Village Books Blog

The Layman's Health Care Guide

The other day, a customer called up and wanted to know if there was just a general book for the lay reader that explained the US Health Care system. Seeing as how we are in the middle of a national debate on the subject, I took a look for something similar to Sowell's Basic Economics - a general text for the lay person on a very important subject.  But what did I find? Nothing! Zip! Zilch! A thousand memoirs of doctors, a dozen angry diatribes about some specific problem with the system or a conspiracy of right-wingers/socialists to turn us into Cuba...but no basic "HEALTH CARE FOR DUMMIES" or "COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO THE US HEALTH CARE SYSTEM." What I did find were several $300 text books for nursing and pre-med students.

 

Surely there must be some book out there that explains the role of insurance in pooling risk, the difference between a hospital and a clinic, who licenses whom and why, the current state of malpractice law, and so on...Isn't there?

--Andrew

Why Do We Read?

Sometimes I read to get inside someone else's head instead of listening to my own thunking mind. Here are two of my latest favorites for getting inside someone else's head.

The Caveman's Valentine by George Dawes Green: The central character is a musical genius and lives in a cave in Central Park in NYC. The novel begins with his tirade about you readers invading his brain so you can forget about your own problems and away it goes. I've rarely read a book with such a magnificent main character.  

Long Past Stopping by Oran Canfield: Plays loud music just to stop the thrumming of his mind in this memoir of juggling, strange desert schools and circus camps. Like the title says, I couldn't stop reading and was amazed at what a bizarre childhood Oran had survived. You won't be able to stop reading it either.

--Sheri

The Superpower I Wish I Had.

Every workday begins the same for me. I turn on my computer, go make my coffee, then sit down to read my favorite book industry blogs. Every day I'm floored at the insights and knowledge that I encounter. How do these people know so much? And more importantly, how are they able to put this knowledge into such amazing, coherent, and eloquent writing? One of my new favorites is HTMLGIANT, which always entertains me, even at its most absurd times. Recently, after sifting through a few posts on the site, I encountered this one on favorite first sentences. Ken Baumann, the author of this particular post, lists the first sentence from Blood Meridian as his favorite: "See the child." Wow. Three words. That's it. Yet, I stopped in my tracks when I read that line. See. The. Child. What an incredible opening! Now listing off favorite first lines isn't anything new, but it is always something that makes me pause. I love hearing what people's favorite first lines are. The impact that one line can have. A first sentence. A string of words. When placed in a certain order, these words can make us gasp, make us woozy, bring chills to our entire core. Just in the first sentence! Can you imagine creating something that stirs such reactions? But the most amazing thing about first lines, those few words that when separated may have little meaning, incite us to an incredible action. They incite us to read. Thank goodness for first lines. --Lindsey