Clinical Guidelines in Cross-Cultural Mental Health (Wiley Series in General and Clinical Psychiatry)

Book Description

David Gibbs took a leap of faith in 2003 when Bob and Mary Schindler, Terri Schiavo's parents, asked him to represent them in their desperate battle to save their daughter's life. Taking the case, Gibbs embarked on a compelling journey that would forever change his life. He watched Terri fade away in her final days and was with Mary Schindler the last time she saw Terri alive. He witnessed what the media did not see or report: that Terri was not a vegetable; that she laughed, cried, and responded to verbal commands; and that yes, her life was very much worth saving. David Gibbs says, ''After Terri died, Bob and Mary asked me to tell what really happened, so that many others would be spared from a similar fate. I make no apology that, from my perspective, what happened to Terri was wrong. Very wrong. Maybe you agree. Then again, maybe you disagree, or the jury is still out in your mind. I believe if you will join me as I present my case, you will come to understand: Why I fought for Terri. Why I'd do it again. And why I'd fight for you, too.'' Now, read the story for yourself and learn how you can protect yourself and your family against a similar tragedy. David Gibbs, attorney for Mary and Bob Schindler, Terri's parents, gives his insider's account of the story that tore the heart out of a nation.

Customer Reviews:

A great and important read.......2007-07-06

Every single one of us has a terminal body. Some of just have healthier terminal bodies. And some of us--like my newborn son--need substantial assistance to do something as simple as eating.

I don't expect my home state to order the withholding of nutrition to my son. But that is what the state of Florida--or, rather, one unchecked judge in Florida--ordered for someone else who could not feed herself: Terri Schiavo.

David Gibbs represented Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, in the later stages of that tragic event in our nation's history. His account of that event, Fighting for Dear Life, brings to heart and mind again the maddening outcome, which has already seemingly faded so quickly from our nation's conscience. As Gibbs tells it, it is his story of:

"Why I fought for Terri.
Why I'd do it again.
And why I'd fight for you too."

Gibbs can't tell us why Terri Schiavo had to die. No human can. But Gibbs does tell us that Ms. Schiavo had minimal cognition; that her parents loved her and wanted nothing more than to care for her; that her husband had broken his marriage vows; that he refused to allow her to see the outside world or to allow the outside world see her; that he did not spend a dime of the medical malpractice judgment on her rehabilitation, despite telling the jury he would do so; that the only evidence of her supposed wish to die was her husband's and his family's hearsay statements, that the judicial system failed her, and that she died a painful, unnecessary death.

Few real life stories have such distinct Good Guys (Gibbs, the Schindlers, Ms. Schiavo herself, Governor Jeb Bush, President Bush, the Florida legislature, and the U.S. Congress) and Bad Guys (Michael Schiavo, George Felos, Judges George Greer and James Whittemore) as this one. If you care about life issues, and on the pro-life side, you will clinch your fists all over again.

Especially appreciated is the final five chapters, which are essentially a written sermon explaining the global importance of what we allowed to happen to Terri Schiavo. One can hope that Ms. Schiavo's story as told in Fighting for Dear Life will revive all of us again to a culture of life.

Demands a choice - doesn't allow for fence-riding.......2007-06-25

I have read comments and reviews elsewhere that say "Fighting for Dear Life" unfairly demonizes Michael Schiavo. I have to wonder if these people actually read this book, as the book shows no more demonization of him than what he clearly brought upon himself.

The justification for Michael's "right to die" case was that Terri wasn't really "there" anymore. Recall, however, that it was Michael who barred press coverage from Terri's room. It was Michael who kept visitors to an absolute minimum, right up to the end. It was Michael who exercised the strictest control over what the American public would see - and not see - of Terri. Why? If Terri was so self-evidently "not there anymore," why would he demand such restrictive coverage of her? Privacy? Dignity? I don't think so...if she was no longer "there," there was neither dignity nor sense of privacy left to violate.

If the accounts in this book are true, the reason for Michael's actions are obvious: Terri actually WAS "there" right up to the end, and Michael fully knew it. If the lawyer's accounts of Terri's capacities are true, letting the press in for unrestricted coverage would have blown Michael's entire case out of the water, and for all I know may have opened him up to all kinds of trouble. Best case scenario, he would have come out as the villain many people have long suspected he is.

So if you've read this book you have a choice to make: disregard this book as a pack of lies written by an ambulance chaser carrying on a vendetta for a bitter, grieving, vengeful family...or decide that Terri Schiavo really was "there" but was forced to die anyway.

Had the accounts contained in this book been made public two years ago, I believe this case would have ended differently.

Wow...excellent book!.......2007-02-20

This book was fantasically written and a true eye opener of the real facts! I was very saddened of the outcome, but it really makes you wonder...are all of your affairs are in order???

What Was Terri Schiavo Doing in a Hospice?.......2007-01-07

The heinous death of the most famous resident of Florida 's Woodside Hospice certainly leaves me baffled - to say the least. My understanding is that the hospice movement has grown incredibly over the past two decades - largely due to Medicare reimbursement. Eligibility for Medicare hospice services requires certification by two physicians that a patient's terminal illness limits life expectancy to six months - at tops. How on earth was Terri Schiavo ever accepted into a hospice?

