I have been DELIGHTED to get so many amazing responses to the Parenting, Inc. book review from mommies who are sick and tired of light-up toys and Barbie merchandise (and how about light-up Barbie merchandise?!). You guys give me hope that when I have kids, I’ll be able to find mom-friends who have the same values I do, and who respect their kids and know what’s best for their development. Hats off to all of you, and A BIG THANK YOU for sending me links! I’m working on a follow-up post as soon as I recover from this majorly insane week (more on that later, but it involves temper tantrums, peeing on carpets, head-banging and shoe-flinging).
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The ACEP Pocket First Aid Book
The book is primarily a pocket sized version of the American College of Emergency Physicians larger version, the complete first aid book, if you will. At 128 pages long and small enough to slip into your pants pocket it will fit very nicely into most first aid kits or a easy access pocket on your own go packs. The illustrations are actual photographs of various procedures and steps, which I found refreshing after pouring through pages and pages of crudely done line drawings that didn’t show things as clearly as this little gem of a book does.
Divided into nine sections, you can easily find a chapter for whatever types of medical emergency you may encounter.
Section 1, Techniques and Equipment talks about some of the basic medical supplies you should have and how to use them. It also goes into the way you should apply bandages and slings, which will be some of the more common things you may have to address in the moments after an accident. Especially if blood is present.
Section 2,Life Saving Procedures, addresses various ways to deal with resuscitation of a victim, life saving priorities and choking incidents. There are some interesting flow charts that take you step by step through some of the situations. It even includes a chart on the usage of a portable defibrillator. Not that we all carry one in our first aid kit, but it’s good information to have available. Many businesses now keep and emergency defibrillator on hand for just such emergencies. The prices keep coming down as the technology and demand for the units increase, so I would expect there to be a growing availability of these units as time goes by.
Section 3, Circulatory and Respiratory Problems deals with things like shock, heart attacks and problems, fainting, asthma, drowning and penetrating wounds to the chest. In a disaster, any one of these situation can come upon a member of your party with absolutely no prior warning, so it is important to familiarize yourself with this information. One of the points you should keep in mind that when it comes to heart problems, giving the victim a 325mg aspirin helps to thin the blood and may be the key a rapid recovery, or at the very least provide the victim some time until professional help and an ambulance arrives. Make sure you keep a small bottle in your medical kits, and keep the date current on the bottle.
Section 4 deals with Wounds and Bleeding, and covers everything from a simple nosebleed up to severe bleeding. A couple of points to remember here is that wounds should be cleaned with clean running water or a non-alcohol cleaning wipe. Objects that may have become embedded in the wound may need to be removed as well, to prevent infection and further irritation.
Bone, Joint, and Muscle injuries are covered in section 5. This is a head to toe look at possible bone injuries, as well as muscular sprains and other problems related to the two. The first couple of pages describe some of the different types of fractures as well as muscle, tendon, and ligament injuries. The section also goes into some splinting procedures.
Section 6 goes into Disorders of Consciousness. These disorders deal with concussion, cerebral compression, skull fractures for starters. The section also covers hypo- and hyperglycemia, various seizures, strokes and diabetes.
Environmental Injuries are covered in section 7. These include incidents such as burns and scalding, electrical and chemical burns, heatstroke and exhaustion and cold related emergencies such as frostbite and hypothermia.
Section 8 considers Foreign Objects, such as splinters and fishhooks, inhaled and swallowed objects, and things that get stuck in your eye, ear and nose. Probably should be a must read section if you have little ones along, from what I have heard about the kiddies.
Lastly, section 9 deals with Poisoning, Bites and Stings. It’s amazing at how many things exist in this world that can harm you, especially from unseen sources, such as little bugs and the neighbor’s dog. Like the rest of the book, this section also covers a great deal in a small space, and is also important info you need. As a bonus, I would suggest you photocopy the last page of the book, make several copies and have them on hand in your medical kit for emergencies. It will help you through the incident and provide some much needed information to any first responders that may be called.
The ISBN for this book is 978-0-7894-9265-4 and can be purchased at leading booksellers. Many will have them in stock in their medical section, and can also be ordered from many sources as well. I find it to be a great companion book to the Collins Gem version of the SAS Pocket Survival Guide, and I keep both of them in my go-pack or bug out bag. Pick up a copy and read it thoroughly. Just remember that this book, or any other book for that matter is no substitute for proper first aid training. I would also recommend that you get a full featured first aid manual as well, just to have an even greater collection of knowledge on hand.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Book Review: Money Matters in the Church
High praises for this book. This practical guide covers dozens of considerations that I wish were specifically addressed in Seminary. One of the rarely stated facts that many pastors face is the lack of exposure to some of the practical aspects of “overseeing” a ministry. Truthfully, most of us pastors are self-trained in areas of finance, campaigns, and budgeting as we work through the challenges of ministry on our own. Unfortunately, though I learned many great things in Seminary from an incredible faculty, some things like these were rarely discussed.
