On a broader level, Michael Lewis’ The Premonition is about the Covid-19 pandemic and the United States’ failure to act before it became too late. On On a broader level, Michael Lewis’ The Premonition is about the Covid-19 pandemic and the United States’ failure to act before it became too late. On a smaller level, it is about the men and women who foretold of the challenges that the country would face in the event of an inevitable pandemic.
Lewis digs deeply into the hopelessly broken United States healthcare system and how it was ultimately doomed to fail in the face of a national health crisis. Given the fact that there is seemingly no connective tissue between the federal and state levels, you have the most apathetic, incompetent and appalling president in the country’s long history, it is amazing that anyone made it through to the other side.
And the most maddening aspect of what I’ve just written is that it is unlikely to ever change. The country is so stuck in its ways, it is like pulling teeth for anything to change for the better. There are levels upon levels of bureaucratic muck to wade through in order to get anything pushed through into action and with a society so entrenched in division, it’s likely to remain this way for years to come.
It’s easy to look at Trump and throw the blame squarely at his feet, but it’s not all his fault, surprisingly. Blame should rest at the feet of the CDC, an organization entrusted with public safety, who refused to acknowledge the danger before it was too late. You could blame social media, a platform that has gotten wildly out of control in giving everyone a voice, no matter how irresponsible and willfully ignorant they are.
The Premonition shines a spotlight on heroes like Charity Dean, a brilliant woman who has made a career out of trusting her gut and putting the welfare of others ahead of her own best interests. We meet Carter Mecher, a man tasked in 2004 with drafting the nation’s pandemic playbook – one that was ultimately ignored by the “play-it-down” style of government mismanagement. But perhaps the most maddening is Joe DeRisi, a biochemist out of California, who along with a team of volunteers, has the capacity to process over 2,500 FREE Covid-19 tests per day, but were rebuffed because the for-profit healthcare system could not handle a free service OR healthcare providers were prohibited from using them as they had exclusive contracts with labs that charge for tests.
There is so much more to this book than what I’ve written here. Despite operating within the constraints of an endlessly frustrating system, there are still those who choose to push forward and over achieve. We are so lucky to have these people in our world as it is far easier to just look after oneself and throw out an “it’s not my problem” in hopes to absolve some kind of guilt. Lewis gives these heroes their due and one worries that if nothing changes, will they always be there to bail us out?...more
Hidden Valley Road tells the true story of the Mimi and Don Galvin and their twelve children, six of whom would develop schizophrenia. Through hundredHidden Valley Road tells the true story of the Mimi and Don Galvin and their twelve children, six of whom would develop schizophrenia. Through hundreds of hours of interviews with the surviving family members as well as medical professionals, author Robert Kolker (The Lost Girls) paints a portrait of a debilitating and heartbreaking mental illness that destroys not only the lives of those afflicted but the lives of family members and loved ones.
Last year, I watched an episode of Vice TV’s Dark Side of the Ring (a documentary series spotlighting the dreadful history of the wrestling industry) that focused on the tragic and horrifying events that had befallen the Von Erich family. Just as you think the family couldn’t take another catastrophe, they would be blindsided by more misfortune. That episode made me wonder just how a father or a mother could continue to push forward in the shadow of such overwhelming loss. The same can be said for Mimi and Don – two parents who had to watch their children succumb to a destructive disease that would completely consume their lives. One is bad enough – but six?
This is a particularly heart-wrenching read in so many ways. You have the boys who were helpless to stop the disease from completely shattering their lives. You have the parents who have to struggle both to provide for a family as well as to manage the sheer amount of chaos contained within day to day life. You have the other six children who are expected to live their own lives all while worrying about a potential ticking time bomb in their own brains in wondering, “am I next?”
I found the circumstances surrounding each child’s psychotic break gripping and fascinating. Kolker did an admirable job getting into the mind of each Galvin boy by laying out the completely random nonsense they would say out loud to anyone who would listen. That said, I did find the sections dealing specifically with the research alongside the struggle to understand how and why the disease operates more than a little dull and at times difficult to follow. To be honest, I didn’t even know exactly what schizophrenia was until I read this book. While I appreciated the explanations, when Kolker started writing about mapping out the human genome and discovering the specific genes that led to the illness’ development, I became more than a little lost on a few occasions. That’s probably on me though. I don’t know how one would write about the research and science of the disease without getting into a lot of jargon.
With Hidden Valley Road, Robert Kolker put forth a commendable effort to get inside the madness of mental illness. It is an engaging read that will likely land on my list of top non-fiction at year’s end....more
In 1951, Henrietta Lacks passed away due to complications arising from cervical cancer. Following her death, cancerous cells were harvested from her bIn 1951, Henrietta Lacks passed away due to complications arising from cervical cancer. Following her death, cancerous cells were harvested from her body and used in ongoing experiments regarding the growth of cells outside the human body. Previous to Henrietta, scientists could only make it a few days before the cells would ultimately die, forcing them to start all over. Henrietta’s cells were different, they grew at an astounding rate and researchers were able to keep them alive. Since the discovery, they've been used in countless experiments and led to numerous scientific breakthroughs - most notably the polio vaccine.
