No comments about Epilepsy In Our Lives: Women Living with Epilepsy (The Brainstorms Series).

2 comments about Fire, Blood and Forty Below.

1. Fire, Blood and Forty Below, set in Fairbanks Alaska in the 1980's, chronicles the first year of a new volunteer firefighter/EMT.
   
   Written in journal entry style, the pace of this book is fast. Most authors seem to think that filling a book with detailed descriptions of clothing, food, and room decorations makes them more "literary" so they tend to do it - ad nauseum. That is not the case here, there are no extraneous words, every word is necessary and valuable.
   
   Another thing that seems quite difficult for most authors to pull off, but that Alan does with great ease, is humor. I've read books that were supposedly humorous and had a hard time finding anything to even be amused by - throughout this book I was not only amused, but chuckling and laughing out loud!
   
   Since the majority of our nation's firefighters are members of volunteer fire departments, this book would give anyone considering the field an idea of what to expect, especially in a rural setting.



2. Alan tells a compelling tale of his experiences as a Firefighter in Alaska.
   This is a great book.

2 comments about Outrunning Your Shadow : Caring For Dying Parents.

1. If you find yourself in a position to care for a parent, then this is the book to read. It is an excellent book to begin to understand all of the emotions, mental and physical challenges that a primary caregiver experiences. Until I read this book, I thought I was all-alone with these feelings. I thank Fred Hill for making me feel that I am not alone anymore. This book is a must read for any caregiver. It is packed with inspiration to carry on!



2. If you find yourself in a position to care for a parent, then this is the book to read. It is an excellent book to begin to understand all of the emotions, mental and physical challenges that a primary caregiver experiences. Until I read this book, I thought I was all-alone with these feelings. I thank Fred Hill for making me feel that I am not alone anymore. This book is a must read for any caregiver. It is packed with inspiration to carry on!

1 comments about Voices of Scleroderma Volume 1.

1. This is Dr. Seibold's introduction in the ISN's Voices of Scleroderma Volume 2, the second book in this series. Dr. Seibold is Chair of the ISN Medical Advisory Board. He is Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the University of Michigan Scleroderma Program in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
   
   We welcome you to Voices of Scleroderma, a major contribution from the International Scleroderma Network (ISN). Scleroderma occurs in only around thirty people per million per year. Therefore, since it is so uncommon, patients have great difficulty finding access to expert care or even another similarly afflicted patient with whom they can share their experience.
   
   Access to high quality reliable modern information is crucial to patient well-being and outcomes. The realization that "you ARE NOT alone" has therapeutic value in its own right.
   
   I am Chair of the ISN Medical Advisory, a scleroderma researcher, and a member of the Scleroderma Clinical Trials Consortium. The SCTC is an international charitable organization of academic centers dedicated to elevating the pace and quality of scleroderma research. The SCTC works closely with the ISN in the education of both patients and caregivers.
   
   I have been interacting with the ISN on a variety of fronts, most notably in our shared goal of providing up to date and accurate information to the scleroderma community on a worldwide basis. Over the past six years, I have watched the amazing development of the site that Shelley Ensz created at www.sclero.org. I have seen it evolve from her personal site of one page to become the ISN site, now encompassing over one thousand pages in eighteen languages.
   
   The ISN site has brought together both the medical and patient communities from throughout the world. According to the recent TrustGauge Report of Internet traffic, it is in the top one hundred thousand of all Web sites, far ahead of all other scleroderma-related sites.
   
   In my view, the primary reason for this stellar success is the high quality of site content, as well as the multilingual, international reach, which is also an important driving force.
   
   Remarkably, the ISN has a small team of committed, dedicated volunteers who have seized the amazing capabilities of the Internet to provide exceptional, worldwide service and assistance to patients with scleroderma.
   
   More notably, from this enterprising site, the ISN has in turn developed into a thriving nonprofit organization. It is really a classic example of reversing the order of development. Rather than an established organization simply developing a Web site, a remarkably effective Web site developed into a full-service charitable organization.
   
   The ISN expands upon its cyberspace outreach by publishing Voices of Scleroderma. Every volume in this book series features articles from esteemed scleroderma researchers as well as over one hundred patient and caregiver stories, from sixteen countries, and in five languages.
   
   The ISN enjoys a well-deserved reputation for top-notch medical and support information and services from both the patient and medical organizations throughout the world. Today, over five dozen dedicated volunteers, including many doctors and translators, operate the ISN.
   
   Our ISN Medical Advisory Board includes illustrious experts in this field, such as Dr. Luis Catoggio of Buenos Aires, Argentina; Dr. Marco Mattucci-Cerinic of Florence, Italy; Dr. C. Stephen Foster of Boston, Massachusetts; Dr. Janet Pope of London, Ontario; Dr. Frank van den Hoogen of The Netherlands; and Dr. Shinichi Sato of Kanazawa, Japan.
   
