Class Notes - Books
John S. Geddes, BMedSc Medicine 1963, MD 1966, and Thomas F. Baskett, MB BCh BAO Medicine 1964 F.R.C.S. Ed. F.R.C.S. F.R.C.O.G., together with Ronald D. Stewart have published a historical record of the evolution of the cardiac ambulance from its ‘invention’ in Belfast at RVH in the Frank Pantridge days, to the sophisticated EMS system now established throughout North America.
The main author, Tom Baskett is an internationally recognized medical historian and has written and just-published a book with cardiologist John Geddes, now retired in Florida. John did most of the ground-work in the development of the Belfast cardiac ambulance and worked for many years in cardiac electro-physiology in Winnipeg.
Cecil Cyrus OBE, MB BCh BAO Medicine 1957, MCh Surgery 1991, and former First Trust Bank Queen’s Graduate of the Year, has published his autobiography, A Dream Come True – the autobiography of a Caribbean Surgeon. It includes a history of life at Queen’s during his sojourn from 1950-1963. The book is available on Amazon.
David Leonard, LLB 2004, has co-written Constitutional Law of Ireland (3rd edn) published by Bloomsbury Professional, along with co-author Michael Forde SC. The book provides comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of Irish constitutional law. David lives in Dublin with his wife and son. He has been a barrister in practice in the Law Library, Dublin, since 2005.
Jacquelyn Benson, BA English 2002, MA Social Anthropology 2003 – New Hampshire author, playwright, mystic and explorer, released her first novel The Smoke Hunter in September 2015, published by Grand Central Publishing in the USA. Find out more at www.jacquelynbenson.com
Kevin Smith, BA English and Philosophy 1986, is due to publish his second novel, The Voyage of the Dolphin – a comic odyssey set in 1916 – early next year. His first book, Jammy Dodger, was nominated for the 2013 Desmond Elliott Prize for new fiction.
Patrick McConnell, BSc Mathematics 1969, has jointly authored People Risk Management, published by Kogan Page. This book is the first to cover the topic of People Risk or the risk that people, especially senior managers in financial institutions, will make ‘really bad’ business decisions. Building on research from the behavioural sciences, the book charts cases where managers were blinded by ‘cognitive biases’ such as over-confidence and groupthink, leading to disasters such as the failure of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Pat, who now lives in Australia, has recently finished another book on the topic of systemic risk, which is to be published by Risk Books in 2016.
Philip Smith, BA European Studies 2003, MSc Education 2009, has written his first novel The KD Shindig published by Austin Macauley. It is a tale which starts out in ‘…a small, historic cathedral town in Northern Ireland’. Philip currently lives in Ontario, Canada.
Conor O’Clery, BA English 1972, DUniv 2007, will this autumn see the publication by Poolbeg Press in Dublin a retrospective on his career as a foreign correspondent with The Irish Times, called May You Live in Interesting Times - a Career on the Cutting Edge of History. Also this autumn Public Affairs of New York will publish a paperback edition of his biography of philanthropist Chuck Feeney, published last year, called The Billionaire Who Wasn't. Conor can be contacted at coclery@aol.com.
David S H Bell, MB BCh BAO 1970, retired as a Professor of Medicine at the University of Alabama Medical School in 2007 after 25 years service. He has since published a book Diet for Life which is a weight loss book. Further information may be viewed at diet4life.net. David can be contacted at davidshbellmd@charter.net.
Sandra Baillie, BA 1985, PhD 1998, has had her second book 'Presbyterians in Ireland: Identity in the twenty first century' published in January 2008 by Palgrave MacMillan. Her first book was 'Evangelical Women in Belfast: Imprisoned or empowered?' and was published in 2001.
Patrick Hicks, MA Irish Writing 1994, is Writer-in-Residence at Augustana College and his work has appeared in scores of international publications including, Ploughshares, The Utne Reader, Glimmer Train, Commonweal, Ambit, Indiana Review, and Nimrod. An author of three poetry chapbooks, his first international paperback collection, Finding the Gossamer, was recently published with Salmon Poetry. Many poems from Finding the Gossamer have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Aside from being a Visiting Fellow at Oxford, Hicks has won a number of grants to support his work. He has enjoyed long residences in Northern Ireland, England, Germany, and Spain, but currently lives in South Dakota, with his wife, Tania. Patrick can be contacted at patrick.hicks@augie.edu.
Kenneth Bloomfied, LLD 1991, has been closely involved in the ongoing debate about post-primary education in his role as Chairman of Governors at Royal Belfast Academical Institution and of the Association for Quality Education. His book A New Life, published this year by Brehon Press, includes a chapter on this and on his work with universities as Chairman of the Higher Education Council. Last year he published A Tragedy of Errors. Sir Kenneth can be contacted at kenbloomfield@tiscali.co.uk.