Customer Reviews:
Brilliant Writing by H. Wayne Morgan.......2006-07-31
Dr. Morgan is the type historian everyone should have in school. If I had studied history under Dr. Morgan, I might have majored in history rather than engineering. Dr. Morgan makes reading history fun and enlightening. He makes events come to life and makes one feel as if he is witnessing history first-hand.
If not for this book, I might have missed the great contributions of this American President.
Book Description
Locked inside a brain-injured head looking out at a challenging world is the premise of this extraordinary autobiography. Over My Head is an inspiring story of how one woman comes to terms with the loss of her identity and the courageous steps (and hilarious missteps) she takes while learning to rebuild her life. The author, a 45-year-old doctor and clinical professor of medicine, describes the aftermath of a brain injury eleven years ago which stripped her of her beloved profession. For years she was deprived of her intellectual companionship and the ability to handle the simplest undertakings like shopping for groceries or sorting the mail. Her progression from confusion, dysfunction, and alienation to a full, happy life is told with restraint, great style, and considerable humor.
Customer Reviews:
Brain Fog Unfogged -- A Feat in Communication.......2007-07-30
Osborn does what is virtually impossible. She translates the fog of a damaged brain's function into vignettes that an undamaged brain can comprehend.
In her case, this translation is from experiences which were by definition wordless, disorganized, incomprehensible, frightening and often completely mindless to their opposites. The level of Dr. Osborn's skill in doing this may be best understood by readers who have some experience (as I do) in being with brain-injured people.
Whether one appreciates Osborn's achievement in communicating the uncommunicable is unimportant. What is valuable is that she succeeds so well in giving us insight into the "being" of at a subset of the injured.
Most of the incidents recorded in the book are too long to quote in illustration of my point. Their length is a necessary consequence of Osborn's wish to reveal her floundering. Nothing in her life was straightforward. A relatively short excerpt follows:
BEGIN EXCERPT (page 33)
"I left soon after for the bookstore, but with the force of old habit and despite Marcia's written reminder dangling from the dash, I drove directly to the hospital. And then home again. Three times.
"It was noon when I drove out of the hospital parking lot for the third time, I was determined it wouldn't happen again.
"Now, as I turned onto the main road, Marcia's note clutched in my hand, I chanted, "Book store, go to the bookstore.'
"I was still saying it thirty minutes later as I turned into our driveway.
"When I got into the house, I reread Marcia's note. Lord, the bookstore.
"Well, I would definitely get the book tomorrow. Right now, I could still do the second item on her list - water the lawn."
END EXCERPT (page 34)
Needless to say, Osborn forgot to water the lawn.
The book is also notable in illustrating the lack of insight (in regard to her limitations) that Osborn (as others) experienced for quite some time. Then, once insight was gained, she writes about her struggle with a sorrowed sense of lost self.
One incident that helped to her to understand the scope of her lost abilities (which apparently were exceptional) is recorded on pages 205-206. She was not able perform even so "simple" a cognitive exercise as making a telephone call to obtain a patient's medical information.
The book provides a generalized understanding of how rehabilitation is accomplished. This includes learning stratagems for partially replacing lost structural functions.
BEGIN EXCERPT (page 145)
"Now my notes ordered me to [begin italics] really look in the mirror. Hair combed? Teeth cleaned? Collar straight? Earrings match? Expression alert, smiling? [end italics] It began to make a difference."
END EXCERPT
For the most part, the rehab portions of the book are most useful for providing a patient's view of rehabilitation. "Over My Head" certainly does not provide an overview of rehabilitation techniques. Osborn does, however, include a concise review of the generalized deficits that rehab and therapy have to address.
By the end of the book, Osborn manages to return to teaching medicine, but in a format and in situations where she can proceed more or less by rote and under controlled circumstances. Osborn emphasizes that adult brain injury generally imposes permanent limitations upon post-trauma performance. You will not be who you were. Part of the rehabilitation process requires coming to emotional grips with whom you have become.
I recommend "Over My Head" without reservation. It will be of most value to people new to dealing with brain trauma. It also has worth for those of us who lost figurative pieces of ourselves, but do not have brain trauma to blame. The "coping with loss and less" element of the book has universal appeal.