   Dozens of other renowned leaders in their field also generously lend their expertise to the ISN, primarily as contributing authors, medical editors, scientific advisors, and translators. All of our ISN volunteers met and work only through the Internet. Their efforts have made quality medical and support information on this rare disease available worldwide.
   
   I hope you find this book of value, and that you also consider offering support to the ISN. It is only with a partnership of patients and scientists in a concerted worldwide effort that we will solve the riddle of scleroderma.

1 comments about Dax's Case: Essays in Medical Ethics and Human Meaning.

1. This is, literally, a textbook case for medical ethics and the right-to-die -- to determine one's own destiny. In 1973 "Dax" was critically injured in a propane gas explosion that took his father's life and burned more than 65% of Dax's own body. For more than a year, Dax underwent painful treatment. In the end he was left totally blind, permanently disfigured, and severely maimed. Today, Dax lives productively and in reasonable comfort, practicing law in Henderson, Texas. His story would seem a tragedy with a happy ending. But it is far more complex than that interpretation would suggest, for Dax Cowart wanted to be allowed to die following his accident - and he believes even now that he should have been granted that escape from his suffering. His story embodies a range of medical, moral, and legal questions that challenge professionals in many fields and confront individuals in every walk of life. How do we define "life" and "death?" When do we withdraw life support. Who makes such decisions? A cautionary tale if ever there was one.

No comments about A Woman Doctor's Civil War: Esther Hill Hawks' Diary (Women's Diaries and Letters of the Nineteenth-Century South).

5 comments about EMT: Beyond the Lights and Sirens.

1. Pat Ivey is a fantastic author; her style of writing keeps the reader involved-almost attached to the story. You feel like you are standing right there with her in the memories and scenes. Beyond The Lights and Sirens was the first book that I had ever read from cover to cover and enjoyed every page. EMT: Rescue was just as great; in twenty-two years, I had never read a book thoroughly, as I did these. I've been an EMT for six years, and I didn't even read my EMS texts from cover to cover. I have never began a book that kept my mind involved as well as Ms. Ivey did. If she would happen to read this, I'd like to thank her. I recommend this book to anyone that has put their heart into EMS, and their community. Thanks Pat!



2. I'm an EMT with a rual volunteer squad in the same county as Pat Ivey is. I've worked with her numerous times and the same compassion she shares in the book she shows on scene. "EMT: Beyond the Lights and Sirens" shares the heart that Pat has for her community. It's true, it's not just the lights and sirens that make up a rescue squad, it the heart of compassion of the heroes that volunteer their time to serve their community.



3. Another bomb. I'm an EMT in one of the top rated systems in the world. This book, is not the best I've read. Although Pat and Ed are outstanding EMT's, they make the job sound like you just drive there, get on-scene and be a cowboy. I disagree with the reputation they give all public safety personnel.



4. This book was given to me by a friend of mine when I passed the Virginia EMT test. I was 17 and a litte unsure of myself, and the reason I became involved in EMS. 7 years later I still answer the call that Pat so eloquently describes in this book and her other book EMT: Rescue. Having met Pat last year at the annual Virginia EMS Symposium, I was even more impressed with the way that she handled and presented herself to the many people that came to listen. Her book is one of the best that I've read concering EMS and life in general. Thank you.



5. Pat Ivey takes you far and beyond the title of EMT or cardaic technician. She takes you "beyond the lights and sirens." She lets you experience not only the adernaline rush of working in EMS but also the emotional stand point of the system Working in the system myself I have found the book to be a great inspirational guide. To know that everybody looses patients and people just die sometimes. She also gives you the motivation to do as much as you can in EMS. Excellent author and an excellent plot. GREAT BOOK PAT.

1 comments about Help for the Caring: a Bibliography and Filmography for Family Caregivers of Alzheimer's Patients.

1. Expertly compiled by Brenda Parris Sibley, Help For The Caring is an impressively organized bibliography and filmography gathering and presenting information about literary biographies, poetry, fiction, and instructional and dramatic movies focused on the subject of Alzheimer's disease and taking care of those stricken with it. An exemplary resource, packed with descriptions, web sites, and more, and with its bibliographic entries sorted into several main categories according to subject matter, Help For The Caring is a very highly recommended resource for anyone charged with the personal or professional responsibility of caring for Alzheimer's family members or patients.

3 comments about 100 MPH With My Hair on Fire!.

1. Bob takes you on his journey from beginning to end, describing his fears and triumphs along the way. It is an honest, thought-provoking, and enjoyable read. There is much to be learned by reading Bob's story. It made me think, and continues to make me think, about my own life.

   It's refreshing to hear someone openly share about the role of their faith in their life, and in their recovery.

   Rock on, Bob!




