REVIEW: The Night Shift by Brian Goldman

TITLE: The Night Shift

AUTHOR: Brian Goldman

GENRE: non-fiction

WHERE I GOT IT: library borrow

DATE READ: May 10 to May 28, 2013

ABOUT BLURB: Dr. Brian Goldman shares his experiences while working the night shift in busy Mount Sinai hospital in downtown Toronto.

MY THOUGHTS: This is another one of those books that I put on hold at the library on a whim because it looked interesting. I didn't realize that after it became available to check out from said library, I would have already have been rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night by my husband. This left me very nervous to even read the book because I was afraid of reading anything that resembled what happened to me and at the time I had NO idea why it happened. (My heart went into atrial fibrillation for the second time in 5 years and it is not to common for a young healthy person to experience that!) Of course my curiosity got the better of me and I slowly started reading it anyways. There were a few parts where I almost stopped because it was talking about a patient with heart problems. I was convinced that regardless of my age there was something wrong with my heart and reading anything to do with people in the ER with heart problems really made my anxiety fly sky high.

I however, still kept reading and found it rather interesting. I knew of course that life in the ER is nothing like the TV shows but I never realized just how hectic it could be. I did find it frustrating at times though because Dr. Goldman would start talking about one patient then leave you hanging while he told stories about similar or related topics before going back to the original story at the end of the chapter.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  Although Dr. Goldman does talk in some medical terms and about certain medications that I have never heard of, he does give a good impression of what working in a ER is like. I know it's something I could never do and I commend anyone that does. I guess I can understand now sometimes when nurses or doctors come across as indifferent. It's probably either work fatigue or their only defence against getting too emotionally involved with each patience situation. I would imagine working the long hours in an ER, would be emotionally draining after awhile.

(Also in case anyone is wondering after all the tests I have had done, my heart is totally healthy and they found nothing wrong with me. The specialist determined because of what I was doing both times it happened (chugging cold water and trying to get some burbs out) that I am one of the lucky few that people in this world that could experience atrial fibrillation due to either food, liquid, or gas disturbing my esophagus. Lucky me :(. )

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars

REVIEW: Confessions of a New York Taxi Driver by Eugene Salomon

TITLE: Confessions of a New York Taxi Driver

AUTHOR: Eugene Salomon

PUBLISHED: Jan 2013

GENRE: non-fiction, memoir

SETTING: New York City

WHERE I GOT IT: Library borrow

READ FROM: February 25 to march 03, 2013

ABOUT BLURB: Eugene Salomon has been a New York Taxi Driver for more then 30 years. This book is him sharing some of his most memorable moments on the job.

MY THOUGHTS:

I found this book to be very interesting and I liked that each chapter was fairly short. I never really thought about the different type of people a taxi driver must come across on any given day, especially not in a city as big and as busy as New York City. I found all of the stories interesting and a lot of them made me smile. I was shocked to learn that people would even have sex in the back of his cab while he was driving them to their destination. I've been in New York taxi cabs before so that thought just makes me shudder. Salomon did point out that there are about 30,000+ taxi cabs in New York now at any given time so hopefully I wasn't in one of them. That number is just so hard for me to fathom though. That is a lot of taxi cabs!

This was a fun and entertaining read. I don't know how he could be in that field for as long as he did. From my experience working in retail it only takes one crappy customer to ruin your whole day. But then again I guess you never have a dull moment as a taxi driver no matter what city or town you are working in.

Reading this book makes me really want to watch the TV show Taxi that was on in the late 70's early 80's with Danny Devito, Judd Hirsch, Tony Danza etc. I was pretty young when it was originally on, but after reading this book I think it would be fun to watch again.  

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars