Latest From Lawrence F. Gold Spotlights Extremely Important Research Activities in Today's World!

Lawrence W. Gold, M.D.

Biography: I was born in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, moved to Queens, and then, as New Yorkers say, my family ascended to the Island. After graduating from Valley Stream Central High School, I went to Adelphi, a college then, a university now, and then to medical school in Chicago. The war in Vietnam interrupted my postgraduate medical training with a year in Colorado Springs and another as a Battalion Surgeon in Vietnam. I spent seven months in the Central Highlands with the 4th Infantry and five months in an evacuation hospital in Long Binh outside Saigon where I ran the emergency room. I returned intact in 1968 to complete my training in internal medicine and diseases of the kidney, nephrology. I worked for twenty-three years in Berkeley, California in a hospital-based practice caring for patients with complicated illnesses often in ICU, and served as Chief of Internal Medicine and Family Practice. For many years, I was an active member of the quality assurance committee. Circumstances permitted my wife, Dorlis, and me to retire in October 1995. Before fate could intervene, we tossed off the dock lines, and sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge for a life at sea in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Four years later, exhausted from repairing everything on board, (often many times) we sold the sailboat and within a year took the lazy man’s out; we bought a Nordic Tug trawler. We motored around Florida, the Bahamas, and the entire East Coast and completed two ‘circle trips’ to Canada and back, eight months, the first time, five months, the second. I’ve written eight novels, five in he Brier Hospital Series, and one non-fiction book, I Love My Doctor, But…, a lighthearted look at the patient/doctor relationship. I recently published my ninth novel, A Simple Cure, about the search for the cure of the most deadly skin cancer, malignant melanoma. I write primarily to entertain, but I can’t help but pass on to readers observations and beliefs culled from years of practice, and yes, my biases, too. I strive for realism in portraying the medical scene which is gripping enough without melodrama or gimmicks. With even a minor degree of success in writing novels, comes responsibility to readers. I attempt to produce honest material that reflects my beliefs. Exposing these beliefs to the public through my writing requires courage, stupidity, or both. My fans have been generous, and although nobody enjoys criticism, I’ve learned much from that, too. The novel that expresses most clearly my candor, and my bias, is For the Love of God. The novel reflects my attitudes toward those who are willing to sacrifice the lives of their children for their personal religious beliefs. We live in beautiful Grass Valley with 15 1/2 year old Mike, a terrier mix and Bennie, an 8 year old Yorkie who just looks like he’s on steroids.

[I've rearranged my normal format today because I wanted to use the Author's Note at the beginning on the book. I, of course, read it as the first page; but it was no until I finished the book that I really understood it. Let me know if you do better. LOL...]

State of Mind:

Brier Hospital Series

By Lawrence W. Gold, M.D.

The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding...--Albert Camus

Going through job burnout, which is medically defined under clinical depression, never prepared me for realizing or understanding what had really happened to my brain in relation to emotional health. I have come to recognize that I have changed, and, to some extent, will live with what the job did to me for the rest of my life. Thus I was quite interested in the latest book out by Dr. Gold, State of Mind. Here's what he says to the reader on the first page...

Author's Note

While we have made substantial progress against a whole range of medical problems, why do psychiatric and behavioral ones remain so difficult? Depression, schizophrenia, psychopathy, criminality, and the mundane emotional problems of living seem largely beyond our control.

Treating medical problems, except in extraordinary circumstances, avoids moral complexities while attempts at controlling neuropsychiatric disorders are fraught with ethical pitfalls. The newest technology, transcranial stimulation of the brain by electricity, magnets or ultrasound may prove to be effective tools, but they create the next level of ethical dilemmas in medicine.

Procedures on the brain go back to the late 1800s, but they made their major impact in the 40s, 50s and 60s with a psychosurgical procedure known as frontal lobotomy. While that's frightening by today's standards, in 1949 Antonio Egas Monitz shared the Novel Prize for Physiology and Medicine for the discovery of the therapeutic value of frontal lobotomy in certain psychosis.

Today, we have the ability to perform such surgery without the mess created by the scalpel, the ice pick, or the bone saw.

While I believe that these new procedures offer humanity great hope for dealing with intractable medical problems such as depression, Parkinson's disease, PTSD, and others, I'm not as hopeful about our ability to use these powers wisely.

