Twice As Hard

Jasmine Brown, a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania, recently published Twice As Hard, a history of black women physicians in the United States. Before med school, she graduated from Washington University in St. Louis and was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford. Her book considers at the social and structural barriers blacks had to overcome to pursue a career in medicine. This was and is especially difficult for black women.

Twice As Hard looks of the careers of nine early black women physicians as the author compares their trials with her own struggles. They, and other black women physicians, helped her to understand what she was up against even today to achieve her dream.

Ms. Brown’s interview on February 15, 2023 by the Bellevue Literary Review can be accessed on You Tube.

 

Raising Lazarus

 by Beth Macy

After reading many books about the Opioid Epidemic, I was not sure I needed to read Raising Lazarus; but I was wrong.

Amazon Review: Beth Macy compels us not to look away from those who are suffering from the opioid epidemic. Her philosophy is reflected in the book’s title, a biblical story about challenging yourself to get uncomfortably close to death in order to witness the miracle of life. But our society rejects this idea, assigning shame and stigma to addiction—and soon the equivalent population of Houston will be dead from opioids. Macy weaves incredible tales of heroic volunteers meeting troubled drug users where they are. She offers a new language to challenge the contempt around drug use—“bupe,” “opioid use disorder”—which she argues is a human condition that cannot be eradicated. There’s no magic wand, and no political party is off the hook. Macy shines by bringing statistics to life with illuminating personal stories, and you’ll leave this book feeling sobered and perhaps inspired by this moment, a “historical opportunity to radically rethink addiction care.” —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor

Macy's book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the epidemic of drug abuse.

The Invisible Kingdom

by Meghan O'Rourke  (2022)

This book is the pathography of a woman with functional somatic symptoms. Pathographies come in three classes, quest, restitution, and chaos. The early part of this book, at least, is a chaos story.

In my opinion, this is an important book; one that is worth studying.

Publisher's summary: A silent epidemic of chronic illnesses afflicts tens of millions of Americans: These are diseases that are poorly understood, frequently marginalized, and can go undiagnosed and unrecognized altogether. O’Rourke delivers a revelatory investigation into this elusive category of “invisible” illness that encompasses autoimmune diseases, post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, and now long COVID, synthesizing the personal and the universal to help all of us through this new frontier.

DJE's notes on the book  available on request

Eyes to the Wind

Publisher's summary:

Ady Barkan loved taking afternoon runs on the California coast and holding his newborn son, Carl. But one day, he noticed a troubling weakness in his hand. At first, he brushed it off as carpal tunnel syndrome, but after a week of neurological exams and two MRIs, he learned the cause of the problem: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. At age 32, Ady was given just three to four years to live. Yet despite the devastating diagnosis, he refused to let his remaining days go to waste. 

Eyes to the Wind is a rousing memoir featuring intertwining storylines about determination, perseverance, and how to live a life filled with purpose and intention. The first traces Ady’s battle with ALS: how he turned the initial shock and panic from his diagnosis into a renewed commitment to social justice - not despite his disability but because of it. The second, told in flashbacks, illustrates Ady’s journey from a goofy political nerd to a prominent figure in the enduring fight for equity and justice who is "willing to give [his] last breath to save our democracy" (CNN). 

 I found this book moving and memorable.

A docoumentary on Barkan;s life, Not Going Quietly, was released in the summer of 2021. 
Trailer.

Ady Barkan died on Nov 1, 2023.  NY Times Obit.

 

 

 

 

 

What Doesn't Kill You

WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU
A Life with Chronic Illness — Lessons From a Body in Revolt
By Tessa Miller

This is an extraordinary book about Inflammatory Bowel diseas and IBS. 

NY Times Review. 

 

See DJE's notes. 

Prescribed Reading: Alzheimer's

 

Prescribed Reading

Turning to Books to Grasp the Most Ungraspable Disease

By Sandeep Jauhar
NY Times, June 17, 2021 

Dr. Jauhar wites: "For a condition that is so ubiquitous and so feared, good books on dementia are surprisingly hard to find. Some of the best, I’ve come to learn, deal with particular symptoms, like memory loss, rather than the disease itself." See: Rx Jauhar.

This is a good article, but I disagree.  There are lots of good books about dementia.  See sections on this blog under the categories of dementia and Alzheimers and also the same sections on MedFlix.

Between Two Kingdoms

A Memoir of Interrupted Life
by Suleika Jaouad

In the summer after graduating from college, Suleika Jaouad was preparing to enter "the real world". She had fallen in love and moved to Paris to pursue her dream of becoming a war correspondent. The real world she found, however, would take her into a very different kind of conflict zone.

 

It started with an itch - first on her feet, then up her legs, like 1,000 invisible mosquito bites. Next came the exhaustion, and the six-hour naps that only deepened her fatigue. Then a trip to the doctor and, a few weeks shy of her 23rd birthday, a diagnosis: acute myelogenous leukemia, with a 35 percent chance of survival. Just like that, the life she had imagined for herself had gone up in flames. By the time Jaouad flew home to New York, she had lost her job, her apartment, and her independence. She would spend much of the next three years in a hospital bed, fighting for her life and chronicling the saga in a column for The New York Times.

 

This is an extraordinary book.  You should need no more inducements to read it. (I listened to the book on Audible.com.  It is read by the author who does an amazing job!).

Also, see the TED Talk...