Memoir Of A Useless Boy

Memoir of a Useless Boy

Product Description S. Leonard Syme tells the story of a skinny 12-year-old boy whose father challenged him to squish the caps of soda pop bottles. He regularly failed. He clearly remembers feeling bruised every time his father walked away muttering about his useless boy. Looking back, he realized that he devoted his life to proving his father wrong. The lessons he learned in successfully dealing with his father's rejections and disapprovals allowed him to help others. His Memoir is an optimistic one: it describes his humorous and revealing journey from squeezing bottle caps to changing the way we as a society understand health and well-being. About the Author Dr. S. Leonard Syme is an Emeritus Professor of Epidemiology and Community Health Health in the School of Public Health at the University of California in Berkeley. His major research has been on child health, job stress, social support, poverty, and social inequalities in health. He is regarded as the father of social epidemiology, a new discipline in the field of Public Health. He had the special honor of being elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and was awarded the Lilienfeld Award for Excellence in Teaching, the J.D. Bruce Award from the American College of Physicians for Distinguished Contributions in Preventive Medicine, and the Wade Hampton Frost Award from the American Public Health Association. Now retired, Dr. Syme is Director of the Research for Action Center that is attempting to improve the health of people by empowering them and their communities.