The Anatomy of Hope: How People Prevail in the Face of Illness Review

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(More customer reviews)I devoured this book of pure inspiration while recovering from my second cancer diagnosis with a 17-month period. As soon as I finished reading it, I wrote to my several oncologists, at three hospitals on 2 continents, to recommed that it be placed in every oncology waiting area and every chemotherapy unit for patients and health professionals alike. Jerome Gropman, M.D. descibes his evolution as a a physican, from his years of training in its illness-detective work and business of interventions to becoming a compassionate, humanistic doctor who is capable of seeing whole lives in his patients. Always and everywhere, in every one, every day, searching for hope: in the body, mind and if there be one, soul or spirit of an individual.
Groopman quotes, "Beware how you take hope away from another human being." Oliver Wendell Holmes, 19th century Boston physician, poet and essayist.
Mainly, this book tells stories of Groopman's extraordianry patients, who, "led ...on a journey of discovery from a point where hope was absent to a place where hope could not be lost. ....learned the difference between true hope and false hope....Because when they held onto hope even when I could not, they survived. nNd one woman of deep faith showed me that even when there is no hope for the body, there is always hope for the soul. Each person helped me see another dimension of the anatomy of hope." from the Introduction

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Why do some people find and sustain hope during difficult circumstances, while others do not? What can we learn from those who do, and how is their example applicable to our own lives? The Anatomy of Hope is a journey of inspiring discovery, spanning some thirty years of Dr. Jerome Groopman's practice, during which he encountered many extraordinary people and sought to answer these questions. This profound exploration begins when Groopman was a medical student, ignorant of the vital role of hope in patients' lives–and it culminates in his remarkable quest to delineate a biology of hope. With appreciation for the human elements and the science, Groopman explains how to distinguish true hope from false hope–and how to gain an honest understanding of the reach and limits of this essential emotion.

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The Disappearance of Childhood Review

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(More customer reviews)Based upon Postman's description of childhood and the reason for its being, our society may be in jeopardy of losing this long-standing concept. Postman says that childhood came into existence about the time of the printing press; it arose out of a need to become a literate society in which adults controlled the information that children could access. Children had to learn to read so they could gain this information. Thus, schools were necessary. Furthermore, the adults' control of the information established a gap between adulthood and childhood. Adults could provide information to children when they deemed it was appropriate to do so. With the growth of electonic media and the move into the information age, adults have somewhat lost their control over the information; consequently, the gap between adulthood and childhood has been narrowed. Children are exposed to those"adult" ideas and thoughts sooner now because of their access to the information, i.e. consider today's television programs as just one example. Postman even contends that adults are more "child-like" in some ways; he give examples of the lack of distinction between clothing and language for adults and children. Perhaps a bit unfairly, Postman blames many of the less than positive changes in today's society on the media. However, this is a great read and provides a lot of "food for thought." The historical perspective that Postman provides on the "invention" of childhod is fascinating. His tracing of the developments growing out of the information age are logical and make a lot of sense. While he raises our concerns, Postman offers no real solutions to the problems.

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