Book Description
Straight from the front line of urban America, the inspiring story of one fiercely determined teacher and her remarkable students.
As an idealistic twenty-three-year-old English teacher at Wilson High School in Long beach, California, Erin Gruwell confronted a room of “unteachable, at-risk” students. One day she intercepted a note with an ugly racial caricature, and angrily declared that this was precisely the sort of thing that led to the Holocaust—only to be met by uncomprehending looks. So she and her students, using the treasured books Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo as their guides, undertook a life-changing, eye-opening, spirit-raising odyssey against intolerance and misunderstanding. They learned to see the parallels in these books to their own lives, recording their thoughts and feelings in diaries and dubbing themselves the “Freedom Writers” in homage to the civil rights activists “The Freedom Riders.”
With funds raised by a “Read-a-thon for Tolerance,” they arranged for Miep Gies, the courageous Dutch woman who sheltered the Frank family, to visit them in California, where she declared that Erin Gruwell’s students were “the real heroes.” Their efforts have paid off spectacularly, both in terms of recognition—appearances on “Prime Time Live” and “All Things Considered,” coverage in People magazine, a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley—and educationally. All 150 Freedom Writers have graduated from high school and are now attending college.
With powerful entries from the students’ own diaries and a narrative text by Erin Gruwell, The Freedom Writers Diary is an uplifting, unforgettable example of how hard work, courage, and the spirit of determination changed the lives of a teacher and her students.
The authors’ proceeds from this book will be donated to The Tolerance Education Foundation, an organization set up to pay for the Freedom Writers’ college tuition. Erin Gruwell is now a visiting professor at California State University, Long Beach, where some of her students are Freedom Writers.
Customer Reviews:
Review of Freedom Writers Diary.......2007-10-10
The book is a great read. I would definitely recommend to teachers, especially those that teach or will teach a widely diversified class. Not just teachers should read it. You really get an idea how crazy being racist and prejudiced is and how many people can be hurt by it. Nothing was edited so you get the full feelings of what those teenagers lived through.
I wonder what it was actually like..........2007-09-12
There were lots of positives and negatives that stuck out to me when I read this book which really bothered me.
Let's start with the teacher. We get occasional reflections from Erin Gruwell throughout the book, and in the beginning, they provide a way for us to get to know the teacher and to experience some of the adversity and the troubles that she was experiencing with running her classroom in the unorthodox style she managed. As the book progresses, the majority of these insights begin to fade into a simple account of what she did, the awards they won, and the plans that she had. For instance, she briefly mentions that she had to struggle to teach these kids for their senior year, and then she breezes over how she got that done and launches into an explanation of the binding of their book and the two awards ceremonies that she's attending. This robs the teachers out there of a great potential resource for them to use and understand, and glosses over the reality of politics in education.
The other issue I had was with the journal entries of the students. While I'd love to believe what I'm seeing, I have a difficult time believing that these entries the children wrote were not blown a little out of proportion during the editing or completely contrived from the get-go. Before you jump all over me for having a lack of faith in these kids, look at what we're presented with: the first few journal entries, which these kids supposedly wrote on the first few days of class are every bit as long and as detailed as their later entries in their senior year...and this is supposedly when they were well below the rest of their grade and their expected reading level, and when they had no faith in their teacher whatsoever. What we are left with, then, is a look only at where they were during their junior and senior years, with no gauge of progress or results to compare.
Because of the way the book was put together (entries are numbered rather than being entered chronologically, and no students are named), there is a lack of continuity between chapters, and no characters. Thus, all we are left with are two styles of entries: 1) the entries about struggles and hardships, and 2) the hopeful entries. You are completely unable to identify the students and connect who wrote which entries unless the stories are about a single club or experience. I would much rather have seen the students be given fake names to keep their anonymity protected, because then we not only benefit from a more personal connection to the students, but we also get to see how they've grown from their struggles, and we could break up some of the monotony between struggle stories and hope stories.
Then you get the obligatory "Anne Frank [or insert speaker here] is my hero" entries that read almost exactly like essays that I used to write for the sole purpose of appeasing a teacher who clearly has a tremendous interest in the speaker or book. While the experiences these students had were much more impressive than a simple book or movie, the similarity is astonishing, and I can't help but believe that these kids felt a lot of pressure and wrote what they felt the teacher wanted to hear rather than what they actually felt.
The entries that we are presented with in this book are also extremely toned down versions of the original, which in some sense steals from the power that they can convey. As a couple of students pointed out, the editing process was a big part of putting this book together, and I'm not sure whether it was the authors themselves or the publisher, but the snippets that we are given in the diaries are about the editing process are much more honest and graphic accounts of what happened to the students than the full diaries that we are given in the pages of the book. Some were certainly removed to protect anonymity, and probably also because of their graphic nature, but I believe that readers could have benefited from a slightly more realistic tone. The PG13 edit that the majority of these accounts are given strips the events of their power.
