This Is What Alzheimer's Is Like
By: Timothy Chambers
(Inspired by the book Still Alice, by Lisa Genova)
You forget.
You forget the word, "lexicon." You forget the names of your daughter's roommates. You forget that you left your BlackBerry at the restaurant. You forget your wallet at the Starbucks cash register. You forget how to walk from Harvard Square to your home a mile away. You forget why "Eric" is written on your To-Do list. You forget to go to the airport for your flight to Chicago. You forget how many eggs go into the annual Christmas puddling recipe. You forget how your daughter met her roommates. You forget you just asked your daughter, "How did you meet your roommates?" a minute ago. You forget that your son broke up with Jill last month. You forget how to spell words learned long ago. You forget that you don't like coffee. Your forget that you're supposed to give a lecture today. You forget the details of the news-blurb you just heard. You forget whether it's 3:00 in the afternoon or 3:00 in the morning. You forget how to draw the face of a clock reading 3:45. You forget the order you gave the waitress 10 minutes ago. You forget what day your husband is leaving for that conference. Your forget the page you just read in King Lear. You forget why you entered this room. Your forget which door leads to the bathroom. Your forget that your sister died years ago, and ask when she's coming home. You forget that the white stuff next to the bagels is called "cream cheese." You forget that you left your book in the microwave. You forget you left your BlackBerry in the freezer. You forget the time your daughter's play starts. You forget that you just asked your daughter, "When does your play start?" You forget that the actress talking to you is your daughter. You forget that this item of clothing is your underpants, not your sports bra. You forget how to get dressed. You forget what people are referring to when they use pronouns. You forget the unfolding plot of a movie. You forget that the beeping is coming from the microwave, not the doorbell, not the computer, not the phone. You forget how to use the coffee-maker. You forget how to work the television. You forget the names of your former co-workers. You forget how the sentence you're speaking began. You forget what you were just thinking. You forget the conversations you had with your husband about moving to New York. You forget what you were just feverishly looking for. You forget that you and your husband are driving away from the cemetery. You forget why you are crying so hard. You forget that the doctor asked you to point to the window after you touch your nose. You forget the address the doctor quizzes you to remember at each appointment since last year. You forget where in the room the doctor placed a twenty-dollar bill at the beginning of the appointment. You forget what happened yesterday. You forget that the white stuff in the bathroom is moisturizer, not toothpaste. You forget that the black thing is a TV remote, not a phone. You forget how much time has passed since your last shower. You forget your daughter's age. You forget your daughter's name. You forget that you prefer chocolate ice cream to vanilla. You forget that the brown bits in the chocolate ice cream are called "brownies." You forget what month it is. You forget how to type. You forget how to compose words out of letters. You forget how to use the computer printer. You forget how to tell time. You forget that the brown liquid in the glass is called "Scotch." You forget that your mother is dead. You forget that the man is your husband. You forget that the image in the mirror is you.
You forget that you forget.
Saturday, June 27, 2020
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth
The Odessa File
by
by
The history books tell us that the Nazis were defeated and scattered in World War II. But what if, in 1963, a number of former SS officials (self-organized into a group called "ODESSA," acronym for Organizsation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen) plotted with the Egyptians to manufacture thousands of rockets fitted with bubonic-plague and "dirty bomb" warheads? The rockets' target would be obvious: Israel. The goal: to execute Hitler's "Final Solution," two decades after his death.
Forsyth's classic espionage thriller starts from this nightmarish premise. (How much of it is true? Forsyth won't say--"it is in this [book's] ability to perplex the reader as to how much is true and how much is false that much of the grip of the story lies," he writes.) The evil plot ends up (rather unwittingly) unraveled by a young German reporter, Peter Miller, whose dogged and ingenious pursuit of the hidden "Butcher of Riga" makes for feverish reading.
(Note: The "Butcher of Riga," Eduard Roschmann, was indeed an actual concentration-camp commandant. He was still alive when Forsyth published his book in 1972. According to Wikipedia, The Butcher died in Paraguay in 1977.
