ANOTHER LOOK AT ANOTHER BOOK

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel)

You may have seen one of my favorite people in a video interview recently because Atul Gawande is the Associate Director of Global Health for USAID suffering big cuts from the current administration. Whether or not he remains in that position is TBD. I first encountered Atul in The New Yorker in 1999 when he wrote an article “Why Doctors Make Mistakes.” He became a staff writer at The New Yorker and stepped down in 2022 when he was appointed to his current position. He writes, and speaks, with a penetrating clarity that I have admired all these years. His bio speaks volumes. https://atulgawande.com/about/

I loved Atul’s four books and his last one hits many of us right where we are. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. Spoiler alert: What matters is the quality of life. However, It was his 2009 publication of The Checklist Manifesto which I found particular interesting. The concept of a pre-flight checklist was first introduced by management and engineers at the Boeing Company following the 1935 crash of the prototype Boeing B-17 (then known as the Model 299) at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, killing both pilots. Simply put, too much to remember to make flying safe for everyone.

In order to remember something, or many things, given our overloaded minds, we revert to making lists. Atul helped reduce infections in ICU’s by such a significant percentage he asked the researchers to go back and check their numbers again. And yes, they were correct. Whereas infections were as high as 80% previous to introducing a checklist, the incidence was now as low as 20%. All because of a checklist and those who were willing to follow it.

I do not make many written lists with two exceptions – grocery and travel of all kinds

In 2017, I wrote a book Pearls From An Irritated Mind to celebrate my 80th birthday. I was engaged in a writing exercise of 55-word stories, just 55 words. Why 55? That came about due to a contest from New Times in 1987, an alternative weekly in California. It quickly caught on and created a new genre: "flash fiction." My 80, Happy Birthday, 55-word stories in Pearls…. are non-fiction, illustrated with photos. All of this, and more, is how I arrived at this new book , similar in format to “Pearls….” although different in content. That was inspired by my work in child development, education and the joy in watching children learn and grow, explore and discover, and share stories of their lives and ours.

I may have started thinking about this book as far back as 2017 when I finished writing Pearls …… I started experimenting with the idea by first imagining how it might look or how it might take shape and then one day, I started writing. I would work on it for several days, then put it away for several weeks or months, get it out again, do some more, get discouraged (inner critic) and stop again. Start and stop and not much progress. Then about three years ago I connected with a graphic designer who had a few ideas about format and I wrote the first of several drafts. After numerous edits and revisions over time, I decided it was good enough, far from perfect, and I pushed the button. If all goes as planned, you will find it on Amazon and a few other places. My hope is that if you are one who enjoys sharing time with young children you will find it a useful addition to your library of resources. Feel free to recommend it to others who also enjoy sharing stories with children.

(Book Cover photo courtesy of Boston Public Library).

https://www.amazon.com/ALPHABET-CHECKLIST-Gary-Gruber/dp/B0DP6H79S2/ref=monarch_sidesheet_title