By Greg Ambrose
Star-Bulletin
All Stings Considered: By Dr. Craig Thomas and Susan Scott, 233 pages, University of Hawaii Press, $29.95
Among creatures in the book are below from
top, box jellyfish, Portuguese man-of-war,
textile cone shell and fireworm.IF you ever want to determine how serious a book is, turn to the last few pages. There you will find the bibliography, a list of books and articles the authors used to help write the book you are perusing.
By that measure, "All Stings Considered" is a very serious book, just the kind of thing you would expect a physician to write. But don't be alarmed by 17 pages of bibliography references with such titles as "Ototoxicity of Otomicrobial Agents" and "Verapamil Potentiation of Chironex Antivenom." This book is user friendly.
Fortunately, Dr. Craig Thomas' scholarly studies are rendered into flowing and understandable English by the experienced pen of his partner, nurse and ocean author Susan Scott.
The result is a book of cutting-edge medical treatment for ocean injuries that is likely to end up in medical offices and emergency rooms, lifeguard towers and rescue vehicles of all emergency responders.
But "All Stings Considered" isn't a book only for the experts. Surfers, fishermen, divers, paddlers, sailors and even people who don't dip a toe in the ocean, but eat seafood or limu (seaweed), can avoid visits to the hospital by following the clear first-aid advice in this book.
"All Stings Considered" also could save the lives of adventurers who visit remote coastal areas by boat or other means. Such travelers will be able to follow precise information on how to avoid the most likely problems they might encounter and what drugs to take and treatment to give if they suffer mishaps in areas far from clinics or hospitals.
As director of emergency medicine at Wahiawa General Hospital, Thomas has treated most of the maladies the ocean can deliver to people in Hawaii. He has consulted his medical peers about the traumas he hasn't encountered, and has scoured the Internet and medical online services for the latest medical research on injuries inflicted by the ocean and its inhabitants.
Scott called upon her vast network of contacts created during years as an author and Star-Bulletin columnist writing about the ocean and its inhabitants. From her informants Scott has elicited practical advice on what ocean conditions and creatures can harm humans, and what can be done to avoid or ameliorate those situations.
The authors have read themselves nearly blind gleaning wisdom from hundreds of technical reports and studies, and distilled the incomprehensible medical jargon into a form the rest of us can understand.
The results were subjected to rigorous peer review to ensure that nothing was lost or made incorrect in the translation, and that the integrity of the information was maintained.
In passages certain to spark animated conversation and controversy, the authors and their sources have used scientific study and observation to debunk some folk cures and affirm others, sparing victims a heap of misery.
Urinate or pour vinegar to ease the pain of a Portuguese man-of-war sting, folk doctors sagely proclaim. That will make it worse, scientific studies say.
Use vinegar, warm air from a hair dryer, and rubbing alcohol to get rid of swimmer's ear, says folk wisdom. Right on, proclaim medical researchers.
The book has a template that makes it easy to locate your favorite affliction and quickly see how to avoid it, or, failing that, how to ease your suffering. Each segment follows this format: Name (what can whack you); Mechanism of Injury (how it can whack you); Incidence (how often people get whacked); Prevention (how to keep from getting whacked); Signs and Symptoms (how to tell if you've been whacked); First Aid (how to make things better); Advanced Medical Treatment (how doctors can salvage a dreadful situation.)
A worldwide plea by Thomas and Scott to augment their own expert photographic skills been richly rewarded. The serious medical text of "All Stings Considered" is reinforced by excruciatingly vivid but irresistibly fascinating photos of ocean-inflicted misery.
Images of blistered, shredded and punctured human flesh provide unforgettable reminders that for all the pleasure it provides, the ocean is frequently a hostile world that can maim or kill the unwary.
The authors have used wit, style and hard work to attain their goal of helping all ocean lovers pay as small a price as possible for using the ocean for fun, food or profit.
With the publication of "All Stings Considered," ignorance is no longer an excuse for having a bad time in the ocean.
