Atul Gawande, Being Mortal‘s author, is one of those rare and remarkable beings: Practicing surgeon, writer for the New Yorker, author of seminal books and, because of these accomplishments, a thought leader.
I was advised to read the book by my mother’s doctor. This young doctor met my 92-year old mother recently. Before we parted, she mentioned the title and suggested that it might give me a new perspective on the journey we are engaged in, a journey that she, as well, is on along with almost everyone I know.
It is a deeply moving book but it is also a transformative one. It highlights the limitations and failures of contemporary medicine in the care of the aged and the dying and it provides a wonderfully clear, cogent, deeply human alternative paradigm: that what counts is to provide a good life to the end rather than a good death. The shift in thinking is profound and profoundly effects our behavior.
Located on the ground floor of the glorious Payne Whitney mansion that houses the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, the Albertine is a gem of a bookshop and reading room. The only French language bookstore in New York, it offers two floors of eclectic material in both French and English as well as a small offering of rare editions. The childrens' books on the second floor take flight under a ceiling painted as a cloudless night sky studded with stars and the zodiac's signs, all the brainchild of Jacques Garcia who oversaw the Albertine's meticulous design. The deep sofas and amber lighting lure one into a lingering frame of mind. We are definitely in Europe here - we could as well be in a cafe or bistro - far away from the raucous noise and hard edges of Manhattan. A rare moment of bliss.
http://www.albertine.com/"
["post_title"]=>
string(13) "The Albertine"
["post_excerpt"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_status"]=>
string(7) "publish"
["comment_status"]=>
string(4) "open"
["ping_status"]=>
string(4) "open"
["post_password"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_name"]=>
string(13) "the-albertine"
["to_ping"]=>
string(0) ""
["pinged"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_modified"]=>
string(19) "2017-04-20 14:50:54"
["post_modified_gmt"]=>
string(19) "2017-04-20 18:50:54"
["post_content_filtered"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_parent"]=>
int(0)
["guid"]=>
string(31) "http://lisalindblad.com/?p=8191"
["menu_order"]=>
int(0)
["post_type"]=>
string(4) "post"
["post_mime_type"]=>
string(0) ""
["comment_count"]=>
string(1) "0"
["filter"]=>
string(3) "raw"
}
}