Fleischman – Phineas Gage

Fleischman, John. Phineas Gage: a gruesome but true story about brain science. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 2002.

Last week was Non-Fiction, this week is Biographies; and so….

In 1848 Phineas Gage, a railroad worker, survived a demolition accident which blasted his three-foot long, 13 pound iron tamping rod through his face & out through the top of his skull. Not only did he survive it, he stayed conscious throughout the wagon-wide into town & sat on the porch of his hotel, brain-splattered tamping iron in hand, telling folks about what just happened to him. Incredibly, Gage seemed to fully recover from his accident. However, the iron rod which drove through his frontal lobe dramatically altered his personality; so that according to his doctor, “Gage wasn’t Gage anymore.”[1] A study of the man & the implications of his accident had dramatic effects on the way we understand the brain & the way we function. To this day, Gage’s skull is on display at the Harvard Medical School.

Phineas Gage was a good book & an excellent addition to a children’s non-fiction collection. However, as a biography, it kinda felt like a dirty trick – I wanted to read a biography about some freak show drop-out with a bizarre personality & rod through his skull. Possibly with a little bit of weird olde tyme phrenology thrown in. Instead, I was subject to a biology lesson about the human brain, how it works, what each part of it does, etc. While I know some readers will appreciate the facts which are interspersed throughout the narrative, I found them distracting. I wanted to get back to the story. The ‘Brain Facts’ were too detailed & numerous to make this a proper biography. It would, however, be a good book if someone had wanted to learn all about the behavior-influencing functions of the frontal lobe. Still, I felt cheated: the book seemed to sell itself as a Spectacle of the Bizarre, not as a biology text.

I may be alone in my critique. It seems as though most reviewers favor a heavily-didactic approach to children’s biographies. Reviewer Steven Engelfried of the Beaverton City Library recommends the title, saying “Phineas Gage brings a scientific viewpoint to a topic that will be delightfully gruesome to many readers.”[2] A Kirkus review adds that the, “eye-widening photos of Gage’s actual skull (now at Harvard), his life mask, and dramatic rod-through-bone computer images that, as the author writes, will make you wince “whether you’re a brain surgeon or a sixth grader.””[3]

This is a good selection for a library collection; my critique owes more to how unexpected the content was. It would be sensational addition to a library display of children’s how-the-body-works type books, but also a cool addition to a Halloween display. In addition, I’m always looking for books to read excerpts from during outreach or class visits from older kids. Reading a selection from Phineas Gage might be a good ‘hook’ to get kids (especially boys) to read.

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[1] Fleischman, John. Phineas Gage: a gruesome but true story about brain science. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 2002. pp. 2.

[2] Engelfried, Steven. “Phineas Gage.” School Library Journal Reviews. 2002 March. as found in Baker & Taylor’s Title Source 3. http://ts3f.informata.com/TS3/record.jsp?rn=6&ps=6&fr=0&anc=6&bs=1&fb=0&n=E%3A%5Cwebapp%5Cts3%5Cmain%5Cusers%5Cls000293.rec&FirstRec=Y (accessed 18 April 2010).

[3] “Phineas Gage,” Kirkus Reviews. 2002 February #2. as found in Baker & Taylor’s Title Source 3. http://ts3f.informata.com/TS3/record.jsp?rn=6&ps=6&fr=0&anc=6&bs=1&fb=0&n=E%3A%5Cwebapp%5Cts3%5Cmain%5Cusers%5Cls000293.rec&FirstRec=Y (accessed 18 April 2010).

Sloan – Bury the Dead

Sloan, Christopher. Bury the Dead: Tombs, Corpses, Mummies, Skeletons & Rituals. Washington DC: National Geographic, 2002.

This week’s assignment was Non-Fiction, so without further ado: a non-fiction review:

Bury the Dead is a non-fiction pictorial work for children about historical burial practices throughout a variety of ancient civilizations. Sloan is an editor for National Geographic magazine. According to his forward, “the inspiration for this book came from the beautiful archaeological art and photography published by the National Geographic Society over the years.”[1] The work offers archaeological evidence for the burial practices of a variety of ancient civilizations including Neanderthals, the ancient Egyptians, & the ancient Peruvians. Sloan’s book ends with a brief survey of burial practices in use today from all over the world.

From the standpoint of a coffee-table style book, I thought that Bury the Dead was pretty good; the pictures were excellent & the format/ layout were good. Furthermore, it was a good book from a purely informative standpoint; Sloan had experts in each of the fields oversee the development of the chapter about their specialty. The book had a lot of the sensational about it, but I don’t know that that is necessarily a bad thing. Naturally, any book about mummies & diverse other dead people is going to be a bit sensational & this one does its part to make archaeology cool. The work is filled with photographs of skeletons & mummies; often with macabre imagery such as the cannibalized skull back-lit by open flames on page 18, or the Dani man of Irian Jaya carrying around the smoked corpse of a friend on page 61. In addition, the book is laced with artists’ sensational depictions of scenes from the lives of the peoples mentioned; such as the Neanderthal spread on pages 16 & 17 which includes a body plummeting into a pit filled with assorted rotting bones & corpses, a deformed, one-armed, one-eyed man & bare-breasted women & the Scythian funeral procession on 36 & 37 showing a horde of people slashing themselves with knives in their grief.

A Booklist review agrees, saying; “Kids will find it hard to resist picking up a book with words like corpses and skeletons in the title. And this one doesn’t disappoint.”[2] maryoverton on LibraryThing also offered a nice little review; “Non-fiction lit for kids is fabulous these days. Here is a gloriously illustrated book that will satisfy the most morbid seeker of grossness — while at the same time treating the subject with academic accuracy and intelligence.”[3] Kirkus Reviews adds, “Writing in consultation with a grief specialist, the author tries for a sober, straightforward narrative tone-which falters when he mentions particularly exotic customs, such as the Yanomami practice of pulverizing and eating their dead, or has to contend with an artist’s reconstruction of Scythian mourners cutting themselves, not to mention the numerous close-up photos of mummies and bones.”[4]

This would be a great choice for a Guys Read book display, or even a booktalk – non-fiction + gross-factor + cool pictures = book for boys. It might also be a nice addition to a National Geographic display, or for something archaeology-themed. A co-worker of mine at one of our other branches does an Egyptian hieroglyphic teen program; I’m going to recommend this title to her to put out on display during the program.

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[1] pp. 2.

[2] “Bury the Dead,” Booklist Reviews, 2002 December #1. as found in Baker & Taylor’s Title Source 3. http://ts3b.informata.com/TS3/record.jsp?rn=1&ps=4&fr=0&anc=1&bs=1&fb=0&n=E%3A%5Cwebapp%5Cts3%5Cmain%5Cusers%5Cls000688.rec&FirstRec=Y (accessed 12 April, 2010).

[3] maryoverton, “Bury the Dead,” LibraryThing, 7 April, 2009. http://www.librarything.com/work/621699 (accessed 12 April, 2010).

[4] “Bury the Dead,” Kirkus Reviews, 2002, September #1. as found in Baker & Taylor’s Title Source 3. http://ts3b.informata.com/TS3/record.jsp?rn=1&ps=4&fr=0&anc=1&bs=1&fb=0&n=E%3A%5Cwebapp%5Cts3%5Cmain%5Cusers%5Cls000688.rec&FirstRec=Y (accessed 12 April, 2010).