Society Leaders Offer a Peek Into Their Summer Reading Lists

Society Leaders Offer a Peek Into Their Summer Reading Lists

• Regina Rabinovich, MD, President
• Chandy C. John, MD, FASTMH, President-Elect
• Patricia F. Walker, MD, DTM&H, FASTMH, Past President 
• Dan Bausch, MD, MPH&TM, FASTMH, Scientific Program Chair
• David R. Hill, MD, DTM&H, FASTMH, Secretyar-Treasurer
• Philip Rosenthal, MD, FASTMH, Editor-in-Chief, AJTMH
• David H. Hamer, MD, FASTMH, Councilor
• Laura Kramer, PhD, FASTMH, Councilor
• Desiree LaBeaud, MD, Chair of the American Committee on Arthropod-Borne Viruses (ACAV)
• Christine Petersen, DVM, PhD, Chair of American Committee of Molecular, Cellular and Immunoparasitology (ACMCIP)
• Patrick Lammie, PhD, 2017 Donald Mackay Medal recipient

Regina Rabinovich, MD, President
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund and Ola Rosling

I'm really excited about Factfulness by the Roslings (father, daughter and son).  We lost Hans Rosling last year, a physician, statistician, humanist and teacher. His ability to take data and translate it so that we can examine our assumptions, and learn, put him as one of the best teachers I've ever seen in action.  

Chandy C. John, MD, FASTMH, President-Elect
The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes imagines the inner workings of Dmitri Shostakovich’s mind during harrowing “conversations with power” in Soviet Russia over three different eras. The book is a thought-provoking meditation on art, power, conscience and meaning. My partner, Andy Hisey, a brilliant interpreter of Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87, provided me with the best possible gateway to the novel – the music itself.

Patricia F. Walker, MD, DTM&H, FASTMH, Past President 
In The Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner
Cambodian Witness: The Autobiography of Someth May by Someth May

Summer reading evokes images of lazy days in the sun with a good novel. This summer the reading has been a bit heavier. I like to read books about countries where I am traveling, and this year I was returning to Cambodia for a tropical medicine short course, so I have just finished two books about a very difficult topic – surviving the Cambodian killing fields during the Pol Pot era from 1975-1979. 

The first, In The Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner, is a novel loosely based on her family’s experience during four years of famine, executions and the brutal power of Angkar, or “the organization,” to control every aspect of life in Cambodia as it moved to try to transform the small Southeast Asian country into an agrarian, Marxist utopian state. I have read a lot of real memoirs about the regime, trying to understand what my patients have been through, and this memoir is perhaps the most hauntingly beautiful in terms of describing the physical beauty of the country: rice fields filled with lime green new rice, palm trees lining the paddy dikes, orange and red flame trees, and fruit trees everywhere.  The protagonist, Raami, a 5-year-old girl when the Khmer Rouge took over, is incredibly gifted, poetic and empathetic with others, despite the desperation of her situation. The book describes well the terrible links between class (her father was a member of the royal family and tortured to death), education and wealth, and reduced chances for surviving the war as the Khmer Rouge killed royalists, the intellectuals, the wealthy and even Buddhist monks. The book is a lesson in the capacity to see beauty in even the most terrible situations – one of many keys to survival. 

The second book is Cambodian Witness: The Autobiography of Someth May. Someth was a teenager in 1975 and lost 10 of his 14 family members in the ensuing four years. The book is a detailed, graphic description of being forced from Phnom Penh to the countryside and the desperate daily fight for survival. His sense of powerlessness and constant terror is felt throughout the story. Despite being forced to work 12 hours a day, surviving on rice gruel, frogs, lizards and snakes, he is constantly trying to provide food for his brothers and sisters and extended family. To survive required constant alertness, learning to live off the land and learning to trust no one other than family. One phrase struck me as I think about human resiliency – his description of mechas kluon, the necessity of having “mastery of oneself.”  I was a witness to the horrors of the Killing Fields in 1979 as I worked on the Thai Cambodian border as survivors poured across in to Thailand. I still remain horrified by man’s inhumanity to man, yet deeply moved by the incredible capacity of humans to survive and to love again after such tragedy. 

Both of these books are incredibly well written and offer insights into our inhumanity and our humanity. I think I will read a light summer novel next…

Dan Bausch, MD, MPH&TM, FASTMH, Scientific Program Chair
The End of Epidemics by Jonathan Quick
The Idealist: Jeffry Sachs and the Quest to End Poverty by Nina Munk

The End of Epidemics by Jonathan Quick. It’s not easy, but we’re all trying. The Idealist: Jeffry Sachs and the Quest to End Poverty by Nina Munk. Have been able to read Jeff Sachs story and his plan for saving the world through the Millennium Villages Project. Just as interesting in retrospect.

