Tracy KidderBesprekingen

Author Tracy Kidder had the opportunity to ride with Dr. Jim O'Connell and his Street Team for five years, as they gave medical treatment and check-ins to "rough sleepers" - those homeless folks who generally elect to stay on the streets rather than go to a shelter - in Boston. He describes Dr. Jim's work, how he got there, and the various people he provides services to.

This was a really excellent book, but so difficult to describe. Kidder does a great job of profiling one man and his work, as well as zooming out and exploring the multifaceted challenges in truly eradicating homelessness, while telling you story of person after person affected by health problems, trauma, substance abuse, and more. Dr. Jim would be the first person to tell you he's not a saint - but he does work hard to bring health services to a population most would like to ignore, and he does it with grace and compassion. Indeed, he compares it often to the myth of Sisyphus, and feeling like you're starting over from square one over and over again. But he keeps going, keeps working, and for some folks, it really does make a difference.½

This book is kind of weird because Kidder just jumps in without providing a lot of context about the book's project. There is no helpful introduction to let the reader know what they are going to get out of this book.

Kidder closely observed the process of bringing a new computer to life at Data General, a company that built computers in the 1970s. DG was known for being a cut-throat rebel on the market. When they saw that their competitors were building a computer with entirely new architecture that was going to be a game-changer, they realized that they needed to come up with something even better, but there was disagreement within the company about how to do it. This book covers the creation of their Eagle computer, which was a renegade project within the company.

The book goes into excruciating detail about various managers' leadership styles, ultimately hailing the project leader West as a kind of behind-the-scenes hero who on the surface seemed to have only superficial involvement but was actually the mastermind behind the whole thing. It delves a lot into the corporate culture, and how employees were expected to devote their lives to the project: there was no work-life balance. Kidder also gives little biographies of a lot of employees, looking at how their personalities helped or hindered their work.

The book also includes excruciating detail about how the Eagle computer was built and how it works. Anyone interested in computer science will find this fascinating... people who are not interested in computer science will find it tedious (I fall somewhere in the middle). There are long chapters about late-night debugging sessions and how engineers solved specific problems.

This book is a useful historical record of a pivotal time in computer science, and the amount of detail is impressive, but I found it a slog to read.

This is my first Tracy Kidder read and I just moved to Amherst MA, and have a kid in Northampton MA.

Home Town is a memoir, woven-together stories of several inhabitants of Northampton Massachusetts from the 1950s through late 1990s. The main character is Tommy, a police officer and long time resident, but the story delves into stories of criminals, wealthy eccentrics, Smith College students, and others. It captures the small town feel in general and the Northampton vibe specifically, very very well. It's easy to read, mild, enjoyable. But it is too long. I was pretty tired of the characters by the end and there were portions I think could have been shortened or skipped as they just dragged on, especially in the absence of any significant plot.½

Tracy Kidder can always tell a story in his writing and we are eventually focused primarily on Tony, an in and out Rough Sleeper who plays such a central roll in Dr. Jim O'Connell's truly incredible work trying to help the homeless in Boston. I kept wondering if maybe, instead of trying to house the homeless in apartments, at least many of them would be better off in a home situaiton....the way some elderly people are now being put in group homes, with someone in charge...kind of like a housemother, with family meals as well as medical issues tended to. Leaving the streets cuts them off from their friends who are experiencing the same street life and apartment isolation becomes impossible. Absolutely no easy answers to problems that arise from so many different situations, but often originate in truly horrific childhoods.

A very interesting, enjoyable and thought provoking book.
It narrowly escapes being a hagiography, but leaves you wondering if, perhaps, it should have been one.
The real life saint at the center is presented as complex and having flaws, sort of…
Almost like a normal human being.
The reporter presents himself as a character, without inserting too much of himself and fairly portraying his occasional bouts of cynicism or whininess.
A truly excellent work of journalism

My big questions is “How do people like that become who they are?? The energy, focus, intelligence, drive, etc doesn’t just happen. Also, I really think Paul worked himself to death. I think he couldn’t even imagine ever ending his life’s work and the thought of running out of energy and slowly failing wasn’t part of his being. So he died in the field doing what he loved.
I've heard the distance between genius and insanity is a very thin line. Paul Farmer definitely vacillated between the two!