From attorney David Gibbs, I have learned that Terri Schiavo was far, far more responsive and interactive than America was led to believe. Yet, her cognitive level should not have determined whether she received food and water! Mr. Gibbs refers to a 2004 statement by Pope John Paul II, which seemed directly related to the immorality of how Terri was treated: "the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act."

Now I need to hear Michael's side of the story........2006-12-22

First of the entire book is extremely well written and riveting. I enjoyed every page. Congratulations to the author! I appreciate Mr. Gibb's point of view, however, it is just that. Although he doesn't flat out call Michael a monster he implies it multiple times. A personal situation forced me to contemplate my wife in a vegetative state many times as she battled a debilitating brain tumor. The thought of the light of your life living any other way but as she once was as a vibrant woman is unbearable. It is clear that Terri wasn't in a permanent vegetative state, however, she would never, not in a million years of therapy, be as she once was. That thought haunted Michael every day since the accident and every night now that she has passed. The Shindlers did not respect his decisions surrounding her care and future despite his legal right to manage those things. They violated a trust bestowed to him on their wedding day. I know exactly what he feels as I experienced a very similar thing in my life. I know it sounds harsh that he forbade her parents from being with Terri when she died, but it was his last opportunity to say to the Swindler, "What you did by prolonging this atrocity and dragging me through a mile of broken glass is unforgivable." Some things are just that. Unforgivable.

Plum and Posner's Diagnosis of Stupor and Coma (Contemporary Neurology71)

Average customer rating:

A Classic

Plum and Posner's Diagnosis of Stupor and Coma (Contemporary Neurology71)
Jerome B. Posner , Clifford B. Saper , Nicholas Schiff , and Fred Plum
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0195321316

Book Description

Delirium, stupor and coma are common clinical states that confront clinicians in almost every medical specialty. With appropriate diagnosis and treatment, coma can often be treated successfully. Conversely, delay in diagnosis and treatment may be lethal. This monograph provides an update on the clinical approach that was laid out in the previous 3 editions. It describes an approach for the physician at the bedside to diagnose and treat alterations of consciousness, based on pathophysiologic principles. The book begins with a description of the physiology of consciousness and the pathophysiology of disorders of consciousness. It continues with a description of the approach to a patient with a disorder of consciousness, emphasizing the bedside examination, but including the use of modern imaging techniques. The important structural and metabolic causes of coma are reviewed in detail. It then describes the emergency treatment, both medical and surgical, of patients with specific disorders of consciousness and their prognosis. New chapters describe the approach to the diagnosis of brain death and the clinical physiology of the vegetative state and minimally conscious state, as well as the ethics of dealing with such patients and their families. The book is aimed at medical students and residents, in fields from internal medicine and pediatrics to emergency medicine, surgery, neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry, who are likely to encounter patients with disordered states of consciousness. It includes historical background and basic neurophysiology that is important for those in the clinical neurosciences, but also lays out a practical approach to the comatose patient that is an important part of the repertoire of all clinicians who provide emergency care for patients with disorders of consciousness.

Customer Reviews:

A Classic.......2007-09-12

Plum and Posner is a classic book to be read by every doctor atleast once in his/her lifetime. I was fortunate to use the third edition of this book during my postgraduate days and later in practice. Now the fourth edition is even greater to read, expanded, uptodate and remains very clinical as the previous edition. It will be a very valuable addition to those who care for acute neurological patients. There is no other book like this and it will be a classic forever. The neurological community will always remain thankful to the authors for bringing out this new edition.

The publishers have failed us miserably for the fragile binding used. The pages keep coming away as you read the book. It is very unfortunate that they have made this kind of compromise. They should have known that this book is meant for the trenches and not for the coffee table.

Average customer rating:

Diary about Crap
Tortured Artist and Missing Rooms
a masterpiece in its own right
disappointing and tedious
A rolling stone collects no moss.....

Diary: A Novel
Chuck Palahniuk
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0385509472
Release Date: 2003-08-26

Book Description

“CAN YOU FEEL THIS?”

Chuck Palahniuk, the bestselling author of Fight Club, Choke, and Lullaby continues his twenty-first-century reinvention of the horror novel in this scary and profound look at our quest for some sort of immortality.

Diary takes the form of a “coma diary” kept by one Misty Tracy Wilmot as her husband lies senseless in a hospital after a suicide attempt. Once she was an art student dreaming of creativity and freedom; now, after marrying Peter at school and being brought back to once quaint, now tourist-overrun Waytansea Island, she’s been reduced to the condition of a resort hotel maid. Peter, it turns out, has been hiding rooms in houses he’s remodeled and scrawling vile messages all over the walls—an old habit of builders but dramatically overdone in Peter’s case. Angry homeowners are suing left and right, and Misty’s dreams of artistic greatness are in ashes. But then, as if possessed by the spirit of Maura Kinkaid, a fabled Waytansea artist of the nineteenth century, Misty begins painting again, compulsively. But can her newly discovered talent be part of a larger, darker plan? Of course it can …
Diary is a dark, hilarious, and poignant act of storytelling from America’s favorite, most inventive nihilist. It is Chuck Palahniuk’s finest novel yet.