Throughout, Osborn shines as a human being.
polished and effective.......2007-06-28
The personal stories provide insight, compassion and humor but are over-polished in editing as if being prepared for a TV movie script. This loses a sense of real human connection with the author and her true feelings. I found myself saying "too cute" to some examples. Certainly effective in communication, but nothing in this is a "real life" documentation in the form that American audiences have come to expect in contemporary autobiographies. Still, this is the best publication on the topic of mild traumatic brain injury that conveys the day-to-day effect of even the mildest cases.
Dr. Osborn is a true teacher.......2007-06-08
I think I now can be a better friend and cousin to Jack who recently suffered a brain injury. Reading these memoirs has jolted me out of denial. I am very grateful for the wisdom in this book.
a lifering of a book.......2007-05-27
This is the definitive tell-all about head trauma.
It savages every concept of so-called professionalism
in the neuro rehab "biz." And yes, let's never forget
it is a business...Like the movie The Doctor, with William
Hurt, the expert doctor's ego is the last to fall. Ms.
Osborn admits this readily, to her credit.
Claudia found out just how much caregivers and
"pros" alike sugar coat the truth with lies, supposedly
to spare our feelings, but really because they are
unable to feel and empathize emotionally with some-
thing as unbelievably tragic as the very Loss of Self.
Or at least the appearance of it!
Don't ever believe you will lose your self if you have
a head injury, mild or severe. It is only an illusion.
There is a broad, overarching hint throughout this book
that faith in the Almighty will bring you through head
injury successfully. I suggest you dare to believe it.
TBI treatment is still scandalously poor out there, folks!
Only the truth can fix it. Don't discount the power of
nootropic smart supplements, homeopathic remedies,
hyperbaric oxygen and just eating fresh herbs and
veggies out of a home garden even years after the injury.
Starting up painting or playing an instrument can open
dormant circuits especially if they were never used
to begin with, pre-trauma. Gee, now THERE's a thought,
hunh?! The human body has a phenomenal capacity to
heal itself with just a little push start.
This book is crammed full of insights about how even
though we can become victims in a flash we can also
begin to bust out of it as we get our bearings. Please,
please read books like this to your relatives in a coma
or even if NOT mute, aphasic, or with "locked in
syndrome." It will allow them to process the emotions.
They need you to do that for them!
It starts with the Will, as the author clearly demonstrates
by literally writing her way back to life.
Claudia.... You done good, Girl!
Completely accurate account on living with short-term memory loss.......2006-03-20
Ms. Osborn is a godsend to have created this book. I am a survivor of an illness which greatly affected my short-term memory, and although it is difficult for me to remember the details of the book overall, I could 100% relate to each and every sentence as I read it. If you are friend or family to one with short-term memory loss, or if you simply wish to understand life with virtually no short-term memory, read this book. You will have a completely different outlook on life once you do.
Customer Reviews:
A Rare Gem.......2006-02-16
Ok. Don't laugh. This was one of the best books I have ever read. Granted, I read this book during a time in my laugh where I needed to hear some "woman-power" words. Dr. Berry *wowed* me with her insight into womanhood and society issues.
I loved her writing style. She was so funny and equally...so deep and perplexing. AFter reading this book I felt like I wish I could sit down and have a long chat with Dr. Berry.
She talks about Alice Walker in the book and quotes her as saying "sometimes even greif becomes absurb and that's when laughter gushes up to retreive the sanity". Wow.
I loved her insights on being beautiful. She says that she made herself the measure of beauty and suddenly everyone around her paled in comparison...Woman Power!
I loved this book and I have recommended it to everyone I know. It was recommended to me by a WHITE MAN! Nevertheless...it is a must read.
inspirational.......2001-03-03
This is the best book I've read this year. Dr. Berry gave a real insight to the 'black experience' . I had the pleasure of hearing her speak at a conference a couple of days ago and she is one of the most marvelous people that I have heard. Her words go far beyond that of John Grisham, or Stephen King. She is truly an inspirational person. I can't wait to read her other books
Product Description
OVER MY HEAD (CABLE CAR)
Series: Piano Vocal
Artist: The Fray
Sheet music.
Book Description
Based upon extensive ethnographic data, "A Roof Over My Head" examines the lives of homeless women-many with children-who live in small shelters and transitional living centers. Previous literature on homelessness has focused on those living literally on the streets or in large armory-style shelters, and such studies have often overlooked those women who are the subject of William's research.