I'm sure some people will bypass this book because the subject is about the genocide in Burundi and Rwanda, which is not exactly relaxing reading material. (Actually I would have bypassed it too if I hadn't read a good review somewhere or other.) But it's also a true and wonderfully hopeful story of kindness and survival. Deogratias, who escaped from the genocide via an Aeroflot flight, spoke no English, had never been out of Burundi, and arrived in NYC alone with only his nightmarish memories and $200 in his pocket. The book slips back and forth between his life in the US and his life growing up in Burundi until the horrific civil war forced him to run. I'm still digesting this story ... it raises all kinds of questions and thoughts about cultures, good and evil, poverty, wealth, kindness to strangers, education ... it's a great book and well worth reading (so good in fact that I read it in one day.)

Tracy Kidder is a prize-winning and (justly) acclaimed writer of long-form non-fiction like Soul of a New Machine, Among Schoolchildren, and Mountains Beyond Mountains; Richard Todd is his longtime editor and friend. This book, a collaboration between them where their voices are sometimes made distinct and sometimes merged, is part joint memoir, part reflection on the nature of (some forms of) nonfiction, and part style guide.

There are interesting elements in this book: The glimpse inside the workings of The Atlantic Monthly back in the day were fascinating, the chapter titled "Beyond Accuracy" was thought-provoking, and the discussion of the relationship between "Art and Commerce" contained some gems . . . including A. J. Liebling's quote: "I can write better than everyone who can write faster, and I can write faster than everyone who can write better."

There are also elements that made me roll my eyes: The Atlantic Monthly reminiscences are fascinating as history but belong to an age so far removed from ours that they feel like a dead-end as insight into writing today, and "Rewrite!" is important, but hardly revelatory, advice to give any remotely experienced writer. The sections on style are particularly frustrating, since Kidder and Todd are more interested in deploring things than they are at suggesting alternatives.

The book's biggest problem, though, was that it ultimately felt like less than the sum of its parts. There is no clear through line, and the title and subtitle on the cover (Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction) is, in the end, a far less accurate description of what's inside than the sub-subtitle just below: "Stories and advice from a lifetime of writing and editing." Go in with lower expectations than I did, and you'll probably enjoy it more.½

Difficult read, but one that gives human faces and histories to "the homeless". If you've ever wondered what it is like to survive on the absolute fringes, this is the book to read. Very depressing, however - that can't be avoided if you pick this up. As the author bleakly puts it, "the only cure for homelessness woul be an end to many of the country's deep and abiding flaws."

Hold on to your hats, kids! We're taking a trip back to the late 70s, where there were more than 2 or 3 types of computer to choose between, but they cost half a million dollars and were the size of refrigerators. This book relates the development of a new computer at Data General, a highly successful manufacturer of the time, though forgotten today.

This is really one of those plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose things. While it is so much of its era - maybe the bronze age of the computer industry - so many things have barely changed. Seeing which things are identical and which are unrecognizable is one of the fascinating things about this extremely interesting book.

Having worked in the broad field of computing for 15 years, the processes of developing and delivering a technical project were at the same time familiar and alien to me. The speccing, creating, iterating, integrating, debugging are described very convincingly and were very recognizable. But the way those things were achieved - the equipment used, the amount of documentation, the way issues were tracked - was all very different to practices today (and for good reasons at the time). I would have enjoyed a bit more technical detail, but then I imagine that I'm a bit more technically proficient than the target audience.

The characters of the engineers, their goals, and the counter-intuitively dysfunctional ways of getting the most out of them is remarkably similar to what one might encounter in the field of computing today (to be honest, I'm only familiar with development on the software side, but I assume the same broadly hold true on the hardware side). This project tended to use much younger engineers than standard in the industry, and motivated them by giving them a high level of responsibility for their particular areas - which meant they felt that they had to work ridiculous hours. This was good for those involved, but also meant that the creation of the machine was much cheaper than it would have been with more experienced people working regular hours (that said, it also came with a higher risk of failure).

Additionally, the office politics of a large tech company are well depicted, and should be instantly recognisable to anyone who's ever worked in such an organisation.

The story of the creation of the machine has some strong parallels with Revolution in the Valley - about the develpoment of the first Mac (remarkably only about 5 years later). In both, the computer was thought of (at most) secondary importance within the companies building them. And both had a team of highly-motivated, young engineers driving them forward, with ridiculous workloads, and thriving on their "outsider" status. Data General's computer was not revolutionary like Apple's, but that is not really what this book is about. It is a fascinating insight into the inner workings of the computer industry - a field which affects all our lives and yet is somewhat opaque. It is remarkable both as a historical account, and also for how relevant it is today.

