cases all indicate that when one woman protests, she loses, and only a pattern of abuse reported by multiple women leads to any punishment of the harassers at all. Conley was fortunate and grateful that 37 others came forward to support her claim that Gerald Silverberg engaged in inappropriate sexual contact and other activities counterindicating his capability for leadership. I'll be passing this book onto many women who have had the choice to be treated at Stanford Hospital and may well now rethink that choice.



5. Sadly, any woman who's achieved a doctorate (& not just in medicine) will relate wholeheartedly to this book. I greatly admire Dr. Conley's unbelievable courage in standing up to the Boys' Club & trying to make things better for women in academia. Hopefully this book will encourage ALL women to stand up to the misogyny & be heard.

No comments about Odyssey in Hell.

No comments about Stroke of Luck: Life, Crisis and Rebirth of a Stroke Survivor.

No comments about The Trouble with Lions: A Glasgow Vet in Africa (Wayfarer).

1 comments about Hippocrates, Volume IV: Nature of Man (Loeb Classical Library, No. 150).

1. In fact, the author of Ancient Medicine attributes the discovery of medicine to experiments in treating natural products to make them more suitable for human consumption, by "steeping, winnowing, grinding and sifting, kneading, baking ... combining the weaker components so as to adapt all to the constitution and power of man." This text is good as a reference guide for students studying in the medical field.

5 comments about You Are Here: A Memoir of Arrival.

1. I didn't really think I'd enjoy this book because it was advertised in the New Yorker. Shallow reasoning eh? But anyhow a very good friend gave me a copy of Gibson's book for my birthday and so I felt I had to read it. Well let that be a lesson to me, from now on I will scour the New Yorker looking at all its ads, for this particular book, a cross between a memoir and a novel, turned out to be very good. I could not put it down, even though I had a zillion other things to do. I just kept reading as the day wore on and the sun went down and I had to fumble with the lamp to switch it on without diverting my attention from the page.
   
   I felt I had to know what was happening with John, and what was up with Alan, and what was going to happen to Wesley once the full dimensions of John's illness became obvious. It isn't that the plot is so strong, indeed, hardly anything happens, so don't come to this book looking for Clive Cussler style action. No, it is Gibson's wonderful insight into all the little crazy things we humans do, that make the book so compelling. I feel not so much as that after reading his book I know Wesley Gibson, but rather that through some magical gift of X-ray vision into the heart, he knows me.
   
   I used to live in New York so I'm familiar with the rat race of trying to find somewhere decent to rent. And who hasn't lived through the misery of having someone die on you; even if you aren't in love with them, it still knocks you on your ass. With his love of language and his discernment and humility, Wesley Gibson brings all these things right to the surface, the place where the reader and writer extend hands and touch fingertips.



2. Maybe a requirement of reviewing a book is actually finishing it - but I just couldn't get through this one. The book basically details a gay man moving to New York and attempting to make it..... I thought it would be a great book, but I was mistaken. The author's language was obtuse... the phrase: TRYING TOO HARD comes to mind.... I'm sorry Mr. Gibson if I am being unfair - I'll try to finish your next one.



3. This book is generally good. I liked it and am glad I purchased it new. The problem is that it's almost like Gibson wrote this novel like a session on a psychologist's couch, with every little detail of every person he ever met and everything he ever experienced - without full regard for what the reader would like to hear. There are some details in here I find too graphic and disgusting, such as when he helped a morbidly obese neighbor off a toilet.
   
   The book gets a lot better halfway through, and continues to become more moving through the end. The story of Wesley's roommate John and his eventual death from lung cancer paints a beautiful picture of human frailty and the bonds that exist between us.
   
   I am enraptured of New York City and like to read people's accounts of it. I am also a writer like him. Gibson did not disappoint.



4. I read "You Are Here" as a recent vacation read... the cover design alone was inticing. I'm not sure I had an expectation of the book, but I found it to be dull and uninspired. Like the author, I moved to New York right out of college, but a lot of his experiences seemed more whiney and priviledged than pithy or universal. Can't live well in New York at a young age? Join the human race! Most people don't live well at that age. At times he seems grandiose, such as in passages where he talks about being depressed that he isn't a published author yet. Considering that his writing isn't much better than a lot of aspiring writers, his egotism (which may just be poorly expressed irony) detracts from his storytelling.

