ezloan

Sloan Kettering was first published in Hebrew in 1987 as an extended poema on Abba Kovner's terminal struggle against throat cancer. He died in Israel that year. Shadow themes and images subtly bleed through the skin of this work, in a pentimento effect that renders these 61 Eddie Levenston translations subtle, bold, and classic.

Kovner was a Jewish Holocaust and Israeli wartime hero, larger-than-life, and one of Israel's most important poets. But these works, in a voice intensely human despite the enormous events that shaped it, describe the loss of his voice to cancer.

Sloan Kettering nevertheless avoids self-pity or sturm und drang. Kovner regards his sons' photos and asks, "in their presence/ may one cry?" He speaks in understated irony. His grandchildren came for Hanukkah. "I didn't/ sing 'Ma'oz Tsur with them, you know why." He looses senses, without complaint, but will tell of it another time "if there is one." Of course, there won't be any more conversations. "Just as this one is no more/than the invention of a throat in ruins."

Kovner's past is his "burden of molten/ rocks." He wants this to "stay in the archives/ it is not for the operating table."

One poem instructing his heirs includes the first two words of the mourners' Kaddish -- Yitgadal veyitkadash (magnified and sanctified). Kovner next notes the greater suffering of others--and remembers God, reciting the prayer's third and fourth words--shemei rabba (is the Name).

He relives his fight for the survival of the Europe's Jews. He shudders here, like he did then, "challenged to stand up for his right/ to live." Expecting another time when the world would again oppose the Jewish people, Kovner presciently warns, "The worst of all comes back." He asks, "Will we ever/ get out of this terrible forest?"

In Sloan Kettering's silence echoes the great silence 65 years ago, when Jews had no idea where to turn and a Jewish prisoner was "cut off from his supervisor," lost and running from room to room....

One encounters again "a pathless wilderness/ between yellow arrows/ and blue signs." Reflecting his furtive life in Nazi-occupied Vilna, he calls the New York cancer center "a trans-life corridor."

The fingers of a black nurse mirror "the velvet pad where Mother/ kept her needles." Impossible circumstances forced Kovner to abandon her to save others. His mind and heart, however, never left her. His nights end by telling her of his fears, and about her grandchildren. "She should have a little joy/in Ponar."

He recalls Itzik Wittenburg, betrayed to the Nazis on July 16, 1943, who hoped that going along would save others. In his cell, he swallowed prussic acid. "The gate is still open." ... "a nation holding its breath."

Kovner 's metaphors also reflect the life that cancer patients struggle to keep, against hope and time. In a sense, they capture it too. Kovner describes a Thai man. His face looks like "Lost parchment/ in the heart of the desert."

Kovner understandably has no more "trust in the mercy of heaven," recalling "the day he lost patience waiting/ for the echo of his cry...to come back from empty space." Yet like all his work, these poems invoke Jewish prayers, themes and biblical proportions, some (though not all) detailed in the endnotes.

Readers may recognize Psalm 114 in Kovner's "mountains of Palmyra," where advanced radio-telescopes cause their planners to rejoice "like young goats."

They scan the universe's secrets, whose "ends flee and escape/...beyond space." This is Kovner's Jordan that fled backward. The cancer in his throat is like "An abyss fine as a pinhead/ in ambush," whose mysterious patience resembles "the galaxies of emptiness/beyond the black holes...."

These poems come as close as any to capturing absolute truth--that strangely elusive engine, invisible to most people most of the time, which poets spend their lives seeking to record. Kovner offers muted, simple humility. He writes so delicately of massacre and genocide--terms now bloodied by false invocation and overuse--that even readers unaware of his history, will find these poems pristine, awesome and beyond reproach.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

I'm not a big poetry fan, but this book is exceptional. I thought that a book about cancer would be depressing, but I found the opposite to be true. It's one of the most inspiring books I've ever read. And it is especially relevant now when there's so much talk about "heroes". The author was a true hero in the classic sense - a leader of the Jewish partisans against the Nazis, and he refers to that part of his life. But he - and many other people among us - are heroes in another sense: They are locked in a battle against cancer or other disease, and they fight it with all their might. The author is grateful for the magic of everyday comforts - his grandchildren's smiles, the rhythmic clicking of his wife knitting, the warm familiarity of his neighbors' voices. In spite of all his pain and fear, he has the guts to proclaim "death is not to be preferred". This book reminds us to cherish life.

I got a copy of this book long time ago and still remember almost as if happens yesterday. The positive effects of this book have in my life are unforgetable. Actually one of the reasons I decided to became a scientist was because the way Francois Jacob found his way in hard times. The book details his experiences during the second world war and after. In these days, we are in a new century and it seems that we haven't learn much about peace and respect and we have quite similar hard time as Francois Jacob describes. However, I totally believes that this book will be a positive hit for all students in Jr college and high schools and for sure will encourage the scientist of the future to take over this activity. The future of those that identify themselfs with Francois Jacob's life will be significant as time advance.

