I first heard about this book when listening to the audiobook, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. It had just been a few weeks since my dad had passed and I was driving out to Hope, Alaska to meander through the woods by myself. I often do this when I’m feeling overwhelmed with emotion and need a healthy outlet. I recall hearing a study mentioned in Outliers about the importance of human connection in relation to heart disease. Half way to Hope, I pulled over on the side of the road because I was so taken back by the idea that I felt an innate need to write down this study and look for this book, The Power of Clan, The Influence of Human Relationships on Heart Disease. My search took me to a couple local book stores, and our public library with no luck of finding this book. Fortunately a good friend of mine ordered the book online and had it shipped to my office building.
When I was attending high school, my parents simultaneously pursued their college degrees. When I reflect back on memories I had of my father during my youth, I fondly remember sitting with him at our dining table studying together. We sat across from each other and when topics peaked his interest, he would look up and begin discussing his studies with me. At the time of his death, my dad was one paper away from having his masters in early childhood development with his B.S in Psychology. As an adult, I carpooled with my dad to and from work for a year and a half and often times continued to discuss topics about social and psychological behavior of people. I guess you can say that I’ve spent a good amount of time reflecting on the importance of human connection. I deeply appreciate my dad for passionately perusing his interests and sparking my own interest in similar topics.
I feel moved to begin responding to this book immediately because within the first two pages, similar studies are mentioned that I would be interested in looking into; and I would like to capture these as a reminder to myself to further my study.
Psychosocial Medicine by J.L. Halliday and C.P. Donnison references the concern with lack of studies the medical field had on the psychological and social environment.
Social Science in Medicine, by L.W. Simmons and Harold G. Wolff discuss anxiety in decaying cultures.
The Broken Heart: The Medical Consequences of Loneliness, by J.J. Lynch
Side note: Why do all of these authors use their initials as opposed to their name? I recently heard in the audiobook, Thinking Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman, that if a company/study has a name that is hard to pronounce, people are more likely to associate a sense of mistrust in the company or study. I’m curious to know if this same concept plays a role in why physicians authoring books use their initials.
I’m also curious to know if the popularity of this book, The Power of Clan, has to do with it’s name choice. When I picked up my book, I showed a few coworkers that were near by and one exclaimed, “Oh scary title!” She mentioned that she had a natural reaction to the word “clan” in association with the Klan of the KKK. A lens I would of never thought when first reading the title of this book. I find it fascinating how our brain associates different words, fonts and colors with certain things such as this.
Life is Lovely 