There are a few relatively broad areas of science and the history of science that fascinate me – neurobiology, evolution and the explosion of research in the 17th century among them. One narrower field that keeps drawing me in is the history of anesthesia and analgesia, and this book – written by a distant relative by marriage of John Snow, who made important contributions to the field.
Like so many Oxford University Press books, it’s both strongly researched and engagingly written. I found the early days, when proponents had to deal with high mortality and a strong philosophical resistance to pain relief, far more interesting than the 20th-century wrangling with details once the battles were long past, but current events were largely confined to the last chapter.
The details of the 19th-century struggles are enlightening: Who knew Queen Victoria was so progressive? Why was I surprised that once again, heinous wars (the Crimean and the War Between The States in particular) led to potent humanitarian technology? It’s all good stuff, and thanks to Jill for thinking of me at Xmas.
The city of Bozeman, MT now asks all prospective employees to include social networking profiles and passwords as part of their application. City lawyers defended it and claimed no one had balked. Not cool, Bozeman.
I should bust out the universal white-guy caveat here: I don’t know what I’m talking about. In fact, if you don’t already, please preface everything I write or say to you with those words – it’ll save us all a lot of trouble.
Ta-Nehisi Coates, currently a must-read blogger at the Atlantic, is a smart – well, nerdy, really, if I can drill down into the taxonomy a bit – fella who climbed out of the Baltimore projects thanks mostly to his Panther bookseller Dad and a complex but ultimately quite supportive family. The story sounds like Oscar-bait until we edge into the details: harsh disciplinary beatings, six siblings through four mothers, and more interest in D&D than in anything going on at school. It’s easy to imagine some Hollywood tool checking those all off in his list of things to cut from the film, but Coates’ life isn’t a magical, feel-good hit starring you-know-who.
His writing style (in the book much more than the blog) is unique and takes a bit of getting used to, but evokes dangerous summer nights and desperate, sleepy boredom with a casualness that I envy. The Beautiful Struggle makes me a little nervous, though, because I feel a little too much as if I get it, when I’m pretty sure I’ve only heard it – Coates makes it far too easy to assume that I know what I’m talking about, so please refer to my caveat above.
It’s a quick, rewarding read, but whether or not you think you’ll pick it up, you should certainly check out his blog for a day or two – if you’re not charmed and/or startled in that time, you can move on.
It feels a little weird to make this my first real post in ages, but here goes. It’s a bank ad, but it gets pretty NSFW midway through. Well worth watching for most of you, though:
Hooray for me! I’ve been slammed with work and moved in with Jessie and Vlasta, so no time for much else. If you need my address, ping me and I’ll hook you up.
You said it, sister