Author Topic: In the New Yorker...  (Read 1922404 times)

Online serious crayons

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #140 on: August 06, 2010, 02:56:30 pm »
Atul reminds me of Mark Ruffalo in The Kids are All Right, appealing in an absent-minded cuddly type of way.

Cuddly, maybe, but his mind seems to be quite present.  ;D

Quote
So, aren't there advocates and ministers helping older people make end-of-life decisions?? Oh, and family members as well.

Ministers and family members don't fully understand potential medical consequences, and doctors are loathe to candidly discuss the near-inevitability of a patient's imminent death. Advocates in the form of hospice workers can bridge the divide, but in most cases the patients must accept that their impending death and give up extensive life-saving procedures in order to use hospice care.

The overall point is that people wind up undergoing excessive and expensive procedures trying to extend their lives, even though the time they buy is often minimal at best and in the meantime they may suffer much more than they would otherwise. The trouble is that on rare occasions those procedures DO come through and offer patients extra years of life. Often, though, it's more like weeks or months, and very unpleasant ones at that. According to Atul, people tend not to get realistic appraisals of this.




Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #141 on: August 24, 2010, 12:45:29 pm »
Over lunch today I just read Patricia Marx on cars in the Aug. 16 & 23 issue. Very funny at the end! I love it when she describes hybrid vehicles as the motorized equivalent of free-range chickens.  ;D
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Online serious crayons

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #142 on: August 24, 2010, 01:00:07 pm »
Over lunch today I just read Patricia Marx on cars in the Aug. 16 & 23 issue. Very funny at the end! I love it when she describes hybrid vehicles as the motorized equivalent of free-range chickens.  ;D

I always enjoy her articles. If you have to cover shopping, that's the way to do it.

What makes the New Yorker so great is that it publishes so many writers whose work is almost always worth reading no matter what it's about, which besides Marx include Anthony Lane, David Sedaris, Malcolm Gladwell, Ariel Levy, Atul Gawande, Larissa MacFarquhar ...


Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #143 on: August 24, 2010, 10:29:52 pm »
That's true!! On the advice of friend Jeff, I've been reading the article about end-of-life care, and I'm about halfway through it. It's a slog, with too much about what things cost and not enuff about ennithing else.
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Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #144 on: August 25, 2010, 08:20:00 pm »
That's true!! On the advice of friend Jeff, I've been reading the article about end-of-life care, and I'm about halfway through it. It's a slog, with too much about what things cost and not enuff about ennithing else.

Well, one of the things that I took away from the article was that that was one of the author's points: Often lots of money gets spent on expensive treatments that ultimately do no good and may even make the patient suffer more in the time that he or she has left.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #145 on: August 25, 2010, 08:26:50 pm »
I always enjoy her articles. If you have to cover shopping, that's the way to do it.

What makes the New Yorker so great is that it publishes so many writers whose work is almost always worth reading no matter what it's about, which besides Marx include Anthony Lane, David Sedaris, Malcolm Gladwell, Ariel Levy, Atul Gawande, Larissa MacFarquhar ...

Ian Frazier, Jane Mayer, Adam Gopnik, Nancy Franklin, David Denby, John Lahr, Hendrik Hertzberg, Joan Acocella, Tad Friend, Simon Schama. ...  ;D
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #146 on: August 25, 2010, 09:04:38 pm »
Ian Frazier, Jane Mayer, Adam Gopnik, Nancy Franklin, David Denby, John Lahr, Hendrik Hertzberg, Joan Acocella, Tad Friend, Simon Schama. ...  ;D

Personally, I'd probably exempt a few of those from the "always worth reading" category, but the great thing about the New Yorker is that it appeals to a variety of tastes and interests.

 

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #147 on: August 26, 2010, 08:38:30 am »
Personally, I'd probably exempt a few of those from the "always worth reading" category, but the great thing about the New Yorker is that it appeals to a variety of tastes and interests.

Not me. Especially the critics. I read them first in every issue.

And there is another woman whose name is escaping me--and it's driving me crazy!  >:(
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #148 on: August 26, 2010, 09:12:29 am »
Funny that the critique of Eat Pray Love is rather benign, even positive!!
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Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #149 on: August 26, 2010, 10:52:38 am »
Funny that the critique of Eat Pray Love is rather benign, even positive!!

With interesting things to say about Julia Roberts at this point in her career!  :)

(I liked the comment that the book title has commas in it!  ;D )
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.