The author draws upon interviews with homeless women, interviews with housed people, and, finally, evaluations of shelter services, philosophies, and policies to get at the causes and social construction of homelessness. "A Roof Over My Head" is a ground-breaking study that unveils the centrality of abuse and poverty in homeless women's lives and outlines ways in which societal responses can and should be more effective.
Customer Reviews:
A Book About Our Own Humanity.......2003-10-20
I found myself returning to this book night after night with great interest, for the voices and stories of the homeless women, unique, gripping, and ultimately haunting, make this well-researched and articulate book a real page-turner. This book is a must read for anyone who has experienced the agony of seeing a homeless person on the street and the futility of not knowing what to do about it. A Roof Over My Head combines extensive interviews with homeless women, shelter case-workers and the housed (that's you and me, people who have roofs over our heads) to present a holistic and enlightening assessment of the causes of homelessness and also potential solutions our society could embrace. A Roof Over My Head should be read in classrooms and in book groups as well as in those thousands of private living rooms that can create a grass roots movement. Ultimately, this is a book about our own humanity.
Very Important Book! Ignore the "New Right" Criticism.......2003-06-26
"A Roof Over My Head" is an extremely important book! Williams not only delineates the indemic problems of the shelter industry and many of the myths surrounding the cultural construction of homelessness, but she also puts forth viable political and institutional changes that could be adopted to correct many of these failures. Williams shines a light in the darker corners of our culture of homelessness and the shelter industry and she shows how prominant physical, emotional, and sexual abuse are at this point systemic, and part of the general makeup of these social and insitutional locations. She outlines the ways in which these forms of coercion participation in the perpetuation of the problems that homeless women face, and homelessness itsself. Please ignore the other review, which is driven completely by an ideological agenda, typified by the religious "New Right," which wants to assert that oppression, abuse, and coercion are all "justified" by "moral" assertions that blame the victim--mainly through reinforcing stereotypes. Saying that Williams's book is part of "a virus" of the "abdication of responsibility" is just plain hogwash. "A Roof Over My Head" is the exact opposite of that, as it calls for us to take responsibility for the social and institutional aparatus that we've constructed which works often times to perpetuate a cycle of abuse, dependency, and seemingly inescapable homelessness. I recommend buying this book and seeing what changes you can make in your local community.
Just doesn't get it.......2003-05-13
I gave the book two stars because the author makes a valid case for the need for battered women's shelters and homeless women's shelters to stop working at cross purposes to each other and recognize that the two conditions are often interrelated. Other than that, the book is just another symptom of a virus which has infected our society for decades, that of abdication of personal responsibility. Ms. Williams writes circles around the fact that most of the women in the book became homeless through a combination of character flaws and personal choices. This little bit of political correctness is the 800 lb. gorilla in the living room that everyone tip toes around but no one wants to confront. Why, Williams doesn't even think they should be expected to exhibit basic common decencies such as gratitude for what is done for and given to them, something I was taught from my very earliest childhood! She complains that the shelters treat their clients as if they aren't able to handle their own lives. She needs to wake up. Why does she think they're there in the first place?
What it boils down to is this: Making excuses for antisocial behavior, allowing abdication of responsibility for personal life choices and giving handouts without expecting even a minimum of decency and responsibility on the part of the recipient is destructive on both an individual and societal level. Ms. Williams just doesn't get it and her book is NOT recommended.
Average customer rating:
- Dripping with Nostalgia
- The game matters more than the actions of the participants
- Baseball couldn't be put any better way
- A must for REAL baseball fans
- Chapter One brought tears to my eyes.
|
Hornsby Hit One Over My Head: A Fans' Oral History of Baseball
David Cataneo
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Essays & Writings
| Baseball
| Sports
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Baseball
| Sports
| Subjects
| Books
History
| Baseball
| Sports
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sports
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0156002183 |
Amazon.com
Baseball is the most Homeric of games, a game of voices telling stories, of transmitting lore in that most ancient technology: word of mouth. Everyone who's been to the ballpark has a story to tell; sportswriter David Cataneo has done heroic duty by gathering and disseminating the rich voice of the common fan in this collection that runs the gamut from exuberance to poignancy. As diverse as the several dozen fans Cataneo interviewed are--they range in age from 17 to 94, live all over the country, and are as different in careers as a district attorney and a registered nurse--their reminiscences share a certain gauzy love for a game that seemed much purer when they were young. There are gems to be found here, such as the 79-year-old retired garment worker who still revels at once tossing a peanut at--and hitting--Babe Ruth, and, most moving of all, the nun from Texas who, unable to shed her life-long habit, began donning a Rangers uniform and going to fantasy camps in her early 60s.
