Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 5, 1994 TAG: 9405290138
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
By Sherwin B. Nuland, M.D. Knopf. $24.
The day before this book arrived in the main, I heard a review on NPR's "All Things Considered." I thought to myself upon hearing the reviewer's praise that the book was certainly worth looking into. It is. The NPR reviewer and I agree. The final chapter of life, the process of dying, is surely as
mysterious as conception and birth, the opening chapters, but probably more susceptible of comprehension. Oft times the dying person can relate her/his sensations in the last hours and even reflect on a lifetime's experiences. And those privileged to be present can recall thereafter their impressions of the event. Of course, nurses and doctors are often present by virtue of their work. While that conveys privilege and even familiarity, it may numb or blind the habitue by its routine. It requires a special gift to sit back and sift these multiple experiences for the true enlightening moments that hide among the many ordinary ones. Dr. Nuland has made it his business to reflect and extend the combination of art and science that is the practice of medicine into this book.
How do we die? That is a terible and fascinating question. What are the smaller events of physiology and how do they build and combine to bring first an organ and then the whole organism to an end? The science of medicine can tell us the first parts and even those that follow close upon the first, but it takes the art of medicine and a creative storyteller like Dr. Nuland to give real meaning to the whole process.
So he takes those common thieves of life, the ones that bring most of us low (heart disease, cancer, stroke, Alzheimer's, accidents, nowadays AIDS), and explains them. Explaining the science is workaday stuff for most physicians and Nuland's pen is abler than most. Explaining the art (putting the science in context and conveying meaning) requires a well-honed gift and Nuland's pen never falters. Unsentimental and powerful always but never harsh or unforgiving, he is obviously a physician who has suffered through and with his patients. What he has distilled here truly qualifies as wisdom and compassion.
- SIDNEY BARRITT
\ The Bible.
Edited by Sutherland Bates. Simon & Schuster. $25.
For those who would like to read the Bible in much the same way one reads a novel, Sutherland Bates' work is for you. Bates has taken the King James Version of the Bible and removed chapters and verses, edited most of the passages, and provided a Bible "desinged to be read as living literature." While purists may not like such an approach to scripture, one must remember that Bates has not altered the work's theology; he has simply changed its literary form.
Bates work was first published in 1936, and this edition contains updated commentary and scholarship by Lodowick Allison, a magazine editor. Much like the 1936 printing, this edition arranges the Bible in such a way to make it a collection of faith stories and biographies. For example, Paul's letters actually appear and read like modern-day letters. The purpose of Bates' endeavor is to make the Bible more understandable, readable and enjoyable.
- NELSON HARRIS
\ Montgomery White Sulphur Springs: A history of the resort, hospital, cemeteries, markers and monument.
By Dorothy H. Bodell, Pocahontas Press. $7.95.
If you have ever had occasion to use the rest stop adjacent to the northbound lane of I-81 between Christiansburg and Salem you have probably seen, if not read, the historical marker located near there. The next time you have a chance, stop and read this marker as it will inform you of something of the history of a former socialite capital of Virginia: Montgomery White Sulphur Springs Resort.
Bodell's small volume comes with footnotes, an index and several interesting black and white photographs. In this short space an excellent job is done of tracing the rise and fall of this once popular "watering spot." For many years people came from as far away as England and Texas (both places having been equally exotic in the popular press) to "take the cure" of the natural mineral waters located in Montgomery County. If you were not from some place as exotic as Texas or England, say Lynchburg or Richmond, you could still ride the train to this popular spot for the Rich and Famous. If you chose not to bring your servant, the resort would take care of you in fine style.
During the Civil War, the resort was a major hospital for Confederate wounded. Much of the time the real work was done by Nuns supplied by the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy in Charleston, SC. These sisters effectively ran the hospital for a number of years and at one point were instrumental in the removal of a particularly inept director. The story of these sisters, and of many of the men for whom they cared, is told with respect and eloquence. By the turn of the century "taking the cure" was no longer popular. The land and its moveable assets were auctioned off and the area is now used as a pasture. There is nothing left of the many fine buildings or the confederate grave yard except a few stray pieces of marble and some badly decayed markers. Still though, it is both exciting and gratifying to think that our area of southwest Virginia once housed such an historic and popular sight.
- Kenneth Locke\ Sidney Barritt is a Roanoke physician.
Nelson Harris is pastor of the Ridgewood Baptist Church.
Kenneth Locke is a Radford pastor.
by CNB