Good intentions, even humanitarian ones, are not enough as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb said, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

~~~

This is my fourth novel by Dr. Gold--I became a fan after spending a weekend with him reading, Tortured Memory, For The Love of God, and Rage. His latest novel is quite different for the reader--it reads more like a drama until the last explosive ending. Of course, the reason is that the novel moves into the realm of research--a detailed, slow process, based upon a scientific methodology that assures every concern is addressed before proceeding to the next step and, then, perhaps acceptance. 

Transcranial magnetic stimulation

But this breakthrough, once discovered, soon caught the wind and word spread, especially to those who were greatly in need, whether it was only in trial mode or not... The idea was to consider noninvasive ways to treat the brain...

As routine, testing was first done on animals and had to go through various stages of approval before it could even be considered for human testing, but who to test? Let's face it, the logical group was prisoners who had already exhibited the types of problems that were being studied! Thus, the prologue, set in 2014, has the main research investigator, Dr. Kimberly Powell and her supervisor, Dr. David Cohen, heading for Guantanamo Bay... (A married couple also later added greatly to the book as forensics psychiatry experts who worked to help prepare legal representatives and others for presenting cases/issues within the courtroom environment.)

Suddenly, Penny broke the soft restraints and he was
free. He pushed Bernie to the floor and wrapped his
hairy arm around Kim's throat. The room resounced
with a coarse buzzing alarm as she struggled for
breath.
One of the other volunteers entered the room and
approached Sergeant Penny. "Hey, Johnny Boy--
take it easy. Don't hurt the doc--she's here to help us."
When the soldier got closer, Penny said, "Stop
before I break her neck."
~~~

Almost immediately they were told that "what the powers want you to see is the worst of the worst. Here, these violent detainees are the rule, not the exception." Not exactly a warm welcome to what would have already been a stressful situation...right?

But first we need to set up the main character Kimberly Powell... For you see, she had once faced one of those violent criminals face to face! He had fired the shots, several times, point blank, but was out of bullets--frustrated, he had run away. But she had already experienced the terror which turned to PTSD...

Kim smiled, "Do you want to search
me for hidden devices?"
"I'm a smart guy, Kim, but I don't
have a clue how to answer that one
without the risk of foot-in-mouth."
~~~

David also had a similar tale to tell! No wonder both had become passionate enough to train for and become experts in the field. David was a teaching assistant working at the neuropsychiatric level on the roots of aggression and violence...

Kim had earned her PhD in neuropsychology and turned out to be a strong guardian of ethics of their research, after some early uncomfortable situations with her supervisor when she spoke out quickly, initially too quickly expressing her concern about procedures and proposed methods. At first, you'll wonder about her; then as other professionals did, know that her concern was real, knowledgeable, and, most importantly, willing to take the responsibility of speaking out to ensure consideration of all issues... By the end of the book, I was proud of this gutsy lady! Remember Judging Amy? I thought of her as the personality developed for Kim...

The book includes several individual cases, accepted on a case-by-case basic, because of the particular medical diagnosis. Actually, there were many more requests from those diagnosed with the specific issues that could possibly be affected by this new process. Several were heartwarming successes, while I found the most interesting was one of the individuals in the prison environment. He was not only extremely and dangerously volatile; he was the "main man" within the prison. The application and testing on this man was successful! He had definitely been changed!

But in doing so, he lost his status and all the other inmates began trying to toss him from the top--he wound up in solitaire because he was forced to defend himself against those not yet treated! So much for improving the prison environment, huh?

DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, plays a major, funding role, in the research and allows readers to consider the good and bad side of work sponsored by this Agency.

"DARPA scares me," Kim said. "I know they've done some fantastic things, but they're involved on the dark side as well, you know, surveillance, drones, and God knows what else."
"I know a bit about DARPA," Bernie drawled. "I almost went to work with the,. The military created it after the shock of the USSR's success with Sputnik. Their objective, back then and now, is to maintain a technological lead in all things military. They're big into high-tech weapon systems."
"What a waste," Kim said.
"Without DARPA, "Bernie said, "We'd have to close this lab and virtually every research lab across the country. Remember the Internet, GPS, and robotics, for example."
Kim sat down at her computer. "Let's go to YouTube." She typed in several names and said, "Have you seen the high-tech robots from Boston Dynamics, Big Dog and Petman? They're the stuff of science fiction nightmares?"

"They're tools, ma'am, don't tell me that a research scientist like yourself is a Luddite in disguise?"