Forsyth's classic espionage thriller starts from this nightmarish premise. (How much of it is true? Forsyth won't say--"it is in this [book's] ability to perplex the reader as to how much is true and how much is false that much of the grip of the story lies," he writes.) The evil plot ends up (rather unwittingly) unraveled by a young German reporter, Peter Miller, whose dogged and ingenious pursuit of the hidden "Butcher of Riga" makes for feverish reading.
(Note: The "Butcher of Riga," Eduard Roschmann, was indeed an actual concentration-camp commandant. He was still alive when Forsyth published his book in 1972. According to Wikipedia, The Butcher died in Paraguay in 1977.
Friday, June 19, 2020
Little Worlds: A Collection of Short Stories for the Middle School by Peter Guthrie and Mary Page
by
Peter Guthrie and
Mary Page
"When we talked with other middle-school English teachers," write the editors, "we discovered that they were...frustrated by the lack of a good anthology for [their] students. It was out of this frustration that Little Worlds was born. The title, by the way, is inspired by an observation by Eudora Welty: that "we're seeing this story as a little world in space, just as we can isolate one star in the sky by a concentrated vision."
And a delightful collection of 30 short stories it is! In addition to the expected classics--including Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," Katherine Mansfield's "Miss Brill," WW Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw" and Jack London's "To Build a Fire"--Guthrie and Page include a number of wonderful stories off the beaten pedagogical path. Here are a few of my favorites:
Ray Bradbury, "Sun and Shadow" (1953)--Much is written now about the evils of "cultural appropriation." So what a surprise to find a short story from the 1950s touching upon this theme--and written by a sci-fi writer, no less!
Kay Boyle, "Winter Night" (1946)--An older babysitter tells her charge, Felicia, that she reminds her of a little girl the babysitter knew once. As the babysitter elaborates on the little girl and her fate, the reader comes to a horrible realization.
Eugenia Collier, "Marigolds" (1969)--A heart-rending account about how poverty and prejudice engender destructive rage in an adolescent girl: "I had indeed lost my mind, for all the smoldering emotions of that summer swelled in me and burst--the great need for my mother who was never there, the hopelessness of our poverty and degradation, the bewilderment of being neither child nor woman and yet both at once, the fear unleashed by my father's tears. And these feelings combined in one great impulse toward destruction." (To me, the story is one answer to the question Langston Hughes posed in his poem, "Harlem.")
Doris Lessing, "Through the Tunnel"--A boy sets an ambitious athletic goal, and strives day-by-day to slowly realize that goal. A wonderful story of spirit.
Bernard Malamud, "A Summer's Reading"--A young man's loneliness leads him to falsely boast about a summer's goal to read 100 books.
Needless to say, I greatly enjoyed (and was edified by) the editor's selection of stories. This book isn't just for middle-school students.
And a delightful collection of 30 short stories it is! In addition to the expected classics--including Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," Katherine Mansfield's "Miss Brill," WW Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw" and Jack London's "To Build a Fire"--Guthrie and Page include a number of wonderful stories off the beaten pedagogical path. Here are a few of my favorites:
Ray Bradbury, "Sun and Shadow" (1953)--Much is written now about the evils of "cultural appropriation." So what a surprise to find a short story from the 1950s touching upon this theme--and written by a sci-fi writer, no less!
Kay Boyle, "Winter Night" (1946)--An older babysitter tells her charge, Felicia, that she reminds her of a little girl the babysitter knew once. As the babysitter elaborates on the little girl and her fate, the reader comes to a horrible realization.
Eugenia Collier, "Marigolds" (1969)--A heart-rending account about how poverty and prejudice engender destructive rage in an adolescent girl: "I had indeed lost my mind, for all the smoldering emotions of that summer swelled in me and burst--the great need for my mother who was never there, the hopelessness of our poverty and degradation, the bewilderment of being neither child nor woman and yet both at once, the fear unleashed by my father's tears. And these feelings combined in one great impulse toward destruction." (To me, the story is one answer to the question Langston Hughes posed in his poem, "Harlem.")