David R. Hill, MD, DTM&H, FASTMH, Secretyar-Treasurer
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Like many, I was prompted to read Chernow’s comprehensive biography after listening to the score from Lin Manuel Miranda’s play, "Hamilton." I wish that when I studied history as a child, resources like this had been available. Chernow brings to life the fascinating story of this founding father and fierce advocate of constitutional democracy. Many of the key institutions of our democracy and finances were brought into being through Hamilton’s efforts. His intellect, indefatigable work ethic and strength of personality contributed to his success. However, Hamilton was not one to compromise, contributing to his tragic confrontation with Aaron Burr. Chernow also details the intense political infighting, the rampant personal attacks in the press, the challenges to the fragile union, and the North/South divisions. It is very reassuring to know that the foundations laid more than 200 years ago have robustly survived. Perhaps a lesson for current times. Now, if I could only get tickets to Broadway…

Philip Rosenthal, MD, FASTMH, Editor-in-Chief, AJTMH
The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin
The North Water: A Novel by Ian McGuire
News of the World by Paulette Jiles

This has been a year for reading dystopian fiction (George Orwell, 1984; Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale; Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here) – all are chilling, especially considering current events. On a more upbeat note I’m reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s The Bully Pulpit. This well-written history has three parallel lines: Roosevelt, Taft and the coming-of-age of investigative journalism. It is heartwarming to read about how thoughtful governance and a free press can work – in this case, Roosevelt, with support of eminent journalists, pushing a progressive agenda that pulled the U.S. out from the threat of rule by capitalist barons (though, of course, this fight continues). Other reading highlights among novels, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Taking on this rewarding, but large tome was inspired by a much smaller, but equally salty new whaling yarn, The North Water: A Novel by Ian McGuire. And lastly, News of the World by Paulette Jiles was a very nicely written tale of old Texas.

David H. Hamer, MD, FASTMH, Councilor
I Didn’t Do It for You. How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation by Michela Wrong

A book that is not so new but which I have been curious to read for many years. Published in 2005, it is an excellently written and researched story, written in an easy readable style, about the history of Eritrea. It sheds light on the major influence of Italian colonial occupation and mistreatment of Eritrea and the many decades of troubles that followed.

I also recently read a great book about Malawi that is worth checking out—The Boy Who Harvested the Wind written by William Kamkwamba with assistance. This is a fantastically impressive story of a young boy whose family could not afford school fees (after using all their personal savings to barely survive a terrible famine) who teaches himself about electricity generation, builds a windmill and succeeds in generating electricity for his family. This was an amazing and inspiring story.

Laura Kramer, PhD, FASTMH, Councilor
Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien

A powerful epic novel that is the story of post-war China seen through the lives of two families linked through music over three generations during Mao’s Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen Square. We suffer through the devastation caused by separation of families, starvation, denunciation of western music, academia and culture. Each character with whom we become deeply involved handles these turbulent events differently and the consequences of their decisions affect everyone. Music is woven into the fabric of the story, particularly Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Another thread is the “Book of Records,” a diary of words unsaid. This is a monumental and complex work, very much like a symphony, that takes some effort initially to become engaged, but then the characters never leave you and you will rush to listen to the pieces described.

Desiree LaBeaud, MD, Chair of the American Committee on Arthropod-Borne Viruses (ACAV)
Yellow Fever and the South by Margaret Humphreys

It is a historical account of how epidemics of yellow fever plagued the South, causing all sorts of disruption – just as arboviral outbreaks continue to do today. The premise of the book is that these terrible outbreaks eventually guaranteed formation and maintenance of public health infrastructure in the South. The personal accounts of the disease are horrifying! Overall, I find it an interesting and important read because I love to learn from our history, I was born in New Orleans and I am intrigued with all things arboviral!  We don’t want to make the same mistakes again when combatting current outbreaks as yellow fever (and many related viruses) continues to rage in the present time.

Christine Petersen, DVM, PhD, Chair of American Committee of Molecular, Cellular and Immunoparasitology (ACMCIP)
There There: A Novel by Tommy Orange

I am about 30 percent through There There: A Novel about “urban Indians” written by a Native American who grew up in Oakland, CA.  The book is an entwined narrative from several characters’ perspectives and is roughly autobiographical. So far it’s made me want to give up the tradition of Thanksgiving as a holiday, and Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday, beating Christmas and all others. It has provided a pretty stark view of Native American life, and I have visited the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, so I was already aware of the starkness…

Patrick Lammie, PhD, 2017 Donald Mackay Medal recipient
Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”  by Zora Neale Hurston

I enjoy reading and will usually choose a book over a movie on a long flight. My kids are good at keeping me stocked with reading material and I usually have 50 or more books in the queue on my Kindle. I tend to alternate between fiction and non-fiction and have just finished Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys and Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Start Up by John Carreyrou. Both are page-turners dealing with human tragedies, albeit with very different topics and writing styles. I’m currently reading Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”  by Zora Neale Hurston, a compelling writer and storyteller I’ve enjoyed ever since I read Tell My Horse about her work in Haiti and Jamaica.  
 

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