~~~

One sad case, a sports player, was of a boy who was hurt during a football game, but had never returned to the boy who had been the heart of the family before being hurt...

This case moves us into the last part of the book as the boy's father, a judge, is doing everything possible to gets waivers and support to have his son be approved for treatment...

Don't let yourself get bogged down in the details of the research--it's important stuff for you to understand what is happening in this important update in research related to understanding aggression, and more... Our prisons are full; those on the outside wonder how do these people become psychopaths and murder as we see on each night's "breaking" news. Has the research on Transcranial magnetic stimulation become a cure for ridding the world of psychopaths?! If you are into medical drama/thrillers, read  Dr. Lawrence W. Gold's novels... Start with one of the four I've recommended here on my blog! Learn and enjoy from this medical expert!

GABixlerReviews

Defying Death in Hagerstown by John Paul Carinci Combines Cold Case with Wonderful Wisdom of a Great Lady...

Row houses is my only real memory of traveling to Hagerstown when I was young and had relatives there. Being from the country I was shocked at how close the houses were to each other! Yet this style of building was and is still used in that part of Maryland. Hagerstown, in fact, was the home of my one and only relative who had written a book! Raven's Ghosts, by my cousin Harry David Renner, published in 1979, centered on the Normandy invasion and my cousin by marriage's role as Sergeant Chris Raven. Even then, I was forming my own evaluation of books. Most of the relatives were shocked at the language. Me, I loved it, and quietly concluded to myself that the language used was in context to men in wartime, and certainly did not detract from the quality of the writing... nor the story line...

defying Death in Hagerstown

By John Paul Carinci

"There are only two ways to live your life: one, as though NOTHING is a miracle, and the other, as though EVERYTHING is a miracle."--Miss Lolita

A small group of people was gathered
around an older woman in a wheelchair.
We headed toward them. I studied her
a distance: an old face with coke-bottle
glasses. She had a full head of hair,
fixed short and neat, a woman with just
a few extra pounds and not frail like
many older women I have seen. Miss
Lolita was laughing with the women
near her as we approached...
"Come close," Miss Lolita said. "I can't
see you."
"Uh, sure. Okay," I agreed.
"Closer, please!"
I went within three inches of her glasses
before she said, "Oh, that's so much
better."
..."You know, I'm legally blind, not deaf,
Sonny!"
...I was suddenly impressed with this
ancient woman who had all of her
marbles. It appeared to me that Lolita
was a straight shooter; she didn't pull
any punches and spoke her mind freely.
And why shouldn't she at her age?"
~~~

Here is another positive statement
I repeat a couple of times per day: "I
feel healthy, I feel happy, I feel terrific.
I like myself. I like myself, I like myself.
I will be successful; it's inevitable,
because my aggressiveness will lead
to opportunities for my success. I can,
I will, I want to. All things are possible
through belief in myself and the Lord,
and with his help, I can accomplish
anything.
~~~

In today's book, I met a wonderful female character who would have been alive during the time I was visiting Hagerstown and beginning my thoughtful analyses of books I was reading. Her name is Lolita Croome--she was 110 years old, living at the time of the book's being written. I do hope she is still alive and well there in Hagerstown, spreading her wisdom, wit, and wonderful words to everyone, and especially those living in the cheerful happy environment where the story is set.

Lou Gerhani is a newspaper reporter with the Washington Gazette, who has been steadily going downhill--he's heartbroken and cannot get over the loss of his lover. Drinking much more than usual, everybody around him can see he is self-destructing. His friends care; his boss threatens firing if he doesn't get over "it..." In fact, he has just been given what could be his last assignment if he doesn't come back with an award-winning story!