Download Description

Chuck Palahniuk, the bestselling author of Fight Club, Choke, and Lullaby continues his twenty-first-century reinvention of the horror novel in this scary and profound look at our quest for some sort of immortality.

Diary takes the form of a "coma diary" kept by one Misty Tracy Wilmot as her husband lies senseless in a hospital after a suicide attempt. Once she was an art student dreaming of creativity and freedom; now, after marrying Peter at school and being brought back to once quaint, now tourist-overrun Waytansea Island, she's been reduced to the condition of a resort hotel maid.

Peter, it turns out, has been hiding rooms in houses he's remodeled and scrawling vile messages all over the walls -- an old habit of builders but dramatically overdone in Peter's case. Angry homeowners are suing left and right, and Misty's dreams of artistic greatness are in ashes. But then, as if possessed by the spirit of Maura Kinkaid, a fabled Waytansea artist of the nineteenth century, Misty begins painting again, compulsively. But can her newly discovered talent be part of a larger, darker plan? Of course it can...

Diary is a dark, hilarious, and poignant act of storytelling from America's favorite, most inventive nihilist. It is Chuck Palahniuk's finest novel yet.

"Just for the record, Diary is as hypnotic as a poised cobra. Chuck Palahniuk demonstrates that the most chilling special effects come not from Industrial Light and Magic but from the words of a gifted writer."
   IRA LEVIN, AUTHOR OF ROSEMARY'S BABY

Customer Reviews:

Diary about Crap.......2007-09-19

Most of Up-Chuck's books are crap except Survivor and Fight Club. Diary is forced - raped in an alleyway and nobody cares. The book is forced for two reasons: 1) the reader is forced through pathos to have pity for the main character, but it's too sentimental to be pittied; it's forced. 2) the other characters are literrally trying to make the subject's life hard so she'll have emotional pain because the book wants to express that pain equals artistic skill. This idea of pain equals artistic skill is forced down our throats for too many pages. Up-Chuck really needs to find out what substance means.

Tortured Artist and Missing Rooms.......2007-09-08

This is my first Chuck Palahniuk book, and I didn't know what to expect or which title to choose, but I am pretty happy with the results. The author was suggested to me, and I feel like I have found a great new writer. This story is, as titled, in the form of a diary. It opens with a distraught wife (whose husband just attempted suicide) who receives a call about a missing room. Ok, I know it sounds like it doesn't make any sense, but it works so beautifully.

Rooms all over the resort island appear to be disappearing, until Misty and a graphologist figure out that her husband Peter has been filling these rooms with secret messages when remodeling them, then walling them off. Misty, an artist, continues to find messages in books on local artists and other strange places. She is suffering for her art, literally, but her family continue to press her to create more art (to save the island).

As strange as this plot sounds, it's easy to get carried away with the story, waiting to see where it will take you (and the main character) next. There are a few things I would have edited out, but overall it's a pretty great book. I especially loved all the stuff Palahniuk included about art, paints, and the creative process. This book is not like anything you've encountered before (unless you already are familiar with the work of Chuck Palahniuk); for those who haven't read any of his work, I highly recommend this author and book.

a masterpiece in its own right.......2007-08-09

I'll admit that getting into this book was a slow go; much slower than Choke or Invisible Monsters [for me personally.] Like his other novels, though, it grabs you, pulls you in, and sends your mind on the ride of its life.

I picked this book up because an friend of mine said it inspired him to get back into art, but never imagine I'd end up so engrossed. Palahniuk brings you in as an outsider, and by the end has you seeing and experiences through the eyes of Misty Marie Wilmont. You have no choice but to succumb to the power.

disappointing and tedious.......2007-07-27

As a Palahniuk fan, this novel disappointed me to no end. At no point while I was reading it was I interested. It was just plain boring; the main character was self-pitying and annoying and all the other characters lacked depth. I am usually a quick reader but this book took me forever to get through. The whole experience was downright painful and unfortunately I cannot start a book without finishing it. I know that Palahniuk's claim to fame is his simplistic and minimalistic writing style and in most of his other novels it works, but in this one alot of his lines are just redundant. I feel like I'm stuck in one chapter throughout the whole novel. Do yourself a favor and don't waste your money on this book.

A rolling stone collects no moss............2007-07-24

Ok! I've never had so much troubble finishing a book by Chuck Palahniuk. He's one of my favorite authors, but this book took me literaly a year to read because it couldn't keep my attention.

HOWEVER!!!!!!

When I did finally finish it, I fell in love with it. The whole book is just building up to the end and that's it. Everything that you're confused about, question, or think might happen is wrong. It's such a great twist that it makes the whole book. But like I said it all amounts to the end.

