In the Sanctuary of Outcasts

by Neil White

This is the story of a prison in Carville, Louisiana. Most of us know that Carville is also the site of the only "leper" colony in the lower 48 states. It happens to have been shared for some time by the Department of Corrections prison.

Neil White, a Mississippi native educated at Ole Miss, was indicted and jailed for crimes he committed in his publishing business. He was incarcerated in the Carville facility, which shared housing with a very old colony of Hansen's Disease patients. Neil was surprised and upset that he was at the same place with "lepers", not even sure that he wasn't going to "catch" the disease. This is his story of accepting the residents and learning from them. You will enjoy this sweet book.

Comments

Pittypat said…

Carville now houses an alternate school for high school students. A friend who teaches there is in my book club, and she arranged a tour for us after we read the book. It is very interesting, and much more meaningful.

May 30, 2015 at 1:21 PM

Marie Curie: a Life, by Susan Quinn

Just like most of you, I read Eva Curie's biography of her mother when I was around 10 or 11 years old (mine was is the Reader's Digest for Young Adults). I was, like you, inspired. Recently, I saw the reenactment of Marie Curie by Susan Marie Frontczak, produced on film by Jen Myronuk. The presentation was AMAZING! I really did feel as if Marie Curie was telling her story just to me. MSTA will be discussing sponsoring this presentation at a conference in the future. Susan Marie Frontczak talked with the audience via Skype after the presentation. She told us that she had read Eva Curie's biography in her preparation, but she relyied on the Susan Quinn biography for much of her research and dialogue. I knew I had to read this book, so I downloaded it to my Kindle that very day! The book is, of course, enlightening. I just happened to be reading about Marie's viewing the total eclipse the night before our total eclipse in August. I stopped so I could read th...

Crack at the Edge of the World

by Simon Winchester I looked at my last posting and realized it has been a ridiculously long time since my last book. I have been reading - I promise! Winchester's book (another "I heard it on NPR" read), while a slow read, was very informative. He tells us not only about the events during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, but also about events leading up to that date. The thing that really grabbed me was the comment about the seismic activity prior to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake being the greatest in recorded history. This statement got to me as, while I was reading this book, we seem to be having another cycle of great seismic activity in the world. Read and learn.

another one yet to be published... Missing Microbes by Martin Blaser

Missing Microbes by Martin Blaser (Henry Holt and Company) Description: A critically important and startling look at the harmful effects of overusing antibiotics, from the field's leading expert Tracing one scientist’s journey toward understanding the crucial importance of the microbiome, this revolutionary book will take readers to the forefront of trail-blazing research while revealing the damage that overuse of antibiotics is doing to our health: contributing to the rise of obesity, asthma, diabetes, and certain forms of cancer. In Missing Microbes, Dr. Martin Blaser invites us into the wilds of the human microbiome where for hundreds of thousands of years bacterial and human cells have existed in a peaceful symbiosis that is responsible for the health and equilibrium of our body. Now, this invisible eden is being irrevocably damaged by some of our most revered medical advances—antibiotics—threatening the extinction of our irreplaceable microbes with terrible health consequenc...

Aleta's Book Report

Search This Blog