Walkers Literary Companion or In Your Own Time

Walker's Literary Companion

Author: Roger Gilbert

Preface

Going out for a long walk, the nineteenth-century novelist and essayist Robert Louis Stevenson would bring with him the classic English walking essay, William Hazlitt's "On Going a Journey" (1821), about which he claimed, passionately if dogmatically, it is "so good that there should be a tax levied on all who have not read it." Imagine being so taken with an essay on walking! But history, at least of a past two hundred years, reveals that walkers have loved to read about their passion; and-given the perennial market for magazine essays and fictions, poems, and novels either describing a walk or set on a walk-that non-walking readers also like to imagine life occurring on the path or pavement.

The three editors have in common a love of walking and love of the literature of walking. We are all university scholars who have written books on literature and walking, and through this last connection have come to know one another. The mutually infectious nature of the subject and our dedication to it led to the present volume. To this end we have walked the streets of Manhattan and around the Central Park Reservoir, huddled in a Chicago hotel room, and tramped the bluffs on the Northern California coast, culling from memory our favorite walking pieces from the great collective wellspring of human writing.

We have composed our anthology for both pedestrian and non-pedestrian readers. Is there a person alive, except for the physically disabled, who is not a walker? Everyone walks, but we address those who love walking, either on the ground or in the imagination. When about 100 years ago he compiled The Lore of the Wanderer: An Open-Air Anthology, a smallplain blue-covered book one could put in a back pocket, George Goodchild-in perhaps the first of a substantial cluster of such collections-caught the spirit of our end-of-this-century volume: a book (a companion) to be taken with you; or, if you cannot get out for a walk, you can read one at home.

There are, however, important differences between Goodchild's collection and ours. By "Open-Air" he meant the air of the country-side far from the polluting enclosures of the city. By insisting upon walking as a rural pleasure, Goodchild bl

Library Journal

This deftly chosen collection of essays, stories, and poems is a delightful ramble through literary history. Walking has provided a creative surge to a wide variety of writers, and Gilbert (English, Cornell; Walks in the World), Jeffrey Robinson (English, Univ. of Colorado; The Walk), and Anne Wallace (English, Univ. of Southern Mississippi; Walking, Literature, and English Culture) present a broad sampling of some of the best writing it has inspired. They have been careful to represent not only a variety of literary forms but also a broad spectrum of writers (including Plato, the Transcendentalists, today's environmental writers such as Wendell Berry, and more). Surely not exhaustive, this volume does provide the reader with an absorbing starting point. It closes with a helpful "More Literary Companionship for Walkers," which will lead readers to additional authors and titles. Missing, however, is any biographical information on the authors included, which would have proved useful to some readers. Recommended for public libraries.--Karen E.S. Lempert, Facing History and Ourselves, Brookline, MA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Books about: Julie Andrews Collection of Poems Songs and Lullabies or Gregor

In Your Own Time: A Guide for Patients and Their Carers Facing Terminal Illness at Home

Author: Elizabeth Le

Anyone suffering from a terminal illness faces huge challenges, not only emotionally and physically, but also in the range of practical decisions they need to make. 'In your own time' guides the patient through the choices that exist in the current system of medical care, helping them decide on the kind of care they want, and where they receive it- in the hospice or the home. It includes chapters on coming to terms with their situation, the help available to them at home, how to choose between a hospice and home, and advice on coping with the inevitable feelings and emotions of both patient and carer. Written by a GP with extensive experience in this area, the book is unique in presenting both a compassionate and practical guide for anyone affected by serious illness, one that will empower them with the information they need to maintain the highest possible quality of life in their final days.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer: Becky Stepp, BBA, MEd, BS, M, LMSW (Seton Medical Center)
Description: This is a guide for both patients who are facing a final illness and the people who care for them. This book provides the reader with alternatives to care, treatment approaches, and support services in their remaining days.
Purpose: The author states two main purposes: to give patients who are facing a final illness at home information about what help and support is available and ways of accessing it. These are very noble objectives. Although the presentation includes valuable information, the discussion seems slightly narrow as much of the specific information regarding British services is not applicable to a global reading population.
Audience: The book is written by a credible general practitioner with extensive experience in palliative care in Britain. All healthcare and palliative care professionals as well as physicians, clergy, social workers, nurses, and patient and families could benefit from this informative and practical guide.
Features: This book covers the topic of facing a final illness beginning with the initial discussion with the physician and the various emotions and dynamics this presents. With case studies taken from the author's practice experience, the author creatively illustrates the various facets of the decision of home with hospice vs. hospital, along with a guide to common symptoms experienced in terminal illness treatment, and what to expect in the final days of illness prior to death. As this author's experience is limited to British practice, the book's references to home care practices and funding resources more appropriately apply to that country. This book could benefit from less use of sexist language.
Assessment: Patients and families as well as healthcare professionals and clergy could benefit from the discussion of end of life care offered by this author.

Rating

2 Stars from Doody

Table of Contents:

	Acknowledgements
	Introduction
Ch. 1	Facing Bad News	1
	Approaching death	3
	Getting bad news	6
	Treatment	11
	Getting practical help	20
	Thinking ahead	25
Ch. 2	At Home	29
	Community medical care	30
	Specialists involved in care at home	51
	What can go wrong	61
Ch. 3	Hospital, Hospice or Home?	67
	Hospital care	68
	The hospice and palliative care services	94
Ch. 4	Patients and Carers	107
	Patients' feelings	108
	Preoccupying problems	118
	Shared concerns of patient and carer	133
	Carers' concerns	142
Ch. 5	Common Symptoms and Their Treatment	157
	Talking about your symptoms	157
	Anxiety	160
	Sleeplessness	163
	Depression	166
	Constipation	167
	Bed sores	171
	Mouth care	174
	Pain	175
	Nausea and vomiting	185
	Loss of appetite	188
	Difficulty breathing	190
	Loss of bladder control	194
	Loss of bowel control	197
	Confusion	198
	Cannabis	203