On the whole, though, that doesn't take away from the fact that Gruwell is clearly a very gifted teacher, and that she did take these children much farther than anyone ever expected of her. The lessons in the book are timeless, in that classroom management is all about building relationships, not only amongst students, but also between the teacher and the students. It's inspirational, and impressive, but clearly a bit contrived and heavily, heavily edited. This book is a pretty good read, but I think you have to take it with a grain of salt.
An inspiring story........2007-08-27
I loved reading the stories from the voices of the various students and hearing how they discovered love and hope despite their difficult home lives.
Got my daughter to read.......2007-08-23
This is an excellent book for a non reader, especially if they have seen the movie. My daughter thoroughly enjoyed the book and she is not really a reader. it has now encouraged her to move on to a Diary of Anne Frank. Thank you
A Great Read.......2007-08-14
An extra-ordinary book. I bought 3 copies to give away to friends. A very easy read and very enjoyable. Not just for educators.
Book Description
Is there really a human race?
Is it going on now all over the place?
When did it start?
Who said, "Ready, Set, Go"?
Did it start on my birthday?
I really must know.
With these questions, our hero's imagination is off and running. Is the human race an obstacle course? Is it a spirit? Does he get his own lane? Does he get his own coach?
Written with Jamie Lee Curtis's humor and heart and illustrated with Laura Cornell's worldly wit, Is There Really a Human Race? Is all about relishing the journey and making good choices along the way—because how we live and how we love is how we learn to make the world a better place, one small step at a time.
Customer Reviews:
A picture book for grown-ups, too.......2007-02-23
While I don't usually review picture books, I highly recommend this charming book for adults who need to be reminded to slow down. I bought a copy to purchase for a youngster -- but was so moved by the message that I plan to keep it myself and will have to buy another. Curtis's important message is sure to strike a chord with over-scheduled adults who happen to be reading the book aloud to children. Cornell's whimsical illustrations (I loved the girl who's got the biggest hair "without product") make you pause for a closer look as you follow the text, which is exactly what a good picture book should do. This book makes a great gift for anyone -- regardless of age. -- Cindy La Ferle [...]
GREAT BOOK.......2007-02-20
I love reading this book to my son. It not only gets him thinking about the human race, but me as well. Jamie Lee Curtis did a fantastic job with this one.
A message we all need to hear.......2007-01-13
This is a lovely little book for both children and adults alike. Three weeks before christmas I picked it up in the bookstore and couldn't put it down. I bought that copy right there then went home and bought ten more off Amazon and sent them to all my close friends for Christmas. For me it ranks right up there with the Lorax by Dr. Suess as a children's story with heart and wisdom. Read it to your children, read it for yourself.
Short Book.......2007-01-10
This is really a good book, but not long enough. Fortunately the pictures add to the time you can spend with your youngster reading the book. It is a good story line.
Beautiful (and overlooked) lesson for children.......2007-01-10
This book emphasizes the importance of the process of life, not just the achievement of milestones or goals. Considering today's culture, this is an important lesson to impart to our children, and I was thrilled to find such an excellent, thoughtful book with such an important message.
Average customer rating:
- Similar to 'The Game', but not about pickup artists
- Not so fast!!!
- Powerful tale of the fight to succeed despite racism
- Strongly recommended for debaters, teachers, and teenagers
- I Won a Round with Cross-X
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Cross-X: The Amazing True Story of How the Most Unlikely Team from the Most Unlikely of Places Overcame Staggering Obstacles at Home and at School to Challenge ... Community on Race, Power, and Education
Joe Miller
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ASIN: 0374131945
Release Date: 2006-10-03 |
Book Description
In Cross-X, journalist Joe Miller follows the Kansas City Central High School’s debate squad through the 2002 season that ends with a top-ten finish at the national championships in Atlanta.
By almost all measures, Central is just another failing inner-city school. Ninety-nine percent of the students are minorities. Only one in three graduate. Test scores are so low that Missouri bureaucrats have declared the school “academically deficient.” But week after week, a crew of Central kids heads off to debate tournaments in suburbs across the Midwest and South, where they routinely beat teams from top-ranked schools. In a game of fast-talking, wit, and sheer brilliance, these students close the achievement gap between black and white students—an accomplishment that educators and policy makers across the country have been striving toward for years.