Average customer rating:

I find your lack of faith disturbing.
unusual commentary on the meaning of life
A Story about Friends, Love and the End of the World
Fun Read
disappointed

Girlfriend in a Coma
Douglas Coupland
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0060987324

Amazon.com

In this latest novel from the poet laureate of Gen X--who is himself now a dangerously mature 36--boy does indeed meet girl. The year is 1979, and the lovers get right down to business in a very Couplandian bit of plein air intercourse: "Karen and I deflowered each other atop Grouse Mountain, among the cedars beside a ski slope, atop crystal snow shards beneath penlight stars. It was a December night so cold and clear that the air felt like the air of the Moon--lung-burning; mentholated and pure; hint of ozone, zinc, ski wax, and Karen's strawberry shampoo." Are we in for an archetypal '80s romance, played out against a pop-cultural backdrop? Nope. Only hours after losing her virginity, Karen loses consciousness as well--for almost two decades. The narrator and his circle soldier on, making the slow progression from debauched Vancouver youths to semiresponsible adults. Several end up working on a television series that bears a suspicious resemblance to The X-Files (surely a self-referential wink on the author's part). And then ... Karen wakes up. Her astonishment--which suggests a 20th-century, substance-abusing Rip Van Winkle--dominates the second half of the novel, and gives Coupland free reign to muse about time, identity, and the meaning (if any) of the impending millennium. Alas, he also slaps a concluding apocalypse onto the novel. As sleeping sickness overwhelms the populace, the world ends with neither a bang nor a whimper, but a universal yawn--which doesn't, fortunately, outweigh the sweetness, oddity, and ironic smarts of everything that has preceded it.

Book Description

After making love for the first time, high school senior Karen Ann McNeil confides to her boyfriend Richard of the dark visions she's been recently suffering. It's only a few hours later on that snowy Friday night in 1979 that she descends into a coma. Nine months later she gives birth to a daughter, Megan, her child by Richard, the protagonist of this disturbingly funny novel.

Karen remains comatose for the next seventeen years. Richard and her circle of friends reside in an emotional purgatory throughout the next two decades; passing through careers as models, film special effects technicians, doctors, and demolition experts, before finally being reunited on a conspiracy–driven supernatural television series.

Upon Karen's reawakening, life grows as surreal as their television show. With apocalyptic events occurring, Karen, Richard, and their friends explore the essential mysteries of life, faith, decency, and existence. Amid the world's rubble they attempt to restore their own humanity.

Customer Reviews:

I find your lack of faith disturbing........2007-01-20

Having now read "Life After God," "Microserfs" and "Girlfriend in a Coma" back-to-back-to-back, it's obvious that Coupland had a mortal terror of the emptiness and faithlessness of the '90s culture. This is the scariest, creepiest and oddest display of that fear.

The novel starts off in the late '70s when 17-year-old Karen loses her virginity on a skiing trip to boyfriend Richard and soon falls into a coma. Richard already lost one young friend to cancer (a jock named Jared, who acts as our narrator in the beginning and end of the book) and his girlfriend's tragic disappearing act is something he never truly gets over. The first section of the book shows us Richard and his friends -- sarcastic Hamilton, model Pam, lonely Wendy, smart but aloof Linus -- numbly trek into adulthood. They battle addictions, they question life, they marry -- and they all end up back in their old Canadian neighborhood.

Karen awakes two decades later to a world she finds disturbing -- empty, mindless worker drones simply existing. No free time, no fun, no leisure. While technology has grown stronger, she feels like the world has become emotionally cold and disconnected.

The frail, emaciated Karen reenters the life of her friends -- she gets to meet her daughter for the first time (she was impregnated by Richard on that night) -- and she also has visions of a coming apocalypse.

The apocalypse eventually arrives. The world "goes to sleep" -- people around the world simply pass out and die wherever they are. The aftermath is a world gone quiet. Streets filled with rotting corpses. Animals running wild in the street. The stink of death everywhere. Coupland has never been better than when he describes the horror of this plague. I think it may be the best writing he's ever done.

The friends and Megan (Richard and Karen's daughter) are the last people left on earth. Like all humans, they adapt to their situation. They watch videos and eat canned food.

At this point the three sections are like references to Stephen King -- "The Body" (a.k.a. "Stand by Me"), "It," and "The Stand."

Then things get "It's a Wonderful Life" as Jared rejoins the picture.

But the book goes deeper than that. In fact, before Coupland brings on his metaphor for our lack of beliefs and emotional remoteness, his book is quite sharp and effective in rendering the lives of his characters. Unlike in his previous novel, "Microserfs," where I often found it hard to identify with his characters, here I felt like I knew each one intimately. Some of their more cliche drug and drinking addictions are the point. Sometimes we're so lonely or angry or bitter that we don't know what to do but go to the cliche of drinking and drugs.

As horrifyingly real as the apocalypse is -- you can practically smell it -- I think Coupland's judgement is a wee too harsh. I think too much faith is just as bad as no faith at all. And I think religion (which is Coupland's major concern, it would seem) can be used too much to cover the reality of your problems.

Maybe my reaction is a bit of a "I resemble that condemnation" defense, but I don't think Coupland had to take the novel so far off the tracks, and I'm not really crazy about where the whole thing ends up (though the tone of the last section -- which is loose and blase -- will have you laughing).

But all flaws aside, this is an original, entertaining and powerful novel from a very talented author.

unusual commentary on the meaning of life.......2007-01-04

On December 15th 1979, on the night after they first make love, Richard's girlfriend Karen goes into a coma. She wakes up 20 years later, mentally undamaged, to find her friends relatively unchanged (they seem t have just grown into their own expectations of themselves) and that she and Richard have a teenage daughter.
And just as she starts to recover, the rest of the world falls apart.

Yes, you do have to suspend disbelief, but it's worth it.

