book or story query

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Marcia Golub

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Feb 2, 2012, 1:08:17 PM2/2/12
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I’m a science outsider, a fiction writer with an interest in exploring medical issues and personalities. It would be very helpful to me if people could recommend anything they’ve read that has a lab as a setting. (State of Wonder by Ann Patchett is a great novel along the lines of what I’m looking for.) I’m working on a novel that has action set in a psych lab. Any recommendations? I’m open to all genres, fiction and non-fiction (including memoir and poetry). Thanks for your help, and for this interesting discussion group, which I’ve been following for many years but never before posted to.—Marcia Golub www.mhgolub.com

 

zohar lederman

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Feb 2, 2012, 2:55:20 PM2/2/12
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hi
I don't know any personally, but I do know someone who might be able to help- she is an MD/PHD who works on the history of psychiatry-
 
Zohar
On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 1:08 PM, Marcia Golub <mhg...@mindspring.com> wrote:

I’m a science outsider, a fiction writer with an interest in exploring medical issues and personalities. It would be very helpful to me if people could recommend anything they’ve read that has a lab as a setting. (State of Wonder by Ann Patchett is a great novel along the lines of what I’m looking for.) I’m working on a novel that has action set in a psych lab. Any recommendations? I’m open to all genres, fiction and non-fiction (including memoir and poetry). Thanks for your help, and for this interesting discussion group, which I’ve been following for many years but never before posted to.—Marcia Golub www.mhgolub.com

 

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richard ratzan

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Feb 2, 2012, 2:58:58 PM2/2/12
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fortitude
k vonnegut

ciao
r

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 2, 2012, at 1:08 PM, "Marcia Golub" <mhg...@mindspring.com> wrote:

I’m a science outsider, a fiction writer with an interest in exploring medical issues and personalities. It would be very helpful to me if people could recommend anything they’ve read that has a lab as a setting. (State of Wonder by Ann Patchett is a great novel along the lines of what I’m looking for.) I’m working on a novel that has action set in a psych lab. Any recommendations? I’m open to all genres, fiction and non-fiction (including memoir and poetry). Thanks for your help, and for this interesting discussion group, which I’ve been following for many years but never before posted to.—Marcia Golub www.mhgolub.com

 

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Tamara Jeffries

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Feb 2, 2012, 3:08:05 PM2/2/12
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You might try Lee Gutkind's work--his immersions into medical communities. I think he may have done  a book that's psych related. He's known as the godfather of the creative nonfiction genre.


On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 1:08 PM, Marcia Golub <mhg...@mindspring.com> wrote:

I’m a science outsider, a fiction writer with an interest in exploring medical issues and personalities. It would be very helpful to me if people could recommend anything they’ve read that has a lab as a setting. (State of Wonder by Ann Patchett is a great novel along the lines of what I’m looking for.) I’m working on a novel that has action set in a psych lab. Any recommendations? I’m open to all genres, fiction and non-fiction (including memoir and poetry). Thanks for your help, and for this interesting discussion group, which I’ve been following for many years but never before posted to.—Marcia Golub www.mhgolub.com

 

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Stay true, 
T. Jeffries


Read my mental-health blog
"Everything's Just Fine" at 
www.Tamara Jeffries.com

Will Smythe

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Feb 2, 2012, 3:16:00 PM2/2/12
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Marcia,
An oldie but an honest goodie is Arrowsmith, by Sinclair Lewis. He
won the Pulitzer in 1926 for it, but refused to accept it on the
grounds that the definition of the prerequisites were, in his words,
"not according to their actual literary merit but in obedience to
whatever code of Good Form may chance to be popular at the moment".
Not sure that we will ever completely avoid that criticism.
Good luck

Jeffrey Ring

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Feb 3, 2012, 11:40:20 AM2/3/12
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Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH  - awesome!

 


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terry dugan

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Feb 2, 2012, 11:14:43 PM2/2/12
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Intuition by Allegra Goodman

On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 1:08 PM, Marcia Golub <mhg...@mindspring.com> wrote:

I’m a science outsider, a fiction writer with an interest in exploring medical issues and personalities. It would be very helpful to me if people could recommend anything they’ve read that has a lab as a setting. (State of Wonder by Ann Patchett is a great novel along the lines of what I’m looking for.) I’m working on a novel that has action set in a psych lab. Any recommendations? I’m open to all genres, fiction and non-fiction (including memoir and poetry). Thanks for your help, and for this interesting discussion group, which I’ve been following for many years but never before posted to.—Marcia Golub www.mhgolub.com

 

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David Elkin

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Feb 2, 2012, 7:36:23 PM2/2/12
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Definitely recommend the novel Intuition by Allegra Goodman, about ethical perils in a cancer lab, and Michael Guista's story collection Brain Work about various aspects of psychiatric illness.  
 Also, non-fiction, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot offers a look at racial disparities and research, and Deborah Blum's book Love at Goon Park, about the Harlow monkey experiments, may be helpful.  There are a lot of memoirs out there, too, such as Prozac Nation, An Unquiet Mind, and Undercurrents, to name a few.
 Good luck!
-David Elkin

Mike Tintner

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Feb 3, 2012, 1:37:22 PM2/3/12
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..but of course, Carl Djerassi - I think he wanted to advance "medical fiction"
 

rich ratzan

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Feb 5, 2012, 4:48:01 PM2/5/12
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i do not particularly like this book (as you can tell from my nyu database annotation) but Lucy by Laurence Gonzales has a section that involves experimentation (essentially vivisection) about to take place in a lab. (more details would spoil plot)
ciao
r


On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 1:08 PM, Marcia Golub <mhg...@mindspring.com> wrote:

I’m a science outsider, a fiction writer with an interest in exploring medical issues and personalities. It would be very helpful to me if people could recommend anything they’ve read that has a lab as a setting. (State of Wonder by Ann Patchett is a great novel along the lines of what I’m looking for.) I’m working on a novel that has action set in a psych lab. Any recommendations? I’m open to all genres, fiction and non-fiction (including memoir and poetry). Thanks for your help, and for this interesting discussion group, which I’ve been following for many years but never before posted to.—Marcia Golub www.mhgolub.com

 

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David Elkin

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Feb 6, 2012, 10:27:59 AM2/6/12
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Forgot about the science fiction angle; Flowers for Algernon (boosting intelligence) and Ender's Game (grooming gifted children to be military geniuses) are both excellent.
 This is a fun thread to think about!
-David Elkin
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