Here is the riveting and poignant story of four debaters and their coach as they battle formidable opponents from elite prep schools, bureaucrats who seem maddeningly determined to hold them back, friends and family who are mired in poverty and drug addiction, and—perhaps most daunting—their own self-destructive choices. In the end, Miller finds himself on a campaign to change debate itself, certain that these students from the Eastside of Kansas City may be the saviors of a game that is intrinsic to American democracy.
Customer Reviews:
Similar to 'The Game', but not about pickup artists.......2007-09-26
The premise of Cross-X is very similar to 'The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists' by Neil Strauss; a journalist decides to write a book. Joe Miller wrote it about a debater; Neil Strauss wrote it about himself. There are actually a few parallels in debate and pickup; there are rules and guidelines, some people obsess and know every little detail, it's considered a game by those who play it, etc.
So if you liked The Game for its writing, you'll like Cross-X. If you liked The Game for its subject matter, you'll probably be disapointed; Joe Miller is a cool dude, but he doesn't know NEAR as much about social dynamics as Neil Strauss.
Not so fast!!!.......2007-05-22
Aside from the questions of the politics of liberation in education and the difficulties of racial balance in urban schools, there are two inner conflicts at work in the context of this piece of reportage. The first has to do with the shift in practice in academic/policy debate from what could be called persuasive oratory - as the book presents it speeches designed to convince "Suzie's Mom" to a high speed delivery, multiple flow theoretical presentation designed for experts in the subject and style. The difference is a rate of delivery more than one and a half times that of most casual speech, laden with acronyms and jargon. And then there is the challenge to this. The second conlictis the competing areas:small schools vs. large consolidations, urban vs rural, public vs private. At the college and university level the regional organizations have almost disappeared. Debate is an endowed activity or a speciality ( sometimes for ideological reasons, one finds schools with agendas also tend to have debate programs). To really understand what goes on in this book, this inside knowledge is helpful.
So I warn, if you are not going to misread events, "What do you know about academic debate?" It is a complex world, the shifting forms of which are at work in this book: NFL (the original one), NCFL, TOC, CEDA, NDT as well as city, state and regional leagues and tournaments. At first blush it seems there are obvious nasties and obvious good guys, aspiring inner city youth and dedicated teachers, dullard administrators and power mad bureacrats. But you really need to know a bit more if you are going to truly understand this nationwide, multi linked and important activity. And it is important- the precentage of public figures with high school/college debate experience is not much less than the number of NFL (football one that is) players with highschool/college football experience. Miller portrays some empathetic individuals and some he can't stand, but it is vital that any reader be aware that this is advocacy journalism, much like the advocacy debate he is pushing for in the book. Many of the "enemies" are there because of principle not laziness or self interest. The history of debate, changing from the persuasive oratory of the sixties to the speed delivered ethos of the seventies, to the pedagogy of liberation theory influenced rhetoric in the eighties has morphed to performance activity and has filtered from colleges down to high school. Those presented as standing in the way, may in many cases be standing against the educational ideas of Pauolo Freire and Jonathon Kozol and in favor of rather traditional, non deconstructive rhetorical theory.
Mr Miller's book is told from the experience of African-American students in an inner city high school. One must consider why a student is involved in what is admittedly a highly competetive activity. His advocacy reminds me of the alternative of being highly successful in the "game" chosen by one of my outstanding students who said concerning Ebonics, "This little brown girl knows if she is going to take care of herself in this world she better know when to write 'I am' and when 'I Be.'" This is the problem of privliging of a discourse. Mr. Miller( and the performance school) do not acknowledge that within a context or ethos certain discourse is privleged and to act differently is to invite retribution. We are educated to do and not to do a number of acts. And here is the rub, what is truly discriminatory, and is the debilitating effect of any discrimination best fought on a personal or organizational basis. The argument goes on and on.
Powerful tale of the fight to succeed despite racism.......2007-02-03
Cross-X by Joe Miller covers about a year in the lives of several students from Central High School in Kansas City, Missouri as they travel on the debate team. They face racism, infighting from the state activities board, and the choices made by their own family. Miller does an amazing job taking this story and making it accessible to all readers. The stories of Ebony, Marcus, Antoine, and Brandon are poignant stories of survival. These black teenagers compete against white kids from private schools and win because of their quick wit and determination to win. Miller completely changed my ideas about debate: what it is and what it stands for. He includes a history of Central High School, a flashpoint in the controversy over Brown vs. Board of Education and also the site of an astronomically expensive renovation to encourage white families to move to the district. Instead these teens have to face ambivalent teachers, tough home lives, and peer pressure in an environment that expects them to fail. The story ultimately becomes about racism and the right to be different. The only disappointment in the book is when Miller inserts himself into the story by becoming a coach to two of the boys. As an objective observer, Miller was able to narrate a tale showing all of the different sides to these young men. As an active participant, he becomes strident as he attempts to be their savior. As such, the ending is a bit of a let-down. The book exposes the deep differences between black and white education and points out that we need to make a change so that all children have the same opportunities for education so they can succeed. It opened my eyes to the incipient racism in schools today.