This is an unusual, original book with a unique storyline and an interesting (if somewhat clichéd) cast of characters who are searching for their meaning of life.

A Story about Friends, Love and the End of the World.......2006-12-09

This Stephen Kingesque story follows a group of friends who live on Rabbit Street in Vancouver, BC as they grow from their senior year in high school to their mid-thirties. Jarrod, or rather his ghost, narrates the first chapter. He was the jock, the football player who balled all the hot chicks, then one day he falls sick, shortly after he dies of leukemia. He was sixteen. The following year, Richard and Karen are on the slopes. The live next door to each other, have been friends since they were children and Karen wants Richard, wants to lose her virginity this night, right now, in the dark, in the snow.

Afterwards, she gives him a letter to give back to her tomorrow, unless for some reason, he can't, then he's to read it. Later they meet up with other friends from their street, Hamilton, the guy who always looks for the easy way, Pam the girl who will become a famous model and cover girl, Wendy who will become a doctor. They're supposed to go to a party where they're going to meet the last member of their troupe, Linus who will become an electrician before he becomes a seeker.

Karen who has been dieting like there is no tomorrow, because she wants to get into a size five bathing for her upcoming Hawaiian vacation, takes two Valium before drinking two week drinks. Then she falls into a coma. In the hospital Richard reads the letter. She predicted her coma and asks Richard to wait for her. And he does, for seventeen years. Even though she's pregnant and gives birth to a baby girl, Karen remains in the coma.

When she comes to she's thirty-four, frail, but lucid. She predicts the end of the world as we know it. And then everybody on the planet, except her five friends from the block and her daughter, who is now seventeen, dies.

And if that's not enough to suck you in, I don't know what is. Mr. Coupland's writing is lyrical, magical and captivating. His message is frightening, even though he gives his characters hope. This is a must read. I don't know why it took me so long to find it.

Fun Read.......2006-08-03

I'm standing in my girlfiend's living room (waiting on her), and discover this book on her desk. I start reading it and within three pages I am hooked on the author's writing style. So, she loans me the paperback and I plough right on through to the end. Never a dull moment, couldn't wait to read each chapter, and I felt it had a strong message. It really looks like a book that only a chick would read, but I thought it was a great adventure and enjoyed it enough to recommend to my daughter.

disappointed.......2006-06-07

i really like douglas coupland, but i didn't like this novel it is the only one though the rest are all 4 or 5 stars

Average customer rating:

I Can't Believe He wrote this
has it's ups and downs
Dated but still revelent
Superb and utterly frightening
Excellent plot; vapid characterizations

COMA (25th Anniversary Edition)
Robin Cook
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0451207394

Book Description

Still considered one of the best of the genre, Coma propelled Robin Cook to the top of his field and earned him a reputation as the "master of the medical thriller" (New York Times). Now readers have another chance to discover this classic masterwork of nightmarish possibility.

Customer Reviews:

I Can't Believe He wrote this.......2007-08-11

I'm sorry, but this was Robin Cook's worst books... It was slow going, boring and more like a TV drama that I don't care about. It was okay for a first novel, but I read more of his recent ones to be an inkling impressed with this one....

has it's ups and downs.......2007-05-11

THERE'S A SMOKING HOT CHICK IN THIS BOOK! Ok, now that I have your attention... I personally wasn't to enthralled with the beginning. It just didn't grab my attention. There's alot of medical talk in this book, so be prepared to be a little confused at times. But don't get me wrong, it has it's plusses. There are some weird things going on in the story (which in my oppinion make the book pretty much), and as previously stated, there's this hot chick that is the main character. Which of course, every guy in the book has to mention, is hot. I got really tired of hearing about it. Robin Cook obviously knows a good bit of medical terminology apparently, which makes the book seem a little more plausible. Overall a pretty good read.

Dated but still revelent.......2007-03-10

My main complaint about this book is that the ending feels rushed. Otherwise a strong effort.

Superb and utterly frightening.......2006-06-07

As Robin Cook explains at the end of this story, much of it is fact despite being sold as a fiction novel. This book was written in the late 70s, so I'm sure there have been advances, however I've seen exposes on shows such as 60 minutes (some time ago) exposing certain hospitals for their urgency on organ donors. One such program showed where a woman could have lived, but was a donor and was given the drugs required for donor harvesting. It was enough to convince me never to be a donor, nor to put it on my drivers' license. At any rate, this book will make you think and it's conclusion is probably a frightening reality in places like China where the stories of organs being harvested from prison inmates and death row inmates!

Impossible? No, not at all, because the patient/victim of organ harvesting doesn't receive the money into his estate for the donation. The hospital makes the money. Doesn't seem right to me and I doubt it seems right to many others.

