About this title: On a winter night on a remote Nebraska road, twenty-seven-year-old Mark Schluter flips his truck in a near fatal accident. His older sister, Karin, his only close kin, returns reluctantly to their hometown to nurse Mark back from a traumatic head injury. But when he emerges from a protracted coma, Mark believes that this woman - who looks, acts, ...
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Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Date Published: 10/17/2006
ISBN-13:9780374146351ISBN:0374146357
Description: Fine. 0374146357 Ships from PA, Return within 15 days for any reasons. Leaves warehouse within 24-48 hrs, thank you for your order. Remainder mark. Clean Copy. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN-13:9780374146351ISBN:0374146357
Description: Good. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN-13:9780374146351ISBN:0374146357
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN-13:9780374146351ISBN:0374146357
Description: Good. Purchasing this DVD supports the North Central Regional Library. Thriftbooks and NCRL have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Library ID found on DVD and case. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN-13:9780374146351ISBN:0374146357
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN-13:9780374146351ISBN:0374146357
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN-13:9780374146351ISBN:0374146357
Description: Good. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN-13:9780374146351ISBN:0374146357
Description: Fair. Dust Cover Missing. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 2006-01-01
ISBN-13:9780312426439ISBN:0312426437
Description: Like New. May be shiny, in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, no damage to binding, may have a remainder mark. read more
"Part medical mystery, part thriller, part (very) contemporary literature, and 100% metaphor for how much 9/11 changed the world means there is a lot going on in this book. A man is in a freak car accident that should have left him dead, instead it leaves him with Capgras Syndrom - he thinks that the people closest to him are imposters and his real loved ones are being kept from him. This includes his only sister, who gives up her attempts to break away from the small town they grew up in to take care of him, and almost loses herself in the process. She convinces a world famous neuroligist to look at her brother's case, and the doctor begins to doubt his own work and the methods he's used to reach his level of fame."
"The book centers around Mark Schluter, a man in his late 20s who flips his truck in the middle of the night. His sister Karin races back home to care for him - and Mark makes it out of surgery. However, when he regains consciousness, he believes that the woman helping him is NOT his sister, but an impostor.
What Mark is suffering from, apparently due to the injury, is something called Capgras Delusion, or Capgras syndrome. This rare happenstance causes no shortage of emotional pain for Karin, and she seeks help everywhere, including from a noted author who writes about rare brain syndromes such as this.
The book has a few minor mysteries, some of which are quite well revealed and others which I didn't care as much about. Author Richard Powers does a nice job of writing from several perspectives: Karin, the doctor, and most interestingly, Mark the patient. He is a very talented writer, and his prose is both lyrical and modern, and it's a pleasure to read. While the book rarely captivated me, I enjoyed it quite a bit and would definitely recommend it."
"I'm going to try a different approach to this. I'm going to toss out words or thoughts that come to me as I recall this novel.
migratory self questions of self, such as are we who we think we are, and the key word here is think. Does the conscious self come from within, or is it merely an echo? stories and narration - do humans live the story, that is, do we need to see or hear something before we incorporate it into our own self. Powers uses the mockingbird to demonstrate this in the novel. is who we are dependent upon what others think, and if so, what happens when what others think, especially those with whom we think we "know" what they think of us, begin to see us or think of us different? does this transform our own self? can science ever provide an answer to how conscious is formed and thereby give us an insightn into the self, if indeed the self is a form of consciousness. - I feel that somehow this has the possibility to all come back to language. In many ways we do form narratives with which, or within which, we conduct our lives, and these narratives are formed outj of thoughts in a language. But, my question is are these "thoughts" produced by a chemistry within the brain that we only attempt to name and distinguish with our various languages. Are we that far removed from animals and their migratory patterns? doubt - should we live our lives in perpetual doubt? question all and never take for granted what we determine to be "real?" memories as a maker of self. - can we imagine new memories and thereby change the core of our self?
See Roland Barthes' The Structuralist Activity - Barthes argues humans are not so concerned with the meanings of things as such, but instead we are interested in the fabrication of a meaning; it's not what it means, it's how we give the thing the meaning."
"Here we are again in the world of literature. Powers is a powerful writer. The length of the book (451 pps) does not really tell the length of this work. It is not a fast read. There is much content woven into the pages, a tapestry of imagery and meaning that enhances the action of the story.
Kearny Nebraska is a way station on the central flyway, a place where thousands of cranes congregate every year on their way north and south, providing an industry for the town. The descriptions of the migration are quite wonderful. Mark Schluter is a twenty-something who crashes his truck and barely survives, suffering extreme head trauma. Karin Schluter, his sister, leaves her job to try to help with his recovery. Mark cannot accept her as his sister, believing that she is a copy. Karin seeks help from the famous neurologist, Gerald Weber, who comes to Kearny Nebraska for a look see. Gerald struggles to figure out just what is going in with Mark's brain. The case is very, very unusual.
There is a wonderful aide, Barbara, at the nursing home where Mark recuperates. She seems exceptionally tuned in and eager to help. She has a talent everyone can see but a past that she keeps to herself. Daniel is the local head of an environmental protection group, and was Mark's best friend until they parted ways as teens. He also had a thing for Karin, and now Karin seeks his help for Mark.
Powers is after existential prey here. What is the nature of consciousness? What is reality? Does it have external constancy or is all reality just what our brains make of available input? Is the sequence always cause then effect? It is an invigorating ride. Is it connection to others that gives us anchors to life, keeps the drifting balloons that are our conscious brains from floating entirely away?
Along the way he offers us a few mysteries. Who is Barbara really? Why did Mark run off the road? Will the crane stopping point be saved? What will happen with Karin and Daniel? Will Mark ever return to his old self?
Payload is of crane behavior, river ecology, the climate of the area, water issues. A separate payload track is neuroscience. There is much in here that will not be found in the local paper about obscure brain malfunctions and their implications. This was an interesting, engaging read."
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