   All in all, "You Are Here" reads like the memoirs of some guy who lucked into a publishing contract. David Sedaris, breathe easy.




5. I did not find this book as good as other reveiwers made it sound. Most problematic for me was the too frequent use of tortured and cute metaphors and similes. More editing should have been done. Unless you can read "my heart hummingbirded in my chest". . ."I rolled my dewy Coke against my cheek". . ."platters of tuna melt the size of satellite dishes" and many, many more of such passages without a wince, you are better off with David Sedaris or Augusten Burroughs.

No comments about Doctors' Work: The Legacy of Sir William Osler.

5 comments about Just Love Me: My Life Turned Upside-Down by Alzheimers (Purdue Series on Ageing & Care).

1. This book has been such an eye-opener that I gave it to friends. As a caregiver to my mother with late stage Alzheimer, it was such a revelation for me to understand what she was going through. When see the fear and frustration on my mother's face when she knows she should remember something or when she is pretty sure that what she just said doesn't make sense,I remember the title of Jeanne's to "just love" her. All the stories that the author tells of forgetting what she meant to add to the conversation or blanking on the alphabetical order are all things that I watched my mother go through. I would get so frustrated with my mother when she erratically think we were going some place else or ask about someone who is dead. Now thanks to "Just Love Me" My Life Turned Upside-down By Alzheimer's, I know to just give my mother a smile or a hug. I know she can still appreciate the beauty of a sunset even though she sometimes forgets my name. And I know that she never asked to have Alzheimer's and that it is much more painful for her than it is for me.



2. Expected so much more from this book..a complete waste of money. Kept hoping it would get better but it never did! Read anything but this...you'll be glad you did.



3. A riveting account of Jeanne Lee's personal journey into the misunderstood world of Alzheimer's. Her story is sad, but allows the reader to get inside the mind of someone whose fears, frustration and worries about this mind-tangling disease provides a road map for us to be forever living in the moment. - Larry James, CelebrateLove.com, Author, "How to Really Love the One You're With"



4. ook Review

   Just Love Me, My Live Turned Upside-down by Alzheimer's
   by Jeanne L. Lee

   I think this book is a wake up to those of us who share in the care with someone with Alzheimer's. Jeanne tells it like it really is in words we can all understand. Jeanne has given me permission to use a few excerpts so that we can all begin to realize just what it feels like to those who have this horrible disease. Through reading this book, you will learn why you as a carepartner or caregiver need to have more patience and remember that it is the disease and not the person you love. Believe me, the person who has Alzheimer's or another dementia sure didn't ask for it. It is up to us, the TAB's (temporarily able brained) to learn to move into their world as best we can as they cannot, try as they may, always be able to cope in our world.

   I offer my sincere thanks to Jeanne for sharing her life with us in order to help all of us have more understanding.

   Page 26
   Did you ever take a full minute to decide which way a key goes in the hole? Maybe once, but five times a day? Or look in a phone book and not know which letter follows which letter? Try to add three numbers together and get five different answers? Walk into someone's house that you have been in many times and take ten minutes to get oriented as to whose house you are in, and what you are doing there? Watch a TV movie and forget what it's about in the middle? Read for hours and hours, having enjoyed it while you were reading it, but then it's all gone? Ride the bus and forget where you're going, and have to hunt through your weekly agenda to see where you're going and why? That is, if you remember you have somewhere to check. Lose or misplace something, not just occasionally, but four or five times in an hour? I can misplace my pen ten times in an hour. I can misplace my glasses, even though I have a pair in my purse, another pair in the bedroom and another "wandering" pair. All of a sudden they're all wandering, and then they're all in my purse. I clean up the same pile of stuff four or five times before it gets where it's going, and I used to be the best organizer in the world. Now it takes me two hours to prepare before I go anywhere.

   Page 32
   Something that I also find disturbing, especially with groups, is that I have to frequently interrupt, because, if I don't, by the time they're finished with their story I've forgotten what I wanted to add. I have to get people to understand that they can remember their story, and after I've said what I need to say, before I forget it, I'll shut up and let them finish. So, I either interrupt or lose what I was going to say, and what I have to say may be important to the conversation. This is hard for someone like me who was taught not to interrupt when someone else is talking, but it's the only way now. It's an awful feeling, but if people were more aware that this is the case for someone with Alzheimer's that would help. For those who want to say something and can't find the right words, it makes it seem like you have no intelligence. Combine that with feeling rude for having to interrupt, well, sometimes you just feel it's easier to let the thought go. That is why so many withdraw and don,t talk. But I do not think people should have to do that.