Excellent plot; vapid characterizations.......2005-07-16

There is one thing for sure; Robin Cook is definitely a doctor. Due to the nature of the novel I was more than prepared to have a fair amount of medical terminology and jargon thrown at me...at times it was a bit tedious and the explanations quite lengthy, but for the most part the subject matter kept me interested. However, I was surprised at how sterile and predictable the main characters were written. Susan Wheeler is not only brilliant, but so stunningly beautiful that every male character's inner dialogue (and yes, I do pretty much mean every male) must endlessly muse about how "dynamite" her figure must be under those sexy scrubs. In fact for a good chunk of the book, the sole purpose the character Dr. Bellows served was someone to remind us how gorgeous and virile-looking Susan is. But of course, Wheeler herself feels that her profession has actually "neutered" her sexual appeal and confidence as a woman. Right. Really, Susan was not likeable and it had nothing to do with her seeming perfection. Her sense of entitlement is cloying, and she seemed unable to comprehend that you don't throw attitude towards your superiors on your FIRST DAY OF ROTATION. She simply was not human enough to sympathize with, which is a shame, because there were several instances which I did agree with the gist of her feelings regarding the unfair ways women are treated in the workplace.

Aside from the characters, the actual dialogue of the entire book is far too technical. And when I say technical, I don't mean in terms of medical terminology, because I said before, that was to be expected. But for example, one part of the book was describing you guessed it, Bellows attraction to Susan. It went something like, "Bellows felt his hypothalamus react to the smooth flesh of Susan's bosom". Uh, okay. And don't get me started on a scene where a med student faints while scrubbed in during an operation. Let's just say, Cook wrote more about the med student's physiological happenings while about to faint, rather than giving this med student an actual PERSONALITY.

Despite it's shortcomings, this book did keep me in suspense, and I said before the subject matter is inherently interesting. Although I have to say that finishing the book felt more like completing a required reading assignment rather than a leisurely entertainment. Oh well. This is Cook's first novel, and I can say that with his later writings he did in fact find a balance between writing suspenseful novels and giving miniature dissertations on the reactions of hypothalamuses. I do recommend Coma, and also "Mutation" if you get the chance.

Average customer rating:

Another twisty tale by Robert Goddard
Many engaging, humorous, and dangerous turns
Mathematical puzzle.
Better than "Into the Blue"
The most interesting mystery I've ever read!

Out of the Sun: A Novel
Robert Goddard
Manufacturer: Henry Holt & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0805051090

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If you like the darkly romantic thrillers of Daphne Du Maurier, (Rebecca, The House on the Strand, Jamaica Inn), where secrets from the past surface to tease and torture the protagonists, you should also enjoy Robert Goddard, a best-selling author in his native Britain. Goddard's latest takes the main character of his Into the Blue--idealistic failure Harry Barnett--through a story involving the son he never knew he had, a 33-year-old math genius now in a coma. Harry's stumbling investigations reveal sinister and even surreal overtones to his son's research, and Goddard's silky prose generates an unusual depth of excitement and sympathy. Other Goddard books in paperback include Closed Circle, Hand in Glove, In Pale Battalions, and Painting the Darkness.

Book Description

Harry Barnett is shocked to learn that he has a son--David Venning, a brilliant mathematician, now languishing in hospital in a diabetic coma.  And this is only the first and smallest of the mysteries he is about to encounter.

David's condition is attributed to an accident or suicide attempt.  But Harry discovers that his mathematical notebooks are missing from the hotel room where he was found and two other scientists employed by the same American forecasting institute have died in suspicious circumstances.  Driven on by the slim hope of saving the son he never knew he had, Harry goes in search of the truth and finds himself entangled in several different kinds of conspiracy--none of which he ought to stand the slightest chance of defeating.

Harry Barnett was the flawed hero of Robert Goddard's earlier novel, the award-winning Into the Blue.  But nothing in that experience prepared him--or the reader--for the baffling conundrums and heart-stopping suspense of Out of the Sun

Customer Reviews:

Another twisty tale by Robert Goddard.......2007-07-02

Harry Barnett, the anti-hero in this novel, leads a dismal life as part-time attendant at the Mitre Bridge Service Station in London. One day he gets a telephone call from the National Neurological Hospital informing him that his son David John Venning is lying in a deep coma in room E318. To this day Harry has lived a presumably childless life and this piece of news comes as a great surprise.
Harry decides to go and visit this new son of his, and in room E318 he finds a comatose thirty-four-year old man. Glancing at the clipboard hanging on the bed, he acknowledges the fact that David John Venning was born on May 10th 1961. Could he be the result of Harry's long forgotten fling with Iris Venning in July 1960? Who placed the call at the Mitre Bridge Service Station knowing that Harry is David's father? Iris? Why is David in a deep coma resulting of an overdose of insulin? Did he try to commit suicide?
A twisty and breathtaking adventure is about to start for Harry on his long search for the answers to all these questions.

Many engaging, humorous, and dangerous turns.......2007-05-17

"Out of the Sun" (1996) is the second in what amounts to a trilogy by British author Robert Goddard, starting with the excellent "Into the Blue" (1990) and ending with "Never Go Back" (2006), all revolving around Harry Barnett, a likeable regular guy, who loves his pints, and has had less than success with work and business ventures.

As one young American poet put it, the shining sun sees most of us every day on this turning globe. Sees us until the day we are out of the sun, gone, and seen no more. A mysterious phone call informs Harry that his thirty-three-year-old son David is as good as dead, being hospitalized in a severe coma and on life support.

Harry never knew he had a son, but thinking back, he well and fondly remembers how it happened. Son David, a brilliant PhD mathematician interested in higher mathematical dimensions, belongs to a group of scientists trying to predict the full spectrum of challenges the world will be facing in 50 years.