Doris Lessing, "Through the Tunnel"--A boy sets an ambitious athletic goal, and strives day-by-day to slowly realize that goal. A wonderful story of spirit.
Bernard Malamud, "A Summer's Reading"--A young man's loneliness leads him to falsely boast about a summer's goal to read 100 books.
Needless to say, I greatly enjoyed (and was edified by) the editor's selection of stories. This book isn't just for middle-school students.
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Alongside Night, by J. Neil Schulman
by
This novel takes place twenty years in the future (the edition I read was published in 1979 and set in the year 2001). The setting is the United States, which is in the midst of an economic apocalypse. Since the government printed a glut of paper-money, inflation runs rampant: a cup of coffee costs $500, a short cab-ride goes for $2,000, a night in a motel fetches over $10,000. The value of the (fiat) US dollar to the (gold-based) Eurofranc is dropping like a rock. The price of gold is skyrocketing.
In a futile attempt to dampen the inflation, the government has imposed iron-fisted wage-and-price controls. This only leads to a shortage of basic goods; if anyone wants to buy anything, they have to resort to trade in the illegal black market (which the Libertarians call the "counter-economy").
And soon, the government is resorting to more and more dictatorial measures to impose its will and "restore order."
Against this backdrop, the (libertarian) Aurora Cadre strives to overthrow the US government, and replace it with a system which safeguards true social and economic freedom.
The result is a book which the Sci-Fi Review called "the best Libertarian novel since Atlas Shrugged." Author Anthony Burgess praised the pace of the book--revealing that he read the book cover-to-cover in one 8-hour sitting.
My own experience with the book wasn't quite as exciting as Burgess's, but the book nonetheless held my interest. It was an interesting airing of Libertarian economic principles (a la Milton Friedman).
My edition of the book closes with an economic speech by the author, J. Neil Schulman, entitled "Are We Alongside Night?", published in New Libertarian in 1980.
In the speech, Schulman describes his book this way:
My intent with Alongside Night was to show, by dramatic example, the major preconditions for the achievement of a free society
My theme: freedom works
My context: the political-economic mess that the theories of Austrian economics say must end in collapse...the sort of economic collapse that historically has led to a Man on Horseback taking over Napoleon after the 1790s hyperinflation in France; Hitler after the crack-up in 1923 Weimar Germany.
My plot: the events leading up to and culminating in the collapse of the American economy, and the arising of the underground economy given conscious identity by libertarian revolutionaries.
Mr. Schulman indeed succeeds at the foregoing aims. I enjoyed--and was informed by--this book.
It's also worth noting that, in Schulman's speech, he praises the books On the Brink by Ben Stein and The Crash of '79 by Paul Erdman. I think it would be interesting to compare and contrast Schulman's book with Stein's and Erdman's.
In a futile attempt to dampen the inflation, the government has imposed iron-fisted wage-and-price controls. This only leads to a shortage of basic goods; if anyone wants to buy anything, they have to resort to trade in the illegal black market (which the Libertarians call the "counter-economy").
And soon, the government is resorting to more and more dictatorial measures to impose its will and "restore order."
Against this backdrop, the (libertarian) Aurora Cadre strives to overthrow the US government, and replace it with a system which safeguards true social and economic freedom.
The result is a book which the Sci-Fi Review called "the best Libertarian novel since Atlas Shrugged." Author Anthony Burgess praised the pace of the book--revealing that he read the book cover-to-cover in one 8-hour sitting.
My own experience with the book wasn't quite as exciting as Burgess's, but the book nonetheless held my interest. It was an interesting airing of Libertarian economic principles (a la Milton Friedman).
My edition of the book closes with an economic speech by the author, J. Neil Schulman, entitled "Are We Alongside Night?", published in New Libertarian in 1980.
