Читать книгу Above and Beyond - J.S. Dorian - Страница 73

“Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it.”

SAMUEL JOHNSON

I decided, not long ago, that it was time to rearrange my bookshelves. I made excellent progress until I reached the shelf reserved for books, pamphlets, and materials pertaining to my various illnesses, namely heart disease, cancer, lupus, alcoholism, and osteoarthritis.

As I looked through the material, I was immediately struck by the rapid pace of change in diagnostic criteria, treatment approaches, and technology. The newspaper clippings, in particular, showed me how quickly a so-called medical breakthrough can be set aside or repudiated.

Browsing further, it became clear to me that at least half the material I had gathered was already obsolete. Probably an additional 25 percent was well on the way to becoming outdated.

The experience drove home once again the importance of self-education and the need to continually search out the very latest medical information, while avoiding literature that is several years behind the times, misleading, and possibly even dangerous. I now rely less on my own haphazardly gathered medical source materials and more on information available through support organizations, university bookstores, government agencies, and on-line computer services.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Staying up to date is my responsibility.