The authors walk a reader through a well-rounded approach to financial management (stewardship) in the church. From requiring the pastor to develop and articulate his own theology of stewardship, to structure of committees, boards, budgets, and planning for capital expenditures. Particularly helpful were the subjects that are on many leaders’ minds but are difficult to bring up in conversation without sounding “ungrateful” or “self-serving,” like compensation, budgeting, management of day-to-day ministry expenditures and so forth.
I intend to provide a copy of this book to my key leaders and take my own finance team through a study of these principles. In many ways, I think it will prove to be affirming to our current practices while also providing opportunity to consider areas for improvement and implementation.
I would strongly recommend it to every pastor and key staff leader who are involved with finances. Some might criticize the focus on such subjects while proclaiming that if we all just “love Jesus” everything else will work out. While dependence on God’s guidance through the Holy Spirit and His Word are of primary importance, I believe that God can use this book to aid pastors in developing a culture of stewardship among God’s people.
You can purchase a copy of this book from Amazon HERE.
Book review: The House on First Street
I bought a variety of books on the first leg of the trip, partly to flesh out my research because I want to develop this blog into a full-fledged travel memoir, and partly because I’m me and that’s what I do, and books are among my favorite souvenirs of places I’ve gone.
With some trepidation, I bought a couple of books about Hurricane Katrina when I was in New Orleans. I say “with some trepidation,” because I remember how awful it was during and after the levee failures; I remember being glued to nola.com and talking to a coworker from Metairie and reading blogs from people in the area. It was grim and unremitting and after things were a little better, I stopped paying attention to news of any sort for several months because I was wiped out. And since then, I’ve become somewhat self-protective; I try to stay informed, but I also avoid news stories that are unmitigatedly bleak, that will tangle up in the threads of my brain and replay themselves obsessively and catapult me into despair. So I wasn’t sure whether revisiting Katrina and its aftermath would be wise.
All that to say that I just finished one of the books, The House on First Street by Julia Reed. And I found it depressing, but not for the reasons I’d expected.
Basically, Reed and her new husband bought a house in the Garden District, spent a year renovating it, and moved in six weeks before Katrina hit, although the copy on the back says four. Speaking of the copy on the back, I bought the book knowing only that Reed is a reporter. I didn’t know that she’s also a rich girl from the Mississippi Delta and that she would name-drop relentlessly through the entire book–both of which made me far less sympathetic to her. (Drinking game: Take a shot every time she introduces a new person with the description “my good friend and brilliant painter/ writer/ artist/ restaurateur/ fill in the blank.” Be sure to stop before you get alcohol poisoning.)
I’m betraying my own prejudices and judgments, of course, but I found her difficult to relate to. Before Katrina even hit, her excesses with the house renovation had me angry and depressed. Imported marble from Tuscany? Blocks of blue slate from Pennsylvania? A liveoak tree so large they had to shut down the street to transplant it? It must be nice to have that kind of money to throw around; wish I had a little. She really lost me when she mentioned spending “literally hundreds of hours” choosing the perfect doorknobs. Doorknobs!
This isn’t to say she’s a bad or insensitive person. She buys huge amounts of food for the National Guard troops occupying the city in Katrina’s wake (as a journalist, she was able to get back in before most people). She provides financial and moral support to her housekeeper, the woman’s family, and her crack-addicted general factotum. She offers incisive critiques of local politicians, as well as lively anecdotes from her time covering the campaign of former governor (and current federal prisoner) Edwin Edwards. But when she glibly mentions writing a $400 check each year so she can ride with “the oldest and most prestigious” all-female Mardi Gras krewe, it’s a stunning reminder that this person operates in an entirely different milieu than any in which I’ve ever moved–or, frankly, would ever want to.
revolve 2010 book review
My daughter has always enjoyed the Revolve magazine New Testament. When I received it in the mail to review she was excited to check it out. But as she is now a junior in high school she wasn’t as impressed as before. But she is really mature for her age.
The magazine has a good layout with a lot of color. I think that middle schoolers would absolutely love it. It has the entire New Testament and some articles that the girls are going to love. It is the NCV version so it’s an easy read.
If I was to purchase a bible for a middle school girl this would be it.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Lady Georgiana Spencer was the great-great-great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, and was nearly as infamous in her day.
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire New York : Random House, 2000 Amanda Foreman Great Britain , Social life and customs , 18th century, Devonshire, Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, Duchess of, 1757-1806 Hardcover. 1st U.S. ed., later printing. xx, 454 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 25 cm. Dust Jacket. Genealogical chart on endpapers. Includes bibliographical references (p. [423]-432) and index. Clean, tight and strong binding with clean dust jacket. No highlighting, underlining or marginalia in text. VG/VG
This wonderfully readable biography offers a rich, rollicking picture of late-eighteenth-century British aristocracy and the intimate story of a woman who for a time was its undisputed leader. Lady Georgiana Spencer was the great-great-great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, and was nearly as famous in her day. In 1774, at the age of seventeen, Georgiana achieved immediate celebrity by marrying one of England’s richest and most influential aristocrats, the Duke of Devonshire. Launched into a world of wealth and power, she quickly became the queen of fashionable society, adored by the Prince of Wales, a dear friend of Marie-Antoinette, and leader of the most important salon of her time. Not content with the role of society hostess, she used her connections to enter politics, eventually becoming more influential than most of the men who held office.