Customer Reviews:
Dripping with Nostalgia.......2001-03-06
This is a book that contains memories of baseball fans all over the country. Many of the individuals mention the first baseball game they ever attended and share similar memories of their first sight of seeing the green grass and the bubble gum cards coming to life. Anyone, including me, has memories of their first game burned into their brain. You can't put a price on a fan's memories of their youth and baseball. It used to be that any boy that didn't play baseball wasn't really a boy at all. The people whose memories are shared in the book all grew up at a time when baseball meant more in the growing up process than it does now. As much as it hurt to write that last sentence, I'm afraid it's true with so many other things tugging at a youngster's attention. I'm thankful I grew up in the 50's. I can readily identify with those who are featured in the book. It is a book worth reading.
The game matters more than the actions of the participants.......1999-08-17
A perfect counter-point to Ritter's "Glory of their Times," these are the fans' stories. (Old, middle-aged, young, black, white, hispanic, female, male, blind, etc . . .) This is a brilliant collection of diverse points-of-view, experiences and relationships to our game, baseball.
Like a mosiac that blends individual pieces into a whole that's a much richer picture, Cataneo reminds us that the game of baseball, and our relationship to it, is more than what we think of the MLB product (too expensive!) or how our favorite team is doing (since Fox took over, it's been all down hill).
The game is still a perfect blend of tedium and urgency; heroics and teamwork. Somehow I was enchanted to again pick up a glove and play softball this weekend -- the 1st time in 4 years.
Out-of-shape and slow, I still fielded groundballs, caught (and missed) pop-ups, hit line drives and groundballs . . . I got another reminder of why baseball is (in Babe Ruth's words), "the only real game."
Baseball couldn't be put any better way.......1999-03-09
I am a huge baseball fan and this book truly defined what I think of baseball. It makes me think of my past memories in baseball. I have many strong memories about baseball and I love to hear other fans' stories about the game. If you are a true baseball fan, you must get this book. Since I have added this book to my collection, I have found myself wanting to open it up all the time.
A must for REAL baseball fans.......1999-01-29
Anyone who has ever met a passionate baseball fan such as myself and failed to understand the passion should read this book for comprehension. Fans of all ages, viewpoints, and backgrounds tell you why its such a wonderful game and why people have more deep feelings for baseball than for any other sport. For those of us who live and breathe the game, its an affirmation of that passion. I'm waiting impatiently for the sequel--its the only thing that gets me through the winter!
Chapter One brought tears to my eyes........1998-07-21
Chapter One is about my grandfather. Reading about him brought tears to my eyes as Mr. Cataneo did a brilliant job capturing his personality and re-telling his baseball stories. For me, what makes this book so unique is the fact that ordinary people were interviewed and this enabled me to better relate to their stories. Its a must read for all baseball lovers.
Average customer rating:
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In Over My Head
Diane Marquette
Manufacturer: Write Words, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Almost Mine
ASIN: 1594314683
Release Date: 2007-07-25 |
Product Description
Jill McCormick works as the night security guard at an exclusive, high-level conference center on Maryland's Chesapeake Bay. She considers her job a stepping stone to something better in her pursuit of a career in law enforcement, and recognizes that a stint at the prestigious Chesapeake Conference Center will look impressive on her resume. But the tranquil waters turn choppy when the drowning of a prominent guest begins to look more like murder, and the evidence mounts against Jill's boss, the self-centered and unpopular general manager of the center. When the local sheriff seems content to look the other way rather than suspect his good friend the manager, Jill enlists the help of her deputy lover, Mitch Garrett, to conduct an investigation of their own, even though it may implicate both their bosses in the murder.
Product Description
Books include:
Get A Clue,
Freaked Out,
Mirror Mirror,
Lizzie love Ethan,
Best Dressed,
Head Over Heels,
On the Job,
New Kid in School
Average customer rating:
|
Over My Head: Level 2
Hooked on Phonics
Manufacturer: Hooked On Phonics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
All 4-for-3 Deals
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1601434715 |
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