Alumni in Print
Medicine, a Love Story: The 20th Century Odyssey
of an American Professor of Medicine
Gene H. Stollerman’44
Outskirts Press, 2012
Dr. Stollerman, an internationally renowned researcher of rheumatic fever and streptococcal infection, has written about his career in medicine that has coincided with some of the greatest medical advances of the past century. His memoir has a chapter on P&S that describes the curriculum compressed by wartime, his daily commute from Queens (until he could afford to move into Bard Hall, where basketball was a favorite pastime), his memorable 21st birthday (Dec. 7, 1941), legendary faculty who taught him, clerkships, and the highlight of his P&S career—a sub-internship at Goldwater Hospital. “Despite my intensive specialization on streptococcal diseases,” he writes in the book’s foreword, “I have practiced as a pediatrician, internist and geriatrician trying to serve as ‘the whole person’s’ doctor.”
Masked & Gowned: The Making of a Surgeon
Lawrence W. Norton’58
Xulon Press, 2012
While fulfilling his dream to become a surgeon, Dr. Norton collected many stories that trace his medical school and residency experiences, and this book explains it all in a way that demystifies the masked-and-gowned figures known as surgeons. The book includes his story about Robert Loeb, “The Silver Fox,” that appeared in the Winter/Spring 2010 issue of P&S Journal. “I want readers, including students interested in medicine, to appreciate what surgical training entails,” says Dr. Norton. “They should understand that surgical trainees begin as servants to their patients and, if they remain loyal to their calling, emerge as professionals with the same characteristic.”
Anaphylaxis: A Medical Thriller
Alan Wanderer’61
Anson Publishing, 2012 • www.alanwanderer.com
In Dr. Wanderer’s first novel, a Denver scientist dies from anaphylaxis after a routine injection in his allergist’s office. His death comes shortly after he discovered an effective vaccine for cocaine addiction. The cocaine vaccine’s specifications turn up missing, along with the technician who worked closely with the deceased scientist. The mysterious death of another scientist and a plot implicating organized crime place the allergist and his family in harm’s way. The Kirkus Review describes the book as a medical thriller that becomes a legal and procedural thriller too. “As the case builds and the suspense grows, Wanderer’s thriller commendably incorporates medical terminology without any dense, unwarranted complexity.”
Angst: Origins of Anxiety and Depression
Jeffrey P. Kahn’79
Oxford University Press, 2013
In this book, Dr. Kahn, a psychiatrist, describes a novel theory about how five anxiety and depressive subtypes evolved from ancient herd instincts for social harmony. The syndromes emerge as the voices of instincts defied by our rational choices. He uses humor, cartoons, and more than 600 scientific references to explain, in lay language, his theory of our transformation, over tens of thousands of years, from biologically shaped, almost herd-like prehistoric tribes, to rational and independent individuals living in modern times. The book explores five types of modern-day angst—panic anxiety, social anxiety, OCD, atypical depression, and melancholic depression—and explains how each derives from primeval social instincts that once helped our ancestral herds survive. He also describes the interplay of instinct with the advance of civilization and how evolutionary perspective explains why modern treatments work.
Successful Sleep Strategies for Women
Julia Schlam Edelman’80
Harvard Health Publications e-book, 2012
Dr. Edelman’s book, part of a new series of e-books from
Harvard Health Publications, provides proven strategies for the millions of women who suffer from lack of sleep or poor sleep. Her practical guidance is based on scientific research and more than 25 years of experience as a gynecologist. More than 60 percent of women suffer from sleep problems during midlife, and insufficient or poor quality sleep also is experienced by younger women. Dr. Edelman presents stories followed by a discussion of what experts recommend, whether natural remedies, lifestyle modifications, or medications. The book is geared to general readers but includes information and references for their physicians.
The Third Son
Julie Wu’96
Algonquin Books, 2013
“The Third Son,” Dr. Wu’s debut novel, is based on her father’s struggle to leave Japanese-occupied Taiwan in the 1940s. The novel’s protagonist, Saburo, has to fight for everything he wants: food, education, his lost first love, freedom in the United States, and a career in aerospace engineering. The book has been described as a richly textured saga of political upheaval, distanced lovers, and the American dream. “My parents, especially my mother, had always implied that my father had not been loved as a child,” Dr. Wu says about the process of writing her book. “I changed many facts—major ones—to increase the unity and drama of the story. But the emotional journey remains my father’s.”
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