Strongly recommended for debaters, teachers, and teenagers.......2007-01-28
I think that Cross-X may be one of the best non-academic education-related books that I have ever read. I want to recommend it to everyone. The book's got a lot of things that make it great: nailbiting suspense (during the descriptions of intense debate competitions), depressing history (about farcical desegregation efforts in Kansas City), highly detailed character portraits (when delving into the histories and quirks of the main characters and their families), musings on journalist ethics (when the author Joe Miller [no relation, by the way] realizes that he's becoming personally involved in the story) and reflections on the nature of racism (throughout the entire book).
As a debate teacher, many of the details about inner-city schools, their students, and the students' parents rang true to me -- and Joe Miller's self-critiques about his perceptions of the debaters and their backgrounds also rang true.
This book is so fascinating that I carried it with me everywhere so I could keep reading and find out what happens next. Usually when I do that with books, they're well-written works of fiction with detailed characters and amazing plot twists; the real-life story that Joe Miller tells is every bit as captivating as the best fiction.
I Won a Round with Cross-X.......2007-01-10
I bought this book for my daughter, who teaches in an inner city high school, after hearing it reviewed on NPR. She has loved it! The book addresses two areas very dear to her heart: high school debate and American race relations. Since I have not read the book myself, I can only tell you that it was a winner with my daughter (an educational award-winner herself).
Book Description
Class does make a difference in the lives and futures of American children. Drawing on in-depth observations of black and white middle-class, working-class, and poor families, Unequal Childhoods explores this fact, offering a picture of childhood today. Here are the frenetic families managing their children's hectic schedules of "leisure" activities; and here are families with plenty of time but little economic security. Lareau shows how middle-class parents, whether black or white, engage in a process of "concerted cultivation" designed to draw out children's talents and skills, while working-class and poor families rely on "the accomplishment of natural growth," in which a child's development unfolds spontaneously--as long as basic comfort, food, and shelter are provided. Each of these approaches to childrearing brings its own benefits and its own drawbacks. In identifying and analyzing differences between the two, Lareau demonstrates the power, and limits, of social class in shaping the lives of America's children.
Customer Reviews:
great service.......2007-08-04
I am a university student who purchased this textbook for a class. It came exactly as the seller said. I will use this service in the futute.
Unequal Childhoods Well Written and Well Researched .......2006-07-11
Everyone knows that socioeconomic status is related to academic success, but not many books have examined the lives of kids outside of school in detail to reveal how differences in social class are related to differences in use of language, organizing time, dealing with authorities, family disputes, and doing homework.
I'm a professor in a graduate school of education, and it was important to me that Lareau was a careful researcher as well as a clear and lively writer. She studied 12 families, each with a fourth-grade child. Half were white, half were black. Half were from low social positions, and half from relatively high social positions. Lareau found that the upper-middle class families deliberately stimlated their child's development and conveyed a sense of entitlement, whereas lower class families believed that kids matured "naturally" -- regardless of race. I found it so persuasive and well-written that I'm assigning it to my students.
"Unequal Childhoods".......2006-05-11
I read this book for a class about the achievement gap. I really liked how this book examined the achievement gap from a socioeconomic point of view. Lareau's case studies of families from varying races and social classes made her research easy to read and interesting. Her analysis of two different parenting styles-concerted cultivation and theory of natural growth-points out the implications each style has on children's performance in school, their interactions with adults, and later success in searching for jobs/careers. This was a great read for school or just for fun.
A great look at parenting differences across different economic backgrounds.......2006-04-21
I was asked to read this for a class assignment and was delightfully surprised at what a great book it was! The different case studies about different families were very insightful into different types of parenting as well as how parenting and economics may impact children's achievement both in school and in extracurricular activities. A good read for those in the education field or for a parent interested in seeing how other families deal with the busy schedules of their children and how that may impact their family life.
engrossing discussion of class-based childrearing habits.......2006-04-14
The book is worth reading for its fascinating case studies and for the very convincing discussion of the two very different types of childrearing habits: "concerted cultivation" for the middle and upper middle class and "natural growth" for working class and poor.
I am not convinced that the middle class "concerted cultivation" childrearing habits provide the benefits that the author suggests. "Concerted cultivation" is pretty new so there is no real evidence that a "concerted cultivation" childhood will benefit someone independent of socioeconomic status and genetics.