She began, "Thank you, Lord, for this new and glorious day.
As I look out my window, I see a beautiful blue sky with gorgeous
white clouds slowly passing by. I thank you for this new and
glorious gift of a new day of life. But I don't realize why I have
been chosen to receive this gift of life while so many others
have been taken away. I will not waste this day. I will squeeze
from the grapes you have given me, Lord, every drop of juice,
not wasting one drop, as this could very possibly be my last
day on earth. And if it is my last day on earth, it will be my
finest last day on earth. I thank you, Lord, for all of the
precious gifts you have given me throughout my life, but
most of all I thank you for this extra precious gift of a new
day of life." She smiled at me and said, "There is more, but
I gave you the meat of it."
"You call them self-suggestion statements. You really are the
Wise One, as people call you!"
"I am as equal in value as anyone else is," she said lovingly.
"The reason they are self-suggestions is because as you
repeat the statements to yourself, your inner mind accepts
them and retains them in your brain for later retrieval.
The positive statements create the mental blinders, and
the negativity bounces off."
"Miss Lolita, what you say makes perfect sense. But you
have a special way of explaining things in easy-to-understand
language."                                                         ~~~

"I will persist until I succeed. I was not
delivered unto this world in defeat, nor
does failure course in my veins. I am not a
sheep waiting to be prodded by my
shepherd. I am a lion, and I refuse to talk,
to walk, to sleep with the sheep. I will
hear not those who weep and complain,
for their disease is contagious. Let them
join the sheep. The slaughterhouse of
failure is not my destiny. I will persist
until I succeed." --Miss Lolita 

Oh yeah, he's really thrilled with the story...he has to head to Hagerstown, Maryland and interview a woman who is 110 years old. He pictures her as so old that she probably has dementia and wonders how in the world he can produce a good story. Nevertheless, he realizes that his ogre of a boss means business and heads home, stopping along the way for his usual drinks. The man behind the bar, to whom he has cried the blues many times, determines, however, to make his friend listen--he needed to work on changing things...He also hears the same feedback from his long-time barber and his close friend at work. Their advice seemed to have helped because Lou quickly started doing some research on Maryland, Hagerstown, and the local history.

Almost immediately he hones in on a 90-year-old cold case! Three young women had been brutally murdered in 1923...

His investigative mind quickly noted one major thing--the woman he had been sent to interview would have been living at that time! 

Once he started thinking along those lines, there was no stopping Lou... Award-winning article? What about solving a murder case that had never been solved!?! But how do you talk to a witness of a murder when she is older than any other person he had ever known?!

Notice the row houses included in this trailer!

Not only was Miss Lolita the oldest and wisest woman he'd met, shortly after he had met her nurse, Miss Lolita shared that she'd had a vision about their falling in love... So readers have a romantic relationship to enjoy while all of the murder attempts are occurring...

Because as soon as it was known that a newspaper reporter was coming to Hagerstown, the news spread fast. And when Lou had stopped as he entered town to get gas, the attendant was so excited about his being there that he spent time asking him questions while Lou began his normal information-gathering discussions... It was only because Lou had gone into the rest room that he missed being there when that attendant was shot! Later, everybody wondered if that had not been the first attempt to kill Lou since he was later poisoned--and when that didn't work, another attempt was made...

By that time, everybody knew that Lou, while here to interview Miss Lolita, also was very interested in the murders that had occurred in 1923. Strange dreams started soon thereafter when Lou actually was dreaming of the murders and seeing items that could be of help in identifying the killer. What was amazing was that when Miss Lolita loaned him her personal diary of that year, he learned that she had also had visions of what had happened!

The only question was would he be killed before he was able to use the information to work on and solve the crimes?!

Got to say that the crime solving was almost overpowered by the meeting of and interaction with Miss Lolita and all of the inspirational wisdom she shared with those in need, She had been unable to return to the experiences of the crimes, but she knew that her diary would be of help...or was it she who had provoked the dreams that he was experiencing. Perhaps Miss Lolita was an angel... No matter whether she was, readers will thoroughly enjoy meeting this kind but feisty Centenarian!

And the cold case investigation was tantalizing and intriguing... Highly recommended! 

GABixlerReviews

John Paul Carinci has been a successful insurance executive and president of Carinci Insurance Agency, Inc., for more than 38 years. 

