January 2018 Read/2

Title: Admissions: Life As a Brain Surgeon
Author: Marsh, Henry
Call Number: 617.48092 M365YM 2017
Book Description from amazon.com:

Henry Marsh has spent a lifetime operating on the surgical frontline. There have been exhilarating highs and devastating lows, but his love for the practice of neurosurgery has never wavered.

Following the publication of his celebrated New York Times bestseller Do No Harm, Marsh retired from his full-time job in England to work pro bono in Ukraine and Nepal. In Admissions he describes the difficulties of working in these troubled, impoverished countries and the further insights it has given him into the practice of medicine.

Marsh also faces up to the burden of responsibility that can come with trying to reduce human suffering. Unearthing memories of his early days as a medical student, and the experiences that shaped him as a young surgeon, he explores the difficulties of a profession that deals in probabilities rather than certainties, and where the overwhelming urge to prolong life can come at a tragic cost for patients and those who love them.

Reflecting on what forty years of handling the human brain has taught him, Marsh finds a different purpose in life as he approaches the end of his professional career and a fresh understanding of what matters to us all in the end.

My Read:

Page 72-"There has always been a tension at the heart of medicine, between caring for patients and making money. It involves, of course, a bit of both, but it's delicate balance and very easily upset. High pay and high professional standards are essential if this balance is to be maintained. The rule of law, after all, in part depends on paying judges so well that thy will not be tempted to accept bribes." 

---Dr. Marsh's saying about balance is true and can be applied to our daily life as well. What's a balanced life? More or less, we are dealing with balance in every aspect of our life.

Page 172-173-"But it is very easy to underestimate the importance of endless practice with practical skills. You learn them by doing, much more than by knowing. It becomes what psychologists call implicit memory. When we learn a new skill the brain has to work hard-it is a consciously directed process requiring frequent repetition and the expenditure of energy. But once it is learnt, the skill-the motor and sensory coordination of muscles by the brain-becomes unconscious, fast and efficient. Only a small area of the brain is activated when the skill is exercised, although at the same time it has been shown, for instance, that professional pianists' brains develop larger hand areas than the brains of amateur pianists. To learn is to restructure your brain. It is simple truth that has been lost sight of with the short working hours that trainee surgeons now put in, at least in Europe." 

---This description of Dr. Marsh's reinforces the saying: practice, practice, and more practice.

January 2018 Read

Title: Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery
Author: Marsh, Henry
Call Number: 617.48092 M365D 2015
Book Description from amazon.com:

What is it like to be a brain surgeon? How does it feel to hold someone’s life in your hands, to cut into the stuff that creates thought, feeling and reason? How do you live with the consequences of performing a potentially lifesaving operation when it all goes wrong?

With astonishing compassion and candor, leading neurosurgeon Henry Marsh reveals the fierce joy of operating, the profoundly moving triumphs, the harrowing disasters, the haunting regrets and the moments of black humor that characterize a brain surgeon’s life. Do No Harm provides unforgettable insight into the countless human dramas that take place in a busy modern hospital. Above all, it is a lesson in the need for hope when faced with life’s most difficult decisions.

My Read:

Page 85-"The operating is the easy part, you know," he said. "By my age you realize that the difficulties are all to do with the decision-making." Dr. Marsh went to visit a senior neurosurgeon and told him of his deep desire to be a neurosurgeon. In real life decision-making is some kind of art hard to be excelled. In some cases listed in the book the outcome of an operation was unexpected. 

What I found after reading this book is that Dr. Marsh is a very disciplined person; he rode bike to work and ran in the morning, even when it was snowing or raining. To be a surgeon the doctor's hands must be steady. It's amazing that Dr. Marsh practiced more than 30 years as a neurosurgeon.

December Read/3

Title: Morgue: A Life in Death
Author: Di Maio, Vincent
Call Number: 616.07092 D582YM 2016
Book Description from amazon.com:

In this clear-eyed, gritty, and enthralling narrative, Dr. Vincent Di Maio and veteran crime writer Ron Franscell guide us behind the morgue doors to tell a fascinating life story through the cases that have made Di Maio famous―from the exhumation of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald to the complex issues in the shooting of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.

Beginning with his street-smart Italian origins in Brooklyn, the book spans forty years of work and more than nine thousand autopsies, and Di Maio’s eventual rise into the pantheon of forensic scientists. One of the country’s most methodical and intuitive criminal pathologists will dissect himself, maintaining a nearly continuous flow of suspenseful stories, revealing anecdotes, and enough macabre insider details to rivet the most fervent crime fans.

My Read:

"Sorry, but that's not your exit wound," I repeated. "That's an entrance wound."-page 157

Exit wound or entrance wound? When I read the cases listed in this book I wondered how many cases in the real world are really solved, how justice is defined, how innocence is really innocence and, vice versa. Interpretation and assumption are dangerous, specially the later one.

