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HARVARD MED

Name: HARVARD MED
Author: John Langone
ISBN: 0-517-59306-8

THE STORY BEHIND AMERICA'S PREMIER MEDICAL SCHOOL AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA'S DOCTORS

by John Langone ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 30, 1995

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An impressionistic portrait of Harvard Medical School that reveals the pluses and minuses of research-oriented medical education. Whether or not it's the number one medical school in the country—the point is arguable—Harvard Med is undeniably a prestigious and influential institution whose methods and results warrant examination. Journalist Langone (In the Shogun's Shadow, 1994, etc.) provides an occasionally awestruck, mostly anecdotal, rarely academic picture of the school, its teachers, and its students. Although he begins with orientation and ends with commencement, his approach is nonlinear: A chapter describing new students' first exposure to patients is followed by an account of how applicants are selected, which precedes a grisly account of dissecting a cadaver. Langone's research included taking the gross anatomy lab along with first-year students—an experience, he claims, that begins the hardening process that leads to arrogant and unfeeling doctors. Harvard Med, the author makes abundantly clear, is a training ground for medical scientists and specialists, not for general practitioners. It excels at teaching students to diagnose, treat, and research diseases. How to treat patients is a skill much harder to impart, and few at Harvard try, in Langone's view. He depicts a school that mirrors the best and worst features of America's health care system, giving Harvard an A+ in technology but a dismal grade in compassion. His chapters on the school's history, showing that it has made huge changes over time in its admission policies (in 1992 minorities were 22% of those admitted, women 45%) and in its teaching methods and subjects, suggest that Harvard Med will continue to evolve, but there is no indication that its plans include providing the kind of medical education that leads to empathetic healers. Strongly recommended for pre-med students, Harvard-bound or not.

Pub Date: June 30, 1995

ISBN: 0-517-59306-8

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1995

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
IN THE SHOGUN'S SHADOW
by John Langone

- BOOK REVIEW
SPREADING POISON
by John Langone

- BOOK REVIEW
OUR ENDANGERED EARTH
by John Langone

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.