Pennsylvania Books

Anyone who uses the American health care system or works in it should read this book. This story of a Harvard doctor with a brain tumor shows why there is so much needless suffering within our health care system. It's not going to start getting better unless we all look at the problem and do our part to fix it.

Despite its bland title this is a harrowing expose of the relationship between doctors, hospitals and patients. It's also a moving personal story about catastrophe, agonizing recovery and adjustment.

A week after graduating with honors from Harvard Medical School, Heymann suffered a severe seizure and was rushed to the emergency room. Awakening with no memory of the event, she found her arms and legs strapped to a hard slab. Unable to move, surrounded by strangers, she was terrified and kept calling for her husband, wondering what "they" had done to him. No one answered her cries.

And this was only the beginning. As Heymann describes the nightmare of awaiting diagnosis, clinging to the stoicism she learned as a medical student - good patients are quiet patients - she begins to understand that hospitals are constructed around the convenience of the professionals. She reflects on the small things that might ease a patient's anxiety - knowledge mostly. Explanations about what is happening and what they can expect of themselves on release.

Heymann had bled into her brain and surgery was recommended. The operation was botched, through medical oversight, but Heymann's anger about this is less than her anger at the lies, evasions and brush-offs which follow. After numerous conflicting reports, her doctor tells her the hemangioma had all been removed. But one of the books most chilling passages comes later. The pathologist's study concluded that her hemangioma had not been removed. Her doctor never informed her of this report (she does not say how she learned of it).

Discharged after surgery, Heymann is so weak that watching television is too taxing and caring for her toddler son is impossible. No one was prepared for the sort of care she would need. And Heymann herself refuses to compromise her ambitions. She believes strongly that meaning in life comes from helping others. She and her husband (also a doctor) had always intended to work in a clinic in a third world country. They also want a second child.

So she embarks on her grueling internship as soon as possible, terrified of the seizures which may wreck her career. Numerous heart-tugging case histories are interspersed with her own halting progress. Explaining procedures and home care to her patients, she shows how the frightened "difficult" patients are calmed and easier to treat when given a modicum of understanding.

This well-written, moving and deeply scary memoir should be widely read but probably won't be. In a letter Heymann wrote to the New England Journal of Medicine protesting prejudice against people with seizures she described herself as "a physician who has both treated patients with seizures and lived with seizures." The Journal removed only four words. "They would not print that I had lived with seizures, only that I had treated others."

The Estuary's Gift is a beautiful and poignant expression of the connections between people and the coastal environment. Through eight delightfully written essays, Griffith entertains and educates in a poetic, lyrical style that draws the reader into a world that few of us know. Griffith teaches the reader about North Carolina's rich history in commercial fishing by introducing us to the people whose lives are linked to this industry. No matter where you are live, this book will show you the connections between your next seafood dinner , or vacation to the beach, and a unique way of life along the North Carolina coast. If you are from coastal North Carolina, don't be surprised if you see the lives of friends and family reflected in this book.

Through his years of research, Dr. Griffith introduces us to some of the many men and women who as commercial fishermen are deeply rooted in an industry that is much more than a source of income. The North Carolina coast is home to some of the oldest fishing families in the country, and this book speaks for these families and others who make a living from the coastal environment. These people have a sense of culture, community, and history from their lives as fishermen that is threatened by fishing regulations and influences of population growth. These men and women also have an intimate knowledge of the water and its ever-changing conditions that sometimes result in problems for the seafood industry and the future of the esturaries. As they try to express problems they see from their daily contact with the water, many are ignored by rule makers or "experts" in government. Catch limits, closed/open fishing areas, equipment regulations, and license requirements are all examples of policies that were developed by "experts" who do not see the daily effects the rules have in commercial fishing and the coastal ecosystem.

Griffith also addresses how the population boom that along the coast that has impacted the health of the estuaries and the coastal communities. He discusses the impacts of "gift shop" fisheries and revisionist developments that transform the traditional fishing communities into retirement and tourist boutiques that have little appreciation of the past.

The Estuary's Gift is an intimate portrait of a changing way of life that is reflected in changes in communities and families along the coast. By involving us in the lives of men and women who are some of the many estuary's gifts, it speaks for voices not often heard.