Page-53 "Today, there are only about 500 working, board-certified forensic pathologists in the United States-about the same number as twenty years ago. Problem is, we need as many as 1,500 to keep up with the steadily increasing parade of unexplained deaths." When I read about this my mind went back to the well-known medical examiner back home, Dr. Yang. He is a legend in the field of pathology. One of the things people remember about Dr. Yang was his respect to his "patients." 

Cases/stories included in this book are fascinating. It's a good read. 

December Read/2

Title: The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It
Author: McGonigal, Kelly, Ph.D.
Call Number: 153.8 M146W 2012
Book Description from amazon.com:
Informed by the latest research and combining cutting-edge insights from psychology, economics, neuroscience, and medicine, The Willpower Instinct explains exactly what willpower is, how it works, and why it matters. For example, readers will learn:

• Willpower is a mind-body response, not a virtue. It is a biological function that can be improved through mindfulness, exercise, nutrition, and sleep.
• Willpower is not an unlimited resource. Too much self-control can actually be bad for your health.
• Temptation and stress hijack the brain's systems of self-control, but the brain can be trained for greater willpower
• Guilt and shame over your setbacks lead to giving in again, but self-forgiveness and self-compassion boost self-control.
• Giving up control is sometimes the only way to gain self-control.
• Willpower failures are contagious—you can catch the desire to overspend or overeat from your friends­­—but you can also catch self-control from the right role models.

In the groundbreaking tradition of Getting Things Done, The Willpower Instinct combines life-changing prescriptive advice and complementary exercises to help readers with goals ranging from losing weight to more patient parenting, less procrastination, better health, and greater productivity at work.
My Read:
It took me weeks to finish this book. It's not that my reading speed was slow; it's that I got more than one book at hand these past few weeks. What I got the most from this book came from page 206. It says: E-mail check-ins keep a goal alive. The following page is a story about how email check-ins helped a student keep her word even though she sent the emails to another student who is a stranger to her. The email check-ins program turned into a true buddy system of support. They kept the weekly check-ins going for some time, despite the fact that they had no relationship outside of the class. By the time they stopped, the changes were a part of her life, and she no longer needed the extra accountability and support (page 207).
Another helpful tip I got from this book is the title of chapter three: Too Tired to Resist: Why Self-Control Is Like a Muscle. Our will is always on testing mode; discomfort and illness weaken our will muscle. Bad weather could be a good excuse not to get out to walk or jog. I had a bad day and I deserved a good piece of cheesecake. Lots of thoughts and feelings take us away from the rational mind and we do things we regret later.
To me, the difficult part for my walking routine was to put on my sneakers and pushed that door to get out. Once I was out I was out. Willpower is, to me, having a conversation with the self. And sometimes, silence the talk also helps. Willing the will, it's not that hard.

December Read

Title: The 100 Simple Secrets of the Best Half of Life
Author: Niven, David, Ph.D
Call Number: 158.1 N734O 2005
Book Description from amazon:

Practical advice on how to thrive in the second half of your life, based on scientific studies. The sixth book in the bestselling 100 Simple Secrets series.

What do people who relish the second half of their lives do differently than those who dread getting older? Sociologists, therapists and psychiatrists have spent entire careers investigating the ins and outs of successful aging, yet their findings are inaccessible to ordinary people, hidden in obscure journals to be shared with other experts.

Now the international bestselling author of The 100 Simple Secrets series has collected the most current and significant data from more than a thousand of the best scientific studies on the second half of life. These findings have been boiled down to one hundred essential ways to find and maintain joy, health, and satisfaction every day of your life. Each one is accompanied by a true story showing the results in action.

The Baby Boomers are hitting retirement age. This upbeat, light approach will appeal to the enormous market of citizens grappling with the effects of becoming 'senior', looking to discover the positive benefits of aging beyond discount tickets at the movie theatre. Books about aging well continue to sell year in and year out. The Simple Secrets approach will stand out among the heavier self-help/psychology titles and will without a doubt become an affordable impulse and gifty mainstay in this category.

My Read:

Chapter 4-Try Something New

Chapter 5-You Still Are Who You Were

Chapter 11-Have Time for Thoughts

Chapter 17-Keep Your Fears in Line

Chapter 20-Believe You Can

Chapter 21-See the Real Pay in Work

Chapter 29- See Beyond You

Chapter 36-Never Give up

Chapter 60-Remember to Care for Yourself When caring for Others

Chapter 65-Let Old Secrets Stay Secrets

Chapter 81-Seek Meaning

Chapter 91-Redefine Career

Chapter 96-View Your Life as a Choice

Chapter 100-Do it Now

Page 25-Express yourself in what you do, do something that reflects you.

Page 36-If you sit around, you have time to think about your problems.

Page 38-Be decisive. The task is to make the best decision we can and then stop questioning it.

