Customer Reviews

My Body of Knowledge: Stories of Illness, Disability, Healing, and Life

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you or your loved ones are coping with illness or disability, this book is a must-read! This book leads the reader through this process - from affliction, to isolation, to integration, and all other steps in between - all through the voices of those who have walked this path before. You cannot read this book and be unmoved, either through a greater recognition of yourself in these stories or through a greater understanding of those who live with illness or disability. A book you will keep forever and reach for again and again when your spirit needs rekindling.

The personal essays and poetry in My Body of Knowledge are not only educational in terms of learning about how people live with disability and chronic illness, but also well written and moving. From well known authors such as Rachel Naomi Remen and Molly Ivins, to "every day people" like the editor Karen Myers, the personal experiences shared in the book are poignant, and full of truth and love. As a cancer survivor making my way through the world, I was heartened by reading the authors' writings. So many of their struggles resonated with my own--from entering an unknown, uncertain world to the emotions I've felt--grief, anger, hope and even humor. This book is a "must read" for anyone living with the challenges of a disability or chronic illness, or anyone loving a person with a chronic illness or disability.

This book is for anybody who has a body, especially those of us who may have discovered that our body can't do what it once could. I especially appreciate the different points of view and subject matter, the sense that this project is a circle of people with varied life experience who are contributing to a picture of what it means to be human and challenged that is larger and more inclusive than the sum of its parts. The selection of form and tone gives a suggestion of the flexibility and resourcefulness that are called out of each of us in dealing with our individual challenges. Kudos.

I'm not sure what I expected but it wasn't what this book offered. I think that a more descriptive, detailed account on the book cover would have been helpful.

This book offers the best not only in terms of content but also in the quality of the writing. There are many truly wonderful writers here, including some of my personal favorites: the wise and compassionate Naomi Remen, the fascinatingly resilient Floyd Skloot, and one of the book's editors, Karen Myers, whose honesty and sensitivity is not only moving but illuminating. A lot of ground gets covered, and what the authors have to say isn't really just for "people with disabilities;" their thoughts, observations, emotions and epiphanies will resonate with everyone who has ever struggled to accept or adapt to difficulty, to adversity, or to the disconcertingly unexpected -- whether within the realm of illness, disability and healing...or simply within the realm of LIVING. Its truths are universal.