Having read 2 of Mr. Kidder's other books I was thrilled to see this new title. And as with the other books, it didn't disappoint. His books are always well researched, detailed and yet written in a way that does not feel scholarly. I can't wait to see what he will publish next.

The story of an architect building his own home, with a team of craftsmen he found to build it. If you are about to build a home, I would highly recommend this book, though I don't know how you'd go about finding the kind of craftsmen the author found.

I read this many years ago, probably in the early 1980's (as I was working in the IT field it was very relevant). I became a Kidder fan, and have read several of his books since.

Kidder guided me through the ways a housebuilding project is both simple and complex.

This was interesting for its own merits, a snapshot back into a specific time (and a specific project) of the computer industry.

But I found it *really* interesting for the description of personalities, work-life balance issues, issues of burn-out, feelings (and description) of people becoming 'battle-hardened' veterans, constant in-fighting... it captures beautifully many of the issues that (in large part, though not solely) lead me to leave (aka, run screaming away from) the software/tech industry 30 years after the events described here. It was in fact shocking to read those descriptions and to realize just how 'cultural' the tech culture is (for better or for worse.)

Good descriptions of complex decisions about hardware and software and organization.

I admit, I just skimmed most of this book which covers the work of Dr. Jim O' Connell in Boston. Dr. O'Connell works with the homeless in a clinic that has grown under his administration. He goes out on the streets and deals with people where they are. I was probably expecting more about the homeless people themselves - as to how they arrived in the situation they are in. However, there are several individuals such as a tall man named Tony who are featured. Life is hard, the answers aren't easy.

Much like Stephen King's On Writing, this book falls into the part memoir/writing remembrances/good advice category.

It's not a "how-to write nonfiction" book, but more a "here's the lessons we've learned over the past four decades" book.

It's an excellent book, and deserves to be shelved right beside King's.

First four chapters are indispensable. The rest are common knowledge to most experienced writers.

I knew I wanted to read this book when I first heard about it. Tracy Kidder has been a favorite non-fiction writer of mine. I also read Dr. O'Connell's memoir, Stories from the Shadows. Following the Street Team around the city at night and into the clinics during the day was still an eye opener. No matter how often we learn about homelessness, the stark reality slips into the background until we are reminded again of the humanity behind the label. Kidder brings these street people to life with his gentle prose and well sourced facts. He introduces us to the patients, the volunteers, the medical professionals and especially Dr. O’Connell. Along with Kidder, we observe the team, get to know some of the rough sleepers and their backgrounds, and feel the heartbreak of a sad ending. I won’t disrespect this research to suggest there is an answer to the housing problems in Boston, but it helps to know there are such good people taking care of the health needs of many as others work towards a broader solution.

One of the most impactful anecdotes was about the woman who, after years on the street, embraced sobriety. When she qualified for a transplant, she asked Jim to take her picture.

But when she appeared for the picture taking, she was transformed. She had put on a dress, and mascara, lipstick, and nail polish. In the photo, she looks weathered in the face but elegant—fashionably thin, proudly erect. On the table beside her she has placed a bunch of cut flowers in a Styrofoam coffee cup. Jim remembers wondering what all this meant. Was she afraid she would die in surgery? She laughed at him. She reminded him that she had been a woman living on the streets for decades, in danger of dying every night. “And then she explained to me that she had two kids, two daughters, and one had been three years old, I think, and the other had been six years old, when she last saw them. And that was about twenty-five years ago. And she was worried that, should they ever go looking to see who their mother was or what happened to their mother, there wouldn’t be a picture of someone they could at least be proud of. Until Gretel, Jim had refrained from photographing patients. He thought they might feel embarrassed or exploited. But the day after he took her picture, twenty-two others came to him, asking that he take their pictures, too. He was surprised, but thought he understood. “They wanted something to show they passed this way,” he says. “I started to think that loneliness is really what drives much of what goes on in our world. Trying to fill that emptiness can be a real challenge.”