Even though I am a molecular biologist, I began reading The Statue Within with a bit of prejudice that it would be good for me but not necessarily interesting. I figured it would be beneficial to learn more detail about the work of one of the founders of my field. Boy was I surprised! What I got instead was the examination of a complex and vivid personality, a life filled with great flux, confusion, but most of all, a passion for knowledge. Dr. Jacob started off as a reluctant medical student, went to England to escape the Nazi takeover of Paris, signed up with DeGaulle's unofficial French army and served as a medic in a messy, confusing war. Afterward he returned to Paris and his medical studies, but, lacking direction, found himself in the midst of new and interesting biological research about genetics. Fascinated and obsessed, he pestered and cajoled his way into a top laboratory at the Pasteur Institute and began to experiment. His work of course was fundamental to the understanding of the mechanical functioning of genetics, and he went on to win the Nobel. But the beauty of the book is that it isn't about the glory and accolades - it is about the thirst for knowledge and the collaborative bonds that form between bright minds. It is very good for a scientist to be reminded of the essential nature of curiosity and the trial and defense of ones hypotheses. I will be reading this one for the rest of my career!

Supercroc And The Origin Of Crocodiles by Christopher Sloan (Senior Editor for Art, National Geographic magazine) is a nonfiction children's picturebook about ancient, gigantic crocodiles of millions of years ago, and their modern-day descendants. Enhanced with superbly presented photography, color illustrations, and amazing facts about these ancient reptiles, Supercroc is an exciting and highly educational read for children ages 8 through 12.

You are really going to enjoy National Geographic Supercroc and the Origin of Crocodiles. This hardcover with dustjacket new book is written by National Geo's art director Christopher Sloan (Feathered Dinosaurs) with an introduction by Dr. Paul Sereno, discoverer of Sarcosuchus. This beautiful book is packed with photos plus numerous paintings and illustrations from none other than world famous paleo artists Mark Hallett, Doug Henderson, John Sibbick, and National Geographic's talented new wunderkind: Raul Martin. The informative text describes for readers of all ages topics such as the definition of a crocodile, the world of Sereno's "Supercroc" Sarcosuchus and its fossil discovery, a prehistoric history of crocs and their cousins and the differences and similarities they share. You'll be amazed at the variety, from lizard sized saurians to giant Sarcosuchus who fed on dinosaurs. The final chapter titled "The Last Extinction?" discusses how crocs have survived 200 million years but now are seriously threatened by man. A fantastic full color work for all ages.

This book clears up all the mystery about hypnosis and gives step by step instruction on how to change unwanted behavior.

When you look in a mirror, do you see what others see? The young girl on the book cover looks into a mirror and sees the many perceptions of herself, which include a beautiful, mature woman, a cheerleader, and a tomboy. Authors Sloan and Jones, of Whose Reality Mine or Yours?, give us a new insight about behavior and therefore a means to the truth.

"We form our basis of reality on what we perceive as real, yet perception is based on experiences and beliefs that we have been taught are true and real" begins this excellent work. It follows that our personalities are a reflection of this programming. Sloan states, "Once you understand how programs are created, you can learn how they can be reprogrammed with immediate results".

Hypnosis is the key that unlocks the door to behavior modification and in this presentation, the myths about its efficacy and value are quelled. Stanley Sloan writes, "Hypnosis is a non-critical state of suggestibility with increased awareness, between awake and asleep, which occurs during the process of storing, retrieving, and processing information".

Unlike most other books about behavior modification and hypnosis, Whose Reality Mine or Yours? clearly explains the brain's functions. Then, and only then, can we understand both the myths and the truths of what is this ancient practice. Authors Sloan and Jones answer our questions i.e. How does hypnotherapy work? What is a post-hypnotic suggestion? Can I have major personality changes overnight?

This reviewer found Whose Reality Mine or Yours? to be thoughtful, provocative, profound and healing as well as a wonderful learning experience. A nice surprise come with the book, the General Behavior Change CD recorded in both author's voices. It provides scripts and exercises of an abstract therapeutic session.

William O'Brien believed in the British Parliament's capacity to give good government in 19th Century Ireland. His attempts to secure liberal reform were largely unsuccessfully, and he entered the 1840s with a growing conviction that the Irish Members were wasting their time at Westminister. In 1843, his political campaign for "justice" in Ireland prefigured the tactics of Parnell, but the effort ended in disappointment and O'Brien joining the Repeal Association in October of 1843. For the next five years he was a major political figure, and finally, a leader in the 1848 Irish rebellion. In William Smith O'brien And The Young Ireland Rebellion Of 1848, Robert Sloan provides the reader with a remarkable and informative political biography, as well as a "window in time" to the events that led up to Ireland's doomed rebellion against an unresponsive and exploitative British rule. Scholarly, informative, and highly recommended.

OK, slight admission - I've never read the book. Frankly, failed Irish rebellions (of which there seem many) are not really my interest. However, the author is my history teacher at school, and a really good bloke. He deserves to do well out of this book, so even if you don't like the subject, buy it and give him a nice supplement to his teacher's salary!

