MS patient, author to read from ‘Prokarin Story’
As those who suffer from the disease know, the Inland Northwest has a higher-than-average incident rate of multiple sclerosis. Why is this? Well, as Dr. Roy A. Kanter, medical director of Holy Family Hospital’s Multiple Sclerosis Center, explained in a 2003 online interview with The Spokesman-Review, no one really knows. But, he said, several factors are involved.
“MS tends to be more common in people who live north of the 40th parallel (that’s Denver),” Kanter said. “MS is more common in people of Northern European descent; the bulk of our population here fits that description. We also may see a higher incidence here because the public and the medical community are highly educated and attuned to multiple sclerosis as a diagnosis.”
Among what is not known about MS is how best to treat it. There is no cure, just treatments that slow down its progress.
Those various treatments have their supporters. And detractors.
One controversial treatment, Prokarin (originally Procarin), has been the target of various “health fraud” experts (www.quackwatch.org) and the focus of one particular author’s crusade (www.mshelp.org).
Elaine A. DeLack, R.N., is both an MS patient and the author of the self-published book “They Said It Didn’t Make ‘Cents’: MS – The Prokarin Story” (298 pages, $24.95 paper).
She will read from her book at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Auntie’s Bookstore, and sign copies Wednesday from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Coeur d’Alene Hastings and 7 to 10 p.m. at the Valley Hastings (see reader board below).
Anyone who purchases DeLack’s book at these events only will receive a free copy of her bonus DVD.
Tackling the/a big question
James Edwards, professor of theology at Whitworth College, isn’t afraid of asking the big questions, as the title of his new book indicates: “Is Jesus the Only Savior?” (Eerdmans Publishing, 250 pages, $16 paper).
“I think many people would like to say that Jesus is a savior,” Edwards says, “That would allow them to breathe more easily. It’s that definite article, ‘the,’ that makes people nervous.”
Edwards, whose other books include “The Divine Intruder: When God Breaks Into Your Life” (NavPress Publishing, 144 pages, $12), is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church and a contributing editor of Christianity Today.
Life in the Castle
Tom Trusky, director of the Idaho Center for the Book and Boise State University Hemingway Center, will deliver a slide show/lecture titled “James Castle: His Life and Art” at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Sandpoint Library, 1407 Cedar St. (208-263-6930, ext. 204).
Trusky will focus on the earliest surviving works of the artist, who died at age 78 in 1977. Considered to be deaf, mute, illiterate and mentally challenged, Castle practiced a kind of “folk art” that, says Guy Trebay of the Village Voice, included “spit-and-soot drawings Castle made with a pointed stick (that) could probably hold their own in any art context.”
Mark that spot on the dial
Author and radio host Mark Fuhrman has made The New York Times best-seller list again. His book “Silent Witness: The Untold Story of Terry Schiavo’s Death” (William Morrow, 272 pages, $25.95) debuts at No. 8 today on the Times’ Hardcover Nonfiction list.
Fuhrman, by the way, is set to read and sign copies of the book July 25 at Auntie’s Bookstore. Fuhrman, whose previous books include “Murder in Brentwood” and “Murder in Spokane,” is host of a talk show from 9 a.m. to noon weekdays on KGA-AM, 1510 (448-1000).
Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public.
Book talk
•Poetry Reading Group, 3 p.m. today, Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington (838-0206).
•Family Readers Group (“Chasing Vermeer,” by Blue Balliett), 7 p.m. Monday, Valley Hastings, 15312 E. Sprague Ave. (924-0667).
•Current Affairs Book Group (“So Many Enemies, So Little Time: An American Woman in All the Wrong Places” by Elinor Burkett), 6 p.m. Monday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
•Dark City Mystery Book Group (“Like a Charm: A Novel in Voices,” various authors), 7 p.m. Monday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
•Auntie’s Youth Book Group (“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” by J.K. Rowling), 2 p.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
•Summer Book Club (“KREM-2 in the Kitchen,” by Laura Papetti), 3 p.m. Saturday, Valley Hastings.
The reader board
•Elaine DeLack (“They Said It Didn’t Make ‘Cents’: MS – The Prokarin Story”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore; signings, Wednesday, 2-5 p.m., Coeur d’Alene Hastings, 101 Best Ave., and 7 p.m., Valley Hastings.
•Keith Hindeman (“What Is Medical Pain Management?”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
•Andrea Koenig (“Hello Life”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
•Tom Trusky (“James Castle: His Life and Art”), slide show/lecture, 7 p.m. Thursday, Sandpoint Library, 1407 Cedar St., Sandpoint