The group's employer, called Globescope, has clients who pay highly to identify these future challenges so they can meet them profitably. Globescope sees the group's predictions to be quite dire. Believing that customers should hear only good news, the employer refuses to pass on the results and fires David's group.

When the fired group seeks to publish their work independently, group members keep turning up dead under mysterious circumstances -- or, in Harry's son David's case, comatose.

To protect the rest of the group, Harry is trying to find out who is responsible. He also hopes to find a doctor who can cure David. Harry's dangerous quest takes him from England to Copenhagen, to New York, Chicago, Dallas, Washington D.C., and elsewhere, and has him playing several roles. The perilous telling has considerable charm, humor, romance, and luck, with a surprise ending.

If I may repeat, we in the States are now indeed fortunate to have easy access to Goddard's books.

Mathematical puzzle........2003-11-14

Harry Barnett, a bit of a down and outer,is shocked on two counts.The first is to discover that he has a son from a brief fling, many years ago and secondly to be told that his son, David, is lying in a diabetic coma. David is a brilliant mathematician, employed by a rather secretive forecasting institute who previously employed several other scientists who died in mysterious circumstances.It's a good, imaginative plot and, given that I'm mathematically challenged, one that I had to force myself to understand. Poor Harry is a bit of a sad sack so things don't magically solve themselves for him as for other literary heros, but it's a story which will hold your attention until the end.

Better than "Into the Blue".......2003-03-02

A well written, entertaining and truly original story. I read Goddard's "Into the blue" before, but liked this book much better. Worth reading!!

The most interesting mystery I've ever read!.......2001-07-16

I had about five books on hold at the public library that still hadn't come in yet, so I decided to browse the Fiction section to see if I could find anything interesting. After reading a few covers, and finding the typical "dead body found under suspcious circumstances" one after the other, I stumbled upon this novel. The idea intrigued me. A man comes in to work one morning to discover that his son is in the hospital in a diabetic coma--the only problem is, he doesn't have a son.

Harry, the main character, then sets about to solve the mystery of his son's suspicious near-fatal accident, along with the "accidental" deaths of several of his former colleages. But the more he discovers, the more danger he finds himself in.

This story has so many surprising twists and turns it keeps you "on the edge of your seat." Some parts are so suprising it almost makes you jump! I highly recommend reading this novel, especially if you are looking for something fresh and vivid.

Book Description

If you could relive your childhood, would you? What if you had no choice? On the thirty-fifth anniversary of his parents mysterious drowning, Jack Koryan returns to his family beach cottage. During a swim, Jack is attacked by a school of rare jellyfish whose toxic stings put him in a coma for three years. When he awakens, he finds that the jellyfish toxin has left him with an extraordinary memory. This discovery is complicated by flashbacks: some, pleasant childhood vignettes; others, confusing flashes of violence that leave him quaking in horror. Jack wonders if hes losing his mind, but that fear is dispelled by Rene Ballard, a pharmacologist working on the worlds first cure for Alzheimers Disease. She wants to test Jack because the basis of her drug is the very jellyfish toxin that sent Jack into a coma. And, while several test patients have miraculously regained functionality, others are also experiencing dangerous flashback seizures. Ballards revelation sets Jack on a quest to discover what is happening to him. He and Rene uncover a sinister pattern of lies and deceit that has left behind a trail of bodies. And several elderly patients are stuck in a past that they cannot emerge fromor perhaps dont want to.

Customer Reviews:

Down Memory Lane.......2007-03-11

I had already read two of Gary-Braver-Goshgarian's books prior to starting this one. His books are always educating and very difficult to put down. This book is no different. It is a well written and tightly woven mystery with a fascinating and original climax.
But, what held my attention above all was his research into Alzheimer's and the gentle understanding of those afflicted. He conveys with a rare and impressive perception their gradual descent into the hell they all so horrifyingly experience, which is inevitably followed by that "nothing" when the brain has been totally obiterated.
I am grateful to Mr Goshgarian to have written such a beautiful "poem"-albeit in the guise of a mystery novel- to those many unsung sufferers who cannot speak for themselves.
My father was one of them and I watched powerless as a very proud and gifted man slowly lost all his dignity and was all too soon a victim of dementia. In France, where we then lived, those with Alzheimer's were immediately relegated to an insane asylum. There he brutally-and thank God-swiftly died. Both my father and I thank Mr Goshgarian for this work.
As for the pharmeceutical insustry-what's new.

Good medical thriller, short of five stars.......2007-01-23

Give credit to Gary Braver for an interesting premise and plot that incorporates Alzheimer's Disease, which as a theme doesn't sound obviously compelling. Similarly with a main character who is a clinical pharmacist. That was a first for me. Nevertheless, by linking the drug under test to the jellyfish that nearly killed Jack Koryan, he came up with a creative idea and engine that moves right along, without distracting sub-plots.

Braver maintains suspense, even though you know there is a connection between the jellyfish's toxin and the "Memorine" drug. He was right to have made the connection early, so the reader isn't left confused, wondering when the two story lines would connect. Instead, the reader can move on to how they will connect at the detail level and the fates of the characters.