   A Note from Jeanne Lee
   Jamie My purpose in writing the book was to help people. You have my permission to use what you see fit. Anything short of cover to cover is open to you. I admire you for the ribbon and if I can help please let me do so. I am on a journey for earlystage awareness and moving right along. I hope to do a greyhound bus tour from LA to Portland stopping at towns to lecture and do book signings. If that turns out OK and the funds last I will do Portland to Vancouver BC. I do not have the support of oour archaic AD association so this is a one woman challenge to open the eyes of all the islands. I even borrowed $6000 from a friend to represent the United States as a person with dementia at the International Alzheimer's Convention in Barcelona. I do not want to toot my own horn but just to show you that I really am an advocate. Aloha Jeanne
   Thank you so much for The Ribbon.
   Jeanne L. Lee
   Author: "JUST LOVE ME"
   My Life Turned Upside-down by Alzheimer's




5. One could say that this book has a misleading subtitle: It would appear that Jeanne L. Lee's life has turned right side up because of her diagnosis of Alzheimer's.
   She says it like it is for her, and much of what she describes is true for this reader who has come to grips with his own diagnoses of Alzheimer's, unipolar depression, obesity, kidney failure, alcoholism, emphysema, and now diabetics, all within the last two years.
   Page after page she describes the various conditions of depression, alcoholism, dropping, forgetting, losing words, endless tests, denial by physicians, et al,, which plague all of us.
   But thanks to the diagnosis, she is able to confront the denial of early continued sexual abuse, her own and her father's alcoholism, and multiple relationships.
   The book is jumpy, and disjointed, but that is the nature of this species of dementia. Many of us demented ones have a huge sigh of relief, when all the eliminations are done, and the only culprit remaining is Alzheimer's,
   This is not a book for those professionals who are determined to establish that those of us with the disease have no valid information to share with them. This is not a book for those who are only interested in working with the caregivers. This is not a book for those who say why do anything meaningful, since we won't remember the patterns anyhow. This is not a book for those who flaunt memory improvement exercises which deny the loss of the ability to learn. This is not a book for those who talk, but do not listen. It is a book for the rest of us.
   Her main title says it all for this ALZer: "Just Love Me." But this love comes at a high price in the face of vincible ignorance.
   We will talk, even if the words are jumbled. We will read, even if the continuity disappears. We will listen, even if the sentences disappear into a black hole. But most of all, we will love, even when we are not loved by those around us.
   Lee has shown us the way out of our tunnels of loneliness and despair.
   Lee says: "I know there are many people out there who neeeed to hear from others, like themselves, that it's okay to goof up; it's okay to do stupid things; it's part of what's happening to this body and brain. But it doesn't have to be all bad. There is so much good, and so much you can still do. So what if you can't remember somebody's name. You can still say hello to a little old lady. You can still give flowers to soneone . You can still look at the ocean [like I did on a Senir Retreat last week] and say, 'Oh God, I'm so lucky.'" And thanks to this book, that is exactly how I will spend my time remaining. Thank you Jeanne.

2 comments about Amazing Medical Stories.

1. Amazing Medical Stories with one from the Titanic! So it's highly recommended. You can check your local library for this but its doubtful they have it.



2. This book is both informative and highly entertaining. Burden and Grant have distilled truly amazing stories of a medical ilk which pertain to and are of interest to both American and Canadian readers. I was fascinated by the pioneering medical research done by Alexander Graham Bell, especially his efforts to identify the location of the assassin's bullet in President Garfield, and Bell's breakthroughs in cancer and x-ray therapy. The new information on the Titanic and the weird coincidences which tie in the dead of the Titanic and the presence of her identical sister ship the Olympic with the Halifax explosion were downright spooky. The account of Dr. Brinkley's early "Viagra", the implantation of goats testicles in willing patients, really astounded me as to the extent people will go to rejuvenate sexual vitality.