Customer Reviews

Blood, Sweat, and Tea: Real-Life Adventures in an Inner-City Ambulance

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Because this book began life as a blog and hasn't been polished for publication in book form, the final product provides an extremely raw glimpse into life as an EMT on the busy streets of London. In turns comic, tragic and infuriating, the experiences described here refelct the reality of providing emergency services in an urban environment. Between the traffic, inadequate resources and regular abuse of the system, it is sometimes amazing that the ambulance services in big cities are able to provide anything close to adequate service. Clearly, the dedicated men and women who provide this service are the key to its success, in spite of the obstacles they face.

I spent about twelve years as an EMT with various ambulance services in the US during my early adult years. While the author's story differs from mine in its details, I had little difficulty identifying with his attitudes and sense of humor. He continues to write in his blog and I look forward to continuing to read about his adventures on the streets of London.

I've never read the original blog that this is apparently from, nor have I ever worked in the emergency services. But if you want a great book that you can pick up and read any amount of, large or small, in a single sitting, without having to remember any plot details or break-off mid chapter then this is the one. A fascinating insite into how stupid / tragic / brave / interesting ordinary people can be, and how the emergency services deal with them. I almost got 'roids through sitting there far too long while reading this - there's always "just one more" anecdote to read before putting it down. Fingers crossed he brings out another, I don't care if it's a cut and paste from some website I've never seen. I hope the ambulance-bosses read it as well, and learn what it's like for the people on the "front line".

Tom Reynold's "Blood, Sweat and Tea" is a collection of annotated blog posts devoted to the lives and lives of a London ambulance service medic, and I enjoyed it. The book also happens to be a good example of how somebody can blog about work, with space to rant and reflect while maintaining confidentiality. I'd want to buy him a beer, not just for his tips about how to blog and remain employed...

I hope that once I blog about clinical training (which I'll have to in order to keep me sane), I'll manage to walk the tightrope as eloquently as Reynolds has done.

This was an interesting read. It is missing the soap opera of Grey's Anatomy and the evil trial and error of House, but it is a read that will give you a peek into the life of an ambulance attendant in London. I am sure it isn't too different here in the states. It is based on a blog:
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I think this would make a great TV series. Now I am off to read the next, More Blood, etc.

Blood, Sweat and Tea started as a blog called Random Acts of Reality. The author of both is an EMT for the London Ambulance Service in East London. Having read some of the entries transcribed in the book I realized that I have read them in the blog, though at the time I was not a regular subscriber to the blog. I've enjoyed the book enough to subscribe to the blog so I will be a regular reader in the future.

Therein is the main problem with the book, it is a better blog than it is a book. Without the blog framework of date stamps and comments it is hard to see the natural flow of events from one day to the next. The book also removes most of the "off topic" entries that the blog has. These off topic posts provide a segue between the EMT posts so much of Reynold's personality doesn't come through except for when he's complaining about his job.

While books and blogs both involve the written word, they are organized differently. Blogs like diaries are organized naturally by the dates on which entries are written. Books don't always work when organized chronologically and Blood, Sweat and Tea certainly would have benefited from some organization. The title itself could have provided inspiration for three separate categories that the blog entries could have been organized under: "Blood" or the actual emergencies, "Sweat" the annoying day to day grind of the job and "Tea" for the humorous or off topic entries. The book's jumble of topics gets in the way of reading the book at a normal pace.

Looked forward to reading this due to the positive reviews, but i found the lack of depth very disappointing. Working in the medical field myself, i can understand his frustrations, but there is so much more insight to be found in the experiences and situations than the superficial way the author describes. A missed chance, so to say.

I'm sorry but this book is just plain boring. It's just some guy rambling on about nothing. The title makes the book sound interesting, like your going to hear about all this crazy stuff paramedics see on inner-city streets but that is just not the case. The author will begin to talk about some call he went on and it will sound interesting but then he gives no real detail to what happened. He should have talked more about specific interventions done for his patients, or given more insight into the feelings he had from such calls. This book just falls flat, Canning's books are a lot better and even Michael Perry's book is good.

Blood, Sweat and Tea is a book based on the blog "Random Acts of Reality" by a London, UK, based emergency medical technician (EMT), Tom Reynolds (a pseudonym, Tom has now revealed himself to be Brian Kellett). I'm an occasional visitor to Reynold's blog and always found him to be interesting, honest and well worth reading. This first book (there is now a second book called More Blood, More Sweat and Another Cup of Tea) is a collection of some of Reynolds favourite posts from his blog, published in 2006.

While it is obviously a book of blog postings, it does hang together as a coherent collection and is very readable. I could spend much longer reading his posts in this format than I could spend reading a screen for.

His posts are not sugar-coated and show what life is like in the ambulance service. If I was Reynolds I would be very frustrated in having to put up with the non-emergency 999 calls that waste the time of already busy EMTs. He also talks touchingly about some of the tragic calls that he also is involved with.

All-in-all a very interesting read - everyone should read a copy, especially those people who call 999 when they should be visiting their GP or taking themselves to A&E!

Honestly, this is a fabulous book. It is in my top 10 for the year! From the moment I picked it up I loved it, and it has been responsible for many bouts of laughter amongst myself, my colleagues at work and my family at home.

Being an ambulance officer myself, I can totally relate to the jobs the author has written about. It amazed me that half a world away EMT's are suffering the same highs and lows as we are.

If you have ever wondered what type of work we are going to as we scream past you lights and sirens, then this is the book for you. It is well written and has a good mix of the humourous sides of the job, the frustrations that can be faced, and the times of sympathy for the patient and their respective families.

You won't be disppointed in this book, regardless if you are and EMT yourself or just plain curious .... Highly recommended!!!

I cant even begin to tell you how amazing this book was. I wish I could give it 10 more stars. The writing is superb and done in a format in which you dont have to be in pre-med to understand. Will make you respect emergency personnel so much more after reading this. Its a must buy for re-reading purposes.