In the speech, Schulman describes his book this way:
My intent with Alongside Night was to show, by dramatic example, the major preconditions for the achievement of a free society
My theme: freedom works
My context: the political-economic mess that the theories of Austrian economics say must end in collapse...the sort of economic collapse that historically has led to a Man on Horseback taking over Napoleon after the 1790s hyperinflation in France; Hitler after the crack-up in 1923 Weimar Germany.
My plot: the events leading up to and culminating in the collapse of the American economy, and the arising of the underground economy given conscious identity by libertarian revolutionaries.
Mr. Schulman indeed succeeds at the foregoing aims. I enjoyed--and was informed by--this book.
It's also worth noting that, in Schulman's speech, he praises the books On the Brink by Ben Stein and The Crash of '79 by Paul Erdman. I think it would be interesting to compare and contrast Schulman's book with Stein's and Erdman's.
Monday, June 15, 2020
Fever, by Robin Cook (1982)
by
Dr. Robin Cook writes medical thrillers centered on a timely issue (or two). This novel, from 1982, centers on industrial pollution and leukemia (cancer clusters?)
The main character, Dr. Charles Martel, is a cancer-researcher. His 12-year-old daughter, Michelle, is diagnosed with myeloblastic leukemia. This sets up two conflicts for Dr. Martel:
1. Dr. Martel vs. Recycle, Inc.: It soon becomes apparent that Michelle succumbed to leukemia because a nearby company, Recycle Inc., is dumping carcinogen benzene in a stream near the Martel home. This leads Dr. Martel to try to stealthily document the company's illegal dumping--and find a government agency with the inclination to do something about it.
2. Dr. Martle vs. Michelle's Oncologists: How should Michelle's cancer be treated? Her doctors opt for the old-school treatment, aggressive chemotherapy. But Michelle doesn't improve. This leads Dr. Martel to object to the chemotherapy and insist upon an experimental treatment, which involves teaching Michelle's immune system to recognize, and attack, the cancer cells. (Cook's idea is somewhat like the idea presented by cancer-researcher Dr. Steven Rosenberg, in his nonfiction book, The Transformed Cell.) Dr. Martel offers an explanation on pages 221-223:
The main character, Dr. Charles Martel, is a cancer-researcher. His 12-year-old daughter, Michelle, is diagnosed with myeloblastic leukemia. This sets up two conflicts for Dr. Martel:
1. Dr. Martel vs. Recycle, Inc.: It soon becomes apparent that Michelle succumbed to leukemia because a nearby company, Recycle Inc., is dumping carcinogen benzene in a stream near the Martel home. This leads Dr. Martel to try to stealthily document the company's illegal dumping--and find a government agency with the inclination to do something about it.
2. Dr. Martle vs. Michelle's Oncologists: How should Michelle's cancer be treated? Her doctors opt for the old-school treatment, aggressive chemotherapy. But Michelle doesn't improve. This leads Dr. Martel to object to the chemotherapy and insist upon an experimental treatment, which involves teaching Michelle's immune system to recognize, and attack, the cancer cells. (Cook's idea is somewhat like the idea presented by cancer-researcher Dr. Steven Rosenberg, in his nonfiction book, The Transformed Cell.) Dr. Martel offers an explanation on pages 221-223:
"[C]ancer research has been my life for the last nine years, and I think there's a chance I can do something...
"First of all my research has advanced to the point where I can take a cancerous cell from an organism and isolate a protein, or what is called an antigen, on its surface, which makes that cell different from all the other cells. That, in itself, is a major advance. My problem
then was getting the organism's immune system to react to the protein and therefore rid itself of the abnormal cancerous cells....
"[T]hen I got the idea to inject the isolated surface antigen into well animals to make them immune to it....[T]hen inject
"First of all my research has advanced to the point where I can take a cancerous cell from an organism and isolate a protein, or what is called an antigen, on its surface, which makes that cell different from all the other cells. That, in itself, is a major advance. My problem
then was getting the organism's immune system to react to the protein and therefore rid itself of the abnormal cancerous cells....
