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The Puzzle Solver, by Tracie White with Ron Davis

Messages
17
Reviews on Amazon and goodreads are really helpful for sales, according to authors i follow on Twitter. I've just finished the book and am trying to get my brain together to write one. It's one more way to help the book get noticed, having thoughtful reviews.

Loved the book, the chapter about Ron's childhood was so endearing 😍.
 

Janet Dafoe

Board Member
Messages
867
I am a bit curious about the cover of the book. Is there any background on how that Cover came about?
They really wanted to call it “the invisible patient“. Whitney was absolutely adamant against that. If you look at the ME action Facebook live thing that we did yesterday about the book with Tracie, she talks about that there. Whitney is just adamant. He’s not invisible, and neither are any of the other patients.After Tracie got to know him better and really understood the disease better she understood why. That cover was designed with the invisible patient in mind. Personally I wish they would’ve changed it and just put a photograph of Ron and Whitney on the front.
 

lenora

Senior Member
Messages
4,913
Hello Janet. It's quite the story of a brave young man, Whitney, his devoted (should be in capital letters) family, you, Ron and Ashley and dealing with an illness that no young person should have to go through.

I'm amazed at how the two of you alone are able to give Whitney the care he receives. It's admirable on the part of all of you. I can tell from reading it how heartbreaking things are for everyone. I've always been especially concerned about the very young ones who have this illness. Their lives are put on hold, just left in suspension, and I can't praise the four of you enough.

I also feel that Whitney should be given special thanks for having the attitude he does, agreeing to let studies be performed on him, Ron's co-workers who donate time constantly for helping to find an answer to this puzzle. I hope that it will be soon, especially for you and your family and for the very young among us. (And Whitney is what I would consider very young.)

Life is so difficult and I'm sure that Whitney's Buddhist beliefs help him deal with that side of things. How does he feel about how his spirituality helps him? I'm sure that thinking about a chair on that front porch also helps give him incentive, minus the squirrels, of course.

Ron reminds me of my husband. Mr. Inventor and a different way of thinking about most things. He's also highly involved in my illness(es). We can see ourselves in this book.

I'm almost finished with the book...probably another 20 pages, but I did want to let you know that I found Ron to be a remarkable man, especially given his childhood, and even in the midst of this, it's obvious that you're in love with each other and devoted to your children. A big hurrah to all of you!

May I say that the Open Medicine Foundation is wonderful and I encourage everyone to make a contribution, if possible. It can be doubled if you can find a relative or friend who works for a company that meets the donation. We do it via our daughter who has a different surname. Come on people....we have to do it, draw some money and definitely attention to our cause. Every $5 donation means something. My daughters will always remember so many of the organizations I've been involved in either as a founding volunteer or, in the case of Phoenix, as a member. Long after I'm gone, they and their children will remember to donate. I hope the book does exceptionally well....Yours, Lenora.
 

Reading_Steiner

Senior Member
Messages
245
I didn't even think about audiobook - I thought it tended to only be well established titles that get converted to that format, a physical book seems like a big commitment so I rarely read them, but this does seem like something that one should focus on wholly, so I am not too disheartened at having gone for the paper version ( dont like all the accounts, logins, apps etc anyway ), its still a few weeks away until we can get the book in England though. I want to contribute to make the book popular as an expression of gratitude etc for the services rendered to the cause by your family, also I feel that the story deserves recognition in itself and as a way of conveying the lives of all the unseen 'missing' people out there.

I'm just a little cynical that it seems to have taken the corona thing to happen for me/cfs to gain any traction with the mainstream media and scientific community etc, but that topic verges into politics so I wont go into it.
 

keepontruckin

Senior Member
Messages
210
I started reading the book today and it made me think about the hypocrisy of politics. For instance, here in Canada they point their finger to the Chinese having such a disregard for human life, falsely imprisoning and destroying the lives of two Canadians. They, like so many nations around the world, present themselves as being of such high ethical standards that they value the lives of each and every single human being alive. This holier than thou attitude continues unquestionably while 600, 000 Canadians with CFS do not see an attempt by their government to come to their rescue. Matthew 7:3 - And why do you look at the splinter in your brother's eye, and not notice the beam which is in your own eye?
How can governements spend billions exploring the spaces when seated beside them rubbing elbows are people who need help?