It is still a five-star book. It ties together things about modern middle class childhood that I wouldn't have thought to be related at all.
Customer Reviews:
i cried so many times..........2007-01-23
this is such an amazing book that really flips the perceived norms of race. so many things happened to this boy as he was growing up that it is a miracle that he was sane enough to write a coherent memoir. there were so many times that literally moved me to tears. i emphatically recommend this book, you won't regret it.
One of the best books I have ever read.......2006-12-27
Life on the Color Line should be required reading for every American, especially anyone who wants to put their life's problems in perspective.
This is the most moving book I have read in a long time and I read a lot! William's account of his childhood truly woke me up to how fortunate I am to have the life I have, despite losing my mother at age 20. No one should have to endure the painful struggles of racism, poverty, rejection, parental neglect and abandonment that Williams did, as well as a dysfunctional family to top it off. Whether Williams dated black girls or white ones, he was damned if he did and damned if he didn't.
Life on the Color Line contains many harrowing scenes. One that stood out for me was when William's white maternal grandmother refuses to pass along her daughter's messages to her children after she has left the family. She calls her own grandchildren "niggers" and refuses to let them live with her in a nice section of Muncie only a few minutes away from the black ghetto where they reside with a family friend Miss Dora.
One question that remains unanswered after reading this book is why William's mother only took her younger children with her when she left her husband. Why did she leave Gregory and Mike with their alcoholic father? It doesn't make sense that she would take some of her children to safety with her, but not all of them. The only explanation I can come up with is that Greg's mother figured her older boys were mature enough to fend for themselves. Towards the end of the book, their mother's inability to understand what kind of life she left her boys to leave left me wanting to throw rocks at her and give that woman a good beating.
I am in awe of the author's maturity, courage, and sheer will power that enabled him to overcome all these obstacles. His experiences put my own life in perspective.
I borrowed this book from the library, and now that I've reached the last page, I will definitely be buying it on Amazon!
To Read and Talk About.......2006-11-01
I learned about this book in an article in the Baton Rouge newspaper. LSU has assigned it as summer reading for many of their students and a group is working to get others in Baton Rouge to read it as well. At our church's partnership group with a local African-American church we decided to read it as a group project, and I'm glad we did. Williams' memoir tells the fascinating story of a young man who is born into the lower-middle class white world of suburban Virginia only to learn when he is about six years old that his father is the son of a mixed-race couple from Muncie, Indiana. Circumstances resulting from this news takes the boy, his father and his brother to Muncie where they live among their African-American (or colored as they were called in the 1950s) family. Billy's (or Greg) father Tony (or Buster) is an alcoholic, which makes life no less difficult as he's scorned by his white classmates and, with his white skin and Caucasian features, standing on shaky ground in his own colored community. A good-hearted woman named Dora raises the two boys as her own, as their birth mother spurns her now-black children. Dora's kindness and Greg's determination to do more than survive are inspiring.
In the flesh, the man is a wonder........2006-10-02
I had the unusual pleasure of hearing him speak at a public function when this book first came out. In fact, that's how I got my free copy. The story of this man's life is simply amazing. That came through in his honest and heart-felt reflection of the hardships he's had to overcome growing up. I've lived in San Francisco most of my life, attending public school with the normal cross section of the city's diverse ethnic crowd. I can say with a degree of certainty that I'm culturally aware of the African American experience. So it is with a bit of sadness that I regret not having met more people with Williams' ambition and determination when I was younger. To be fair, the circumstances in which his life unfolded would probably be hard to duplicate in this day and age, especially in San Francisco. But regardless, I truly believe young blacks of today, regardless of where they may live can draw inspiration from his story. We all still face a huge amount of inequality and injustice in our society today. With such polarization along political and religious lines in our national conscience as I'm writing this, it is critical to remember that race still matters. The other day, the biology department chair at my school presented a slide show of New Orleans where here Alma Mater was severely damaged by Katrina a year ago. She's a parasitologist with a Ph.D from Tulane University. The contrast between the French quarter/downtown and the poorer residential areas are striking. Those who've read Williams book would immediately draw parallels with the stark geographic division along racial lines of Muncie, Indiana - where Williams grew up. How many other cities in America are New Orleans waiting to happen? If something unthinkable should happen in Muncie today, how will the citizens of that city fare today? Will the impoverished blacks of Hunter's point/Bayview in my own city suffer the same fate as those of the lower 9th ward when the "Big One" strikes California? If more of my fellow black San Franciscans can aspire to be like Williams and strive to lift themselves and their community out of poverty and strife, we just might have a chance at doing better. One can hope.
