S. Wilkinson

It's hard even to tag this as "disappointing" when I knew what it was going into it--the kind of fiction that a hospital worker brings to the nursing station in a grocery bag full of similar books that are functionally disposable. In this regard, Brain Death did not fail to deliver what it promised. It did serve the function of causing me to re-evaluate my book for Bahrain, [b:QuixotiQ|151569|QuixotiQ|Ali Al Saeed|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172232812s/151569.jpg|146290], in a kinder light. I read it because it was there. My sister-in-law, mother-in-law, and I all read it while agreeing it was dreadful, not unlike kvetching about how nasty those stale chips are while eating the whole bag.

You know this book's ilk--its characters and scenes are those of pornography--ill-defined suites that are sparsely detailed except for some emblem or notation that is intended to signify "hospital" or "brokerage after hours" or "millionaire's yacht." The worn carpets and nondescript nightstands, though, say that the action has nothing to do with the setting that has been asserted. Peopling this world are "administrators" or "doctors" or "young men from the countryside who are confused and alone in the big city." The "nurses" or "teachers" wear "diamond" tiaras; the "doctors" or "electricians" or "police officers" are saviors or menaces. Any resemblance of set to purported story is incidental.

You don't need a spoiler tag on this, right? I can't even find a cover photo on the web. The action here takes place in a Boston hospital. Since I worked in a Boston hospital at the time this book was published, I have a good basis for comparison. For better or worse, we had no sentient computer, evil medical research cabal, or vituperative board members. Anyone psychotic (whether patient or staff) was easy to identify and generally not destructive. To my knowledge, our hospital had far fewer homicides than plague the protagonist's institution, and had we had multiple homicides, severed legs left in closets, etc., I feel certain that our administrator and her cop boyfriend wouldn't have been the ones to try to figure it out, heroically rising from their hospital beds again and again to right wrongs and rout the bad guys. Also, if a large number of our nurses were raped in an only nebulously related way, I imagine we'd have put a guard in the parking lot.

About this sentient computer--I have nothing against artificial intelligence stories, but I loathe bad science fiction by writers of other genres who seem to believe that the reader is entirely credulous and that logic has no place in the reader's participation in solving the mystery/thriller. I'll promise you one thing--if I ever managed the use of a sentient computer, I would damn well make sure there was a "threat to the safety of self or others" alert mechanism for patient or staff confidences to said sentient computer. Even in 1988, before HIPAA, we would have prioritized that, evil medical research cabal or no evil medical research cabal.… (más)

The CowParades (or Cows on Parade) books recording the ever-growing number of exhibitions worldwide are quite similar in kind if widely variant in detail. All contain large pictures, generally at least one per sculpture, of these whimsical and creative works.

The Edinburgh exhibition, more than most, features works that are particular to the place: highland cows, cows in kilts, and, outside The National Galleries of Scotland, which has a sculpture "The Three Graces" is "The Three Grazers". Not that I think that local inspiration is necessarily superior, it's just great to have the mixture. The Cow Parade website has (had?) slides of the exhibit from Mexico City, which had wonderful sculpture based on local motifs.

Either the reader likes this sort of thing, or doesn't, but as one who enjoys them, I have collected all the books that I can find. I'd buy the ones that aren't in English if I could find them. The West Hartford Connecticut book offers samples of sculptures from a variety of exhibits, including those less available, at least in English. The Stamford collection has a cow history timeline and a variety of myths and anecdotes about cows.

Meanwhile, http://www.cowparade.com offers slide shows from the various exhibitions. Be sure to check out Party Animals, Pandamania, Trail of Painted Ponies, The Big Pig Gig, Mermaids on Parade and Fish out of Water for similar exhibits of different models.… (más)