John is also an author, songwriter, poet, and CEO of Better Off Dead Productions, Inc., a movie production company. 
As a worldwide published author, some of John's works include: An All-Consuming Desire To Succeed, The Power of Being Different, In Exchange of Life, Share Your Mission #5, A Second Chance , The Psychic Boy Detective, Better Off Dead, Better Off Dead In Paradise, An All Consuming Desire To Succeed, Defying Death In Hagerstown, Awesome Success Principles and Quotations, and A Gift from Above. 

John is also co-writer of the screenplays: Better Off Dead, A Second Chance, and Better Off Dead in Paradise, which were all adapted from his novels, and may one day be produced as motion pictures.

John's three self-help books, The Power of Being Different, An All-Consuming Desire To Succeed, and Awesome Success Principles and Quotations, have been translated and published in many foreign countries. John's latest novel, Defying Death In Hagerstown, is currently available.

included just for the fun of it...

What's Happening at Book Readers Heaven, Part 2 A special Thank you...Missing you...Pic of Roomie and Selfie (one and only)

With the help of my great-niece, Rachel, I've been able to learn and take some photos with my phone... So this article is dedicated to those activities and more about my home life...

One of the nicest thank you's from an author came for my review of Doggie Delicious... Click over if you haven't read it...  Mary Jo lives on a hobby farm and one of the pleasures you can find if you visit there are beautiful peacocks... Sooooo, I got a small envelope and when I opened it, here's what I found: Peacock Feathers, which I promptly turned over to #1 photographer in family, who then experimented with color shading outside and showing some of my exterior statuettes and furniture... The feathers, however, are safely inside enjoying their new setting...

 

Striper was one of my special feline friends I lost last year...She was beginning to look bad and was getting special attention with milk and food on the dining table, where I never eat! LOL

 
I lost Ricci recently... She had been with me almost since I had moved to the cabin. Her mother, Billy, was staying at the cabin and promptly delivered many more to welcome me! Haven't been without cats since then! Both Ricci and Striper were inside cats and I still miss them!

My only roomie now is Rachel but she is one of those cats who wants to stay close...she sure stops me from feeling lonely at any time!

,Sooooo, that's about it for now...finishing with sharing my one...and only...Selfie... Yikes! Of course I'm sitting in my favorite reading chair in the corner of the cabin living room... 'nuf said...

What's Happening at Book Readers Heaven - Finishing a Delightful Month of Poetry...

I was so happy to have the contributions from various writers, sharing their poetry here at Book Readers Heaven to celebration National Poetry Month! A Big thank you to each and every one of the following!  Your sharing on BRH brought in over 21 thousand hits for the month! 

Becket is the personal assistant to international best-sellingauthor ANNE RICE. He has a BA in music composition, an MA in systematic theology, and an MS in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. He has been working for Ms. Rice since 2005, and he has spent that time learning from her the craft of writing.

You can find out more about him at www.becket.me

 Adolph (Adolfo) Caso came to America from Italy as a twelve-year-old boy knowing no English. Havng completed sixth grade, he graduated from high school and received degrees from Northeastern and Harvard University in modern languages and literature. A teacher-administrator in the Walthan Public School system, he taught languages and created the Bilingual Department. He is also a retired army officer. He is publisher and Editor of Branden Books.

Oneida Morningstar Cramer was born in Virginia, raised in Maryland, and educated at the University of Maryland, where she earned a doctorate in physiology. A longtime Dallas resident, Cramer has worked as a scientist, homemaker, teacher, journalist, and has held professional and volunteer positions in the field of non-profit arts business. She has been active as a poet and a photographer for many years. This volume is her first published collection of works.

Guy Graybill is the author of five published books: KEYSTONE, BRAVO!, PROHIBITION'S PRINCE, PRINCE AND THE PAUPERS and FROST!  Guy attended rural Pennsylvania schools and graduated from Gettysburg College with a degree in History. Guy Graybill worked in a Pennsylvania state capital mail room, in a brick plant, in the Geisinger Medical Center (Danville, PA) and in schools in Aguilar, Colorado (one year) and Loganton, Pennsylvania (two years). His career position was three decades in Middleburg, PA as a secondary History teacher. After retiring from Middleburg, he was elected to a four-year term as chairman of the board of commissioners of Snyder County. Guy married his high-school sweetheart, Nancy Yerger. They have now been married for many decades and are the parents of four grown children.

