My Blog
Darwin and the Big Black Bug
I’ve just gotten back from a terrific trip to the Galapagos Islands, and naturally I’ve been immersed in all things Charles Darwin. That means you’re in for a story about Darwin I suspect you have never heard. We all know about Darwin’s famous 5 year round-the-world...
Happy Mardi Gras! I Think!
I love Mardi Gras and have fond memories of the first time I went. There’s nothing more fun than the parades, the crowds, and the excitement of Mardi Gras. I’ve written about it before. http://annfbeach.com/uncategorized/a-medical-mardi-gras-story/ Being a doctor, I...
Another Dangerous Book
Where am I and what am I doing? I’m in a foreign capital city, deep in a large, beautiful building, wearing a lead apron and gloves. I’ve signed a waiver for anything bad that happens, and I’m getting ready to open a lead-lined box. All because I love books. What’s...
Dangerous Books
Usually, when people talk about dangerous books, they are referring to the content, so we think about banned books, and politically controversial books. I’m referring to books that are dangerous objects. What do I mean? Before we can talk about books, we need to talk...
The Candy Land Game and Its Link to Polio
We all remember playing Candy Land, following the brightly colored path through the peppermint stick forest and gumdrop mountains, past the lollipop woods to get to Home Sweet Home. However, few people realize that this game would never have been invented if not for...
Tennessee Williams and How Illness Affected What He Wrote
The Glass Menagerie launched Tennessee Williams’ Broadway career. You may remember the character Laura, the abnormally shy, dreamy sister of Tom, the protagonist. She spent her time escaping from life, drawn into a world of glass figurines. It’s a largely...
How Illness Changed Robert Louis Stevenson’s Life
Robert Lewis Stevenson (1850-1894) was one of the best-known authors of his day. He was a paradox; he traveled widely, yet was weak and sickly all of his life. He spent much of his life in bed or in a sickroom, yet he wrote wonderful adventures like Kidnapped and...
Do You Need a Mad Stone in Your First Aid Kit?
First of all, what in the world is a mad stone? Smooth, odd-shaped, unusually colored, of almost any size, mad stones are miraculous objects possessing healing powers. They are actually bezoars, hairball-like concretions found in the stomachs of animals such as deer...
How Did Edgar Allan Poe Really Die?
Famous writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was the first American writer to fully support himself by his writing. He single-handedly started the detective genre, as well as the science fiction genre. He is famous for his mysteries and Gothic horror stories. When we...
Mark Twain and How Illness Shaped His Life
The famous American author Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) lived from 1835 to 1910. In spite of being a life-long serious cigar smoker, he was quite healthy until late in life, when he developed heart trouble. However, illness, particularly infectious diseases, changed...