Comments on the book "Direct Red" - A Surgeon's View of Her Life-or-Death Profession by Gabriel Weston
As the subtitle suggests, this book is about a medical doctor's training and experiences. My experience is that reading such books, especially by female doctors, is a great help in, at least, thinking about the medical side of my own life. The fact that the author is British is, perhaps, additionally interesting from an American point of view.
Gabriel Weston clearly states that her book is a "mixture of things that have happened and <> might happen," yet "entirely authentic," she hopes.
Some events seem to stand out as invented. Besides, the author was very careful to protect her confidentiality to her patients, as well as to her colleagues.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Experimental Blog #17
Comments on 2 books
"Chances Are" - Adventures in Probability by Michael Kaplan and Ellen Kaplan
For the most part, this book was for me very intriguing, thought provoking, and entertaining. The scope of the subjects that it touched upon was amazing. However, it is difficult for me to say very much in detail because the book was often somewhat, or more than somewhat, beyond my understanding.
It seems that our brains are constantly looking for patterns, order, or predictability in a more fundamentally patternless, disordered, and unpredictable world.
"The Last Days of the Romanovs - Tragedy at Ekaterinburg" by Helen Rappaport
The Soviet period of Russian history, about 71 to 73 years, is, as yet, far from being completely explained, but this book is an excellent first step at the very heart of the subject. The author's earnest attempt to unravel and describe Vladimir Ilyich Lenin's relationship to the massacre of the Romanov family and 4 others with them is very thorough and persuasive; and her detailed account of the last 14 days is, if not true, at least seems to be something very similar to what actually happened.
Helen Rappaport shows how Lenin knew all about the execution of all 11 people well in advance of the event, and allowed it to happen. And that he certainly would have executed the Tsar and Tsaritsa under any circumstances. Lenin was, at the time, very overburdened with many other matters, and the fate of the Romanov family and their household staff was of little concern to him.
The author also mentions that the three most active and influential party members who brought about the massacre; namely Yakov Sverdlov, Fillip Goloshchekin, and Yakov Yurovsky, were of Jewish origins; and that this generated much anti-Semitic commentary for several decades. The author seems to consider the importance of the Jewish backgrounds of these three men as only a coincidence.
Finally, as much as I appreciate the author's work, I don't think that she was very well informed, or informative, about permafrost{she wrote that there was permafrost in the Ekaterinburg region} or adrenaline{she referred to adrenaline to describe both sides of the massacre}, but I did enjoy her use of the word 'inscrutable', which I think I remember she used 3 times.
"Chances Are" - Adventures in Probability by Michael Kaplan and Ellen Kaplan
For the most part, this book was for me very intriguing, thought provoking, and entertaining. The scope of the subjects that it touched upon was amazing. However, it is difficult for me to say very much in detail because the book was often somewhat, or more than somewhat, beyond my understanding.
It seems that our brains are constantly looking for patterns, order, or predictability in a more fundamentally patternless, disordered, and unpredictable world.
"The Last Days of the Romanovs - Tragedy at Ekaterinburg" by Helen Rappaport
The Soviet period of Russian history, about 71 to 73 years, is, as yet, far from being completely explained, but this book is an excellent first step at the very heart of the subject. The author's earnest attempt to unravel and describe Vladimir Ilyich Lenin's relationship to the massacre of the Romanov family and 4 others with them is very thorough and persuasive; and her detailed account of the last 14 days is, if not true, at least seems to be something very similar to what actually happened.
Helen Rappaport shows how Lenin knew all about the execution of all 11 people well in advance of the event, and allowed it to happen. And that he certainly would have executed the Tsar and Tsaritsa under any circumstances. Lenin was, at the time, very overburdened with many other matters, and the fate of the Romanov family and their household staff was of little concern to him.
The author also mentions that the three most active and influential party members who brought about the massacre; namely Yakov Sverdlov, Fillip Goloshchekin, and Yakov Yurovsky, were of Jewish origins; and that this generated much anti-Semitic commentary for several decades. The author seems to consider the importance of the Jewish backgrounds of these three men as only a coincidence.
