A spellbinding account of the miracles that we are coming to expect from increasingly sophisticated hi-tech medicine. Epstein (Director/Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, NYU Medical Center), assisted by medical writer Shimberg, describes his work with children suffering from brain-stem and spinal-cord tumors, explaining that techniques he's developed and refined enable him to save the lives of children whose tumors were once considered inoperable. The cases described here (pseudonyms are used for patients, real names for medical personnel) represent the luckier children, for such tumors are difficult to diagnose and are often missed by family physicians. About a quarter of the text consists of first-person narration by Epstein (or ``Fred,'' as he is referred to throughout in a deliberate and generally successful attempt to present himself as a compassionate and empathetic person). What we are shown is the very best that American medicine has to offer—high levels of competence and caring combined (Epstein forms close ties with his patients' families and attends their bar mitzvahs, weddings, and even their funerals). Issues of cost are occasionally mentioned, but only to show how charitable acts sometimes resolve them. Epstein's stated aim is to increase public awareness of the symptoms indicating possible nervous-system tumors, to encourage parents to seek expert help, and to offer them hope—and they succeed admirably. (But the unstated problem remains: Even assuming families locate the needed help, how are they to afford it?) Into the high drama of individual patient's stories, Epstein has mixed some history of neurological surgery, conveying clearly that, although enormous strides have been made, tomorrow's technology will eclipse even today's marvels. The operating-room scenes are riveting, and the patients' stories utterly absorbing and often heart-rending: a first-rate medical casebook.
Pub Date: April 26, 1993
ISBN: 0-688-11029-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1993
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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