In retrospect, I made two highly prescient book choices for a Mother's Day gift this year. I had no reason to think both would become highly relevant just days later.
Book one: fiction. Liane Moriarty's latest, darkly humorous, a page turner. The tagline is “If you knew when you were going to die, what would you differently?”. On a plane flight to Sydney a mysterious woman predicts how and when each passenger will die1. ‘Fate won't be fought’ repeats the woman. The recipients are put in a quandary, whether they want to believe her or not. Behaviour is affected by observation. Their futures have been marked with an unwelcome reference point. For some it is very soon.
The rational mind says Nonsense! The subconscious says What if it's true?
The narrative tension lies in discovering if the unsettled passengers can ultimately prove her wrong. Only time will tell. It's a great setup, for a novel.
Inevitability. Determinism. Fatalism. Predestination. Free will. Probability. What's preventable, what's unavoidable.
‘No-one can see the future’, frets Max.
Oncologists can, thinks Sue. Oncologists, neurologists, cardiologists, haematologists. All those damned ‘ologists. They're the fortune tellers. They don't read your cards, they read your blood tests, your scans, your genetic tests, and see terrible things in your future.
Book two: non fiction. Professor Richard Scolyer's inspiring argument for the groundbreaking application of immunotherapy in treating brain tumors, written after he received that very terminal diagnosis2 (identical to that of my late father-in-law).
Scolyer describes what it is like to be patient zero with hopes in the efficacy of an experimental therapy, a unique perspective as he willingly forgoes conventional treatment to be a data point for his own research. Wagering his own life to increase the possibility of saving the lives of others.
Whilst surviving beyond expectations, sadly his cancer has returned. Since then he places a heightened value on time with his family, self care and personal reflection, but maintains advocacy for more effective future treatments and outcomes for other cancer patients.
Both good reads, but I'd like the opportunity give my wife a better present next year.
Today’s song involves not a plane, but a metaphorical train. It is coming for you sooner or later3.
https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760785031/
https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Richard-Scolyer-with-Garry-Maddox-Brainstorm-9781761471490
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2024:44&version=NIV
Really hope you get that opportunity… what a celebration!!