Review: A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa

5 stars for A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa.

I have heard of stories told about famine and starvation in North Korea. But it is only after reading this book that I realise how dire the situation was and in all likelihood still is. It is indeed an eye-opener, sadly, a very educational but disturbing true story about the conditions in North Korea that is bound to affect the psyche of any who reads it. You name it. The book has it.

Cruelty
Despair
Desperation
Exhaustion
Fear
Frustration
Hardship
Hopelessness
Oppression
Misery
Starvation

Masaji Ishikawa was born in Kawasaki, Japan in 1947 to a Korean father and Japanese mother. In 1960, at the age of thirteen, Masaji moved with his parents and three sisters to North Korea, where they were promised a new life in a paradise on earth. Instead, they were consigned to a living hell. In 1996, after thirty-six years of struggling to stay alive, Masaji made a desperate bid to escape from that impoverished hellhole that was North Korea. He currently resides in Japan.

This is his story.

I highly recommend this book to everyone. There is so much more in North Korea than nuclear weapons. It makes me appreciate my life and all that I have, right down to the very basic necessities that most of us take for granted. Perhaps because it is my first time reading on North Korea, one of the world's most brutal totalitarian regimes, Ishikawa's story leaves a deep impact and impression. Each time I am reminded of Ishikawa's life, the incredible hardship and starvation, I feel so blessed to be where I am and what I am today.

Review: Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance

2 stars for Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance.

This book follows Elon Musk's life from his childhood up to the time he spent at Zip2 and PayPal, and then onto SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity.

Musk's deep-seated interest in rockets, space exploration, electric cars and solar power technology is astounding. You have got to hand it to him, his optimistic vision and relentless drive to execute.

Well, I am not a car enthusiast nor am I into space travel or Mars or solar energy. I am sorry but not sorry to say it is difficult for me to understand the pursuit of Musk's dreams. But still, I do enjoy reading the first one third of the book before it goes into technical details of rocket making, electric cars, solar panels, funding matters and the ugliness of power wrestling.

This is not a book that I will recommend to just about anyone. Technically speaking, this book is well written and you can tell that the author has done a great background job on all things Elon Musk related. However, unless you are already a fan or staunch follower of Elon Musk, the likelihood of losing interest along the way and skipping chunks of this book is rather high. Read it or not at all.

Review: Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh

5 stars for Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh.

Henry Marsh is leading English neurosurgeon. He retires from full-time practice in 2015. Do No Harm is a brutally honest account of his life's work, his 40-year career as a brain surgeon.

As with any human, neurosurgeon Marsh makes his share of mistakes in his life. The stories in this book are about his attempts, and occasional failures, to find a balance between the necessary detachment and compassion that a surgical career requires, a balance between hope and realism.

Having read this memoir, I understand better the difficulties that doctors face. But I also view doctors in a different light now.

Review: Admissions: A Life in Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh

4 stars for Admissions: A Life in Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh.

I come to know of this book by chance. The title somehow grabs my attention and I know I must read the book.

This book is about medicine and neurosurgery, more than that, it is about life as a neurosurgeon.

Here, author Marsh reveals much of his inner thoughts and feelings:

• Why he is always a little anxious when waiting to operate and when operating, and why he has to affect a complete calm and confidence, something which he does not inwardly feel

• Why it is important for surgeons to radiate self confidence

• Why surgeons feel easily threatened by their own colleagues

• Why surgeons often disparage their colleagues and even give evidence against one another as expert witnesses.

• Why surgeons carry cemeteries within themselves

• Why medical decisions - whether to treat, how much to investigate - are often not clear-cut.

• Why health care costs are getting more and more expensive, running out of control.

• Why patients or their families have wholly unrealistic expectations of what medicine can achieve, and take it very ill if things go badly.

• Why doctors have to supress their natural empathy, to not learn but unlearn empathy.

• Why it is so remarkably difficult as a doctor to find the correct balance between compassion and detachment

• Why an awake craniotomy is recommended to remove tumour in the brain rather than with the patient asleep under a general anaesthetic, and how it is done

Food for thought.. what is the role of the doctor?

The role of the doctor is not just to save life at any cost, but also to reduce suffering.

If surgeons operate on everybody, without any regard to the probable outcome, they will create terrible suffering for some of the patients and even more so for their families.