Tuesday Trivia and a Quick Review

| TravellinPenguin

snip20170227_2This year seems to be sailing by. I had hoped it would be slower than 2016 but it doesn’t seem that way.

Last night I finished this book. I read it quickly because I could not put it down. This man can write. This man can think and his education through literature, science and medicine was astounding.  Paul Kalanithi trained for 10 years to become a neurosurgeon. Just as his career is to take off he dies of lung cancer at age 37. The pages of the book cover his journey to the point of diagnosis (Part I) and then the journey of the illness (Part II). His wife writes the final chapter.

He studied literature and talks about the relation between literature, death and science and how he applies it to his own life. I reread several passages. He gets married to another doctor and they have a daughter. His life ends eight months after hers begins.

The book I am referring to is When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. I sat in my chair a few moments after I closed the last page and just could not move. A lot has been written about this book so I won’t add much to what others have written. Suffice to say I loved it.  Whoever coined the phrase, “Only the good die young” knew what they were talking about. This man did so much with the 37 years given to him.

After all of the education, training and work he did for the good of human kind why on earth did this have to happen to him?  He said himself the chance of a 37 year old man getting lung cancer is less than .001 percent. Why him? The injustice of the situation just does not make sense at all. I watch the news in the evening and see the people who murder, maim and make life a misery and they seem to live forever. Again I ask why him?

The cover states when one finishes this book the reader will be left thinking about it for a long time. It is almost traumatising. I loved this book.

It seems this week will be busy. Tuesday I am celebrating the birthday at the cafe at the Tasmanian Museum cafe. A nice quiet cafe we will sit on the deck surrounding the courtyard.

snip20170227_3Wednesday night we are joining friends at the State Cinema to see the film Hidden Figures about the three African American women mathematicians that worked for NASA in its early days.

I will not watch the Academy Awards. It is all politics and I find it most exasperating. In my humble opinion it isn’t based on the stories told but the people who are known. I prefer the independent films to the Hollywood blockbusters most days.

The weather is looking good for the week. The mid to high 20’s C for the entire week (70’s to 80’s F). Hopefully the Penguin will join up with a motorbike ride going on.

Saturday night we are riding in a leukaemia fundraiser beginning at 6 pm and ending at a pub arousnip20170223_2nd midnight. (Don’t worry, I never drink alcohol when I know I’ll be on my bike). The bikes will be decorated with lights and ridden through town. I think there will be a lot of bikes. Stay tuned for that. It’s part of the Light Up the Night Leukemia Fundraiser.
So again I think this week is going to sail by before I have even adjusted to Monday. Hope all of you have a great week. Let me know what you are reading this week and what are your week’s plan?

Oops, I pushed a wrong button so guess this is a Monday Trivia review instead of a Tuesday one (before any of you wise crackers jump in ).

5 thoughts on “Tuesday Trivia and a Quick Review”

  2. too many buttons; i wish they’d make a computer with two; but then i suspect i’d be in a quandary over which one… it sounds like a very moving book, and pointedly advertises the eternal question, why? not fair, not fittin, not right, not just… the trouble with probability is that it strikes somewhere; and points out the absurditiy of depending on assumed realities: as Buddha said, we all live in a burning house; and should live more in the moment, i guess… tragic tale and i won’t read it for that reason; enough of that going around… warmongering enhances longevity? could be…

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    1. I enjoyed his discussions on literature and how what he read came back to him later as he was dying and looking at life in general. A lot of literary references that made me want a list of books mentioned to read myself. Of course that won’t happen as there were too many but it was inspiring.

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  3. Haha Pam … unfortunately it seems that because you published it and then pulled it back the link in the email that went out doesn’t work. I persevered though, clicked on your blog header and up the post came. I’ve learnt this the hard way!!

    I completely agree re the year whizzing by. We lunch with my parents every Friday – something I started with my Mother-in-law in the mid 1990s – I had Fridays off and would volunteer at my kids school, and lunch with lovely ma-in-law. My parents joined in when they came to Canberra at the end of the 1990s, and then my husband when he retired in 2011. So, we went from two, to four, to five, then back to four when dear ma-in-law died later that year. BUT that’s not the main reason I’m writing this! The main reason is to say that we no sooner finish lunch on Friday than it seems to be Friday again. How does that happen?

    And my, that book sounds pretty emotional. I can feel now how I’d feel at the end of the book – devastated – and I haven’t read it.

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