Talking Book Review

White Coat, White Cane: The Extraordinary Odyssey of a Blind Physician By David Hartman

The woman's arthritic fingers feel gnarled and crooked, her knees lumpy rocks. But I can detect no swelling, so I press here, there, trying to rouse an inflamed spot. "What are you doing"she challenges.

"You're blind!" "I'm examining you. Haven't you ever been examined by a blind doctor before?" She refuses to be humored. "That's silly. What can a blind doctor do?" "I'm not sure, but we're going to find out..."

When David Hartman, blind since the age of eight, announced his intention to become a doctor, the reactions ranged from sympathy to ridicule. How could he diagnose his patients? Examine them, except by touch? Look through a microscope? Even understand what was being described? The battle lines were drawn: David and his family on one side, the schools and society on the other. But with an incredible strength of purpose, David Hartman went on to become the first blind person in over 100 years to enter medical school. What is it like to adjust to a world of darkness? David Hartman lets us know bluntly, with real emotion, insight, and humor. He had to relearn the simplest things. He had to overcome mental obstacles that were at times more formidable than the physical ones. Yet he was determined to reach beyond his difficulties to fulfill an impossible dream. His teachers were helpful, hostile, embarrassed, unsure-and in medical school he had to work twice as hard. The work had to be read to him or translated into Braille. Often he had to rely on a sighted person to confirm his diagnosis, and he needed a nurse to read the patients' charts to him. But he utilized all his other senses to achieve his greatest desire: helping to heal. His journey is a moving and inspirational story for us all...we can achieve any and all dreams if and when we set our minds to.

Talking Book Review

For our next Talking Book review Erica has chosen August's Independent Living for the Adult Blind (ILAB) Book Club's selection The Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa by R.A. Scotti.

     In Paris at the start of a radically new century, the most famous face in the history of art stepped out of her frame and into a sensational mystery. On August 21, 1911, the unfathomable happened—Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa vanished from the Louvre. More than twenty-four hours passed before museum officials realized she was gone. The prime suspects were as shocking as the crime: Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire, young provocateurs of a new art. As French detectives using the latest methods of criminology, including fingerprinting, tried to trace the thieves, a burgeoning international media hyped news of the heist.

     Part love story, part mystery, Vanished Smile reopens the case of the most audacious and perplexing art theft ever committed. R. A.Scotti’s riveting, ingeniously realized account is itself a masterly portrait of a world in transition. Combining her skills as a historian and a novelist, Scotti turns the tantalizing clues into a story of the painting’s transformation into the most familiar and lasting icon of all time.

  

Talking Book review

This post marks the first installment of a series of weekly book reviews submitted by a long-time Talking Book customer, Erica. She will be reviewing books written by and about people who have a visual disability, the Independent Living for the Adult Blind Book Club monthly selection as well as fiction and nonfiction titles of interest.

Book Review on Taking Hold: My Journey Into Blindness by Sally Hobart Alexander

RC/DB 40247 (DB available for download only). Alexander's story of her adjustment to blindness reads like a gripping suspense novel with all the makings. She was a fit and healthy third-grade teacher when she first noticed a black line flit across her eye and disappear. After a series of various doctor appointments, temporary vision losses, and numerous hospital stays, she gradually realized that at some point she would be completely blind. She began to learn Braille and eventually checked into a center to learn new life skills. Her emphasis is not on the hospitals and the rehab center but on coming to grips with her disability and all the accompanying emotions of fear, anger, despair, loneliness, and acceptance. Her tension-filled relationship with her boyfriend is realistically portrayed. Since the ending downplays the serious obstacles she has yet to face, the story is uplifting, inspiring, and encouraging. Readers will find the pages turning quickly not wanting the book to end.

Attention Braille Volunteers!!!

The Temple Sisterhood Braille Group is looking for volunteers to train as Braille transcribers. The group meets at Congregation Ahavath Chesed at 8727 San Jose Blvd. For many years this group of volunteers has transcribed all different types of printed material into Braille. The Talking Book Library often refers students who need education materials such as textbooks to this group. Throughout the year the group works to transcribe printed materials for local organizations such as the Florida Instructional Material Center, Duval and Clay County Schools, and the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind as well as filling requests submitted from other parts of the country. Training classes for men and women over 18 are on Thursday mornings. You can reach the Temple Sisterhood Braille Group at (904) 955-8831.