Bosk (Sociology/Univ. of Penn) examines the work of genetic counselors at a pseudonymous large urban clinical-and-research center, dubbed here the ``Nightingale Children's Center,'' and then casts a critical eye on his own research techniques. Seemingly more than a little uncomfortable as a disinterested ethnographer whose research presses him into service as a bioethicist, Bosk reveals at least as much about his own work as he does about that of genetic counselors—those who advise prospective parents facing the risk, or certainty, of giving birth to a genetically defective child. It's worth noting that Bosk's research was conducted in the late 1970's, when genetic counseling was performed mostly by physicians. Since then, Bosk admits, graduates of two-year genetic counseling programs have taken over and the field has been altered by major cultural changes (growth of hospital ethics committees; public controversy over surrogate motherhood, right-to-die cases, and health-care rationing), while scientific advances have shifted the emphasis in genetics away from screening and prevention and toward diagnosis and therapy. Nevertheless, Bosk contends that what has remained the same is how information is passed on to patients, what issues shape decisions, and how and by whom decisions are made. Although the genetic counselors Bosk describes here saw themselves as information specialists and value-neutral decision facilitators seeking to ensure patient autonomy, Bosk finds that this ideal was difficult to achieve in practice. Furthermore, he says, genetic counselors' relatively low professional status often led them to defer to the judgment of the hospital's attending physicians and to act as ``medical janitors,'' mopping up messy situations. Not as gripping as its title implies, but, still, a thoughtful contribution to the literature on a controversial subject.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-226-06681-9
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Univ. of Chicago
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1992
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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