Word: lebaron
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
DIED. Ervil LeBaron, 56, fanatical leader of the polygamous San Diego-based sect, the Church of the Lamb of God, who was believed responsible for the deaths of at least 13 people between 1972 and 1977; of as yet undetermined causes; in a state prison in Draper, Utah. LeBaron, who served twelve months in a Mexican jail in connection with the 1972 slaying of his brother Joel, was sentenced last year to life imprisonment for ordering the murder of the head of a rival polygamous sect in Utah. LeBaron was also convicted last year of plotting to kill another brother...
...course, LeBaron wasn't always a here. He arrived without knowing much about science: "Myknowledgy of neuroanatomy," he confesses, "stops with an idea that the brain is located somewhere in the head." But he learned quickly even with all his complaints. And there are a lot of them. The administration is conservative and hirarchical Basic science courses don't integrate the clinical material. There is too much memorization and not enough reasoning. Even his signs of generosity are grudging: "On the whole, I was willing to give Harvard the benefit of the doubt," he writes. Not really...
...most confusing is the book's inconsistent tone. LeBaron, with his nonscientist credentials as his trump, mixes complete naivete with brutal cynicism. This is the insider who still considers himself on the outside. By the end you can't tell whether he hated his first year, or if he would recommend Harvard Medical School to someone else. He can't seem to understand why anyone beside himself would ever even want to go to Medical School...
...what is most surprising is LeBaron's complete lack of introspection. He spends little, time questioning anyone's motivations--he never asks why students in their teens decide to give up their twenties for the grind of endless school and the care of dying patients. The psychology of his classmates is entirely absent. Conversations are included only to post straw men or to make points; they rarely give insight into the speakers. As far as LeBaron can tell, his classmates are there only because they are fourth generation HMS or the children of the faculty...
...best inside stories always show some balance. Unfortunately you can't often write a fair account and sell books too. The wholesale attack on the Establishment, then, is probably your best shot. But when this gets carried too far, as ha0pens here, all useful observations lose their force. LeBaron gets caught in too many superficial analyses and cliches and he rather than his school comes off as bloated...