Finally, as much as I appreciate the author's work, I don't think that she was very well informed, or informative, about permafrost{she wrote that there was permafrost in the Ekaterinburg region} or adrenaline{she referred to adrenaline to describe both sides of the massacre}, but I did enjoy her use of the word 'inscrutable', which I think I remember she used 3 times.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Experimental Blog #16
Comments on the book "1989" - The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe by Mary Elise Sarotte
This book is history from the very top. It summarizes all of the relationships, conversations, and negotiations of all the heads of state, their foreign ministers and secretaries of both Germanies, the Soviet Union, the United States, France, and Great Britain during the uncertain and extremely fast changing events from, mostly, the second half of 1989 and on into 1990. And it explains how some peoples' concepts and plans did not succeed while others' did.
The end results are well known; the fall of the Berlin Wall, the reunification of Germany, the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact alliances, and the transformation of Russia and its former satellite countries. And almost all of these things occurring with little or no violence.
The terrible wars and revolutions of the first half of the 20th century were finally resolved, for better or worse, and Europe began to move off in a new direction.
It may seem to have all been started by Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union, but it was Helmut Kohl of West Germany who managed to carry out and achieve his goals most successfully by far.
This book is history from the very top. It summarizes all of the relationships, conversations, and negotiations of all the heads of state, their foreign ministers and secretaries of both Germanies, the Soviet Union, the United States, France, and Great Britain during the uncertain and extremely fast changing events from, mostly, the second half of 1989 and on into 1990. And it explains how some peoples' concepts and plans did not succeed while others' did.
The end results are well known; the fall of the Berlin Wall, the reunification of Germany, the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact alliances, and the transformation of Russia and its former satellite countries. And almost all of these things occurring with little or no violence.
The terrible wars and revolutions of the first half of the 20th century were finally resolved, for better or worse, and Europe began to move off in a new direction.
It may seem to have all been started by Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union, but it was Helmut Kohl of West Germany who managed to carry out and achieve his goals most successfully by far.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Experimental Blog #15
Comments on the book "Ayn Rand - And the World She Made" by Anne C. Heller
When I was writing my comments in my last blog about the Ayn Rand biography by Jennifer Burns, I decided to save my major remarks until after I had read this biography by Anne Heller. This second book about Ayn Rand, which also came out in 2009, is much longer and more detailed. It was also very fascinating and educational.
However, other than agreeing with thousands, if not millions of other people, that Ayn Rand deserved to be called a genius of her age; which is demonstrated many times over by remarkable book quotations and other remarks; I don't see much point in my repeating what probably thousands of other people have said, or will say about her or her books, either positively or negatively.
I will only state that I was extremely affected by learning about Ayn Rand's literary and political life, especially during the late 1940s through the 1960s; and my own relationship to all of that in the 1960s and '70s. These are decades that can hardly be exaggerated for people of my age. Reading Jennifer Burn's and Anne Heller's Ayn Rand biographies helped me very significantly to understand my place and relationship to politics and in society in general.
My last remark is to wonder, "How much will people be reading and be influenced by Ayn Rand's books 50 years from now; compared to today, over 50 years after her books were written?"
When I was writing my comments in my last blog about the Ayn Rand biography by Jennifer Burns, I decided to save my major remarks until after I had read this biography by Anne Heller. This second book about Ayn Rand, which also came out in 2009, is much longer and more detailed. It was also very fascinating and educational.
However, other than agreeing with thousands, if not millions of other people, that Ayn Rand deserved to be called a genius of her age; which is demonstrated many times over by remarkable book quotations and other remarks; I don't see much point in my repeating what probably thousands of other people have said, or will say about her or her books, either positively or negatively.
I will only state that I was extremely affected by learning about Ayn Rand's literary and political life, especially during the late 1940s through the 1960s; and my own relationship to all of that in the 1960s and '70s. These are decades that can hardly be exaggerated for people of my age. Reading Jennifer Burn's and Anne Heller's Ayn Rand biographies helped me very significantly to understand my place and relationship to politics and in society in general.
My last remark is to wonder, "How much will people be reading and be influenced by Ayn Rand's books 50 years from now; compared to today, over 50 years after her books were written?"
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