Today, Henrietta’s cells usually go for a few hundred dollars a vial but her descendants live in poverty. While many of her children believe they should be compensated for the sale of HeLa cells, court cases involving similar claims have always found in favor of research companies rather than individuals - the argument being that once a procedure is performed and tissue is removed from a body, it is no longer of use to the individual and the hospital can do with it as it pleases, be it incineration or study. On one hand, it makes sense given that it was highly doubtful Henrietta’s husband could have opened a cellular research facility, however, the problem lies within the fact that researchers did not tell Henrietta’s family about the importance of HeLa cells and lied to her children when additional bloodwork was requested for further study.
The story of the Lacks family is a heartbreaking one. Henrietta had a terrible upbringing and following her death, things became that much worse for her children. While the book mainly concentrates on the HeLa cells, there’s a shocking piece on her daughter Elsie, who had been diagnosed with “idiocy” and institutionalized at Crownsville Hospital Centre (a.k.a. The Hospital for the Negro Insane) following her mother’s death. The conditions at the time of Elsie’s arrival were deplorable. They had a total of eight attendants (four in the day, four in the evening) for five hundred and sixty patients. One ward in particular had seventy eight patients with only twenty eight beds. There were also only three toilets to share amongst them all. You can imagine how much this upset the family when they found out decades later.
While The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks can be deeply upsetting, it is without a doubt an important book. Author Rebecca Skloot spent years interviewing the Lacks family (which at times was certainly no easy task) and researching Henrietta’s life and death, all information that had been buried over time. The story flows well and her afterword provides greater insight into the legal ramifications of future soft tissue research. Henrietta’s youngest daughter Deborah always wanted the world to know about the person behind the HeLa cells, the real human being who provided the ammunition for several medical discoveries. Thanks to Rebecca’s tireless work, Henrietta Lacks' incredible true story is out there for the world to see.
Want to know what happens when we die? You and everyone else apparently. Many people believe in some sort of continuation be it an afterlife, reincarnWant to know what happens when we die? You and everyone else apparently. Many people believe in some sort of continuation be it an afterlife, reincarnation or maybe that your soul sticks around and haunts old, abandoned mansions? Unfortunately, no one really knows for sure. With Spook, Mary Roach isn’t going to provide you with a concrete answer but rather an exploration of several beliefs and possibilities.
I didn’t enjoy this one nearly as much as Stiff. It’s not to say it’s a poorly written book, I just found my interest waning at certain points. That being said, there are some interesting chapters detailing EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) reincarnation, ectoplasm and the ongoing search for the human soul but they felt long winded and repetitive. With Stiff, Roach’s research is scientific and factual whereas with Spook, it’s a lot of interviews with folks who are speaking about belief systems and faith. I’m not trying to knock organized religion or anything, it just didn’t hold my attention as much as Stiff, or even Packing for Mars.
If anything, seek out the chapters about her enrollment and experience in medium school. I’m not the biggest fan of that “profession” and while she goes on record in detailing her personal skepticism, I found that she provided a fair and balanced approach regarding the students and professors.
I’d be interested to hear thoughts from someone who carries a firm belief in the afterlife and what, if anything, this book did for them. I consider it a fault of mine to be unable to shut off the voice in my head screaming, “You’re lying! None of this is possible!” when Mary is interviewing someone. If I could, I’m sure I would have enjoyed it a lot more....more
Ever wonder what happens to your body after you die? For most of us, we’re either buried six feet under in a box or cremated and poured into an urn. TEver wonder what happens to your body after you die? For most of us, we’re either buried six feet under in a box or cremated and poured into an urn. That being said, there are a few folks who make the decision to donate their mortal vessel to science. In Stiff, Mary Roach explores the world of cadaver research with a humorous, often conversational tone that’s far removed from the dry, overbearing tomes from your high school biology class.
I had a bad experience with Mary Roach about two years ago when I took a chance on an audiobook version of Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. While the subject matter was interesting, the narrator was about as fun to listen to as a seminar on box factories put on by Ben Stein after he woke up from a nap. After making my way through Bill Bryson’s One Summer: America, 1927 a few months ago, I wanted back on the Mary Roach train. I decided to grab one of her more known books, Stiff.
Stiff is a fun, informative, albeit morbid experience in which Mary covers a wide variety of uses for the human body after its expiration date. Roach visits a body farm where the departed are studied during various stages of decomposition, a research lab that studies the effects of car crashes on cadaver test dummies and even discusses ill fated head transplant experiments. There are also crucifixion tests, practice patients for surgeons in training and when exactly a person should be considered legally dead and thus available for organ harvesting.
Without a doubt, Stiff has definitely renewed my interest in checking our more Mary Roach. I can’t wait for the next time someone brings up dead bodies at a party so I can flex my random cadaver knowledge.