Recent Reads

The nice thing about spending lots of time on airplanes is that I have time to engage in one of my favorite hobbies, reading. This seems to be the summer of non-fictions reads for me.

I just finished a book called Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank by Randi Hutter Epstein. I found this book interesting not just because I’m pregnant, but because I’m very interested in how our doctor-patient relationships have evolved over the centuries and how ideas about what is “good medicine” seem to always be changing. The book traces childbirth practices from the middle ages until present day and relates stories that show how science has advanced the process, but also how cultural norms, fads, and customs have had such a big influence. Hutter Epstein is a medical journalist who combines sarcasm and whit with medical history into what I thought was a very engaging book.

Currently I’m reading The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. Again, this book speaks to my interest in healthcare and medicine. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is the story of a Hmong immigrant family who was living in California when their three month old daughter Lia developed epilepsy or as the Hmong call it “the disease where the spirit catches you and you fall down”. The book explores the cultural clash between the beliefs of the Hmong regarding illness and the way in which the Western medical community understands illness and chooses to treat it. It’s a wonderful insight into Eastern vs Western medicine and culture. I’m a big believer in holistic medicine and that there usually is more than one way to treat an illness. I’m also a firm believer in a lot of Eastern medicine practices and often feel that Western doctors take a one-sided approach that is all about finding a cure instead of focusing on prevention. (ok, stepping off my soap-box now!) Dr. Dan Murphy, one of the doctors in the book wrote this in his review of the book, “Having experienced Lia Lee's saga personally, and then having read the book, I can only refer to Anne Fadiman's talent as astounding. Anne walks an incredibly fine, and very well documented, line as she describes what happens when American medical technology meets up with a deep and ancient Eastern culture. My team (Western medicine) failed Lia. Never have I felt so fairly treated in defeat, and never have I felt so much respect for an author's skillful distillation of a tragically murky confrontation of cultures.” I haven’t finished this book yet, but I can already say that it’s one of my favorites.