About this title: Pain is not something that most of us would count as a blessing; however, what it is and why we need it if we're to live life fully is brought to light in this book.
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Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Zondervan
Date Published: 1997-08-01
ISBN-13:9780310221449ISBN:0310221447
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780310221449. read more
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: ZONDERVAN PUB HOUSE
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780310221449ISBN:0310221447
Description: New. A WORLD WITHOUT PAIN? Can such a place exist? It not only can? it does. But it's no utopia. It's a colony for leprosy patients: a world where people literally feel no pain, and reap horrifying consequences. His work with leprosy patients in India an... read more
"I found this book amazing, but in a more peculiar way. Containing lots of medical terms it is none the less understandable for someone with just basic anatomic and patologic knowledge. I found Brand's life story amazing and inspiring. I gained a new perspective on pain, harshness and, in the end, contentment itself.
So in the end, thinking about the whole book, and even further, about other people who bowed down and cared for their, let's say, less fortunate fellows, it gives me a flavor of extraordinary beauty, it makes me smile and wish for more.
In the end, I'll just put some random concluding quotes:' "A double is at work: just as a society that conquers pain and suffering seems less able to cope with what suffering remains, so a society that pursues pleasure runs the risk of raising expectations ever higher, so that contentment lies tantalizingly out of reach." 'Without leprosy I would have spent all my energy trying to rise in society. Beacuse of it, I have learnt to care about the little people' - a former leprosy patient -> I would say it's a lesson learnt the hard way:) "I believe that every human being needs to be needed" Abbe Pierre "Happy are they who bear their share of the world's pain: In the long run they will know more happinessthan those who avoid it" said Jesus (translation by J.B. Phillips) "pain need not distroy. It can be transformed..." and the most hilarious one:) "In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed - but htey produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they have brotherly love, five hundert years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." Graham Greene"
"Loved his experiences from growing up with missionary parents in India, his medical school days in London during the WWII bombings, his work with leprosy in India as a surgeon, his worldwide encounters, his life at the leprosy center in Louisiana, and his medical expertise and Christian values."
"I can not recommend this book enough. seriously, i was engrossed. normally i hate books by doctors. i usually think they are self-congratulating and not very thoughtful. what i like about this one is his analysis of the cultural responses to pain. he starts out talking about how he has lived and worked with people with leprosy in india, england and the usa. he talks about how, generally, in india people tend to respond to pain as something that we all have to deal with in life at different points. he says in england during the war that times were very hard, but that many people look back on the war as some of the best of times because they felt that even though they suffered, their suffering had a purpose. then, he talks about the usa, a country where we have gone to war to protect our "right" for the pursuit of happiness. he writes that in the usa people tend to expect that pain is an exception, that life should be happy all the time. he attributes our multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry of pain pills etc. as a market that promotes this idea that all pain is something that needs to be fixed. he spends the rest of the book exploring examples where the experience of pain has been beneficial. that is his ultimate point, that pain has a purpose. it warns you of something or is a signal to you about something. he explains that the inability to experience pain is soemtimes very detrimental."
"The main thesis is that pain is an invaluable part of our nervous system; to demonstrate this, the first part of the book charts much of Dr Brand's early life, and his calling into medicine and - eventually - working with a leprosy mission in India as an orthopedic surgeon. I had already read his biography, 'Ten Fingers for God', less than a year ago; so some of the material was not new to me.
Nonetheless, it was written in such an interesting way that I didn't skim; there were extra reminiscences and asides which, as ever, were fascinating to read. There were also several medical histories which I had not previously read about.
Excellent! Highly recommended. Christian input is low-key so likely to be of interest to anyone."
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