CPN Guest Digest #202

Something for the weekend, compiled by Professor Bruce Greenfield:

Currently, I am a Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation, Center for Movement and Physical Therapy Science. I am also a Senior Fellow in the Center for Ethics and serve on the Emory University Hospital Ethics Committee. Married for 43 years, I have three grown children and six grandchildren. As an interested and avid reader many of what I list are books that greatly influenced and shaped my thinking.

1.     Golem Girls by Riva Lehrer is a relatively new book (link). A memoir of a portrait artist born with a disability. Must read for those interested in the issues of disability studies and personal, cultural, and societal challenges for those living with disabilities.

2.     Song by John Fogerty, Weeping in the Promised Land sings about the cultural, social, and medical crisis of America.

3.     Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein illustrates lack of human connection in extremis.

4.     Artist Ross Rossin’s depiction of Frankenstein belies the typical green monster and instead humanizes the “monster”.

5.     The film Elephant man, one of the great scenes when Joseph Merrick is cornered by people in a public restroom by people aghast at his disfigurement and with great pathos he screams, “I am a human being.”

6.     George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s seminal book, Metaphors we Live By is instrumental regarding how and why people think metaphorically. For the qualitative researchers a must!!

7.     Peter Mendelsund’s book What We See When We Read, the phenomenology of reading.

8.     Laura Otis’ s Rethinking Thought. Otis takes one into the thinking of creative persons.

9.     Shane O’Mara’s In Praise of Walking. You will always want to walk!

10.   Vincent Van Gogh the Immersive Experience. Genius and craziness mix…

11.  John Shewey’s the Hummingbird Handbook. My wife’s favorite bird – beauty comes in very small packages.

12.  Rembrandt’s painting entitled, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp. A colleague of mine presented this painting in my ethics course today as she talked about art and the power of observation. How many hands do you see?

13.  Leonardo da Vinci’s The Vitruvian Man. Reminds me that even in the 15th century society embraced the ideal figure of a man, normality has been such a struggle for many.

14.  Margaret Edson’s Wit. A play. The good and bad of medicine.

15.  Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilych, I read the novella ever year.