"[T]hen I got the idea to inject the isolated surface antigen into well animals to make them immune to it....[T]hen inject
[that animal's] antibodies into Michelle."
An intriguing idea.
In sum, Dr. Cook's book is readable and interesting. (In terms of plot, it invites comparison to Cook's later novel, Toxin, where a doctor's daughter gets fatal food-poisoning, leading her doctor-father to go on the warpath against the beef industry and health oversight agencies.)
One complaint: I stalled after 200 pages of this book, had to set aside the book for a month, then forced myself to plow through the last 78 pages. Dr. Cook's ideas are intriguing, but his writing style is less fluid than, say, the writing-style of (Dr.) Michael Crichton. (On
this point, contrast Cook's novel Nano with Crichton's own nano-themed thriller, Prey.) But all in all, a good read and thought-provoking book.
An intriguing idea.
In sum, Dr. Cook's book is readable and interesting. (In terms of plot, it invites comparison to Cook's later novel, Toxin, where a doctor's daughter gets fatal food-poisoning, leading her doctor-father to go on the warpath against the beef industry and health oversight agencies.)
One complaint: I stalled after 200 pages of this book, had to set aside the book for a month, then forced myself to plow through the last 78 pages. Dr. Cook's ideas are intriguing, but his writing style is less fluid than, say, the writing-style of (Dr.) Michael Crichton. (On
this point, contrast Cook's novel Nano with Crichton's own nano-themed thriller, Prey.) But all in all, a good read and thought-provoking book.
Thursday, June 11, 2020
This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, by Tadeusz Borowski,
This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen
by
Barbara Vedder (Editor/Translator)
,
Jan Kott (Introduction)
,
Michael Kandel (Translator)
Powerful stories based on the author's experiences at Auschwitz and Dachau. Deserves to be read side-by-side with Man's Search for Meaning and Night.
For the record, Borowski's view of human nature and freedom is more pessimistic than Frankl's.
I wrote up some "Discussion Questions" for this one:
Two of the central concepts of existentialism is human freedom and responsibility. The following two readings post interesting questions concerning these concepts:
1) Man's Search for Meaning
2) This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen
Here's a few questions concerning these two readings. Both Frankl and Borowski wrote about their experiences in German concentration camps during World War II--but they seem to have drawn different lessons from their common experiences:
1) What does Frankl say about human freedom? Is it possible to be "free" in a concentration camp, according to Frankl? In what sense?
2) Would Borowski agree with Frankl--or does he seem to be more pessimistic about what happens to humanity amidst the horrors of a concentration camp?
3) Several years after his liberation from the concentration camp, Borowski committed suicide (at age 29, in 1951). Frankl, on the other hand, didn't commit suicide (dying at age 92, in 1997). Why do you think these two men reacted so differently to their concentration-camp experiences? Do their writings provide any clues?
For the record, Borowski's view of human nature and freedom is more pessimistic than Frankl's.
I wrote up some "Discussion Questions" for this one:
Two of the central concepts of existentialism is human freedom and responsibility. The following two readings post interesting questions concerning these concepts:
1) Man's Search for Meaning
2) This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen
Here's a few questions concerning these two readings. Both Frankl and Borowski wrote about their experiences in German concentration camps during World War II--but they seem to have drawn different lessons from their common experiences:
1) What does Frankl say about human freedom? Is it possible to be "free" in a concentration camp, according to Frankl? In what sense?
2) Would Borowski agree with Frankl--or does he seem to be more pessimistic about what happens to humanity amidst the horrors of a concentration camp?
3) Several years after his liberation from the concentration camp, Borowski committed suicide (at age 29, in 1951). Frankl, on the other hand, didn't commit suicide (dying at age 92, in 1997). Why do you think these two men reacted so differently to their concentration-camp experiences? Do their writings provide any clues?
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