Some of the results were relatively predictable, given that Braver doesn't exactly paint the drug company people and their sycophants very favorably. Some of those characters are fairly crudely drawn or one-dimensional. I did miss on predicting one of the key surprises (to me, anyway) near the end. Thus, there is sufficient suspense to keep the reader engaged.

A good thriller may also prompt some contemplation of what you would have done in a similar situation, and Braver has delivered. Put yourself in the role of Jack's wife, or Rene' Ballard, or the doctors running the study, or one of the family members of the patients. The extra bonus is whether the "cure" is worse than the disease. One might think offhand that almost anything is better than Alzheimer's. Braver has provided a scenario that has one thinking otherwise.

From a Pharmacist's Point of View.......2006-12-12

It's unusual to see a clinical pharmacist as the protagonist in a suspense novel. The profession of pharmacy rarely captures the curiosity of the thrill-seeking public. In Flashback, author Gary Braver opens us to the world of investigational drug research. Quality of life is object of millions of dollars of research with the potential to enhance the bank accounts of the clever scientists who discover and develop a medication for memory. The thrill is in the quirky flashbacks of memory. The science of the novel is meticulously researched. I should know. I am an investigational drug pharmacist who works at a large academic center. In these days of hurried and sloppy inquiries, I admired the accuracy of the facts involved in the description drug development. Research in any field is a labyrinth. The weaving of fact and fiction makes this medical mystery tour unnervingly close to reality.

Good Read!.......2006-10-23

The best thrillers walk that thin line between fiction and solid plausibility, and that's Flashback! I was with the author all the way. Congrats to Braver! This is a good read.

Another Winner.......2006-10-15

I love a good medical thriller, and Gary Braver writes them about as good as they get. What really sets Braver's books apart is the humanity he brings to them. Flashback is about the search for a cure for Alzheimer's. The characters struggle with the disease's deadly, inexorable march, but their pain never descends into the maudlin -- as it could have in the hands of a less talented writer.
Braver writes with tenderness and poetry, and also with fire. The action starts with a bang and sucks the reader in immediately, the story moves along quickly, and the ending is slam-bang satisfying. Flashback is a good, meaty read, and I highly recommend it.

Average customer rating:

Simply Amazing
A quick, interesting read.
Eric Victorino isn't an a-hole, he just plays one on MySpace.
A great escape into the poetic mind of an experienced artist!
Coma Therepy

Coma Therapy
Eric Victorino
Manufacturer: Orchard City
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0977634000

Book Description

Coma Therapy is the first book of poetry and short stories from Eric Victorino.

Customer Reviews:

Simply Amazing.......2007-06-27

Eric's writing is simply amazing. He digs down and finds different ways of expressing his emotions.

A quick, interesting read........2006-11-04

If you're into music, and enjoy honest, easy-to-read writing, this is the book for you. I read it on recommendation from one of my HS students, and read it in about 45 minutes - it was a great way to pass the time in the airport!

Eric Victorino isn't an a-hole, he just plays one on MySpace........2006-06-17

After months of harassment from Eric via MySpace, I finally quit drinking long enough to set aside some money for his book. (Just kidding.) Anyway... I am really glad I did. Coma Therapy is the first poetry/prose book I have enjoyed in a very long time. I truly appreciate the honesty of the work, even if it were to turn out it isn't all truth.(Thank you, James Frey, for making me doubt every autobiographical account that is published.) I don't care at this point, because this is a collection of poems and stories that can affect the reader. I was reminded of the late Jim Morrison's poetry, only Coma Therapy is more intelligible and you can even read it if you aren't in a Hunter S. Thompson-like haze. (The lack of lizard-king repetition is also a plus.) With each page, I was drawn further into the text. It all seemed so personal that I felt like I was reading a journal without the author's knowledge and wanted to absorb as much as possible before he walked in the room and caught me read handed. It takes a very gifted writer to let their guard down and write with such candor. Victorino does not censor the text for fear of an outsider's judgmental prejudice. I only wish I possessed the courage to write without inhibitions, as Eric Victorino has been able to do in this book. In conclusion, thank you Eric, for constantly reminding us on Myspace about your book. I just started reading it for the third time. My favorite pieces include: "first kiss girl", "sweet, cherry red", "it's a people business", and "one of the most terrible things I have ever done (and a great friend.)" What am I saying? They're all friggin' good. Just buy the damn book and support a talented writer and musician.

A great escape into the poetic mind of an experienced artist!.......2006-04-05

I read this book for two reasons: The first of which is that I am a fan of the musical group "Strata" in which the author, Eric Victorino, is the lead singer. The second being, Eric personally asked me to read it..and being an artist myself constantly yearning for a greater audience, I decided I would help him pay the rent by buying a copy. It wasn't that spontaneous however, I started reading my friend's copy...and after the first two poems I decided that a great piece of literature such as this deserves a place amongst my shelf of classics.

It is written in a very artistic and impressive way that reminds me of Jack Kerouacs revolutionary spontaneous prose. It is metrical in yet lyrical...prose in yet romantically composed as poetry. I can safely say that I was intrigued 100% whilst reading the entire book and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone, reader or not. You don't need to be a performing artist to feel emotion when reading this, but it helps.

Coma Therepy.......2006-02-24

Coma Therepy is written very well. I couldn't put it down when I was reading it. I felt as if I was living in the stories.

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