November Read/2

Title: The Second Book of the Tao
Author: Mitchell, Stephen
Call Number: 299.51482 M682S 2009
Book Description from amazon.com:
The most widely translated book in world literature after the Bible, Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, is the classic manual on the art of living. Following the phenomenal success of his own version of the Tao Te Ching, renowned scholar and translator Stephen Mitchell has composed the innovative The Second Book of the Tao. Drawn from the work of Lao-tzu's disciple Chuang- tzu and Confucius's grandson Tzu-ssu, The Second Book of the Tao collects the freshest, most profound teachings from these two great students of the Tao to offer Western readers a path into reality that has nothing to do with east or west, but everything to do with truth. With his own illuminating commentary alongside each adapta­tion, at once explicating and complementing the text, Mitchell makes the ancient teachings at once modern, relevant, and timeless. 
My Read:
Notes from the book--
Page 12-Nothing is absolute.
Page 13-Mind can only create the qualities of good and bad by comparing. Remove the comparison, and there go the qualities. The pivot of the Tao is the mind free of its thoughts.
Page 15-It's all a question of perspective. The fastest thing in the universe isn't light; it's mind.
Page 49-In dealing with people, you're always dealing with yourself.
Page 56-Don't believe what you think. The Master's mind is like a mirror; it responds but doesn't store, contains nothing, excludes nothing and reflects things exactly as they are. Thus she has what she wants and wants only what she has.
Page 61-What happened is always the best thing that could have happened, because it's the thing that did happen.
Page 63-Wisdom is the art of cloudlessness.
Page 71- What is most valuable can't be taught; it can only be learned.
Page 79-Besides, entrepreneurship is less exciting than the adventure of discovering what is enough. How fine life becomes when what you want is exactly what you have.
Page 90-You can't reach for the positive and not create the negative by the very act of your reaching.
Page 94-You can't talk about the Tao with a person who thinks he knows something; he is bounded by his own beliefs. The Tao is vast and fathomless. You can understand only by stepping beyond the limits of yourself.
Page 96-Walk through life as though you didn't exist. When nothing is left to argue with and there is nothing to oppose. You will find yourself at peace and in harmony with all things.
-------Personally, I like the saying of "The Master's mind is like a mirror..." Encountering and interacting with people on a daily basis I found it hard to be at peace when the other party was in bad mood. The teachings in this book help me to be more aware and alert at dealing with people.

November Read

Title: It's Not About the Shark: How to Solve Unsolvable Problems
Author: Nevin, David Ph. D
Call Number: 153.43 N734I 2014
Book Description from amazon.com:

It's Not About the Shark opens the door to the groundbreaking science of solutions by turning problems―and how we solve them―upside down. When we have a problem, most of us zero in, take it apart, and focus until we have it solved. David Niven shows us that focusing on the problem is exactly the wrong way to find an answer. Putting problems at the center of our thoughts shuts down our creative abilities, depletes stamina, and feeds insecurities. It's Not About the Shark shows us how to transform our daily lives, our work lives, and our family lives with a simple, but rock-solid principle: If you start by thinking about your problems, you'll never make it to a solution. If you start by thinking about a solution, you'll never worry about your problems again.

Through real-life examples and psychology research, David Niven shows us why:

*Focusing on the problem first makes us 17 times less likely to find an answer
*Being afraid of a problem is natural: we're biologically primed to be afraid
*Finding a problem creates power – which keeps you from finding a solution
*Working harder actually hides answers
*Absolute confidence makes you less likely to find the answer
*Looking away from a problem helps to see a solution
*Listening only to yourself is one of the best ways to find an answer

Combining hard facts, good sense, and a strong dose of encouragement, David Niven provides fresh and positive ways to think about problem solving.

My Read:

This is one of the books that I was able to read and remember some cases in the book after I closed the book. It's a fairly good read.

Page 208-"We tend to write ourselves off and think that only some small, select number of people can come up with extraordinary ideas. But you can solve anything if you refuse to view it as a problem-if you refuse to let the problem define your options."

Page 22-"When you are stuck, find a good distraction that takes you away from your problems and sets your mind free."

Page 36-"In any walk of life, having the guts to get past negative reactions, to get past bad news, to get past fear-it opens up a world of opportunities. Indeed, overcoming fear makes it possible to redefine a problem, or even the entire universe."

Page 33-"Good makes other things seem boring. Bad things, on the other hand, are always compelling to us. Bad is so compelling to us that even when we have every incentive to value good over bad, we value bad over good."

Page 104-"When confidence gets in the way of asking questions, then it no longer propels us forward, it chains us down."

Page 165-"When you are stumped by a problem-when the only thought you can abide is that this is a problem that can not be solved-you have to open your mind to opposites. Flip the situation on its ahead consider the possibility that the obvious negative is really a positive. Within opposites we find our most creative selves."

Page 84-"No one ever told us that the way to solve something is to put fewer people on the case."