GREAT READING FOR MANKIND.......2006-07-28
GOT TO MAKE THIS A SHORT REVIEW. STILL READING. CAN'T PUT IT DOWN!!!! ALSO READ "COLOR OF WATER" AND IT WAS GREAT READING!!! BACK TO WORK. CAN'T WAIT TO GET BACK TO "LIFE ON THE COLOR LINE".
I DON'T READ A BOOK MORE THAN ONCE BUT THESE ARE WORTH READING OVER AGAIN. I THINK THEY WOULD MAKE GREAT MOVIES!!!
Book Description
The thrilling story of the brilliant and audacious pioneers who revolutionized cardiovascular medicine.
The history of heart surgery is a fascinating saga. In the dark ages of medicine, physicians commonly prescribed blood letting as a treatment for ridding the vascular system of diabolical elements and bizarre medicaments like brain extracts, and until quite recently, the basic treatment for a heart attack was to lie down and bear it. Within the last century, physicians have evolved from fearing to even touch a living human heart to rebuilding and even transplanting hearts with beguiling, if sometimes dangerous wizardry. Not long ago, cardiac surgery was celebrated as akin to miracle working, yet a new therapeutic age has since taken hold. Today heart attacks can often be stopped in their midst, and astonishing non-invasive surgical techniques regularly eliminate any need for a knife, while clearing vital arteries in just minutes.
Journey Into the Heart traces this epic quest involving a cast of thousands who struggled to solve medical complexities that long boggled the most brilliant minds on earth. David Monagan tells their story as never before, for the first time paying tribute to the daring tactics and outsized personalities of scarcely appreciated pioneers from Oregon to East Germany. The risks some took were hard to fathom: when a promising therapy seemed far too dangerous to perform on a patient, charismatic doctors experimented on themselves. Meanwhile, a multi-billion dollar business involving angioplasty and countless related knifeless procedures charged into life, often overshadowing the noble quest for innovation with a race for profit. The great figures behind these advances have been little chronicled, but their lives encompassed all the triumph and anguish of the last century.
Andreas Gruentzig, an East German “child of the rubble,” took center stage in revolutionizing cardiovascular care, developing the first tiny balloon-tipped probes in his Zurich apartment. Despite harsh skepticism, Gruentzig demonstrated that his gadgets could transform the lives of millions. His findings catapulted him to worldwide fame, and he was nominated for the Nobel Prize. After being lured to Emory University, GruentzigÂ's career escalated to dizzying heights, and then concluded tragically with an Icarus- like ending. Journey Into the Heart is a compelling biography and a multi-faceted tale of medical discovery and business intrigue, all centered on the seat of human life. The twentieth century journey to understand the human heart was a saga on par with the race to the moon.
Customer Reviews:
Journey into the heart.......2007-10-02
This is a well written book that very nicely details the history of interventional cardiovascular techniques. It is a good read.
An interesting study of angioplasty and people.......2007-04-23
I came to this book thinking it was truly a journey into the heart and its functioning. The book was actually a studied history of angioplasty, the use of catheters to clear the cardiac arteries and reduce the risk of heart attacks. Several themes stand out and make the book worthy of serious reading. The story again shows that medicine is now barely 100 years old in any modern sense as there is very little of note in the heart prior to 1900. Also, the book shows how much the review process has changed in the past fifty years, with surgical options which were untested and unproven being used with some regularity. Finally, the book profiles the leading researches and shows that medicine, like any other profession, is full of talented but unusual people.
Pity the Patient!.......2007-03-27
Pity the patient with heart problems/symptoms - a serious situation fraught with complex decisions and painful and risky alternatives. "Journey Into the Heart" tells of the struggle and errors of physician-leaders moving practice trends to angioplasty, and away from other treatments - especially CABGs (coronary artery by-pass grafts). But now a new study reports angioplasty doesn't save lives or prevent heart attacks better than generic drugs in non-emergency patients - where it is used mostly. Experts also concluded that it only fixes one artery at a time (vs. drugs operating on all at the same time), and the clogs treated are not the really dangerous kind.
Angioplasty also lost favor recently when it was reported that popular drug-coated stents can raise the risk of blood clots months later. Now the procedure in its entirety is in question.
Bottom Line: The "courageous" individuals pioneering this procedure featured in "Journey Into the Heart" were overzealous, at best. Unfortunately, "Journey Into the Heart" doesn't provide good advice about when to receive angiography, so here's some. About 600,000 angioplasties per year are now performed for patients with chronic chest pain - replacing just 350,000 with drug therapy would save as much as $10 billion/year. On the other hand, for those with unstable chest pain, stenting provides better outcomes than drugs alone, as well as for patients treated within 12 hours of a heart attack; later stenting for those with heart attacks, however, doesn't help. (Information courtesy of Wall Street Journal, 3/27/07, and Washington Post, 3/26/07).