These delightfully written eight essays beautifully illustrate the concept of bioregionalism. Telling the stories of the commercial fishers of the Mid-Atlantic, the people who live along the coast of the Albemarle Sound and the Chesapeake Bay and who are farmers, fishers, and crabbers making a living from the water, David Griffin weaves together a powerful tale of the interrelationship of people and their natural environment. Based on extensive interviews over the past ten years, done in part for studies of fishing reglations for the government of North Carolina and others, the reader hears the voices and concerns of the fishers who for generations have lived in harmony with the estuary and its gifts of fish and shellfish. Threatened now by pollution down the Neuse River from the industrial farms, forestry and mining, the fishers are attempting to adapt and earn their living in other ways. They protest the regulations put in place to save the resource from being overfished. So here is a different side of the story from that put forth by many environmentalists, told in the fishers' own words, with empathy for their plight. At what price will the North Carolina and Virginia coastlines be developed for condos and fancy vacation houses? You be the judge of what we are winning and what we are losing.

I am filled with appreciation for the ideals and articulateness of the author of this book. The book argues for an appreciation of the potential of all work to be meaningful in a way that serves humanity in the best sense of professionalism. I think the section of the concluding chapter, "Dedication to Service," should be read aloud in a sacred ceremony by everyone entering any profession whatsoever. The book is comprehensive, balanced, and throughly researched. The author's humanity and commitment shine through, while also displaying his sensitivity to language, his reasonableness, and his wisdom. He is a true philosopher (and educator and scholar and humanist).

It is an extraordinarily original book. I have used its structure both in my book Ethical Choices in Business ( Sage 2003)and in teaching.It has undoubtedly a Marxist flavour. But it provides great insight into the sociology pf professionalism in a capitalist environment. Showing the fragility of professional ethics in a free marekt system it provides a chareacterisitc explanation to the events of Enron and the World.com I was expecting wide acquaintence with this book in the USA durng my recent lecture tour. But I found that it was practically unknown. The author should write more often to further the theme of this book

I read this book as part of an ethics seminar at MIT, and I found it to be one of the best anthropology books that I've read in years. It opens with a strong summary of ethical issues by Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, then David Price presents a well-documented and disturbing historical summary of the American Anthropological Association's covert relationships with the Central Intelligence Agency, Gerald Berreman further examines such relationships and others explore other ethical issues.

This book is a must read for any serious anthropologist.

This is a remarkable book that should be read my all anthropologists, or by anyone interested in ethics. Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban opens with a comprehensive review of important landmarks in the development of anthropological ethics in America. Her observations of the American Anthropological Association's decission to remove language critical of secret research or espionage are chilling. But then the next chapter by David Price documents an instance of the American Anthropological Association's covert work with the Central Intelligence Agency. Very troubling. Gerald Berreman's chapter further illustrates the problems of covert research, while discussions of the Yanomamo disaster, NAGPRA and other issues makes clear that anthropologists are not removed from important ethical issues.

All anthropologists should read this and think about the impact they have on the lives they impact.

Yet again the folks at Amazon have bungled matters. The other "review" of this book is in fact a review of (or a puff for) the Penn series of translations of Greek tragedy, not of Euripides' "Selected Fragmentary Plays," a scholarly edition offering Greek texts, English translations, and detailed notes on several of Euripides' fragmentary plays. It should also noted that the book in question is the recently published---and long-awaited---second volume of a work whose first volume appeared in 1995. Eventually, there will be a Loeb Classical Library edition of the major fragments of Euripides, but it is unlikely to replace these volumes of Collard et al., for their very full notes will remain invaluable.

I went to Columbia, with the most prominent 'great books' curriculum still in existence. 25 years later, I'm finding myself re-reading and discussing many of the titles. The Penn Greek Drama series is a handsome library of new translations that give fresh takes on the classics. It's useful to have Euripides on the shelf when you return home from the recent bravura performance by Fiona Shaw as Medea--it settled an argument too on how it 'originally' ended.

