The Human Condition Curated
What's New
Steven Field on Mysterious Medicine: The Doctor-Scientist Tales of Hawthorne and Poe edited by L. Kerr Dunn
“Some of us think of “doctor fiction” as a modern
genre. This anthology definitely calls that notion into question.”
Audrey Shafer on Daughter by Cortney Davis
“The collection is a tribute to familial love, and
ultimately to one particular person, separated by the worsening pandemic, and
dealing with the ravages of metastatic breast cancer.”
Russell Teagarden on Dopesick created by Danny Strong
“To adapt to the format of a dramatic series, Danny Strong,
the creator, sets the series around the fiendish Purdue Pharma sales and
marketing practices and the people they affected directly.”
Jacalyn Duffin on The King's Anatomist by Ron Blumenfeld
“Centered on the mysterious death and lost grave of the
great anatomist, this enjoyable novel is anchored in nodal points generated by
scholarly literature.”
Howard Trachtman on Bewilderment by Richard Powers
“[The author] examines the question whether neurobiology can
help people achieve empathy, potentially even merge with another person.”
Russell Teagarden on Nervous System by Lina Meruane
“The novel sees illness and death as punishing and
shattering, but also life affirming.”
Devon Zander on Pandemic Haiku by Gregg Bordowitz
“[The
author’s] voice in this collection is amplified by his long-term work devoted
to understanding contagion, illness, and identity.”
Guy Glass on How To Be Depressed by George Scialabba
“The bulk of the book is an edited selection of the author’s
psychiatric records from 1969 to 2016…The notes document changes in psychiatry
over the past half century."
Howard Trachtman on Blood in the Water: The Attica Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy? by Heather Ann Thompson
“This book is a reminder that it will take an extended and
concerted effort to achieve equal treatment for citizens in the penal system
and in the health system.”
Jacalyn Duffin on Imprimatur by Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti
“Full of elaborate atmosphere and intrigue, the novel is a
masterpiece of historical research in politics, religion, and social conditions.”
Steven Field on Oli Otya? Life and Loss in Rural Uganda directed by Lucy Bruell
“The film is a moving and thought-provoking look at the
beating heart of medicine with its engaging soundtrack and its from-the-inside
views of rural and village life.”
Martin Kohn on Practice by Richard Berlin
“Evident in the poems is a person experiencing much more
than medical/psychiatric practice, but a full cornucopia of life: his love of
art, music, food, nature, and the people he shares this bounty with.”
Russell Teagarden on This is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan
“Pollan continues pursuing his interest in the human drive
for altering consciousness through mind-altering substances and marries this
interest with his passion for plants and gardening.”
Devon Zander on The Impatient Dr. Lange by Seema Yasmin
“Like many public health crusaders, Lange understood the
connection between societal and historical factors and the spread and
development of disease, specifically HIV and AIDS.”
Guy Glass on Everything is Fine by Vince Granata
"[The author] dedicates
himself to understanding schizophrenia and the shortcomings in our mental
health care system, and, finally, writes this book."
Jacalyn Duffin on The Conjure-Man Dies by Rudolph Fisher
"Fisher was an African-American physician-author whose clever
novel contains only African-American characters, including the physician and
the detective."
Cortney Davis on Queen of the Sugarhouse by Constance Studer
“Even when the author is writing of life outside the hospital or the sickroom, her knowledge of our fragile bodies and vulnerable minds are evident--as is her understanding of the complexities of human existence and desire.”
Steven Field on The Expendable Man by Dorothy Hughes
“Hughes’ ability to create the setting and build the uneasiness is superb literary craft… prepare to have everything you’ve thought about the story suddenly change with the breathless rapidity of a rug being pulled out from under you.”
Cortney Davis on Freud on My Couch by Richard Berlin
“Berlin writes as a physician, husband, father, friend, lover of music--and as a man who understands that he and his patients share a common and fragile humanity.”
Russell Teagarden on Should We Stay or Should We Go by Lionel Shriver
“Readers will appreciate the book for the questions it raises and the thinking it inspires...[about] taking measures to avoid devastating enfeeblement and infirmity during old age.”
Sebastian Galbo on An Enemy of the People by Satyajit Ray
“Ray depicts physicians who struggle to share scientific truth under the weight of public vilification and skullduggery.”
Jack Coulehan on Secret Wounds by Richard M. Berlin
“Richard Berlin’s poems are revelatory. They reveal the healing power of attention, empathy, witness, and love.”
Devon Zander on The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison
“The book explores the human condition and what it means to relate to one another with caring despite the interpersonal complications that can often arise.”
Tony Miksanek on The Ministry of Bodies by Seamus O'Mahony
“This unusual memoir - both blunt and philosophical - contemplates topics deeply relevant to all physicians.”
Sebastian Galbo on Imagining Vesalius: An Ekphrastic, Scholarly and Literary Celebration of the 1543 De Humani Corporis Fabrica of Andreas Vesalius by Richard Ratzan
“[The author] brings together scholars and creative writers to celebrate the legacy of the sixteenth-century Flemish physician and anatomist, Andreas Vesalius and his landmark text, De Humani Corporis”
Howard Trachtman on East West Street and Ratline by Philippe Sands
“In these two linked books, [the author] tells an extraordinary real life story that combines personal experience and world history into a narrative that is as powerful as any novel.”
Carol Schilling on Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution by Directors Nicole Newnham and James LeBrecht
“Crip Camp is in part a multi-voiced memoir told from the too-rare perspective of teenagers with disabilities about a shared formative experience and, simultaneously, a needed documentary about disability civil rights campaigns.”
Russell Teagarden on Dileesh Pothan's Joji
“Covid-19 has has scorched societies at all levels all
around the world. Will anyone believe a movie is set in the current time period
without signs of Covid-19? Dileesh Pothan thinks not.”
Howard Trachtman on Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
“Is
Religion or Science best able to deal with the psychological problems that can
arise over a lifetime? Yaa Gyasi’s powerful new book aims to answer these
perennial questions.”
Steven Field on THE GREAT INFLUENZA: A Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John Barry
“For anyone seeking to understand the 1918 influenza pandemic not only from a scientific and medical historical standpoint, but also with an appreciation of the political and sociocultural milieu in which it took place, you can’t do much better than Barry’s work.”
Mark Clark on The Arrow Tree: Healing from Long COVID by Phyllis Weliver
“[The] memoir points its readers in the direction of a safe passage to the home of our natural world, where, in finding union with that world, we may experience healing not only from COVID but from habits of the heart that have left us more broken than we know.”
Russell Teagarden on Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
“From this novel, we get Lethem’s view of how Tourette syndrome can affect everyday life and how it can progress; how people with the syndrome can think about it; the balance people seek between benefits and side effects of drug therapies; and whether it’s acceptable to think that some verbal and physical tics are funny.”
Tony Miksanek on Parenthesis by Élodie Durand
"The author-artist's black and white illustrations are potent in portraying her struggle to understand the seizures and her attempt to communicate their impact on her life.”
Lucy Bruell on Collective by Alexander Nanau
“By bringing public awareness to the critical shortcomings, corruption and politicization of the Romanian health care system, the filmmakers have created an important cautionary tale for other cities and countries who do not prioritize the health of their citizens.”
Total Database Contents
- 178 Visual Art Annotations
- 2915 Literature Annotations
- 290 Performing Art Annotations
- 100 Artists
- 1857 Authors
- 187 Keywords