Journey into the Heart.......2007-03-20
Very well written history of treatment of the problems of the heart, including those that made the problem worse, unto these enlightened days where so much can be done due to the hard work of so many doctors. The author had to do much investigation and then compilation to make such a readable book.
Book Description
Positioned at the cutting edge of science, Cell of Cells charts the international race to utilize the stem cell.
From a lab in the Sahara, where one problem is sand in the petri dishes, to an Israeli lab that narrowly escapes a terrorist bomb, stem cells have gone global. Not only are the cells studied in an escalating number of labs—and lands—but they are already being used. In Japan, a respected doctor uses the cells to make small women better endowed. In Connecticut, stem cell technology has created cloned cows that roam the hills displaying eerily identical personalities. In Texas, stem cells rejuvenate dying hearts. In China, clinics offer stem cells to patients suffering from everything from paralysis to brain trauma.
In elegant, cogent prose, science journalist Cynthia Fox has illuminated the reality and promise of stem cell therapies. Cell of Cells illustrates how the extensive, fervent experimentation currently under way is causing a revolution, both in the body and in the international body politic.
Customer Reviews:
a stem cell travelogue.......2007-07-09
There have been a number of books about stem cells. Some take a dry scientific approach, others have focused on the political-religious-legislative battles within the United States and how those disputes have forced research abroad.
This book, with its emphasis on places and personalities, breaks new ground as a science writer's travelogue. Cynthia Fox spent years jetting around the world, interviewing scientists, touring labs, and documenting discoveries while charting the social and geopolitical forces affecting the stem cell race. You feel what it's like to work in a lab. You can also feel the tensions, which is what ultimately makes this book a good read.
Fox had a riveting ringside seat to the famous Korean scandal. But there's much more here; one online reviewer called this an 'essential handicapper's guide', and it proves to be richly rewarding for the details on at least a half dozen other labs around the world, as well as on the proliferating third world quack clinics (which merit a whole chapter). At first I wondered about Fox's use of the frame narratives and cultural sketches, wondering if they were, strictly speaking, necessary; within fifty pages, however, I was won over by Fox's sense of balance and genuine grasp of the scientific challenges. She understands the range of the field. She definitely did her homework.
An impressive work of observation, Cell of Cells is a gentle introduction to a difficult subject, and a must-own for anyone working in the stem cell field. Cynthia Fox definitely caught the mood and atmosphere of the times.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent! A Must Read!.......2007-10-06
This is an outstanding book with great information in an easy to understand format. I really think this book should be mandatory reading in all high schools. Thank you Answers in Genesis Ministry for another wonderful resource!
One Blood Review.......2007-09-13
I would not recommend this book to anyone who is a Christian. I found it to be poorly written. The author did not back up a lot of what he wrote with facts. Humans are a species, not a race... and anyone that has yet to grasp that has no business writing a book on this issue. The bible warns us of false prophets. This guy has taken bible versus out of context to promote some type of eqaulity that does not exist. All races have many differences, and God placed us in different geographical areas for that reason among others. While I have yet to find the bible to quote inter-racial mixing as a sin... I have found everytime different races have came together, i.e. for building the tower to heaven, he spreads us back apart and mixes up our language. He tells us(gentiles) in the old testament not to mix with the Jews. Different races have never gotten along and we never will because of our differences. That is inevitable. I can go on with simplicities, but anyone who is a true believer in God and his word can tell this book is blasphemy after reading the Holy Bible.
Faulty Premise.......2007-03-19
The whole premise of the book is flawed because the concept of race was never based on genetic theories to begin with so one cannot use genetic facts and theories to invalidate the existance of race. Secondly, racial categorification systems are largely arbitrary, and there are 2 main category systems one based on nationality, and the other based largely on physical appearance and geographical origin.. none of these systems emphasize "genetics"..
So the idea of a "human race" is wrongly meant to imply that the racial categorification systems are based on genetics which they arent.. that's why race is still used today because it's based largely on appearance and for that reason it is very useful..
As an added note racism has actually decreased since Darwin wrote his books, this book would have us believe otherwise. Just because the bible says we all have a recent common ancestor does NOT mean we are all equal. For example creationists claim a all dogs have a common generic dog ancestor that was on Noah's ark does that mean that all dogs are equal? NO! lap dogs are equal to gray wolfs.. So to assume that we should believe all "people groups(races)" (as AIG creationists calls them) are equal based on recent common ancestory is false and doesnt add up. So biblical creationism is NOT a barrier to racism as AIG claims it is..
This book is just another pathetic attempt to demonize evolution..