2. Bob Benson's book 100 MPH With My Hair on Fire was a quick and enjoyable read,yet very thought provoking. The book is a narrative discussion about how his drive to succeed in the business world often came at the expense of his health and time with family. A health crisis forces him to reflect on his lifestyle,priorities and spirituality. The story he tells should strike a cord with many of us. He is the typical white collar executive striving for the "good life." Sound familiar? Mr. Benson's style is brutally honest and heartfelt. The book uses humor and a quick wit to temper the very serious topic of facing your mortality at a young age. He beat the odds and learned some valuable life lessons.
   As a Christian and a health professional, I found it refreshing to see him bravely discuss the role his religious beliefs played in facing and dealing with his health crisis. Mr.Benson took a tough,sensitive topic and made it real. This book will appeal to both men and women. It is a "must read" for the Type A persononality in your life!



3. Engaging narrative and thoughts of a 36 year old corporate executive and family man who survived a heart attack caused by his lifestyle. It hits home as he describes how, during treatment, his faith and family life evolve to the proper perspective.

   Bob was in good health with no family history of heart problems. He dismissed conventional wisdoms about stress and healthy eating - as we all do. The book is a great reminder to take work a bit less seriously and pay better attention to God and his blessings.

   Uplifting and motivational.

5 comments about Clear Springs: A Memoir.

1. I'd never read any of Bobbie Ann Mason's work before reading Clear Springs for a book club. I believe I may be missing out if her other books are like this one. There is a warmth to her story that makes it a real pleasure to read. Mason's language, too, is comfortable and highly readable. Her rhythms, especially, give a real richness to her prose. I highly recommend this.



2. Bobbie Ann Mason has done a wonderful job with "Clear Springs". I did not grow up in Kentucky in the baby boom generation, but I did grow up in rural southern Missouri just after it, and this story is so very like what I was familiar with. Ms. Mason is of my mother's generation and except for the disfunction there are many similarities between this story and stories my mother has told. My family reminded me of the older Masons and not the disfunctional Lees. The isolation of rural life, but the joy in many ways that come from it. The curiosity of the outside world, but the fear of it. She relates that Clear Springs hadn't changed much since the Civil War and she was correct in that. The world that slowly evolved for most Americans changed before this rural generation's eyes. A Great book!



3. When writing a memoir, authors are advised to write the first draft as if everyone is dead - and then to prune the damaging parts in subsequent rewrites. Perhaps Mason pruned a bit too much. This otherwise lovely and affectionate memoir of how it was to grow up in a small, working-class town in Kentucky in the 40s and 50s is a bit long on respect and caution - and a bit short on grit.
   Otherwise, I loved it. I grew up in Kansas in the 50s and can relate to the pace, small-town values, and lack of danger (except from the "evil Communists" and "the bomb") that Mason portrays as such inherent parts of her roots. Her language, esp in the first part of the book focusing on her own childhood memories, is rich and multi-layered and pulls readers into every scene right along with her. In the rest of the book, she uses the techniques of creative nonfiction to weave a background narrative that spans the lives of three generations of women within the community.
   A worthwhile read; it won't change your life, but it might make you think, and it's certainly a pleasant trip to take with this accomplished author.



4. Indispensible to serious readers of Mason's fiction, this memoir is true to family and community life in Western Kentucky (despite what other reviewers might say).



5. I'm an appreciative fan of Bobbie Ann Mason's short stories, about rural people raised with traditional values now somewhat at sea in a world of consumerism, pop culture, and a new morality. Young adults, whose parents would have stuck with a marriage come hell or high water, now divorce and drift through relationships. Their parents tied to the land and other life-long occupations, Mason's post-war generation is less rooted, freed of conventional beliefs, but often at a loss about what to believe in. Most striking as America grows increasingly urban, Mason's people continue to inhabit a rural landscape -- more worldly than their forebears, but not more sophisticated.

   While some readers of Mason's stories and novels may have been puzzled by the point of view in them (ironic? matter of fact? sentimental?), this wonderful memoir should do much to clear up that ambiguity. Here a reader is introduced to the world of day-to-day experience that these narratives have emerged from. And you can begin to see how the matter of fact, ironic, and sentimental blend into a perspective that is distinctly rural American. The strongest individual (who is surely the source of many of Mason's fictional characters) is without doubt her mother, a remarkable woman with a quizzical sense of humor, a colorful manner of speaking, and a long view that comes of witnessing much of the 20th century at first hand.

   A list of highlights in this book would go on for pages; there's just so much to savor and enjoy. There's Mason's own unsophisticated childhood (barefoot summers, crushes on pop stars, rock and roll fandom), the making of the film "In Country," and the continuing transformation of the rural Kentucky environment from horse-and-buggy days to the invasion of agribusiness -- a huge processing plant has sprung up across the road from the family farm.
   
   I recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed Mason's fiction. It is rich with thoughtful and well-observed detail reaching back across three generations of family history.