Her good works and social exploits made her loved by the multitudes, but Georgiana’s public success, like Diana’s, concealed a personal life that was fraught with suffering. The Duke of Devonshire was unimpressed by his wife’s legendary charms, preferring instead those of her closest friend, a woman with whom Georgiana herself was rumored to be on intimate terms. For over twenty years, the three lived together in a jealous and uneasy ménage à trois, during which time both women bore the Duke’s children–as well as those of other men.
Foreman’s descriptions of Georgiana’s uncontrollable gambling, all- night drinking, drug taking, and love affairs with the leading politicians of the day give us fascinating insight into the lives of the British aristocracy in the era of the madness of King George III, the American and French revolutions, and the defeat of Napoleon.
A gifted young historian whom critics are already likening to Antonia Fraser, Amanda Foreman draws on a wealth of fresh research and writes colorfully and penetratingly about the fascinating Georgiana, whose struggle against her own weaknesses, whose great beauty and flamboyance, and whose determination to play a part in the affairs of the world make her a vibrant, astonishingly contemporary figure.
Book review: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
Barbara Kingsolver has created a paean to fresh, local food with Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. I harbor some serious misgivings about the locavore movement (see February 5’s post) but Kingsolver’s loving descriptions of the vegetables and birds she and her family coax through life and death inspired a yearning for fresh, homegrown food in even this grouchy urbanite. If food delights you – not just in the eating, but in the seeing and smelling and preparing – you will revel in this book, not for its arguments in favor of locavorism, but for its mouthwatering portrayal of what a year of local, seasonal food in southern Appalachia is like.
That’s really what the bulk of AVM is devoted to, in all its fascinating detail: untangling the mysteries of turkey hatching, celebrating the first vegetable of spring (the reedy asparagus), struggling to prevent boisterous zucchini from overtaking your summer kitchen. It’s lovely, all of it. And if Kingsolver stopped at the pure celebration of all this wonderful food, I would have no bone to pick with her book. Unfortunately, she doesn’t. She insists that we should all participate in the creation of what we eat as she does: by growing it (or at least purchasing it from local growers) and by making it from scratch in the kitchen. Although she doesn’t identify what type of imperative this is, whether moral, spiritual, or cultural, it’s clear that she thinks that a life spent in intimate communion with food is, in some deep sense, superior to one that’s not.
Kingsolver isn’t the first or the only food writer to make this point; Michael Pollan enjoins us to tend gardens and Mark Bittman wants us to spend more time in the kitchen. But this review is about Kingsolver’s book, so I’ll pick on her. The injunction that we should all devote more time to communing with food seems to have something to do with how central it is to our survival, but no one suggests that we all need to be experts on construction because shelter is central to our survival. It’s ridiculous to think that we would somehow be better people if we all took part in building our own homes, so why do we become better people if we all take part in building our own meals? Why not leave it to the experts, if we don’t happen to enjoy it?
That’s another thing: Kingsolver seems to be incredulous that someone could garden or cook and actually discover that they don’t like it. She agrees that women’s liberation means that “…we’ve earned the right to forget about stupefying household busywork. But kitchens where food was cooked and eaten, these were really a good idea. We threw that baby out with the bathwater.” I have to say that for yours truly, no chore, not even dusting, is more stupefying than chopping veggies. Does that make me hopelessly out of touch with the meaning of life?
Not only is it possible to dislike preparing food, it’s also possible to be bad at it. That otherwise unassailable people can turn to be bad cooks or bad gardeners brings up a third failing of Kingsolver and her peers: in their haste to erect a democracy of food preparation, they don’t give themselves enough credit for having something not everyone has: talent. There is such a thing as a green thumb, and why must you force yourself on unsuspecting lettuces if you don’t have it?
There are some other inconsistencies in AVM which are common to the local/seasonal food movement. Kingsolver attacks us for our lack of restraint in eating foods regardless of seasonality; we tell our teens, she says, to wait before having sex, but these are “…words issuing from a mouth that can’t even wait for the right time to eat tomatoes, but instead consumes tasteless ones all winter to satisfy a craving for everything now.” Yet her own approach to winter is to can 60-plus jars of tomato sauce so that her family can, well, enjoy tomatoes out of season. She touts the idea of a native food culture, yet offers recipes from cuisines that originated in places as diverse as Asia, South America, and Europe. She champions using local ingredients, and this is probably the ideal she most consistently upholds. But if her reason for doing so is to save on all the energy used in transport, which she alludes to a couple of times, she must respond to the critique of the locavore movement that points out that transport is one of the food chain’s smallest gas guzzlers. The energy used for fertilizers and for kitchen food preparation each dwarf it. Kingsolver devotes exactly one paragraph of this 350-page book to acknowledge these issues, and in it chooses to pooh-pooh them rather than discuss them.
Read AVM to relish the miracles that daily spring out of the ground to feed us. Just don’t be lulled into believing that you’ve found more than that.
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