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385 reviews for:
A Thousand Naked Strangers: A Paramedic's Wild Ride to the Edge and Back
Kevin Hazzard
3.85 AVERAGE
385 reviews for:
A Thousand Naked Strangers: A Paramedic's Wild Ride to the Edge and Back
Kevin Hazzard
3.85 AVERAGE
Obviously, you shouldn’t read this if you are easily grossed out, or are offended by the mundanity of death. Before you think my reading tastes are horrifying, let me tell you: you have no idea. I know people whose reading tastes make even me—a novelist—want to back away slowly. Personally, I like knowing about everyday things, and sometimes everyday things involve, to steal a phrase from the author, piss and needles. If you would like to know a little more, rather than a little less, about the world, this would be a good book to read. It is short enough to read in one sitting, and the writing is excellent. And, despite some bodily fluids, it didn’t feel gratuitous.
According to Alan, EMS is wild and imperfect. Just like our patients, it’s dangerous and a little mad and possibly contagious. Alan regards the job as a throwback to nineteenth-century house-call medicine—patients don’t come to us, he says, we go to them, and where and how we find them, well, that, too, is part of the story. Once in the field, we should expect no help; we’ll have no team of lab techs waiting for tissue samples or blood samples or stool samples. We’ll have a blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope. A wristwatch. A flashlight. We’ll have common sense and eight months of school. Alan promises that once we’re done with class, we’ll find EMS simple and uncluttered and intensely personal, because it’s one thing for a patient to die on a hospital bed beneath the glare of a thousand watts of fluorescent lighting, but it’s something else entirely for a man to die on his living room floor with his family looking on. And yet Alan believes the essence of EMS is not that a man has died here in so intimate and messy a setting. The essence of EMS is that we know we’ll be back tomorrow, because even from here—surrounded by the hysteria of an unexpected death—we’ll hear a baby coughing in the next room.
adventurous
dark
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
APRIL 2016 BOOK CLUB:
WOW this book was so awesome. I feel like if it had been written differently, it could have lost me along the way, but Hazzard kept each story to the point and packed with surprises, I literally kept turning page after page.
I think the most intriguing part for me was how an individual, who was already married and had a "career" totally switched his life in a different direction and turned out just fine. I think that far too often we feel stuck in our current situations feeling that we are incapable of changing things around so that we are happy. I think being a paramedic really did make him happy, and he really did learn so much about himself (and far too much about other people :)) His wife was a trooper that whole time. I think any family with a relative in any type of emergency response profession really has to be committed as well. Also, the relationships he had with his different partners was really eye-opening. .
WOW this book was so awesome. I feel like if it had been written differently, it could have lost me along the way, but Hazzard kept each story to the point and packed with surprises, I literally kept turning page after page.
I think the most intriguing part for me was how an individual, who was already married and had a "career" totally switched his life in a different direction and turned out just fine. I think that far too often we feel stuck in our current situations feeling that we are incapable of changing things around so that we are happy. I think being a paramedic really did make him happy, and he really did learn so much about himself (and far too much about other people :)) His wife was a trooper that whole time. I think any family with a relative in any type of emergency response profession really has to be committed as well. Also, the relationships he had with his different partners was really eye-opening. .
I understand the point of the book was to showcase that being in the epicenter of chaos and death nearly everyday jades you to it, but the way he talked so cavalier about certain calls and the way he described certain patients really made him come off as a patronizing asshole. When you choose to say anything, you've got to understand who your audience is. It's one thing to talk about gnarly calls or "crazy" patients with your fellow colleagues or close friends, but saying and admitting the shit that he did in this for the whole world to potentially see? For those that he treated to potentially see? It left a really sour taste in my mouth.
At least it was a quick and easy read, otherwise I probably would've DNFed it as soon as he talked about his idea of a "perfect call."
At least it was a quick and easy read, otherwise I probably would've DNFed it as soon as he talked about his idea of a "perfect call."
Interesting and kept my attention. Interesting memoir, but nothing really stood out.
This memoir was super well written, and I appreciated how down to Earth Kevin. It had the perfect amount of relatability and not too much gore for the topic haha
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
Such a FUNNY and insightful read!
I have always known that the work my fiancé does as an EMT, and now as an AEMT, is special, important, and not for the faint-of-heart. I have always been so proud of him and what he does, and so proud of all he does. But this book made me gain a deeper respect for EMS as a whole. The grit, the endurance, the gravity of what the work day of a first responder means...I don't want to say it was lost on me, but Hazzard helped shine a light to things I didn't know were in the dark.
Kevin (my fiancé, not the author haha) has been an EMT for well over a decade. His seasoned knowledge of medicine and emergencies is something I now realize I've taken for granted, and this book helped me see how much of a toll this work can take on someone.
To any first responder who comes across this, to any healthcare provider...but specifically EMTs and AEMTs - Thank you for all that you do. You are seen and you are appreciated, though not often enough. Be safe ❣️
I have always known that the work my fiancé does as an EMT, and now as an AEMT, is special, important, and not for the faint-of-heart. I have always been so proud of him and what he does, and so proud of all he does. But this book made me gain a deeper respect for EMS as a whole. The grit, the endurance, the gravity of what the work day of a first responder means...I don't want to say it was lost on me, but Hazzard helped shine a light to things I didn't know were in the dark.
Kevin (my fiancé, not the author haha) has been an EMT for well over a decade. His seasoned knowledge of medicine and emergencies is something I now realize I've taken for granted, and this book helped me see how much of a toll this work can take on someone.
To any first responder who comes across this, to any healthcare provider...but specifically EMTs and AEMTs - Thank you for all that you do. You are seen and you are appreciated, though not often enough. Be safe ❣️
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced