Pain: The Fifth Vital Sign - Rilegato

Jackson, Marni

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0679311084 ISBN 13: 9780679311089

Casa editrice: Random House Canada, 2002

Riassunto

A compulsively readable explorer’s journal of the hidden territory of pain, as profound and insightful as the work of Oliver Sacks and Sherwin Nuland.

A bee sting on the lips was the tiny lance that set Marni Jackson off on a four-year exploration of the many ways in which we suffer. Exiled for an afternoon in the country called pain, she realized that no one had the words to describe her condition although it was as familiar as a headache. A fusion of emotion, nerve and memory, pain inspired only questions.

“Why do we still distinguish between mental pain and physical pain,” she asks, “when pain is always an emotional experience? Why is pain so poorly understood, especially in a century of self-scrutiny? Hasn’t anyone noticed the embarrassing fact that science is about to clone a human being but still can’t cure the pain of a bad back?” North Americans spend $24 billion a year on pain relief while chronic pain is on the rise. If pain is the reason why most people visit the doctor, why are most doctors so bad at addressing the problem of suffering?

Pain: The Fifth Vital Sign dives back into the history of pain and forward into the possibilities of pain genetics, bringing us stories of both people in pain and the pain pioneers: eccentrics and artists, wrestlers and writers, ministers and mothers, psychologists and philosophers, nurses and doctors. Marni Jackson has created a definitive, heartfelt, funny and beguiling portrait of a condition we can’t live with — and can’t live without.

Su questo libro

Recensione

"An utterly engrossing, strangely uplifting journey into the dark but wondrous corners of human suffering. By giving language to a subject that seems to defy language, Marni Jackson performs a kind of miracle of insight and compassion." -- Barbara Gowdy

“Jackson is an ideal guide for this exploration. With her personal and personable perspective, she acts as a surrogate for the reader, simplifying complex issues (both philosophical and technical) and humanizing often abstract concepts. Jackson leavens this very serious subject matter with a wicked and subversive sense of humour.” -- Quill and Quire

“One might think there was nothing new to say about pain, but Pain: The Fifth Vital Sign is a work of real originality and freshness, full of insights which seem both startling and obvious.” -- Oliver Sacks, MD

“Jackson’s book is a timely and necessary contribution to this important dialogue.” -- The Globe and Mail

“Jackson’s compelling voice, in turns perfectly ironic, intrigued, and introspective, carries readers through no fewer than 33 chapters. Her vibrant curiosity and fearless theorizing makes this book far-reaching in scope, interest and, yes, profundity....Given that this medicalized, pain-ridden society is ours for a while, we had better keep this book beside the bed and absorb its comfort and compassion in large doses.” -- The Vancouver Sun

“[Pain will] impart a few invaluable lessons and allow a few opportunities to empathize with others, cringe in recognition and even lagh out loud....In brief and highly readable chapters, Jackson explores the history of pain and the various philosophies and studies that have attempted to understand and tame it.” -- Winnipeg Free Press

“Given that this medicalized, pain-ridden society is ourd for a while, we had better keep this book beside the bed and absorb its comfort and compassion in large doses.” -- The Kingston Whig-Standard, The Gazette (Montreal)

“...engrossing....Jackson, a skilled and sensitive writer, argues that science must learn learn to listen and respond and that doctors need to look beyond isolated symptoms to find the underling story.” -- The Edmonton Journal

"In Pain: The Fifth Vital Sign, Marni Jackson bravely tackles one of the most misunderstood and elusive subjects known to mankind. In so doing, she gives words to something that stubbornly defies language. This has to be one of the most difficult literary tasks imaginable....an important book.” -- NOW magazine

“...absorbing...If all her new book did was inform readers about this unexplored terrain, the Pain: The Fifth Vital Sign would be worth reading. But it does much more: it entertains, challenges and, ultimately, enlightens.” -- The Gazette (Montreal)

“[Pain]is a good read. It is comprehensive, intelligent and balanced. It puts a human face on pain, but clearly elucidates concepts as well. And it provides unexpected byways, never allowing the reader to become bored....The reader can never be sure what will be just around the corner on this journey.” -- The Hamilton Spectator

Praise for The Mother Zone:

"A witty and honest account of the strange isolation, the mingled joys and madness of motherhood... What holds all this together is a novelistic integrity that derives from the consistency of her voice -- funny, tough and relentless, pushing each thought as far as she can bear." -- The Toronto Star

"Funny, touching, reassuring, a revelation. The Mother Zone is a marvelous combination of personal experience tempered by intellectual observation." -- Books in Canada

"[The Mother Zone] reads like a novel and is as intimate as a poem... With a gift for metaphor, good humor and remarkable honesty, [Jackson] calls up the feelings and minutiae of motherhood... This wonderful self-portrait of emotional life in the mother zone provides solace and surprises from start to finish." -- Kirkus Reviews

"A fascinating insider's account... Jackson's frankly personal approach to her own passage through the Mother Zone avoids all the predictable expert postures... A remarkable first book." -- Maclean's

"Jackson gives readers back to themselves, the best thing a book can do." -- The Edmonton Journal

L'autore

Marni Jackson, one of Canada's most respected writers of non-fiction, has received numerous awards for reature-writing, columns and humour. She is the author of the highly acclaimed bestseller The Mother Zone (1992), which will be re-issued by Vintage Canada in April. Pain: The Fifth Vital Sign is also being published simultaneously in the United States by Crown. Marni Jackson lives in Toronto with her family.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Random House Canada
• Data di pubblicazione: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0679311084
• ISBN 13: 9780679311089
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 384