The First10EM monthly wrap up is a place for me to share updates about the website, about my academic life, and also interesting content, such as books, podcasts, and other FOAMed, that I have encountered in the prior month. Obviously the focus is on content I have found, but I hope the community gets engaged in the comments, sharing books, podcasts, FOAMed, or anything else that you think would benefit or delight the broader emergency medicine community.
First10EM updates
I have been working on updating the ‘quick reference’ section of the website. Check out the critical care infusion cheat sheet. I should have some more pediatric resources up soon. If there are things you have to look up all the time and would like to see added to a quick reference section, please let me know.
What I am reading
I decided to reread The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. I was partial to this book as a teenager, not because every teenage boy thinks Ayn Rand is speaking directly about their personal greatness, but because I have always secretly wanted to be an architect. I still like that part of the story, but the strawman adversary of this novel is pretty painful to read at times.
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins is a very fast paced page turner, which reads a bit like a Hollywood movie, with gratuitous violence, based in a bizarre fantasy/science fiction world.
Although there is clearly great wisdom to be found in stoicism, I found Meditations by Marcus Aurelius less compelling than other options.
I can understand why it made all sorts of book lists last year, but I would just put Yellowface by R.F. Kuang in the ‘good’ rather than ‘great’ category.
I’m surprised I’ve never read anything by Ursula Le Guin before. I’ve heard really good things about this series, so although I wasn’t completely blown away by A Wizard of Earthsea, I will almost certainly continue the six part series.
Interesting media
I really like simple but innovative engineering, so this video on AsapSCIENCE about using kirigami to transform recycled paper into strong structural shapes and hopefully getting rid of the bloody plastic used in packing your amazon orders was interesting to me.
The Inner Cosmos podcast just wrapped up a 3 part series on ‘what is truth?’ that I imagine many readers will find interesting and/or insightful.
My favourite FOAMed this month
You can find it on both the EMCrit podcast and Stimulus, but Weingartt talking about the mental approach to the no notice resuscitation is gold for all emergency doctors.
Arun Sayal is one of the best medical educators in the world, so despite the difficulties of describing physical exam and x ray findings on a podcast, this emergency medicine cases podcast on wrist injuries is a must listen.
Quotes or Thoughts
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth is unhappy, though he be master of the whole world.” – Seneca
Most people overestimate what they can do in a day and underestimate what they can do in a year.
“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” ― Lao Tzu
2 thoughts on “The First10EM monthly wrap-up for January 2024”
Library at Mount Char is excellent!
Hello again, Justin. Although full of wisdom, “Meditations” is not really an easy read. Mostly because it was not intended to be read by anyone else. Marcus wrote to himself as “spiritual exercises,” as Pierre Hadot labels it. I highly recommend reading “The Inner Citadel.” In this amazing book, Hadot – a 20th-century French academic philosopher – provides an in-depth analysis of ancient Stoicism while dissecting Marcus’s “Meditations.” It’s the best book I’ve read on Stoicism so far. PS: I was not aware of Oster’s bad takes on COVID. Sad to hear that.