Mary Louise Eklund

Tag: book review

  • Tuesday Thoughts – Dr. Mutter’s Marvels by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz

    dr-mutter
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    Every Halloween I see articles about  The Mutter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The piece usually plays up the ‘creepy’ and ‘macabre’ aspects of the collection. While I owe a debt to one of these articles for making me aware of the museum I feel they do a disservice to what the museum really was and is – a teaching collection. It’s a tribute to the human body’s amazing diversity and endurance. The cases documented there are stunning and were collected to teach physicians of yesterday and today how to do no harm but help. So when I saw the book Dr. Mutter’s Marvels I was drawn to it. I wanted to know the history of the collection and the cases documented within. However, when I picked up the book I learned it was Dr. Mutter’s biography. My disappointment didn’t last through the introduction. The man is as riveting today as his collections.

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  • Tuesday Thoughts – Rosemary, The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson

    rosemary-by-kate-clifford-larson
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    What I know of the Kennedys is the political aspects of the family. Which in their case is a good part about the family. However, I never knew much about Rosemary. I was vaguely aware there was a sister to JFK that was institutionalized. Other than that I knew nothing. Then I was reading an article about this book. Interesting, but what got me considering it was that Rosemary spent most of her life in seclusion in Wisconsin not far from where I worked there. What had me buy it was learning that her father had put her there and told the rest of the family she was dead. It was only after he was incapacitated by a stroke that the other children learned their sister was still alive. So how did a prominent family come to lose and hide one of their own members? A sister of a President? The tale is a sad one.

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  • Tuesday Thoughts – The Richest Woman in America by Janet Wallach

    richest-woman-in-america
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    When I was a kid in the mid-70s I had a Guinness Book of World Records. It was a small but think paperback of fine print and few pictures. One of the pictures was of a woman in black walking away seen at a distance. It was made in the early 1900s and was associated with the stingiest woman entry for a Hetty Green. She was said to have a fortune but her son lost his leg after she tried to sneak him in to a free clinic to be found out and refused. That she kept her office cold and ate leftover oatmeal for lunch. It certainly sounded like she deserved the Stingiest Woman In the World Record. (more…)

  • Tuesday Thoughts – Mapheads by Ken Jennings

    Mapheads by Ken Jennings
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    I think those of us who love books come with an affinity to maps too. (more…)

  • Tuesday Thoughts – KonMari Method

    konmari
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    I like organization and being able to find everything. It was easy when we moved often. I have found living in one place more then three years means we tend to collect junk. We’ve been in Wisconsin fifteen years the longest I have ever lived in one place. Ohhh- wheee, have we collected! Our aspiration is to retire to a Winnebago, or move about to series of small places. That means we need to shed 80%+ of our stuff. That is why I picked up The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kona.

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  • Book Comments – Animal Wise by Virginia Morell

    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    Scientists can be dumb sometimes. We’ve all read headlines like scientists finally prove water is wet and think well DUH! That’s how I felt about animals having thoughts and feelings. Honestly unless you’ve NEVER in your life been around animals, watched animals, seen an animal documentary I don’t see how you could doubt such things exist. However that was the prevalent view of science until about the mid-1990s that animals were composed of instinctual and stimulus reactions incapable of emotion or thought but capable of imitation for reward (stimulus response). Like me Virginia Morrell was insulted by this too. She knew her dog played, planned playing, picking just the right toy for it. She’d been around animals in her assignments for National Geographic. So she set out to write a book about the people who were scientifically proving what those of us who have looked into an animal’s eyes or watched an ant hill already knew. Then she wrote a book about what these people saw and are proving. (more…)

  • Book Comments – Savannah Breeze by Mary Kay Andrews

    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    After a few heavy books – neurosurgeon, corporate politics, and climbing Mt. Everest I was ready for a light read. I picked Savannah Breeze by Mary Kay Andrews. I didn’t know it was the second of a series but the premise intrigued me. Southern socialite has her money swindled in a sweetheart scam leaving her only a seedy motel. She tries to put her life back together. As she is doing so she learns where the con-man is and goes to con her money back from him with a little help from her friends. Fun huh? It was!, definitely a beach blanket read of the first class chick lit type, nothing heavy here.

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  • Book Comments – High Crimes by Michael Kodas

    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    Does moral obligation change with altitude? That’s the root question pondered but never answered as Michael Kodas retells his and Nils Atezana’s quests in 2004 to summit Mt. Everest. He recounts also the famous death of David Sharp early on to illustrate his points. The tales of lies, abuse, theft, fraud, and more when ultimately lives are at stake and most look to shirk blame leaves one more fearful of the humans on the climb than the environment in which they climb. (more…)

  • Book Comments – When Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and Other Lessons From The Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    I like informative but fun non-fiction reads. I love to learn about things but I don’t want the textbook droning feel. That’s why after hearing a radio interview of Caitlin Doughty I picked up her book. She and I hold some shared views on death, more on that below. Also I learned something about the funeral industry as well as about cremation in the interview. I found the book a page turner that I consumed voraciously. I highly recommend it but then again I’m one who still recommends Behind The Formaldehyde Curtain By Jessica Mitford decades after I read it my freshman year in college. If you find frank discussion of what happens to bodies after death disturbing, heck, if you find frank talk about death itself in relations to you and other humans disturbing this book is not for you (nor is that link to the Formaldehyde Curtain above). BUT if like me you are curious even a little bit about death, how we do it and how others deal with it the book is for you and so are my comments below. (more…)

  • Book Comments: DisneyWar by James B. Stewart

    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    I would say this is required reading for those who grew up in the 1990s, or if you like Disney, or if you think you want to enter the big time in any corporation. DisneyWar by James B. Stewart tells the tale of how Disney went from being greenmailed to the powerhouse it is today (owners of Marvel movies and Star Wars franchise to boot). (more…)