South Africa – Page 5

I am in the process of deciding what books to bring to South Africa.

Here in New York I have about 140 books in all. As libraries go, mine may be small — friends seem to have many more volumes — but I love my physical books, which I reread regularly. The titles range from history and literature to politics, science fiction and spy novels.

Most of the volumes won’t make the trip. I hope to travel lightly and sending things in advance makes little sense. Once there, I will visit the library or read e-books and books my girlfriend owns.

For now, here are the titles that I’m thinking of packing:

The Elements of Style (illustrated): The Strunk and White classic, with illustrations by Maira Kalman. A reference book I love to read. The writing is wonderful, the paintings are lovely and the formatting makes the edition a joy.

Long Walk to Freedom, The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela: The head of the anti-apartheid movement, yes, but also an introspective look at the life of a great leader. I can’t put it down.

The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town: I read these pieces over and over. In an introduction to the volume, New Yorker editor David Remnick writes that “the best Talk pieces have a combustive power; they are miniatures that provide a burst of pleasure and a revelatory glimpse into some corner of life.”

The Sabbath: Abraham Joshua Heschel: A meditative and poetic look at Jewish spirituality that doubles as a tale about time travel.

Midlands, by Jonny Steinberg: My girlfriend gave me this account of a murder in the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal. A great read and insights into South Africa’s passage to democracy.

The Atlas of the Conflict: Israel-Palestine: Another gift from my girlfriend, more than 500 maps of the territorial relationship between Israel and Palestine over the past century. Assembled by an Israeli architect who aimed to present facts in a politics-free context. A visualization on paper that inspires the journalist in me, as well as a beautifully designed book.

Cesar Vallejo: The Complete Posthumous Poetry: Poems by the Peruvian poet. I’ve never read poetry so simultaneously complex and lovely. Translated from Spanish. My girlfriend and I read “Discovery of Life” to each other, quote from it, inhale it.

Financial Accounting: Introduction to Concepts, Methods and Uses, by Roman Weil, Katherine Schipper and Jennifer Francis: An essential for someone who writes about business. From the warning that precedes the preface: “Study of this book is known to cause thinking, occasionally deep thinking. Typical side effects include mild temporary anxiety followed by profound long-term understanding and satisfaction.”

One, Two, Three…Infinity, by George Gamow: Big numbers, the world of four dimensions, and whether’s it’s possible to bend space, written with whimsy and clarity. Plus illustrations by the author, including one of an ancient Roman who tries to write “one million” in Roman numerals. Also, Mathematics and the Imagination: Edward Kasner and James Newman: Numbers, chance, geometries and more — all here in a book first published in 1940 that introduced the terms “googol” and “googolplex.” Both books were gifts from a friend who showed me how much fun mathematics can be.

Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion: I reread Didion’s essays at least twice a year. “On Self-Respect,” “On Keeping a Notebook,” “Los Angeles Notebook,” “Goodbye to All That.” Just typing this leaves me in awe of her reporting and writing.

On a recent Wednesday morning I made my way across Manhattan to New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center for one of a series of vaccinations I’ve been receiving in advance of my move to South Africa.

I enjoy visiting the medical center, which awakens my inner science journalist. The trip entails its own routine: take the No. 6 train to Hunter College, stop for coffee at the Starbucks at 66th Street and Third Avenue, then head east to York. Turn north at The Rockefeller University, which, with its London plane trees, may be among the city’s loveliest places.

The day after my visit to the neighborhood, Jessica Ho, a graduate fellow at the university, was slated to present her thesis, “Chormatin control of the antivrial response to influenza.” Chromatin, I learned, is the mix of DNA and proteins that forms the nucleus of cells.

For my part, thanks to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which publishes clear guidance for travelers, and my physician — whom I’ll refer to as Dr. H. — I’ve been vaccinated (or soon will be) for the following:

Hepatits A
Hepatitis B
Typhoid
Rabies
Tetanus, diptheria and pertussis
Mumps, measles and rubella
Meningitis
Yellow Fever (scheduled)

“Yellow Fever is a political vaccine,” Dr. H. told me. That’s because the South African government requires visitors from certain countries, including many in Africa that I hope to visit, to present proof of vaccination. To be sure, yellow fever also happens to be a virus that can be fatal in people who develop a severe form of the disease, according to the CDC.

Oral typhoid vaccine (Photo by Brian Browdie)

Spending time in vaccine land offers more than sore deltoids. For example, I’ve learned about human rabies, which is rare in the U.S. but much more common in other parts of the world, where fewer people vaccinate their dogs. In “Rabid: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus,” veterinarian Monica Murphy and journalist Bill Wasik describe rabies as follows:

“It is the most fatal virus in the world, a pathogen that kills nearly 100 percent of its hosts in most species, including humans. Fittingly, the rabies virus is shaped like a bullet: a cylindrical shell of glycoproteins and lipids that carries, in its rounded tip, a malevolent payload of helical RNA.

“We can go to a bat cave together now,” my girlfriend, who lives in South Africa and who’s also been vaccinated for rabies, wrote to me.

The latest round of vaccines sent me into my past. According to records my mother gave me a few years ago, I was vaccinated as an infant against polio and smallpox.

This card certifies that at age six months I received the smallpox vaccine on the left arm. (Photo: Brian Browdie)

Smallpox was wiped out about 33 years ago but remains a bioterrorism concern. The U.S. halted routine vaccination in 1972 and no one knows whether vaccines received before then still confer immunity. What experts do know is that the intentional release of smallpox in a global city such as London could have worldwide effects, according to a paper by researchers at Harvard University, Northeastern University, Aix-Marseille Université in France and the Computational Epidemiology Laboratory in Torino, Italy published July 17 in the journal Scientific Reports. According to the authors:

We show through large-scale individual-based simulations that biological targeted attacks on a single city can result in the presence of exposed individuals in several countries before the health system is aware of the release and the ensuing outbreak.

Not good.

My mother also gave me a copy of a feeding guide the pediatrician gave her when I was nine months old and weighed 23 pounds. Here are the desserts the guide recommended:

Soft custard
Rennet — made with tablet
Fruit whip
Lemon or orange gelatin
Cornstarch pudding
Jello

No wonder I weighed 23 pounds.

Hang around the medical center enough and you learn all sorts of things. I picked up the following intel from two Jamaican women whose badges identified them as administrators. “When they have an employee appreciation event at Sloan-Kettering, the food is da best,” one woman said to her colleague. “Over here they serve things with bacon. How do you serve bacon? Not everybody eats pork.”