A book that blew me away. Boisen had his first psychotic episode in 1918 and suspected it was a spiritual/religious crisis. In his day people were considered as write offs, lost and abandoned to sanitoriums for the rest of their lives if they showed any signs of mental illness. Boisen however, refused to live out this reality and instead began an amazing journey of discovery, to research other people's experience of psychosis and mental illness. Boisen's book outlines his paradigms and research results. While he was interviewing people in mental hospitals searching for evidence of a spiritual emergence/transendence psychiatrists of the period were supporting the removal of parts of people's bowels to 'cure them'.

I was amazed by Boisen's findings and think it is still incredibly relevant today. If you want to assist and understand someone experiencing psychological crisis read this book.

Much, much more could be said about this book, but suffice to say that this is a necessary read for anyone who has been diagnosed with bipolar or depression (or other mental illness), to help with understanding what Boisen calls one's attempt at "reorganization" that leads ultimately to either a religious experience (success) or to failure, which is described as illness. It is more compelling than most popular works, and much more clinical, even though it's dated.

I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of a painter who travels 'cross country painting portraits. He is a young man trying to make money to support his three younger sisters, currently in an orphanage.
There is a humorous aspect when Pip paints people as they are, not as they wish to be. Folks don't appreciate seeing their big nose or round bellies in their portraits.
As he travels with his dog Bisuit, he sends back paintings of the pet to his sisters, promising he will return at Christmas.

When Pip returns penniless, a surprise awaits him!

The author and illustrator notes at the end compliment the story. This is a great read for schools, libraries, and for the home.

Fancy That is a charming picture book set in Pennsylvania in 1841 that tells the humorous but poignant tale of a young limner (an itinerant painter) who traveled from place to place painting portraits, just as his father did before him, to support his family. Unfortunately young Pip is far too honest in his portrayal of his subjects and bulbous noses and pear shaped figures did not endear him to his clients, nor did he collect his fees. The hope of a home for his three sisters and himself by Christmas, blew up the chimney with the smoke.The ingenious way the problem is solved makes for a heart-felt ending that leaves the reader warm and satisfied. Lloyd's egg tempera paintings enhance and enliven this tale of family values.
Reviewed by a school librarian in Pennsylvania.

This meticulously-researched book on medieval food customs not only contains a great deal of useful information for anyone wanting more information on the era, but is almost as readable as a novel. The author has a great style, both humorous and knowledgable, and the text is enhanced with illustrations from manuscripts of the period. This is not a "plan your own medieval feast" recipe book but a meticulous and engaging look at medieval attitudes about food, food storage and preparation, and what really went on in the hall and in the kitchen. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the period.

I originally gave this a 5 star rating (and then couldn't go back and change it to a 3 star rating) based on the overwhelming and obvious amount of research that went into preparing the book. The book however, is misleading in that it is a SCHOLARLY written text on medieval foods and customs, all of which require the reader to wade through tons and tons of short clips of religious beliefs associated with food, as well as tons and tons of short clips of bibical quotes regarding food and food taking. This might be all well and good if the writing flowed, but it doesn't. The content is disjointed and extremely cumbersome to read, and I finally gave up. The subject matter caught my interest and I was sadly disappointed - the mistake was mine, and an expensive one at that.

This book is great!It has all the "ingrediants" for a good book!Like suspense buy it you'll like it.

Ever since their trips back in time to the eruption of Mount Saint Helens in 1980 and a Minnesotta blizzard in 1940 nearly ended in disaster, Warren and Betsy have vowed never again to use the Instant Communter, invented by Warren's grandfather, to travel back in time. When assigned a report on the Johnstown Flood in 1889, they interview a ninety year old man whose parents survived the flood, years before he was born, but whose sister, Anna, died. Betsy and Warren decide to travel back in time to attempt to save Anna's life. But can two kids from the present actually change history - and will they be able to get back to their own time without complications?

Enjoyed learning even more than my guides had shared with me about Fly Fishing in the Upper Delaware River. Information is clearly presented and the maps are especially helpful.
If you plan to go fishing in this area...pick up a copy of Paul Weamer's book and read it before you hit the water.

If you fish the Upper Delaware River this book is a "must have". The author is knowlegable about the river, access points, hatches, etc. and shares the pertinent information.