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The Society (2004-07-03 - 8:21 a.m.) I just finished a new, not-yet-published, book by Michael Palmer, called The Society. How, you may ask, am I getting to read a book before it is published? C'mon, ask! Thank you. Well, you see, I'm on this Bantam/Dell mailing list, whereby I get a monthly email that lists new books that I might be interested in reading. In each one of those is an opportunity to be a "reader reviewer" for a book that is about to be published. If you are interested, you just reply back to them with your name and address. A random drawing ensues and maybe you get picked. I got picked for The Society. I got this huge, manuscript style binder in the mail. I panicked at first, seeing how thick it was. Then I realized that it was only printed on one side. *Whew* It was a thrilling book! It is all about the ongoing battle between managed health care and doctors and patients, so it really should be of interest to everyone, whether we participate in managed health care or not. It is fiction, of course, but Mr. Palmer says in his prologue that all of the situations that are used in the book are real, not made up. He solicited various situations from people and got enough that he didn't have to make any up. That's kind of frightening, in retrospect. The book makes one even more aware of the sad state of affairs of our health care dilemma in this fine country. It sucks, people. The HMOs are playing doctor over the telephone, without ever seeing patients. The HMOs are denying 1 out of every 10 claims just to do it. And now, our beloved Supreme Court has just shackled us even further by not allowing the people to sue their HMO companies. Let's make them even stronger, the Supreme Court says. Let's let the HMOs screw the people even MORE!! Aarrgh. Anyway, when this book comes out, buy it. Read it. It might even make a good movie. Except when they make movies out of books I read, I don't ever recognize the plot or anything. Bleah. So long until next time. Have a happy and safe July 4th. Please have a safe one. 0 comments so farMissed anything? |