On Typos

Jun 20, 2015 | Writing

Three years ago, when the galleys of my book arrived, my mother, spouse, and I gazed down at them, excited by how, well, book-like they looked. A note from my editor informed us that it was our (my) job to find any errant comma or line break or typo. Since the galleys...

All About Old Age: The 5 Types of Aging Books

Aug 9, 2014 | Aging, Health Care, Patients, Writing

Recently, a pediatrician friend remarked that people – patients’ parents, friends, strangers she chats with briefly in airports and coffee lines – were always asking her for recommendations on the best books about childhood. I had to admit that I don’t get many...

To Blog or Not to Blog?

Jun 9, 2014 | Public Medical Communication, Writing

This was the question a writing-inclined youngdoctor (UCSF palliative care fellow @lauraekoehn) and I faced recently. She had never blogged and felt ambivalent despite encouragement from our local GeriPal bloggerati, Eric Widera and Alex Smith. I blogged when my book...

Food, Songs, and Stories

Feb 23, 2013 | News and Updates, Writing

I love food: how it looks and how it tastes, that when done well it relies on science and requires art, how it’s both essential to life and one of the life’s great pleasures, that it embodies cultures and family traditions, and how easily it communicates...

A Brief History of Blogging

Feb 1, 2013 | Public Medical Communication, Writing

It’s unusual to have an origins story that’s only half a century long, though perhaps this one is entirely fitting for our times, a period when people are smarting and thrilling in mostly equal measure from constant media bombardment, when the average...