One Blood: Confronting the Error of Racism.......2006-07-08
The legacy of evolutionary theory has been around for more than a century, and its destructive influence has continued to make advances, not only in our culture at large, but even in the church. If there has been any change at all, from evolution's inception to the present day, then it might be found in the way in which the church perceives and approaches this contest between evolutionism and creationism. In fact, in many ways the modern church has capitulated to several of the tenants of evolutionary theory without even comprehending that it has done so - and this needs to change. It is this very issue that is addressed in One Blood, The Biblical Answer to Racism, co-authored by Ken Ham, Dr. Carl Wieland & Dr. Don Batten. Their approach to this subject is quite simple: Racism is an invalid ideology because there is no such thing as multiple races. Instead, there is just one race and it is called the human race. Their assessment of this matter is fully developed in the book, but I would simply add here that the English word itself is often misused and misunderstood in our modern culture. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (full edition), the term race refers to "A group of persons, animals, or plants, connected by common descent or origin." Based upon that definition alone, it is better to assert that there is in fact just one race since we all have our "common descent or origin" from one man - Adam. The principle text that guides One Blood is found in Acts 17 where the Apostle Paul preached the Gospel in Athens:
Acts 17:24-26: 24"God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25"Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26"And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings..."
The Lord made from one blood, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth. Clearly, verse 26 is the focal text of One Blood, and their approach to this subject is overtly biblical. Thus, every aspect of science, history, archeology, and biology is understood in view of the biblical record - not the other way around. Their commitment to inerrancy is therefore refreshing, especially in a world of integrationist "scholars" whose design is to subject the Bible to what they see as modern "science"; but this is not the approach of Ham, Wieland & Batten. One Blood clearly shows that modern day racism has been fueled by Darwinian philosophy. When people in the modern day speak of racism, they are typically referring to the distinction of skin color, however One Blood clearly demonstrates that skin color is a useless and unbiblical distinction.
Overall, I consider this to be a very solid and helpful work. It is also a work that challenges us to consider how we think of other people, and how we might reach out to them with the Gospel. I can tell you right now that if someone ever brings up the subject of racism - it is a wonderful Gospel opportunity (it certainly was an opportunity for the Apostle Paul when he addressed the proud and arrogant Athenians who were convinced of their own supremacy over the rest of mankind). Rather than talking to others about racism, feel free to speak to them about the oneness of the human race, and how it is that we were made from one blood - the blood of the first Adam. This then becomes an opportunity to tell them about the shed blood of the last Adam - the Lord Jesus Christ!
Respectfully presented, Well argued.......2006-03-01
The science, the timeline, all of it was well put together. Lined up clearly with the truth of Biblical history. Well done!
As we went through it with our preteens, it was nice to see science laid out in a clear fashion and not the typical convolution we find in evolution orientated material. The kids understood it well enough to debate each other and come out feeling like they were ready to challenge the circular logic they regularly face.
I will be giving this book out as a gift in future holidays.
Book Description
In this provocative and original exploration of racial subjugation during slavery and its aftermath, Saidiya Hartman illumines the forms of terror and resistance that shaped black identity. Scenes of Subjection examines the forms of domination that usually go undetected; in particular, the encroachments of power that take place through notions of humanity, enjoyment, protection, rights, and consent. By looking at slave narratives, plantation diaries, popular theater, slave performance, freedmen's primers, and legal cases, Hartman investigates a wide variety of "scenes" ranging from the auction block and minstrel show to the staging of the self-possessed and rights-bearing individual of freedom. While attentive to the performance of power--the terrible spectacles of slaveholders' dominion and the innocent amusements designed to abase and pacify the enslaved--and the entanglements of pleasure and terror in these displays of mastery, Hartman also examines the possibilities for resistance, redress and transformation embodied in black performance and everyday practice. This important study contends that despite the legal abolition of slavery, emergent notions of individual will and responsibility revealed the tragic continuities between slavery and freedom. Bold and persuasively argued, Scenes of Subjection will engage readers in a broad range of historical, literary, and cultural studies.
Customer Reviews:
Insightful.......2007-02-23
Saidiya Hartman, with "Scenes of Subjection" has penned a well-researched and insightful look at the interior life of enslavement, power, and personal freedom. Using copious first-hand resources, Hartman creatively considers how the every day life and rituals of enslaved African Americans demonstrates that one can enslave a body, but never a soul.
Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction, Spiritual Friends, and Soul Physicians.
Excellent.......2000-04-15
Scenes of Subjection provides a fascinating view of slavery and its effects. Hartman applies her brilliant intellect to this terribly important subject, providing the reader with insight and understanding that is sadly missing from other academic and non-academic treatment of slavery. This is a "must read."
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