Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
Dr. Atul Gawande is the American born son of immigrant physicians from India. He is a surgeon and author. He has written several clear, interesting and worthwhile books. "Being Mortal" is his latest. It is a bit tough to read, especially if you are 60 or older. At that age, you know darned well you are deteriorating, that you face both more deterioration and death. That is what being a mortal means: the clock eventually runs out. Still, like anything else, human intelligence and experience matter. Gawande knows about life, deterioration, decline, frailty and death. Not death as an idea or abstraction but death as in no heartbeat and no breath coming in and out.
"The Open-focus Brain" and "Dissolving Pain" by Les Fehmi and Jim Robbins
When I had diverticulosis attacks of pain from the gut, I found I could stop the pain if I totally concentrated right on its essence, as deep and steady a concentration as I could manage, total. So total, I didn't otherwise think or move and usually fell asleep. It seemed as though the pain mechanism was acting as a warning or notification. If I concentrated right on it, there was no warning function and the pain ceased. There was no part of me that wasn't already alerted to the pain.
I have only begun looking into Dissolving Pain but it seems as though the book is about similar efforts to stop pain although the procedure is a bit different. I will almost certainly get around to looking at their previous book "Open Focus Brain". Their idea is about brain wave frequency and using "open focus", not concentrating on a single point but instead placing attention on open spaces between objects.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
