Book Suggestion

[velvett]

If you can find it.

'Sky Burial' by Blake Kerr.


I'd always heard about Dr. Kerr, Dr. Kerr a local doctor in my area. I'd heard so many different things about the man, good and bad yet one could really not make any sense of it because the information had been so vast and so inconsistent.

I met him by chance at a very small simple party and I was taken by the few select words, 9 ball pool, the laughter, the disconnected expression in his eyes. I assumed he was just popping a few pills with his wine and didn't think about it again.

Yet, I remained oddly intrigued - not attracted but curious as to what made him who he became to project on others.

He mentioned causally to someone that his schedule change was due to his Cambodia book. A writer as well, I thought, hmm that could explain a lot.

The very next day I had to stop at a client's house while they have returned to Tokyo for a few installations. A book caught my eye "Sky Burial" - I think it was the blue spine that caught my eye and I had to pull it out of it's place.

Review from amazon

As a way of disposing of corpses in a climate that hampers decomposition, the Tibetans have a custom of taking corpses to a sacred place, breaking up the bones, chopping away the flesh, and leaving it all for vultures to clean up. This is called "sky burial," and as a metaphor for the plight of the Tibetan people, it couldn't be more apt--something Blake Kerr, a doctor fresh out of medical school, discovered by accident. During an innocent visit to Shangri-La, Kerr suddenly found himself treating the wounds of people beaten and shot during the largest riot in Tibet in almost 30 years.

Kerr and his mountaineering buddy John Ackerly start out as typical brazen adventurers. Through several happenstance contacts in Lhasa, however, they are introduced to the lives of Tibetans under communist occupation. What they see is disturbing. Gradually, their sympathies turn toward Tibet and ours toward them. When the riot breaks out, they risk life and limb to chronicle atrocities and assist the wounded. For weeks after, they engage in clandestine operations of assistance. And for years after, they work to bring the oppression, suffering, torture, murder, and forced sterilization of a helpless people to worldwide awareness. Part rollicking travel story, part investigative journalism, Sky Burial is finally a testament and will leave you staring blankly, wondering what can be done. --Brian Bruya

 

[presguy]

sounds cool. i wish i had time to read more often.

 

[velvett]

PM me

 

[sermon_of_mockery]

they have pics of real sky burials on gore sites.I'd post a link but ya know....

 

[jnuts]

What were the bad things that you heard about him?

 

[velvett]

What were the bad things that you heard about him?

I don't want to say anything negative but I can tell you people rave about him as a doctor.

 

[biteme]

Use to read all the time when I could do it at work. Won't do it in my free time, which is very little.

 

[jnuts]

I don't want to say anything negative but I can tell you people rave about him as a doctor.

So, I take it he was odd in his private life?

 

[XBiker]

Darktoof posted a link to some of this "sky burial" a while back.

 

[biteme]

I have what you requested now. The little angel is sleeping in the next room.

 

[jnuts]

A couple of barn burners I'm reading tonight:

U.S. Diplomacy Since 1900
The Paths of Heaven: The Evolution Of Airpower Theory
Rhetoric And Reality In Air Warfare

 

[gmanlax7]

Reefer Madness by the guy who wrote fast food nation if you caught that

 

[DepressiveJuice]

the last don- mario puzo

pelican brief- john grisham

desperation- stephen king