Alan W. Jankowski, aka DirtyMartini is the award winning author of well over one hundred short stories, plays and poems. His stories have been published online, and in various journals including Oysters & Chocolate, Muscadine Lines: A Southern Journal, eFiction Magazine, Zouch, The Rusty Nail, and a few others he can't remember at the moment. His poetry has more recently become popular, and his 9-11 Tribute poem was used extensively in ceremonies during the tenth anniversary of this tragic event...

Freely I admit my mind was a desert and I had no desire to write poetry. A desert can be beautiful I know, but my mind was without any separate place for green gardens or empty streambeds. I was just not interested in words. My one and only girlfriend had died at seventeen; killed in an automobile accident and I had become a devoid abandoned young man. It was as if I never had any attachment to a living thing and nothing could help ease my grief. Then one of her best girlfriends who had always accepted me and who had a gift for putting me at ease told me. She bluntly said to me, Nancy saw something in you Thomas. When we talked, she would tell us girls that you had a quality in your voice and it was like Poetry. Did I, it was kind of her to say so; it pulled me back from the sorrowful edges and help me to focus again. On a winter Sunday morning, I wrote my first poem. It was about burning an old Apple tree in a beautiful grand fireplace and going outside in the cold raw wind to watch the smoke come up the chimney. I guess that is when I learned that words are capable of healing as well as hurting us. Poetry chiseled away the pain word after word. 

Paul M. Kramer lives in Hawaii on the beautiful island of Maui with his wife Cindy and their son Lukas. Paul was born and raised in New York City. Mr. Kramer's books attempt to reduce stress and anxiety and resolve important issues children face in their everyday lives. His books are often written in rhyme. They are entertaining, inspirational, educational and easy to read. One of his goals is to increase the child's sense of self worth. He has written books on various subjects such as bullying, divorce, sleep deprivation, worrying, shyness, and weight issues. Mr. Kramer has appeared on "Good Morning America," "The Doctors," "CNN Live" as well as several other Television Shows in the United States and Canada. He's been interviewed and aired on many radio programs including the British Broadcasting System and has had countless articles written about his work in major newspapers and magazines throughout the world.

Chandrakant Kaluram Mhatre is a bilingual poet from Maharashtra State of India, writing in English as well as his mother-tongue Marathi. He is a translator of Marathi literature into English and is also a keen researcher of folk culture, language and literature. He teaches English language and literature to undergrads in a Mumbai college and is a native of Navi Mumbai.

Philosopher first. Writer first as well. If one were to ask me “What do you do?”, I would struggle to answer that in just one sentence (or, in fact, at all). In my heart, and at my core, I love entertaining people, and I love to understand things. I would call these my “driving forces”, or my purpose, with “learning” being above “entertaining.” So what I really do is learn. All I do is learn.

A. F. Stewart was born and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada, and still calls it home.  The youngest in a family of seven children, she has always had an overly creative mind and an active imagination. She is fond of good books (especially science fiction/fantasy), action movies, sword collecting, and oil painting as a hobby.

Ms. Stewart is an indie author with several published novellas and story collections in the dark fantasy or horror genres, with a few side trips into poetry and non-fiction. She has a great interest in history and mythology, often working those themes into her books and stories.

Thanks also to those who routinely share their work on uTube which I was able to use to complete the month... Wow...isn't it wonderful how wonderful writings and words can be shared across the world! Check out the videos this past month if you missed them!

I personally am grateful for these writers since, as you may remember, I had fallen last month and during this month it realized that I was having an allergic reaction to a medication that had been increased...Lots of swelling and loss of mobility because of water retention. You know, when you are on a certain medication for many years, sometimes it becomes toxic and that is what happened. Fortunately, I finally figured out which medication it was an immediately weaned myself off ot it. The unfortunate thing was that I had not remembered that my sister had also had the same reaction, only worse, to the same medication! I share this with you all to help spread the word that when something is changed with medications, it is important for you to watch your reactions and if something is happening health-wise, make sure you consider that it could be your meds that is causing the problem!

I have a little more to share but will do that in another article some time soon...
In the meantime, watch for selections from
coming this month...



Want to stop and get back to a book I'm reading right now! Am loving it!


God Bless,
Glenda