A little light reading…

I hit the library today to get books for my cross-country flight. I read ridiculously fast, and there is nothing worse in the world than being stuck in an airport with nothing to read. And I refuse to buy $30 books in the airport bookstore that I’ll be done with in a few hours. Around 15 smallish books will last me the 10+ hours of flying/waiting.

I have said it before and I’ve said it again, as a future OT I will be potentially dealing with a wide variety of diagnoses and people of all ages. The more I know about random things, the better! So I hit up the health section at the library and grabbed autobiographies (or similar – key is that it is written from a personal perspective and sharing stories), from a bunch of the different sections. But ok, the whole OT thing is just an excuse, I’d read these kind of books anyway. 🙂 I just think it will benefit me one day as an OT!

1. Sacred Space: Stories from a Life in Medicine, by Clif Cleaveland, MD
2. Sarah’s Song by Janice Burns, about a couple with HIV.
3. Planet of the Blind, a Memoir, by Stephen Kuusisto
4. The Things I want Most by Richard Miniter, about life with an emotionally disturbed foster child.
5. Miracles Happen, by Brooke and Jean Ellison, about a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic graduating from Harvard.
6. Kevin and Me: Tourette Syndrome and the Magic Power of Music Therapy, by Patricia Heenan
7. When Evening comes, The Education of a Hospice Volunteer, by Christine Andreae
8. Angel-head, my brother’s descent into madness, by Greg Bottoms
9. Food and loathing, a life measured out in calories, by Betsy Lerner
10. Needles, memoir of growing up with diabetes. By Andie Dominick
11. Babyface, by Jeanne McDermott, about a child born with Apert syndrome (odd genetic craniofacial condition)
12. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby, about a man with the kind of stroke that leaves you paralyzed but your mind is intact. He wrote it (very slowly) with the blink method.

And to round it all off, a couple Harry Potter’s to re-read and a few crappy (but interesting) Chicken Soup for the Souls 🙂 I’m set!

UPDATE: See the comments section. The wife of the man who wrote Planet of the Blind also has a blog, at www.planet-of-the-blind.com. The book was really an interesting read and I recommend you check out both the book and blog!