A marvelous miniature, Yankee Doodle Dandy tells what at first blush is the story of Tod Sloan, an American jockey, who revolutionized horse racing by changing the way a jockey sat on the horse. (Prior to Sloan, riders sat comfortably on the horses back, ramrod straight. Sloan leaned forward over the horses withers, leaned over the horses neck.) His innovation initially met with jeers and scoffing from the traditional race crowd, but within less than 5 years, nearly every jockey had adopted the technique. There was no arguing with Sloan's success. Winning two, three, four and even five races at tracks featuring an average of seven races daily, Sloan's new technique, coupled with his remarkable sense of pace and often brilliant strategies, was unstoppable.

By following Tod Sloan's career we are given a vivid tour of the U.S. and England in the latter 19th century, from the life of the lowliest stableboy, to glimpses of the English royalty. We also witness the last gasp of British "imperialism" in its Jockey Club barring Sloan from ever applying for his license again. His infraction, suspected gambling, had never been cause for such a stringent punishment before. But, as Dizikes points out, there had never been anyone quite like Sloan before either. A brash American sportsman, spendthrift, ladies man, vaudevillian (briefly), he was the first sports superstar.

A short, masterful evocation of a uniquely American life, Yankee Doodle Dandy is a great ride!

You may not know who Tod Sloan was, but after reading _Yankee Doodle Dandy: The Life and Times of Tod Sloan_ (Yale University Press) by John Dizikes, you will understand that Sloan was as important to his sport as Babe Ruth was to his. You don't have to be a racing fan to enjoy this book; it is full of racing, but it is full of history and many Gilded Age politicos and capitalists wander through its pages. It covers the rise and fall of Sloan, who introduced the way we all have seen jockeys riding their mounts, forward on the saddles, almost hugging their necks. Before Sloan invented this position, all rode back in the saddle and upright. Sloan introduced the "forward seat," and he won with it, causing a revolution in racing. Many didn't like the new style, but took to it when it won. Many didn't like Sloan. He became a crowd pleaser, and his dandified dress in miniature, his constantly smoking a cigar "as big as a policeman's club," his inability to let others take the tab, and his eagerness with women made him a star of the sport.

Sloan's success was not just due to his gimmick. He was a skilled jockey. He was known for quick starts and blazing finishes. His judgement of pace was unequalled. Horses that had not performed well would succeed under his control. They knew his voice; a trainer said, "When Sloan enters the paddock, horses that he has ridden recognize his voice and turn to look at him."

But Sloan made such a spectacle of himself that he was resented by some members of the British racing establishment, even though he had occasionally been tapped by the Prince of Wales to ride royal mounts. A minor betting incident, not a big deal at the time, led to his being exiled from the sport he had revolutionized. Sadly, his drinking and gambling ruined his two marriages and any business prospects, and he would up as a ticket taker at a race track in Tijuana.

Dizikes's readable book is a beguiling history of racing as it used to be, illuminating a good deal about the history of racing, and the attempts to regulate it, and make it fair. It also is a little parable about what can happen to revolutionaries.

At the time, the XIT was the world's largest ranch. It stretched for two hundred miles from the top of the Panhandle to Lubbock. It averaged 27 miles in width. Its greatest width was fifty miles. For comparison, the ranch was about twice as large as the state of Rhode Island. This book tells of life on the XIT Ranch as recorded on an almost daily basis by Mrs. Cordia Sloan Duke, wife of an XIT division manager, Robert L. Duke. It is illustrated with photographs, and a map.

As someone who has been in the abortion debate for years now, I had not yet, until now, read a book that described abortion from a doctor's perspective.
One of the greatest strengths of this book is that the doctor tells his story from pre-Roe to post Roe. He was there.
The very graphic descriptions of what women used to try to self abort are eye-openers for even the most staunch pro-choicer.
Another great strength of this book is what he saves towards the end: The fact that he was almost aborted through an illegal abortion. Why is this a great strength? Because he is pro-choice. Not only is he pro-choice, he's a doctor that performs abortions. One of the great crys of the anti-abortion rights front is "Aren't you glad your mother didn't abort you?". Yet, here, in this book, the doctor throws that back in their face with: I was almost aborted and who cares? It's not like I would have known. It's not stopping me from providing this service.
I feel this is a must read for anyone in the abortion debate.

This is a great book for a child just learning to read. It gives them confidence in their ability but is also challenging. It's a cute story and keeps the child interested. My kids loved it!

This audio edition, narrated by Edward Raleigh, is a small, unabridged stories cross-section of the short story collection _Injury Time_. I prefer Robin Bailey's narration for C.D. Sloan mysteries, but he, alas, is no longer with us, and Raleigh is quite good.

The title story, "Bare Essentials", has Sloan, Crosby, and the rest of the murder enquiry team at Berebury's local health farm. Mrs. Culshaw, who gained great riches and a lot of weight in commercials for Barclay's biscuits as a little girl, was trapped in the Hot Room and roasted alive - 'kebabbed', in Dr. Dabbe's words. Her husband, a Jack Sprat with a failed firm married to this rich woman, had motive - but also a cast-iron alibi, being out on the golf course with the pro when she died. How could he have done it? And if he didn't, who did and how?