Diagnosis

Diagnosis by Lisa Sanders M.D. (2019 Broadway Books softcover 292pp)

Lisa Sanders is a US doctor who has found some fame by writing a regular column for the New York Times. She also has advised on TV Shows Like “House” and last year a documentary series based on her work was released by Netflix. This book basically consists of her columns slightly re-edited and arranged into sections based on common symptom types. There are 6 or 7 chapters each section, each describing a different case and how it was resolved.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with the writing, its very straight forward and descriptive but somehow, I felt underwhelmed reading this book. I think each chapter’s origins as a column lets it down somewhat. No chapter is more than 5 pages long and after 3 or so pages are taken to set up the patient, their maladies and the central mystery, everything has to be resolved in a page and a half. Some of the stories could have done with a more in-depth treatment, it would have been more satisfying for the reader at least. Most of the chapters have a happy ending (apart from the odd death or unwelcome long-term consequence) but over all it does raise some questions about the US health system. Primary care doctors seem to be unwilling to listen to their patients or send them hundreds of miles away to see those better equipped. Most of the listed cases seem to be resolved by pure luck or even by their own research online.

The book is fine to dip in and out of but maybe avoid it if you have worries about your own health or that of someone else.

Always Unreliable

Always Unreliable by Clive James (2001 Picador softcover 537pp)

For people around my age Clive James seemed to appear fully-formed in the late 1980s as the jocular host of TV programmes like “Saturday Night Clive” and the later “Postcards From...” travel shows. I had little idea of his history or previous works and it wasn’t until he became ill in his later years that I started to realise that he had a whole other existence as a critic, novelist and poet. After his death in 2019 I decided to fill in the gaps in my knowledge by reading his memoirs. This book, “Always Unreliable” is an omnibus volume containing “Unreliable Memoirs” (1980), “Falling Towards England” (1985) and “May Week Was in June” (1990) all of which were originally published separately.

In a new introduction to the combined edition, James warns us about believing everything that you might read in memoirs and autobiographies before mentioning a few events and people he feels like he overlooked or maligned.

The first section “Always Unreliable” follows the young Clive (originally called Vivian) through his accident and incident-prone childhood in suburban Australia. He makes himself out to have been a terrible handful to his doting mother and generally unlikeable. It ends with him a young man boarding a ship to England, then always the promised land for those seeking a life in the arts or culture.

“Falling Towards England” mainly details the unravelling of his plans once he reaches the UK. He intends to work a menial job to support himself as he writes in the evening. However, he seems to be unable to keep a job for more than five minutes and does nothing to help himself. In the end he has an associate gain him entrance to Cambridge University but then discovers he has to live in England for at least 2 years before he’s eligible for a government stipend. His impressions and experience of 1960s UK life and culture is a joy to read and quite eye-opening – a lot grittier and grimy than the multi-coloured swinging love-fest we’re so often shown.

“May Week Was in June” takes a slightly smaller scope covering pretty much only his life as a student in and out of Pembroke college. He joins the famous Cambridge Footlights society and discovers a new life in the field of entertainment. But his self-sabotage continues as he fails to do much actual study towards his actual University courses. I found this section started to drag a bit for me. Although its written with the equivalent of a twinkle in his eyes, the cheeky-chappie cad-about- town thing grew somewhat tiring. He paints detailed word portraits of his fellow students and friends, in particular the Australians, Americans and those in the film industry. The problem is none of them come out sounding like someone you’d want to spend hours with let alone years. Eventually somehow, he sorts his life out, he achieves good marks (but eventually drops out of Cambridge) and starts to sell his writing. The book ends with him marrying one of his many girlfriends and stating he is done with writing memoirs – two further volumes followed...

On the whole I enjoyed the ride in James’ skin, the first 2/3 being more enjoyable to me. He was obviously a great talent but struggled for a long time to put that to practical use. It makes him more relatable but also alienates the reader when he revels in it – you feel like yelling at him to see the obvious before its too late. I look forward to catching up with the next couple of decades in his life when I eventually read further.

Uncanny Valley

Uncanny Valley: A Memoir by Anna Wiener (2020 4th Estate hardcover 280pp)

After working for several years as an assistant in a publishing firm Anna Wiener feels she’s reached a dead end and decides to leave New York city. She makes her way across the country to the promised land of Silicon Valley to find a new role in the fabled world of the tech start up.

She first joins a small analytics firm apparently doing wonderful things with the data generated by other businesses. As a non techie herself she initially finds it hard to fit in with the team but eventually carves out a niche for herself doing technical support and customer service.

She moves on again to larger company dealing with Open-Source software, finds it more relaxed to start with but problems for her soon mount up and she keeps having doubts about the firm, her colleagues and the tech industry as a whole.

Set against the background of a rapidly changing San Francisco area this book shines a light on life in the fast-moving, myth-making tech sector. Another angle on the story told in Clive Thompson’s “Coders” which I read (and reviewed) earlier this year – this time from a semi-outsider. What she finds often isn’t pretty, sexism and racism is rampant in the industry. It’s a world made for and by young men who fool themselves into thinking they are the pinnacle of society, the so-called ‘meritocracy’. Their leaders often spouting cod-philosophy as they turn around and treat others like dirt.

I enjoyed the book but at times it did seem a little slight. Wiener has decided not to name any of the companies, instead using cute or whimsical phrases to identify them while at the same time leaving plenty of clues as to who she is referring to. The latter part of the book verges off into a litany of her self-doubts which some readers might find a little much. Overall, it’s a good snap-shot of a time, a place and an industry which may now be on the edge of becoming extinct.