Asa volunteer for two decades in emergency shelters and street outreach programs, I am very interested in other experiences of people who are perhaps the most marginalized in all of the United States. Tracy Kidder's story of Dr. Jim O'Connell's life work certainly depicts life on the streets for the people we call "hardcore" homeless. This is an honest, unsentimental book which also manages to portray rough sleepers as human beings deserving of respect, not neglect, and dignity, not disgust.

I learned a lot about homelessness and it is a very depressing and unsolvable situation. Some things work for some people and other things work for others but for many, almost nothing works long term. Alcohol and drugs only continue the problem.
Having prenatal and supportive childhood families and programs to guarantee this downward cycle stops is the only way out of this.

A detailed, slow-paced story of a few Northampton residents: police officer Tommy O'Connor, Judge Mike Ryan, Ada Comstock scholar Laura, informant Frankie, and Alan, a lawyer with OCD. Some of their stories touch, but aren't deeply woven together; the main event is Tommy's childhood friend and fellow police officer's conviction of child abuse, but even this is somewhat muted. Imagine SAY NOTHING or DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY without any momentum.

Quotes

If you do all your growing up in the same small place, you don't shed identities. You accumulate them. (page 1)

"Do the right thing" and "do your job": those were [Tommy O'Connor's] categorical imperatives. (51)

Only halfway to the vernal equinox, and already a general mood of exhaustion had seemed to settle over the town, the kind of exhaustion that comes from waiting for an end that looks too far away. (150)

To be poor on welfare was to be poor publicly. It had never occurred to [Laura] before that privacy and money were inextricably connected. (273)

She'd always found it difficult to tell the difference between a thing done to her and a thing she'd helped to bring upon herself. (283)

...[Judge Ryan] prefers the local and native, people who know the town well, and, being known by it, are held accountable for what they do here. Newcomers have brought many improvements, he thinks, but newcomers tend to mistake what they see in the foreground for the place itself, as if they can't imagine Northampton without themselves in it. His town needs its natives, he thinks, to keep it continuous. (333)½

Being a former bartender provided excellent experience for Jim O’Connell. As a physician tending to the homeless population of Boston he had the transferable skills to listen sympathetically to the intoxicated ramblings of his patients without judgment while treating them for their physical ailments. Kidder in pristine and accessible prose starts his report on the outreach services in a van with O’Connell on a September night as the team from Massachusetts General Hospital seeks out what O'Connell terms “rough sleepers,” the homeless that spend their nights on the streets, on doorsteps, in tunnels under the Charles River, or in the abandoned buildings, subway stations, and piles of rubble. They would rather be out in the open, even in inclement weather, rather than in a shelter with others. One example is the schizophrenic who did not want to be in a noisy shelter with the loud voices of others because he would be unable to distinguish those of the people around him or those in his head. When he was alone in a tunnel, he knew if he heard other voices they were just in his mind.

In addition to the narrative of Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program, specifically O’Connell, his fellow medical providers, and the many homeless clients, all with distinctive characteristics and stories, Kidder also reflects on the nature of the practice. Several times in the book it’s referred to as that of Sisyphus endlessly rolling a rock up a hill again and again and again. O’Connell himself uses Camus’s essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” and the French author’s conclusion that the task itself was ennobling even when the outcome was futile. Addressing his team O’Connell says, “We just have to enjoy the good days and accept the bad days. It’s sort of the theme of our work. Sisyphus. If you dont enjoy rolling the rock up the hill, this is not the job for you.”

He also observed, “Housing turns out to be more complicated than medicine. I wish we had a cocktail of drugs that would cure people of being homeless.” And at a fundraising gala he told the attendees, “I like to think of the problem of homelessness as a prism held up to society, and what we see refracted are the weakness in our healthcare system, our public health system, our housing system, but especially in our welfare system, our educational system, and our legal system—and our corrections system. If we are going to fix this problem, we have to address the weakness in all these sectors.”

This book is a classic. If you're interested in the history of the computer business, you'll really enjoy it.
Kidder follows a team of engineers at Data General as they design, build, and debug a new machine for the company. At the time (late 1970s), the biggest deal in computer tech was the mini computer. This was the stepping stone from the large IBM-style mainframes to the Apple and IBM personal computers that came after.
The book profiles Tom West and several members of his team as they compete against not only other computer manufacturers, like DEC and IBM, but also against another team within Data General to build a 32-bit "supermini." It makes for a very compelling story.